Ohio Treasurer's Office Empty Again Today

I seriously was not planning on writing again today about Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel. But the guy keeps handing me material.

Today is the fourth Monday in June. And it's the third Monday Mandel has played hooky from the office in order to raise money for his U.S. Senate campaign while we the taxpayers are paying his salary. He was hobnobbing with powerful politician friends from D.C. at an 7:30-8:30 a.m. fundraising event at the Union Cleveland in Cleveland with Senator Mitch McConnell.

He then hightailed it back to Columbus and headed to – oh, you didn't think I was going to say "the treasurer's office," did you? — the Franklin Park Observatory, where he had a fundraiser with Senator Kelly Ayotte from 11:30-1 p.m.

Ok, so maybe he put in a short afternoon of "work." I wouldn't place any big bets on it though. I'm sure there were a few big donors at the Columbus event who wanted to hang with their potential Senate waterboy after the event.

Three out of four Mondays in June Mandel has blown off working for us to campaign among the rich and powerful who will be his real constituency should the voters of Ohio be crazy, ignorant and negligent enough to elect him. Knowing full well that one of the main raps against him is the haste with which he abandoned his commitment to the treasurer's job to launch his U.S. Senate campaign, a savvy, calculating politician would figure out that he should maintain the appearance of commitment — and be careful to do his fundraising after hours and on weekends.

But Mandel is giving us a clear message that he doesn't give a damn what we think — he's basically sticking his finger in the collective eye of Ohio voters. He's telling us he thinks his powerful friends can buy the election for him, no matter what he says or does.

Let's prove him wrong, OK?