Taftvision: Okay for me, not for thee

I was struck this week (again) by the hypocrisy of uber-goober Ohio Gov. Bob Taft.

Taft was successful this week in getting the Ohio Supreme Court to say he did not have to release all correspondence between himself and the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation regarding the scandal-plagued governor’s decision to invest in rare coins as a method of funding the bureau. The court said Taft did not have the “sweeping executive privilege” to make all his records private, but could shield ones he used to make a decision.

Let’s have a flashback, shall we, via the Go-Back Machine, to oh, say the winter of 2003/2004. Remember Bob Taft, that champion of open records, that dogged defender of open government, threatening to veto Ohio’s Concealed Carry Weapons bill because the media might not have access to the lists of permit holders….though a list is maintained and scrutinized by the state’s county sheriffs. Taft’s veto threat forced passage of a bill in which the media can request the names and county of residence for permit holders…ostensibly to ensure compliance with safety procedures. In reality, newspapers have used this “watchdog provision” to simply publish lists of everyone who gets a permit.

Now back to the present and Hizzoner the High-and-Mighty Hypocrite. In Taft-vision, wide open records are apparently good when you’re printing the names of law-abiding people who have undergone a criminal background check to apply for a license to exercise the Constitutional rights. Never mind the fact that some of those have good reason not to want their names and county of residence in the newspaper…women fleeing domestic violence comes to mind.

Conversely, Taft-vision discerns that wide open records are bad when they might actually show that tax dollars have been funneled by a corrupt governor into a shady deal straight out of late-night cable TV: “And for only 19.95 million, you’ll get this wonderful selection of rare coins. But wait! We’re not finished yet! If you call now, we’ll send you TWO sets for the same price…operators are standing by.”

I get it, now. Open records are good, when they gain Taft some support from the Ohio Newspaper Association, at the risk of privacy on the part of tens of thousands of law-abiding state residents. They are bad when they show wrongdoing and/or stupidity on the part of the goobernatorial galoot.

Got it.