Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern’s letter (Nov. 16) criticizing the Dispatch for a story about John Kasich’s time at Lehman Brothers was as provocative as it was unsubstantial. (Essentially this letter was answered two weeks ago with this post, but let’s take another look.)
The gist of the Dispatch story was that Kasich worked hard and likely made a considerable amount of money at Lehman Brothers. And he wasn’t involved in the causes of the Lehman collapse. It’s pretty much what we already knew but obviously was a disappointment to Redfern and the Democrats.
But that didn’t stop Redfern from writing that sources for the story were Kasich campaign contributors. It’s not a minor point and worth knowing. However, contributing to a campaign does not mean someone is incapable of speaking frankly. Indeed, the very reason for the contributions could be that they so believe in the candidate based on his record.
Yet, while Redfern delivers questions and winks of impropriety, he offers no evidence to back them up. His letter is on par with the juvenile anti-Kasich Web site the Democrat Party runs that ostensibly tells the “truth about Kasich.”
Kasich’s achievement at Lehman, where he worked hard and wasn’t just a “door opener,” according to the Dispatch story, is denigrated by his political opponents, likely many of whom are not living paycheck to paycheck themselves. It’s too bad, but not because it means we will be the recipients of those silly TV political ads as the vote nears. It’s a shame because once in America we celebrated a record of hard work and earned reward.
Of course, what really worries Redfern is not Kasich’s past success at Lehman but Kasich’s potential success at the polls next November.
