Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Kenneth Blackwell Is Rich



He is also the Ohio Secretary of State and one of the people most responsible for us now living in the Bush era. How do I know that he is rich? He doesn't know what he owns, that's how:

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell revealed yesterday that he owned stock in Diebold, a voting-machine manufacturer, at the same time his office negotiated a deal that critics have said was an attempt to steer business to the company.

But Blackwell said his investments were handled by a financial manager without his advice or review, and after he discovered during the past weekend that he owned stock in Diebold Inc., he sold his shares yesterday at a loss.

I'm trying to imagine not knowing what's in my so-called portfolio of investments and I can't quite get there. But the people who represent us in the government tend to have so many assets that a few can be snuck in by ruthless financial advisors who don't seem to understand that they are working for a politician, and nobody notices anything!

This is just another example of the problems with campaign financing in this country. Well, and with Kenneth Blackwell, natch.