This shunning of Brunner has just gotten petty...

This is one of those instances in which the Old Media picks up on something that has been seemingly ignored by the blogging community when you'd figure the reverse would be true.  But Mark Naymik of the Plain Dealer, Laura Biscoff of the Dayton Daily News, and the Columbus Dispatch have been all over it.

The story is simply this: Governor Strickland, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, State Treasurer Kevin Boyce, and Attorney General Richard Cordray all signed a letter to the Ohio congressional delegation advocating the passage of the Obama Administration's proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency.  Brunner actually advocated the concept back in May.

Here's Strickland spokewoman Amanda Wurst explaining to the DDN the fact that neither Brunner or State Auditor Mary Taylor (R) wasn't even asked to sign the letter:

Strickland’s press secretary Amanda Wurst said Brunner and Taylor were not invited to participate because their offices don’t have direct responsibility for consumer protection, financial literacy or the regulation of the financial services industry.

When asked how the lieutenant governor — whose only legal duty is to step in for the governor if he died or was incapacitated — has such responsibility, Wurst said, “He is part of the executive branch.”

Seriously, next time, just admit it was an oversight.  Does the Treasurer's office really have direct responsiblity for financial literacy, consumer protection or regulation of the financial services industry?  Um, no. 

Seriously, what would have been the harm in getting Brunner's signature and, frankly, trying to get Mary Taylor's?  If the purpose of the letter is to effectively lobby our congressional members to support this, wouldn't showing its supported by as many statewide politicos as possible, especially if you could potentially show it has bipartisan support?

This hair splitting rationale to justify not to share the spotlight with Brunner is just petty.  I frankly believe Wurst is really just doing some post-hoc rationalization.  But what says is silly.  Would Congress really discount the letter if it showed Brunner supported something that the Governor's office doesn't believe it concerns her office?

And wouldn't the fact that Taylor is the only non-judicial statewide Republican besides Voinovich help the cause if she was asked?

Sure, you could dismiss that Taylor is unlikely to support something the Obama Administration supports because she's a Republican, but don't you still contact her as a courtesy.  What's she going to do, blast a preemptive press release opposing this?  Yeah, ignoring the only two statewide women in office is less politically risky.

Brunner was on this issue five months ago.  It's nice that the rest of the Democratic statewides support this, too, but it's sad that the Senate primary is leading to such petty behavior.