Eric Holder just wanted to help. Instead, the Obama alum finds himself at the center of an ethics complaint against Steve Dettelbach, alleging that the Democratic candidate for Ohio attorney general abused the law to use gambling as a fundraising tool.
Holder got into trouble when he let the Dettelbach campaign raffle off a meet-and-greet opportunity. A raffle ticket for as little as $5 could win Obama fans an opportunity to meet with the former U.S. attorney general.
Either those lawmen didn’t know the law or they didn’t care. As the Cincinnati Inquirer reported, Ohio law prohibits political campaigns from putting on games of chance, a fact the Dettelbach campaign would have known if they had reviewed the law conveniently posted at OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov.
Soon the campaign will get better acquainted with the law. Mark Miller, a conservative citizen from Cincinnati, just filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Committee. Miller argues that Dettelbach is guilty of operating a “scheme of chance” against the law.
“The raffle is all the more egregious because it appears to have targeted poorer and less sophisticated donors, selling chances for $5.00,” Miller’s lawyers wrote in a statement. “It should be clear to anyone seeking to be Ohio’s top cop that the attorney general’s job is to crack down on these illegal schemes, not operate them.”
The AP reports that Dettelbach says the complaint “is a ridiculous political attack.” And yes. It is absolutely a political attack. But it might not be so ridiculous.
Whenever a candidate for attorney general, whenever a politician applies to become the top cop of a state, his faithfulness to the law becomes a determining factor. If Dettelbach wants to be a lawman, Dettelbach should start by convincing the Ohio electorate that, you know, he is ready to follow the law. So far, the candidate hasn’t even admitted to the possibility of a screw up.
Holder is slated to appear with Dettelbach tonight, and frankly, it’s not a good look at this point.
