Fisher appointee and replacement as Development Director forced to resign over $150k in unpaid taxes.
At the very beginning of Strickland's term, the very beginning, Strickland has to deal with the embarassment of the Frankie Coleman mess (who was hired and temporarily protected by Lee Fisher.)
Now, this?
The interim director of the Ohio Department of Development has resigned after just three months on the job after revealing he has serious unresolved personal tax issues.
Mark Barbash was appointed interim director in February by Gov. Ted Strickland after the former director, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, stepped down to focus on his 2010 candidacy for U.S. Senate.
Barbash owes the Internal Revenue Service $146,313 in back taxes, penalties and fees pertaining to his tax returns from 2000 to 2004 and 2006, Business First newspaper in Columbus reported on Friday. The IRS has placed a tax lien against Barbash and his suburban Columbus home is facing foreclosure, the newspaper reported.
"I've been working with the Internal Revenue Service on issues involving the re-filing of personal tax returns over several years," Barbash said in media release today announcing his resignation. "In fairness to the important efforts of our department, our dedicated staff and the citizens of Ohio, I do not want the distraction of my personal financial matters to get in the way of moving forward with our work."
Back when Barbash was initially appointed to replace Fisher, the Governor office noted:
Barbash, 59, was appointed chief economic development officer for the Ohio Department of Development in March 2007 by Lt. Governor Fisher.
And if anyone believes that Fisher did not have any role in Barbash's promotion to replace Fisher at the Department of Development, well, you're nuts.
The story was first reported in Columbus Business First that Barbash owed over $140,000 to the IRS alone, and that his house was in foreclosure proceedings (amazingly, the State of Ohio also reportedly has tax liens filed against Barbash). The Governor's office confirmed that Barbash disclosed his tax problems when he was hired in 2007 and again before he was promoted to replace Fisher:
Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said Friday afternoon that Barbash disclosed “active IRS issues” in 2007 when he was hired for the economic development job. He also informed the governor’s office the problems were ongoing when hired for the interim director’s job three months ago, she said.
Strickland was personally informed of Barbash’s troubles Wednesday evening, the same day Business First contacted Barbash about the story, and was given notice of his resignation Thursday night, Wurst said.
So Fisher knew about his tax problems when he decided to hire the guy in 2007, and they promoted this guy knowing that the issues hadn't been resolved two years later? Seriously, WTF?
In regard to bad hires by the Strickland administration, someone needs to look into the hiring and retention of Taft and Voinovich's inspector general, Tom Charles. Before the 2006 election, Strickland and Fisher were put on notice about major problems with Charles. But Charles was still reappointed as IG (to the shock of many who wanted reform in state goverment).
A few months ago, the group We’ve Had Enough.Net sent the governor a letter (with a copy to House Speaker Budish) documenting that the IG issued a dishonest report in 2007 on premium manipulation at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. The IG's report covered up a ton of wrongdoing that went on when the Republicans held the governor's office. If the state Democratic leaders had integrity, there is no way they could tolerate what Charles did in that report. He should be fired immediately.
But neither Strickland nor Budish has given the group even the courtesy of a response to the letter, despite the obviously large amount of work put into it. They seem content to ignore the letter and the corruption, and to allow business-as-usual (under the Republicans and Democrats) in state government.
The IG had no comment about the letter when Gongwer asked him about it. The letter documents his wrongdoing so well that he was unable to concoct a defense.
In view of the huge amount of wrongdoing covered up in just one investigation, the total amount must be indescribably enormous and horrendous during the years that Charles has been IG. No wonder we still don't know the full story of how Tom Noe obtained $50 million from the state government under Taft.
The group’s letter is at
http://www.wevehadenough.net/OverrideReportbyIG-1.pdf
He did disclose his tax problems to Fisher and the D.o.D. when he applied. He had worked in a similar position with the City of Columbus.
The Governor's office stated that while the Governor's office knew about his tax problems when he was appointed to replace Fisher; the Governor himself did not know until he informed the Governor's office he planned to step down as D.o.D. director. Like you, I think it deserves some further explanation.
I don't need a source to say this, though. Strickland was probably furious about being kept in the dark. And would have prefered to have known before elevating Fisher's choice (again, I don't have a source to say that Fisher recommended this promotion, however, I simply cannot believe he wouldn't have been involved in selecting his replacement from among his own staff.)
We don't know who is "in charge."
We elect officials in a democratic process and expect the candidates we elect to be leading us.
