Ted Strickland and "Troopergate"

[irishbobcat]

According to a report issued by the office of Ohio's inspector general Thomas P. Charles, one of governor Ted Strickland's cabinet members perjured herself to protect his boss from a criminal investigation.

As reported in The Columbus Dispatch and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Public Safety Director Cathy Collins-Taylor put the kibosh on an investigation into Strickland's apparent laxness of supervision in an inmate work program at his home. Prisoners are alleged to have used the opportunity afforded them to smuggle tobacco products and weapons from Strickland's residence and into prison.

"Lt. Joseph Mannion, Strickland's top personal security officer," according to the Plain Dealer article, was accused of lying under oath to investigators during the course of their probe into the matter.

Politics Daily recently reported that Strickland is so far maintaining only a "shaky lead" over Republican rival John Kasich. That his top aides lied under oath to state investigators, thereby breaking the law, to protect their boss's reputation has had the opposite effect -- Strickland's campaign may now have suffered a terminal blow going into the November election.