Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, is seen during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in this June 28, 2006 file photo. Ney, under scrutiny in a corruption scandal involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, announced Monday that he was abandoning his re-election campaign. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)WOW! It appears that Ohio representative Bob Ney not seeking re-election. This is from The New York Times:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Rep. Bob Ney, enmeshed in a congressional corruption scandal, abruptly abandoned his race for re-election Monday after months of prodding from Republican leaders worried about losing his seat this fall.
Ney said in a statement he is innocent of any wrongdoing, and had acted for the sake of his family. ''I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal,'' he said.
The six-term lawmaker has long been involved in the influence-peddling investigation spawned by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and is the second congressman to announce his retirement in the fallout from the probe. Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas resigned from Congress earlier this year, but Democrats have gone to court to force his name to stay on the November ballot.
Several Republican officials said Ney had been prodded by Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the current majority leader, as well as other officials to quit his race for re-election. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the details.
Democrats must gain 15 seats this fall to take control of the House, and Republicans had long considered Ney to be one of their most vulnerable incumbents.
Under state law, the vacancy on the ballot will be filled by Republican voters in a primary. GOP officials said they hope to clear the field for Joy Padgett, a state senator.
First, I will say that it is interesting that House Majority Leader John Boehner forced Ney to drop out of the race, possibly citing Ney's involvement in the Abramoff scandal as a reason. For Boehner is also involved in the Abramoff scandal as well. According to the Cincinnati Post:
WASHINGTON - U.S. Congressman John Boehner of Ohio received $32,500 in political contributions from Indian tribes represented by fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff, placing him in the top tier of lawmakers who got donations from the lobbyist or his clients.
Only 12 other members of Congress raked in more money than Boehner, a Republican from West Chester, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that compiled a list of the contributions.
In all, 17 current and former members of Congress from Ohio and Kentucky received campaign donations from either Abramoff or one of the tribes he represents.
Boehner led the pack, taking in even more money than Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who has become one of the central figures in the political corruption investigation that brought Abramoff down. Ney received $31,500 in donations from Abramoff and his clients - $1,000 less than Boehner, the report said.
Boehner, for example, did not get any political contributions directly from Abramoff, but his political-action committee did get money from four tribes represented by the lobbyist, the report said.
The Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana gave $15,000 to Boehner's leadership PAC, the Freedom Project. The other contributions came from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, which gave $9,500; the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which donated $7,000; and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, which gave $1,000. Boehner chairs the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and is said to be considering a run for House majority leader.
The only probable difference between Boehner and Ney is that the feds have been breathing down Ney's neck. Former Ney chief of staff Neil Volz has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with the Abramoff scandal. Ney's current chief of staff, William Heaton, has already been subpoenaed. The feds have set their sights on Bob Ney, rather than John Boehner, and Boehner and the Republicans know it. Any indictments against Bob Ney before the November elections would result in a complete loss of Ney's seat to the Democratic challenger Zack Space. In fact, Space has already made Ney's connections with Abramoff a campaign issue, which is also causing problems with Ney's re-election campaign. And the Republican Party is feeling both the heat and pressure of the voter's wraith on not just the corruption issues, but also the Iraq war, the economy, health care, and so many other problems facing this Republican-controlled Congress. There is a big fear that the Republican Party is going to lose control of Congress this November--either one or both houses.
And the Republicans are going to do everything they can to stay in power.
So the Republican Party could be trying to force out the worst of their corruption-tainted members--or at least pull their names off the ballots so as to dis-associate the Republican Party from the "culture of corruption" that has stained Congress. We now see Bob Ney dropping out of the race because of the Abramoff scandal. Last week, the 5th Circut Court of Appeals ordered that Tom DeLay's name must stay on the ballot, despite attempts by Texas Republicans to remove his name and replace it with someone else. You have to wonder who else could be targeted--Roy Blunt? So far, the Republicans could be forcing their members out only if they are under the threat of indictment. Bob Ney was in the crosshairs of a federal indictment. John Boehner and Roy Blunt are not--at least not yet.
There is also a couple little details regarding Ney's dropping out of the Ohio race that should be examined. The first is finding a Republican replacement for Ney. Consider this from the NY Times story:
Under state law, the vacancy on the ballot will be filled by Republican voters in a primary. GOP officials said they hope to clear the field for Joy Padgett, a state senator.
Ney, too, appeared to want to hand off his seat to Padgett. She told The Associated Press that Ney called her Saturday and asked her to run in his place.
Until his announcement, Ney had insisted he would run for a new term, even if indicted.
Padgett said she would run for Ney's seat in the 18th Congressional District, a conservative region of farms, mines, Appalachian hills and Rust Belt cities in central Ohio.
Padgett faces a primary election under Ohio law that requires a primary if a candidate withdraws or dies more than 80 days before a general election. James Lee, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, said his office was consulting its lawyers to determine how to proceed. No Republican has come forward to challenge Padgett.
With his withdrawal from the Ohio race today, Bob Ney pulled out 91 days before the general election. Under the Ohio election law, a new primary must be held if the candidate withdraws or dies more than 80 days before a general election. The Republicans can now institute a new Ohio primary to replace Ney with Padgett. This eliminates the legal wrangling between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party as seen with Tom DeLay. Had Bob Ney pulled out after August 18th, the Republican Party would not have been able to replace Ney with a new Republican candidate on the ballot. This is a huge political calculation on the Republican Party. They lost big on replacing Tom DeLay's name on the Texas ballot. They knew that Bob Ney was under increased pressure of the corruption investigations regarding Abramoff. A federal indictment against Ney after August 18th would have handed this Republican Party seat to the Democrats on a silver platter. But with Padgett taking Ney's place on the ballot, this at least gives the Republican Party some hope that Padgett could get a campaign running against Democrat Zack Space, and hopefully beat Space.
The second little detail regards Ney's campaign stash. Also from the Times story:
By accident or design, he [Ney] timed his announcement to his own financial benefit. Under federal law, Ney is allowed to use any leftover campaign funds to pay his rising legal bills. As of June 30, he had roughly $417,000 in the bank. Because the fall campaign has not yet begun in earnest, he has not had to purchase television advertising time or make other significant campaign expenses.
This was NOT by accident. Ney had $417,000 in the bank for the fall campaign. He did not make any major campaign purchases or TV advertising--that would come in September or October. Ney only had to look at Tom DeLay's mounting legals bills, to see what it would cost Ney if he were to be indicted. So Ney had a choice here--he could spend it on a re-election campaign that would be wasted if Ney was indicted, or he could pull out of the race and use his campaign cash to pay for his legal bills. And if Ney were to pull out, he had to pull out within the next two weeks to allow the Republican Party to replace Ney with Padgett. Ney chose the latter.
Another interesting turn in this midterm race.
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