Posted by
Josh Todd on Thursday, July 27, 2006 12:53:39 PM
Ted Strickland will release his tax returns while Ken Blackwell will not, the
Dayton Daily News reported today. "Blackwell--who has extensive investments--will keep his returns private..." A Strickland campaign spokesman said, "There are probably very few Ohioans who are millionaires like Ken Blackwell." Accordingly, Strickland is to be praised, presumably, for living "paycheck to paycheck."
This article meets the very definition of class warfare. Blackwell has more than Strickland; therefore, Strickland is better. Blackwell doesn't want to release his private tax returns but Strickland does; therefore, Strickland is more "transparent."
Still, according to DDN, "Both men already file [sic] public financial disclosure statements required of officeholders."
The attempt here is to redirect the debate from Blackwell's ideas. Rather than arguing the merits of Ken Blackwell's policy proposals, the Strickland campaign has opted for a political class envy ploy. That Ken Blackwell invests does not make him evil or bad, but wise and prudent.
At this point, Ted Strickland has unveiled few policy proposals, aside from the ambiguous Turnaround Ohio plan that calls for more government spending and oversight. The advantage for Strickland is that his ideas cannot be scrutinized because...no one knows what they are.
Blackwell, on the other hand, has been forthcoming with his ideas because he feels confident that they will stand up to scrutiny.
Thus, we have no debate. One cannot say with any degree of certainty that Mr. Strickland 1) has no ideas or 2) is afraid to spread them, but at this point, we still do not have any idea as to what a Governor Strickland would do to improve our state, aside from vague overtures.
In essence, Ted Strickland is running against someone rather than for his own ideas. That Ken Blackwell holds more wealth than Ted Strickland is irrelevant. The insinuation is that he is like us, the down-trodden middle class, strictly because his opponent has more money. On the contrary, Congressmen make better than $100,000 annually, which is considerably more than the average working American.
Ted Strickland should cease this course and instead present his own ideas while debating his opponent's ideas. Only then will Ohioans know their two choices. As right now, the choices are: Ken Blackwell who wants to do A, B, and C, and Ted Strickland who wants to do...something.