A men’s room is not a safe place to be if they’re in it with Jim Black or a chiropractor. But there’s still one unanswered question. While all this money was floating around between Black and Michael Decker and chiropractors and optometrists where were all the other Democrats? I don’t mean why weren’t they in the men’s room; I mean why weren’t they asking some hard questions about the scandals.

After all, Democrats had plenty of reason to suspect something was out of kilter. They’ve known for years about the $46,000 state job Black gave Decker’s son. And they’ve known about Black’s unflagging efforts to help video poker operators. They sat and voted for Black’s bills to help chiropractors and optometrists. So why didn’t one of them stand up and say, The House Ethics Committee needs to investigate the job for Decker’s son. Was it a bribe or not? Instead, for over two years as the scandal unfolded Democrats marched in lock step behind Black. If it had been up to them – from the Governor on down – to root out corruption in the State House, Jim Black would be serving his fifth term as Speaker. Instead of cooperating with prosecutors.

It is not hard to watch a seventy-one year old mans world come crashing down around him and feel sympathy. But what about the Democratic Party as an institution? Faced with allegations of corruption within their own ranks, like ostriches, Democratic leaders stuck their heads in the sand.

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