Who would have thought when I made this suggestion back in October that the Democratic side of the 6th District congressional race in Ohio would become so, uh, entertaining?
S.O.B. Alliance member Lincoln Logs has been all over the story of Democratic frontrunner Charlie Wilson’s petition debacle, where Wilson failed to obtain enough signatures from people who actually live in the 6th District, forcing him to campaign as a write-in on the Democratic side. Linc’s latest post notes that The Big Cahuna himself, Rush Limbaugh, has picked up the story of “Ohio 6th Petitiongate.”
Despite the petitions problems, observers still believed that Wilson, who is the preferred candidate of the Ohio Democratic Party, will still prevail in the Democratic primary, even as a write-in.
Note that “believed” is past tense. Confidence in Charlie Wilson has to be quite shaken now (HT - no kidding - Drudge; oops, I also just caught the fact that Lincoln Logs posted on the story today), because of a past problem that may make Petitiongate look like child’s play (bolds are mine):
The National Republican Congressional Committee is wasting no time targeting Charles A. Wilson Jr., a Democratic write-in candidate for the 6th Congressional District, one of the few open U.S. House seats in the country.
Wilson’s “questionable past” includes his concerns about how the dumping of raw sewage into the Ohio River more than a decade ago would impact his political career, said Ed Patru, an NRCC spokesman.
Wilson, of St. Clairsville, a state senator, is running as a Democratic write-in candidate for the 6th Congressional District after failing to get the required 50 valid signatures from registered voters on his nominating petitions to be on the May Democratic primary ballot.
There are two Democrats whose names will appear on the ballot. But Wilson is expected to spend whatever amount of money it takes to win the primary and has the support of the Ohio Democratic Party.
The nominating petition debacle is no surprise when you consider Wilson’s past, Patru said.
“He has a record that sends shivers down the spine of environmentalists and parents,” he said.
Specifically, Patru points to Wilson’s tenure on the Eastern Ohio Regional Wastewater Authority in his home county of Belmont from 1985 to 1996.
Wilson and others acknowledge that the authority dumped raw sewage into the Ohio River during that time. Until 1964, the county didn’t treat its sewage.
Wilson said the dumping occurred during heavy rainfalls. But David Charvat, the authority’s superintendent from July 1994 to September 1995, disagrees.
Fired in September 1995, Charvat successfully sued the authority, saying he was wrongfully terminated because he discovered the raw sewage problems and other violations, and his concerns fell on deaf ears when he informed the board.
In court documents, Charvat says he discovered that an authority employee cross-connected the sewer plant system with the public water supply, leading to the raw sewage problem. Also, Charvat said in court documents that after Wilson and the rest of the board was informed, the agency didn’t report the violation to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
The board contended Charvat was fired over poor job performance. Wilson, who headed the board at the time, abstained from the vote to fire Charvat but couldn’t remember why he did so. Court records state Wilson didn’t vote because he testified at a hearing to terminate Charvat.
An Ohio Environmental Protection Agency investigation showed that the plant illegally dumped sewage into the river in the early to mid-1990s, according to a Jan. 23, 1996, article in the Dayton Daily News.
….. Charvat recorded a conversation he had with Wilson at the time without Wilson’s knowledge. Wilson’s statement from that conversation is in the administrative law judge’s decision and a copy of it used in a radio commercial by a political opponent of Wilson in 1996 was provided to The Vindicator.
On the tape, Wilson, who used a vulgar term twice, says, “This has Pandora’s box written all over it. … I’m gonna take a fall because of this. … I can’t have my future on the line over the sewer authority. I can’t do that. I won’t do it that way.”
When recently asked about the statement, Wilson didn’t remember saying it.
Wilson said the tape-recorded statement has been used against him every time he’s run for office. He ran and won Ohio House races in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002, and was elected to the Ohio Senate in 2004.
….. Patru said the other campaigns using this issue against Wilson were ineffective because they were “Kmart blue-light special, low-budget efforts. National Republicans will drive this message home so [Wilson’s] embarrassed to show his face in public. The facts are very difficult to ignore. Politicians who poison public waters and try to cover it up will be held responsible.”
Suggestion to Ohio Democrats — Find a different horse to ride, preferably one of the two who knew how to get 50 valid signatures for ballot placement, and whose past doesn’t, uh, stink.
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UPDATE: Lincoln Logs likes my last sentence, but I like this sentence from his “Mainstream” post better — “Wilson’s real worry about reporting the illegal dumping isn’t the health and welfare of the people in the Sixth District, but rather himself and his political career.” Does that remind you of someone else who wanted to maintain his “political viability” (4th-to-last paragraph at link)?