Censored by 610-WTVN

One’s credibility depends on calling a spade a spade...whether friend or foe.

I wanted to let you know that I won’t be appearing on 610-WTVN going forward. As is my normal process, I emailed the Boxer Show my talking points yesterday morning. One of the topics was the revelation that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted has joined two corporate boards in a paid position. Given the fact he already serves the State of Ohio as both the Lt. Gov. and the Director of Innovation for which he is paid $176,000+ per year AND given his role/influence over virtually any issue before state government, taking a third job in the private sector presents both real and perceived conflicts of interests. It will be virtually impossible to identify when he should recuse himself, as so many issues may benefit his client, and taxpayer resources shouldn’t be used to monitor this extremely rare and highly troubling arrangement. Shockingly, Husted has refused to disclose what he is being paid by the two corporate boards. Most politicians have the decency to wait until they end their political careers before cashing out on it. Apparently, that isn’t the case with Husted.

The issue really isn’t CAN he do it—clearly a loophole that must be closed exists—but rather SHOULD he do it. To my knowledge, no Gov. or Lt. Gov. in Ohio history has EVER taken a private sector job while serving taxpayers. Ethics rules even require or highly encourage elected officials to place their assets in blind trusts to ensure nothing untoward occurs while they hold the reins of power. I could go on and will on another radio program, but I believe Husted’s action is short-sighted, greedy, and creates more stench of corruption within the Ohio Republican Party following the HB6 energy scandal. After all, like Hunter Biden with energy issues and Burisma, Husted has zero private sector experience—let alone banking experience--since 2000, as he has spent the last 22 years and virtually all of his adult life as an elected official. That status is obviously WHY he was put on the boards…like Hunter for his government experience and connections. This arrangement raises the questions whether we have to be concerned that Husted will eventually join the Intel board or C-Suite given the $2 billion+ committed to Intel by the DeWine Administration from the pockets of Ohio taxpayers.

At any rate, the powers that be at 610-WTVN told me I couldn’t talk about the issue because the company, Heartland Bank, is an advertiser on 610-WTVN and they didn’t want to risk losing a corporate advertiser. As you can imagine, after spending my career fighting for transparency, government accountability, and free speech, I wasn’t about to agree to be censored on such a big issue. My position is that if Heartland Bank and Husted believe what they’ve done is totally proper, then they should have no issue facing criticism and meeting their critics head-on transparently. The fact that they hid that Husted had joined the Heartland Bank board a year ago and only revealed that fact once he ALSO joined the parent company board speaks volumes about whether they truly believe what they’ve done is the “right thing to do.” Additionally, the suspicious timing of this news shortly AFTER the primary election also indicates they were concerned with how it might be used by their opponents in that election.

Fundamentally, I believe Husted should resign from the boards or from his taxpayer paid government position, but he shouldn’t continue to do both. 

Hopefully, I’ll find another radio station interested in my analysis on a variety of issues that I can regularly appear on without being censored to protect an advertiser or a politician. While I have the highest regard for Brandon Boxer and enjoyed every weekly interview over the last 18 months, 610-WTVN shouldn’t hold itself out as a news channel with legitimate reporters, as it is little more than an entertainment program more concerned with revenues than journalism and the truth. After all, there is little doubt had this action been taken by a Democrat Lt. Gov. and a non-sponsor, 610-WTVN would have pushed the story aggressively throughout the day. One’s credibility depends on calling a spade a spade...whether friend or foe.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Update: Thanks for all the supportive notes I've gotten from friends and associates. Great News! Within minutes of putting out the news on 610-WTVN, another radio host asked me to join his show each week. Starting today, I'll be doing a weekly segment on The Bruce Hooley Show on 98.9 THE ANSWER, joining other great personalities such as Hugh Hewitt, Mike Gallagher, and Dennis Prager.