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Get Your Scandal Priorities Right

Ohio Secretary of State---and '06 GOP gubernatorial hopeful---Kenneth Blackwell has been getting some flak lately for owning stocks in companies with which the state does ...

blackwell.JPG Ohio Secretary of State---and '06 GOP gubernatorial hopeful---Kenneth Blackwell has been getting some flak lately for owning stocks in companies with which the state does business.

First, he was criticized for owning shares of Diebold, the electronic voting machine company, which has benefitted financially from decisions Blackwell's office has made.

A couple days later, it came out that Blackwell owns stock in the world's leading maker of slot machines---even as Ohio citizens are set to vote in November whether to permit slots at the state's horse-racing tracks.

But here's what's really interesting: Blackwell lost money on the Diebold stock. And he opposes the slots initiative. Kenneth, Kenneth, Kenneth---don't you know that the first rule of shady, questionable, probably-inappropriate business deals is that you should benefit from them??

(On the other hand, the fact that he didn't may turn out to be a saving grace.)

Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
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