Monday, May 11, 2009

Don't wait for the Morrison trial, et al...

WEEKEND LEFTOVERS:  Take a deep breath but don't hold it.  Once again the pretrial  (May 11, today) hearing and trial date (May 26) for Atty.  Jack Morrison Jr. have been been delayed on motions by  Morrison's lawyer, Paul Adamson.  New dates were not set at this writing.  Morrison, a University of Akron Trustee and advisor to the Summit County Republican Party, was indicted on seven misdemeanor charges arising from his son's purchase and profitable sale of a house on University property that was designated for use in the area that was being cleared for a new football stadium. The case is five months old.   Morrison has ignored calls for him to step down from the Board of Trustees, including one from Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut and the Beacon Journal.  Watch for an update around  Christmas.....

Dick Cheney has made it official:  He prefers Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell as the inspiration for the Republican Party.   Have you noticed that Cheney is much more visible today as the GOP's spiritual leader on talk shows than he was as a  shadowy veep who spent some of his time in a real cave?  He's an old non-soldier who won't fade away...But something else appears to have faded away:  the aggressive PR effort to rehab George Bush's image has fallen silent.  One practical explanation:  It wasn't working.... 

Let's hope that the recall election for Mayor Plusquellic is set for the earliest possible date so that the city can get on with the important business at hand.  The effort by Warner Mendenhall and his pickup army to throw out the mayor will be one of the darker moments in the city's history, Warner's defense of "democracy in action" notwithstanding.  win or lose (he will lose this one) he will have gained some strategic information on the city's demographics should he decide to run for mayor himself.  But at what price to the city itself?

It is amusing to hear the right-wing "profiling" of an imaginary Supreme Court nominee that President Obama has yet to select.  I'm waiting to see protesting GOP  billboards rise with fill-in-the-blank nominees to be named later. 

Finally, does anybody besides Sean Hannity and  his ding-a-ling disciples care that Obama ordered a hamburger with  "elitist" mustard  instead of catsup?  There are days when I wish I could be president for eight hours.  I would  give Hannity an eternity of eyebrow raisers with my exotic Middle Eastern  palate. 


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Abe,

How Morrison can escape when this does go to trial (probably July)will take a miracle on his and his attorney-friend part. While he may blow it off as not serious, the State and the OEC is not. In the State's response to his Motion to Dismiss a few things stick out:
http://www.cpclerk.co.summit.oh.us/WebMOMCache/R677050409.pdf (134 page document)

1. Despite Mr. Adamson's assertion that Mr. Morrison complied with the Ethics Commission investigators, the State and the Ethics Commission noted that it took asking 5 times for information either through written request, personal interview, and eventually a subpeona to fully understand the nature of Morrison's involvement in the property. Each time new pieces would fall into place.

2. Morrison's immunity defense is weak because the University moved on the transaction prior to asking for any advice. The University should have asked for an Advisory Opinion BEFORE voting on the purchase of property.

3. Morrison's defense that he is being singled out due to his partisanship is laughable in that it was a Republican and a Democrat on the Controlling Board who noted the conflict of interest in the property. Ultimately, the OEC is a BIPARTISAN commission with Republicans and Democrats.

4. Because Morrison did not vote on it is not a winnable defense. Because he failed to properly disclose his fidicuiary-monetary relationship-interest in the property (to the State it was intentional-2 year lapse), the law only points to the nature of having a relationship in property which he did have. It would seem that Morrison did have knowledge of properties invested in their investigation.

5. The falsification charges will do him in because the pattern of behavior exhibited by the OEC investigates illustrates a clear and conscionable effort by Morrison to stonewall the Commission.

6. If and when found guilty, Morrison will more than likely get jail time but not the full extent- 18 months. It would not suprise me to see him get 3 to 6 months because of his actions. In addition, because his positions in public offices are appointed and not elected, it would not suprise me that with any conviction or plea bargain will see him lose his position on the Board of Trustees and the Board of Elections. People can argue that Bob Taft, Vern Riffe, and Stan Arnoff were found guilty of misdemeanor ethics charges, but these were elected officials who decided to weather the storm. As one can see with Taft, it may not necessarily be a good idea.

PJJinOregon said...

Abe, under no circumstances should you engage Hannity in a verbal food fight. Your strong suit is not a gourmet palette, Middle Eastern heritage notwithstanding. But it may be Hannity's ONLY suit. Following Reagan, he still thinks that catsup is a vegetable.

De gustibus.

fargo said...

Warner will never be mayor of Akron. His psychology is that of a man who has wasted a life of great potential.

"I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of of mumbles such are promises...all lies in jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

There is a dark side to this man that has failed in everything in his life and he needs this recall so that he can make himself a martyr ...nailing is own self to his own personal cross.

He will lose everything in the end...the recall, his business and what little he has left of his self respect and all he wants is to be able to say "I did this for you...I sacrificed everything for Akron....love me".

A therapist could make a small fortune analyzing Mendenhall...unfortunately the Mendenbots are serving has is enablers rather than staging an intervention with the man.

Anonymous said...

Abe,

The reason the case has been delayed is that Mr. Adamson has been assigned to be a juror on a trial based on the Motion to Continue.

Mencken said...

Thousands and thousands of mustard packets sent to Hannity seems an appropriate response to the tyranny of ketchup.