However, in cases such as this it appears that the people we elect are not aware of what is even going on, depending on a cadre of staff and assistants to keep them informed and up to date.
Apparently, information only gets "passed up" when it is in the best interest of the staff & assistants.
Politicians create an environment NECESSARY to their political survival which includes EXTREME need for trust and confidence (because they are not really who and what they say they are) from everyone around them. It also creates a bubble of political expediency that reverses the responsibility of the elected official and places that responsibility on the staff.
Political staffs witness how their "boss" conducts business and many times attempt to mimic (with incompetence and poor results) the culture and atmosphere. What might be good for an elected official is NOT good for support staff. This is how Marc Dann destroyed his office and why he states, "He wasn't ready to lead an office of this size." He conducted himself in a way he believed was necessary to his political survival, except he chose untrustworthy confidants that were serving themselves more than him and the people of Ohio that he was to represent.
There is an EXTREME disconnect to the elected official when, for political expedience, support staff make assumptions about what information an elected official will be interested in, what information they need to know, what information they are given (and what information is withheld) And THIS information exchange causes many problems. It is a risk politicians take to all the way to their demise.
"Strickland would be pissed?"
He should be pissed, but it would be a situation HE established himself.
Politicians schedules are spread too thin and they for time constraints CANNOT be told EVERYTHING.
We elect officials to take office and represent our interest and families and things that are important to us (like jobs). Most times they serve in office with only their interests (their job) and families in mind.
Knowing the issues and candidates require an investment of time and hard work, it can be tedious and boring reading and keeping up with issues. Sadly most American's don't even have the basic education to understand the political process, even if they did make the investment of time. Politicians are a joke to the average American. Most of them are out of touch. We send them to Washington, believing it's a cesspool and they return thinking it's a hot tub.
This is where blogs and people like potts, modern (and Tim) become more and more important (and Nick D too) as people depend on the internet and free speech for people like bloggers to provide information objectively. (this is why moderns assertion that political campaigns can't be behind the scenes pulling strings on "independent" blogs content, becomes valid)
Politicians don't REALLY understand the technology because they attempt to bring old school "smoke and mirrors" to a blog audience that can see past showmanship the showmanship, because bloggers make the investment of time to know the issues.
Most voters are not willing to sacrifice their "American Idol & Desperate Housewives" valuable time to stay informed, so they will depend on bloggers in increasing numbers. Even the media is stealing blog content. BSB was ripped off for content by some of the BIGGEST media outlets during the election.
Many people take a 15 second headline or a 30 second commercial to make a decision on how to throw away their vote on the politician that "looks" most capable of preforming the task. Which one small reason (among 10) why politics becomes decision based on emotions than logical.
Politicians can trust that voters are apathetic and because of that have short attention spans so they essentially have cart Blanche.
Politicians will forever exploit voters laziness, until voters take time to stay informed. The media promotes candidates that serve their best interests, selling rags and advertising.
Coming from advertising I can tell you personally that the lines between editorial and advertising become more and more blurred everyday. Newspapers are going belly up all over the country and cannot afford to print stories (maybe at the expense of truth) that are against their best interest. (they want those political advertising dollars too!) Which can be millions upon millions if they can help the race get heated up.
Media darling Bill Clinton, dubbed the "Comeback Kid" came in with great popularity and when the media was done with him and when the American public had reached "information overload" the media turned on him and threw him away, once not one more ounce of print could be squeezed out of him.
The same as George Bush.
Once the media is done with you, YOU are done.
Politics are so cyclical because no one elected official can appease to all the constituents. Politicians can't look to the future, to lead us anywhere because they are too busy looking over their shoulder for who is coming to stab them in the back.
Blogs change that dynamic. New technology changes old school politics and politicians that cannot adjust to the new media, will not make cut of the survival of the fittest.
Newspapers are failing, meaning fewer voices for voters to hear and be distracted by.
Social networks like facebook are modifying social behavior by changing social acceptance and "Twitter" changes how immediate information is exchanged and provides new information for people to make decisions with. See how blogs destroyed Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher's campaign for U.S. Senate.
I am anticipating future campaigns run entirely on social networks, without the use of multimillion dollar campaign budgets, (and fund raising) political ads going viral on youtube and government transparency done 100% through social networking.
"Politicians" of the old media won't be able to keep up with grassroots networking through new tech, and apathetic voters will have a whole new couch to sit on in front of a 100" plasma screen telling them everything.
It will be great, for a while.