| Taft: Don't let the door hit you on the way out |
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| Written by Jeff Garvas | |
| Monday, 08 January 2007 | |
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One minute after midnight Monday morning Ted Strickland was sworn in as Ohio's next Governor in a relatively small private ceremony in the Governor's office in the Statehouse. A much more elaborate event will take place this coming Saturday. For the first time in sixteen years, a Democrat will lead Ohio as Governor - and most likely with a platform more palatable to gun owners, if not far better than his predecessor. Outgoing Governor Bob Taft will end eight-years marred by failure, the coin-gate scandal, ethics violations, and comical popularity ratings. This organization began it's legislative efforts fighting against "mandatory safe storage" gun control Bob Taft had pushed, with him even going so far as to make an unusual appearance before the Criminal Justice Committee to speak in favor of his bill. We won our first Bob Taft battle when the bill died in committee in 1999. Over the past four years, Bob Taft has hid behind supposed law enforcement interests to force "plain sight" in a vehicle and news media exemptions into concealed carry legislation in an attempt to poison ccw reform. Each time the State Highway Patrol would give in to concessions, Taft shortly followed as if nobody saw the man behind the curtain. To say that Bob Taft was a hindrance to progress for gun rights reform would be an understatement. In one of his last acts as Governor, Bob Taft vetoed concealed carry reform legislation that also included statewide preemption. The GOP Legislature embarrassed Taft one last time by promptly overriding that Veto, the first time a Governor's veto of non-budget legislation has been overridden in Ohio since 1977. Governor Taft will be missed by few as we prepare to move forward with rebuilding the state, and continuing successes in gun rights reform. Hopefully, future successes will not be preceeded by titanic struggles as the previous ones have. |