Greg Hartmann, Desperate and Deadbeat in Ohio, Refuses to Pay his Pepsi Tab

OhioNative — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 20:52:50 -0700

Republican secretary of state candidate Greg Hartmann , a Texan living in Ohio, finds himself backpeddling again after The Dayton Daily News reported that he has not and will not pay his debt to Pepsi, which dates back to the early 1990s.

In the second article that reveals information Hartmann has worked hard to keep Ohio voters from knowing just weeks before they go to the polls to select their next secretary of state, Laura Bischoff, a veteran statehouse reporter who knows a story when she smells one, allowed Hartmann to hang himself with his own rope.

So, here we go again. What is it with Republicans like Hartmann who tell everyone else to demonstrate ��personal responsibility�� but who shirk their own responsibilities, especially when it comes to debts they owe because they were found guilty of violating the law?

We learn from the Dayton Daily News that Greg Hartman, the son of a rich and powerful Dallas attorney, his father Robin P. Hartmann, a friend and confidant of Republicans like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney who he represented on a residency matter in 2000, has said he will not pay a debt to Pepsi, the giant soda pop company, that he incurred in California in a lawsuit that named him and his company and that both lost. The California court ordered Hartmann to pony up about $15,000 in 1992. The debt has now grown to over $29,000, after years of Hartmann refusing to pay it.

Although this is the latest example of his derelict behavior, which is even more troubling given that he is a former prosecutor who as a ��friend of law enforcement�� has promised he will hunt down and jail would-be vote fraudsters, it is not the first time Mr. Hartmann has violated the law, been been convicted and then ran away like a deadbeat dad from his own legal and financial responsibilities.

Researchers have only recently uncovered court documents from North Carolina and Virginia showing Hartmann was arrested for a non-traffic violation, for which he was convicted and fined but has yet to pay the fine after all these years.

With the revelation contained in this story about saying he will not pay this debt owed to Pepsi, Ohio voters need to ask themselves why they would want someone who hides his records and does not pay his debts to be their secretary of state?

Haven��t we lost enough trust and integrity in our elections under eight years under Ken Blackwell? Aren��t we seeing already this election cycle stories about mis-labeled ballots, not enough postage for absentee ballots to be returned, Blackwell foot-dragging again on giving boards of election the clear guidance they need to perform their important duties?

Hartmann, who likes to sell himself as young and energetic, has little legal experience and absolutely no election law experience in reality. Because these are two key requisites for the important job of running imparital, fair and accurate elections, Ohioans don��t need someone who requires on-the-job-training, as Hartmann clearly does.

Of the four candidates running this year for the office, it appears that Jennifer Brunner has it all: experience, qualifications and commitment to restore trust in Ohio��s election process. Her leadership experience, earned as a twice-elected common pleas court judge in Franklin County, and management skill set, learned after years of working in various capacities in the Ohio secretary's office under Sherrod Brown, are what Ohio needs to uphold Ohio values for open, honest, impartial and accurate elections.

In 1993, when Hartmann's California close encounters of the legal kind happened, Pepsi's slogan was "Be Young, Have Fun, Drink Pepsi." If Hartmann's pattern of playing fast and loose with the law and not owning up to his debts would have been used for Pepsi's slogan, it might have been something like this: "Be Young, Have Fun, Leave the State, Don't Pay Your Debts, Run for Office, Hide Your Record from Voters, Lie on Job Applications, Favor Your Friends, Launch Attack Commercials, Loose the Election." Hey, Greg, your Pepsi debt is "The Real Thing."

To read the DDN story, here it is: www.daytondailynews.com

To see what else Hartmann has been hiding from Ohio voters, check out his "record" of accomplishments here: http://www.truthaboutgreghartmann.com/criminal.htm

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Greg Hartmann, Desperate and Deadbeat in Ohio, Refuses to Pay his Pepsi Tab