Written by Aren’t you all sick of these slimeball politicians who smile to your face, stick their thumbs in the air with those stupid scripted poses, and then lie left and right?
Yep. The ole Swamp Fox is too.
If you ever wondered how the veteran, old-time slimeball politicians got their start, you need only look at Ben Weber.
He’s got the pedigree for it, too. His daddy is a Yale grad and his mommy has held high roles in Ohio’s state government for decades.
He literally just graduated law school last year and appears to have only “worked” as a paid lobbying intern for corporations like Nucor in Washington DC and as a legislative aide for a number of politicians in Columbus.
He’s called himself a “constitutional attorney” and a “civil litigator,” but it doesn’t appear that he’s done anything other than campaign for this state rep seat since he announced his candidacy back on July 1st. Sure, he’s been “hired” by a solo practitioner in Columbus, but the job announcement posted by his “employer” says that he will be building a “governmental affairs” practice. Do y’all know what that means? Yep! You guessed it! Lobbying!!!
But that aside, the outright misrepresentation he made last night at the Union County Chamber of Commerce’s candidate event is simply a bridge too far.
Someone in the audience asked candidates Ben Weber and Steven Wolfe if they pay property taxes.
Wolfe (aged 27) answered first and told the truth: he doesn’t pay them. He then proceeded to articulate a well-thought-out response to the question.
Weber, on the other hand, answered by saying that he does pay property taxes.
But that just can’t be true.
If you do a search of the Union County auditor’s and recorder’s databases you won’t find a real estate parcel owned by Ben Weber, nor will you find a deed transferred to Ben Weber, or a mortgage secured by a property owned by Ben Weber.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
You can search by owner’s name, property address, whatever. The result is the same: he doesn’t own real estate.
That means that he doesn’t directly pay property taxes, folks.
Fortunately for him, he can use slimeball semantics, like a good politician would, and say that he pays–when he really doesn’t.
Like I said, it’s semantics.
To a slimeball politician, they ain’t lying if the question asked wasn’t specific enough.
Had the question been, “Do you directly pay property taxes on real estate that is legally deeded in your individual name?” he might have been forced to tell the truth.
But since he was only asked if he pays property taxes, he can–in his head–make an argument that he does since he indirectly pays them in the form of rent paid to his landlord, who is the one who actually owns the property and actually pays the taxes on it.
If all the special interest money flooding into 28-year-old Weber’s campaign coffers wasn’t enough cause for alarm–on top of his many other substantive misrepresentations–this sure as hell should be.
Why can’t he be honest? What is he trying to hide?
He should just tell people this, the truth: “I’m Ben Weber. I’m 28 years old and just graduated law school last year. Although I really haven’t practiced law yet, I have interned with Nucor’s lobbying office in Washington, DC and have been an aide to several politicians in Columbus. Until last year, I lived at home with my mom. My wife and I rent a place in southeastern Union County. I’ve never owned real estate or directly paid property taxes. Oh, and I’ve been maxed out in campaign contributions from PACs like ACT Ohio, a union that is heavily involved in the construction of hyperscale data centers. I’m also the choice of the Republican-In-Name-Only (RINO) Establishment Elite. Vote for me!”
On second thought, that might be a little too honest…