Matt Blunt: Liar or Dupe?

The Columbia Tribune's columnist seems to set up the false dilemma:

That's what's so disappointing about the case of Randa Hayes.

Hayes is the former employee of the Department of Economic Development who resigned in disgrace last week. Surely, had she not resigned, she would have been fired.

Her crime is that she is, or was, a thief.

Democrats on the warpath to bring down the governor discovered that Hayes had a criminal conviction that would likely disqualify her as director of the office of Business Development and Trade. Hayes, then Randa Ismail, was charged with theft and forgery in 1996 while living in Cook County, Ill. She had apparently appropriated money from her sorority for her personal use and got caught. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was ordered to pay restitution of more than $30,000.

This is the kind of embarrassing disclosure that causes governors heartburn.

The public will put up with a lot, but usually they'll draw the line at having folks convicted of theft-related offenses controlling state purse strings.

The politician's first role in such controversies, of course, is to deny. The governor says he didn't know about the theft. Neither did Director of Economic Development Greg Steinhoff. Hayes had been clean in Missouri, so why bother with a search of Illinois records?

Nobody knew. They were duped.

The author then spends the rest of the column explaining that Blunt could be more than a liar and a dupe, he could also betray his appointees by throwing them under the political bus.

We at DMB2008 remember our job applications here in the state of Missouri wherein we are asked if we've been convicted of a felony, but our thumbnail Web research offers only ambiguity into the length of time at which it becomes inappropriate to ask about misdemeanor convictions. We remain, despite the shrill klaxon of Blunt haters yowling disapproval throughout the media, unclear whether the plea deal also included expunging the conviction

So we at DMB2008 think this represents unforgiving hardball politics which doesn't necessarily reflect badly upon Matt Blunt because we feel that Hayes' critics wouldn't extend the same "string 'er-up" mentality when confronted with a vehicular homicide prepetrator or a sexual assault offender denied a job in the insurance industry. Undoubtedly, the latter would get more sympathy unless overtly Republican.