(cross posted
BSB)
Poor Joy Padgett, her life is so hard. First, she has to deal with the fact that her old Buddy Bob Ney had to step down from his seat. Well, Joy just took those lemons and made lemonade; Joy's buddy Bob asked her to run asked her to run and she stepped up to the plate.
But sadly, those mean old Democrats, they keep attacking Joy because she couldn't pay one measly loan. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer,
Joy Padgett's debt, and the personal bankruptcy she and her husband, Donald, filed on June 15, promise to rise as a campaign issue as her party promotes fiscal responsibility.
Their U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings list $1.16 million in debts against $202,143 in assets.
You would think that Joy, as the treasurer of that business would have to take full responsibility here. But hold on; it's not her fault, it's the economy stupid!
Padgett says most of the debt comes from Main Office Supply Co., which her husband ran for three decades until "the multiple missiles of the economy just kept hitting and hitting." Joy Padgett, a state senator from Coshocton, was company treasurer.
Well Joy and her fellow Republicans might know something about how bad the economy is. According to the Akron Beacon Journal since the Republican Party has taken over, Ohio leads the nation in job loss.
The 217,000 jobs that vanished from all of Ohio's goods-producing industries between 1997 and last year -- along with their $9.3 billion in average annual wages -- were the biggest losses of any state in the nation. The state's 15.7 percent decline in total average annual wages also ranked Ohio dead last.
Clearly, Joy was just a victim of the times. And as she points out, It makes her one of the common people!
"But that's OK. It's OK because it's real. And I can understand this in a way that maybe other people don't understand."
She's someone you could have a beer with! Joy Padgett feels your pain Ohio. Of course Joy, might have had some special insight... As State Senator, she happens to sit on a couple of committees, including Finance and Financial Institutions. As part of that Committee, Joy has lots of time to deal with Ohio's money, including the loans the state gives out:
The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee focuses on bills, policies and issues that directly impact the expenditure of state funds and the regulation of financial institutions, including banks, credit unions and savings & loans. The committee is responsible for balancing the state's operating and capital (construction) budgets. In addition, the committee also makes recommendations to the full Senate for the advice and consent of governor's appointments to financial boards, commissions, and university trustees.
Ohio is lucky to have Joy Padgett around to balance our books. It looks like Joy's going to have help with that balancing to recover from that nasty bankruptcy. Given the nature of her loan,
The federal government may have to pick up some of that ($1 million in personal and business debt) because of a Small Business Administration loan guarantee.
But for poor Joy, things just keep getting worse. From the same Cleveland Plain Dealer story:
"I know of many other business people who have gone through the same thing," she said. "Fortunately, they didn't have to have it on the front page of a newspaper."
It must be tough Joy, watching all this water under the bridge be talked about time and again, and on the front pages of the newspaper no less. You know, there might be someone who could sympathize with seeing their personal pain be spread all across the front pages of the local paper... Terry Anderson. When Terry ran for Ohio State Senate someone sent out mailers claiming that Terry Anderson, who was held hostage in Lebanon for 7 years, was soft on terror. From Wikipedia:
(The mailers) accused Anderson of being a member of the "Blame America crowd", and campaign fliers showed a photograph of Anderson in a meeting with a leader of Hezbollah. In response, Anderson said, "He and his brothers were the ones who kidnapped me, chained me, blindfolded me and beat me. My political opponent uses a picture of that interview to try to win an election."
Now who would that be Joy? Oh, that's right, it was you.
Man Joy, you're right; Life Just Ain't Fair...