[Exclusive:] Inspector General Thomas Charles to be appointed Director of Public Safety

By On December 14, 2010 · 7 Comments

I’m seeking additional confirmation on this, but a very reliable source has informed me that it is expected that Governor-elect John Kasich will appoint Ohio Inspector General Thomas Charles.

Yep, the same Thomas Charles’ whose office was criticized by a Brown County Common Pleas Judge for violating the civil rights of individuals Charles was investigating in a case where the media criticized the decision to attempt to bring criminal charges based on his investigation. 

The Thomas Charles who House Democrats introduced a bill to change the law to require the Inspector General to recuse himself after Charles admitted he continued to be involved in a Highway Patrol investigation of a rival of his wife who was seeking the same promotion.  The rival got the position.  No word if he’ll wind up being replaced by Charles’ wife now.

The same Tom Charles who has never issued a final report of his office’s investigation of Coingate and has never even talked to Tom Noe.  The same Tom Charles who actually lobbied for his wife’s supervisor to the Governor’s office, even though his office has no jurisdiction over such appointments, but his office has enormous discretion to bog the Governor’s office down in endless investigations if it so chooses.  Charles then, as mentioned before, speedily concluded a pending investigation regarding a rival for the appointment in order to try to get negative information about the rival out there before Governor Strickland made the appointment.

If you want some idea of what Charles will want to do if he is appointed to run the Department of Public Safety, check out the last few pages:

IG Charles OSP Recommendations

Charles wants to turn the Highway Patrol into the Ohio State Police.  He wants to take all Homeland Security state activities and put it under the Patrol.  Oh, and he’ll now be the supervisor of an agency in which both his wife and son work.

IG Tom Charles next Pub Safety Dir. Maybe now he will finish his Tom Noe investigation? Or does he continue to ignore Voino's involvmt?
December 14, 2010 12:20 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite
@ODPChairman
Chris Redfern

Maybe this is one where the Democrats nonetheless demand an actual confirmation hearing on.   Charles’ is an ethically compromised pick.

Evangelize!
  • Print
  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
 
  • Fotogirlcb2002

    Just adding more clowns to the circus — bad thing is we will be the ones eating peanuts — all we can afford–
    Sad really sad–

  • Pelikan

    Un. Believable. Tom Charles has had is way with the statehouse press corps over the years by having an investigative agency that selectively leaks like a sieve. Amazed that the guy who can’t even put together a ‘just the facts ma’am’ professional report of an investigation could become public safety chief. Read some of the reports put out by the OIG and then compare them to federal GAO reports. Ohio’s reports read more like a feature story in The Other Paper as compared to the professional tone from the GAO. If you want to experience the professionalism of the investigators in his charge, request some transcripts of witness interviews in, say, the Gov Residence investigation. By the way Charles’ investigators asked leading questions it’s obvious they were on a predetermined path.

  • Anastasjoy

    Anyone want to take bets as to whether the Cleveland Plainly Republican (Plain Dealer) will get even 1/100th as worked up about this as about a private — But completely legal, ethical and normal — meeting of some of the Cuyahoga County Council Democrats? I vote “no.” This was, after all, the paper that found nothing irregular in Tom Noe’s activities until they were virtually forced to and even ran an editorial praising him as the scandal was exploding into the pages of every other paper in the state.

  • Anonymous

    Wait till you read my Grendell post I just put up, too.

    There’s no question that given his documented history of selectively cherry picking the evidence that Charles has been a poor investigator. Numerous courts have rejected his investigations, their methodology, even going so far as finding that they fundamentally violated people’s civil rights in how they were conducted.

    But now he’ll be back and directing ACTUAL criminal investigations. What could possibly go wrong?

  • Pingback: Apparently to the Columbus Dispatch and Plain Dealer, we’re like Playboy

  • Bradley L. Cromes

    Looks like you hit the nail on the head, Anastasia.

    http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/12/gov-elect_john_kasich_will_nam.html

    The extent to which the Ohio media have chosen to ignore these early Kasich story lines blows me away. Makes me think we’re going to need to work really hard to make anything that happens stick to Kasich in 2014 (and I can only imagine the fawning over a Romney or Barbour in 2012).

  • Pingback: John Kasich: Transparency in Ohio Government is For Losers [Video]

Looking for something?

Use the form below to search the site:


Still not finding what you're looking for? Drop a comment on a post or contact us so we can take care of it!

Visit our friends!

A few highly recommended friends...

Archives

All entries, chronologically...