Chillicothe Gazette: Strickland's handling of report leaves questions

The editors at the Chillicothe Gazette write:

Which Ted Strickland do we believe?

There's the Ohio governor, who upon being elected to the job, called reappointed Inspector General Tom Charles to his job and called him a man of integrity and accountability.

Since then, Charles has handled, admirably, investigations into disgraced former Attorney General Marc Dann, a probe of database information taken from an intern's car and allegations that the Ohio Highway Patrol was not properly ticketing its own. And that's just naming a few.

Based on those probes, Strickland had no problem when Charles began a probe into a canceled contraband sting at the governor's residence in January. In fact, Strickland told a reporter he believed Charles would conduct a fair investigation and could be impartial.

That was, until the report came out.

When that report said then-public safety director Cathy Collins-Taylor was less than truthful when discussing her role in calling off the sting, a different side of Strickland appeared.

Suddenly, the governor was questioning the investigation and "strongly" rejected Charles' recommendation. He stood by silently as Democrats attacked Charles' character by saying he was upset because his wife, a highway patrol captain, didn't get the top job at the patrol.

The governor also has been oddly silent as Collins-Taylor's attorney said Charles should be investigated and other Democrats piled on.

Finally, instead of focusing on key changes that could help restore some integrity to the embattled public safety agencies involved in this mess, Strickland seems more content on picking a fight. In a spiteful move, he gave Collins-Taylor a job on the state parole board -- a final nose-thumbing toward legislators.

All of which leads to a huge gap in credibility for Strickland and his re-election bid. Is he the guy who likes Tom Charles and trusts his decisions? Or the one who only likes Charles' decisions when they go his way?

(Source: Editorial, Chillicothe Gazette, 5/27/10)