They just can’t leave former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell well enough alone. The man is no longer in political office and yet, the current democratic administration in Columbus is still trying to pin alleged wrongdoings on the man. This time the Associated Press reported that State Auditor Mary Taylor said the former elections chief illegally authorized over $80,000 in bonuses and severance payments for seventeen former employees.

   (Note here, Taylor, is a fellow republican and some are speculating as to why she is pushing this for her democrat bosses.)

   However, just five days later, on March 30, the Columbus Dispatch reported, “In the first year of Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration, overtime shot up 16 percent… even though there were fewer employees than in 2006.”

   According to a Dispatch computer analysis of payroll records, overtime reached over $100 million, “with 11 employees receiving at least $50,000.”

   So let’s compare. Seventeen of Ken Blackwell’s former employees may be asked to return a total of $80,534 in bonuses and severance pay, a practice of previous Secretary of States with the approval by the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, whereas just ONE Strickland employee, a nurse at the Corrections Medial Center in Orient, was paid $81,495 in overtime.

   The Dispatch reported, “State number crunchers were unable to fully explain the increases for last year, which ended with Strickland administration predictions of a budget short fall of up to $1.9 billion by mid-2009.”

   And it could get even worse. Gov. Strickland has been talking about a $1.7 billion bond sale. Says the Buckeye Institute, “This self-described ‘stimulus package’ would supposedly prime the state’s economy by adding to our debt.

   “While the governor offered his initiative as a forward looking economic solution, many economists had backward visions of a 1930’s style big government endeavor.

   “The program would dump hundreds of millions of dollars into, among other things, risky alternative energy investments, “bioproducts” that would potentially replace oil, an already thriving biomedical industry, and an FDR-era public works commission to repair roads.”

   The Buckeye Institute found that the bond issuance carries an estimated $1.4 billion in interest payments alone – bringing the true cost to taxpayers to about $3.1 billion.

   Sometime I feel like John McCain, not really knowing all that much about economics, but taking a look at these numbers, it appears someone at the top is not paying attention to our tax dollars, and the Strickland administration is trying to find someplace to shift the blame and dig up a little chump change. Ken Blackwell says if necessary, he is willing to go to court to challenge Taylor’s findings, as well he should.

   But who is going to hold the Strickland administration accountable for such outrageous overtime payments?

   Kudos to the Columbus Dispatch for exposing these astronomical overtime payments.

   It's up to us, the constituents to hold somebody’s feet to the fire.

   In the meantime, Democrats, find someone in your own house to pick on!