Anyone think Josh Mandel is bored with being treasurer?

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ohio-treasurer-is-a-no-show-at-depos...

According to AP,

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel hasn’t attended a single monthly meeting of the powerful but mundane state board that decides which banks will hold billions in state deposits.

The story goes on to say that it's a common practice to send a deputy to the meetings (which his spokesman gives as a excuse for his boss) but "the total absence of Mandel, a first-term Republican, makes him unique among modern-era treasurers."

What's outrageous is that Mandel had/has no qualifications to be treasurer to begin with. He was elected in a campaign based on huge money, exploiting his military service, and lobbing vague, baseless smears at his opponent. And he vowed to serve for four years and be a great treasurer.

If that were true, he should have spent his first year soaking up all the knowledge he could and being as hands-on as possible. The time for sending a deputy to dull board meetings is once you are completely up on how that board functions and are too busy coming up with innovative new plans to use the office to boost the financial strength of taxpayers, small businesses and farmers .... you know, like Rich Cordray.

But I know Rich Cordray, and Josh Mandel, you are no Rich Cordray (to put it mildly!) The spokesman points to the office's "strong financial performance and high credit ratings" as proof Mandel is doing his job, something Mandel has been sending press releases out about, implying he has applied some magic to the treasury. Only he hasn't really improved anything; the office is performing as well and has the same credit ratings it did before Mandel arrived there. It's like it's on autopilot, with competent underlings keeping things going. The office could probably do exactly as well if Mandel weren't even there.

And .... he's not! He's just a figurehead, using the office to gain name recognition to run for a more prestigious job that doesn't bore him so much. There's nothing but an empty desk and an empty chair at the treasurer's office where our basically nonexistent treasurer should be.

THAT is why we call him "The Empty Suit."