Robert Eric McFadden, Scum Strickland Staffer

A former member of Governor Strickland’s staff, Robert McFadden, 46, Dublin, Ohio, who headed his Faith Based Initiatives program until October 2007 has been arrested as one of the main organizers of a Columbus area prostitution ring. A local TV station, NBC4 reports: “Police said McFadden was involved in Columbus prostitution for about six years and was also widely known in Democratic politics and Catholic politics as the leader of Central Ohio’s Catholics for Clinton during the last primary election.”

The Columbus Dispatch reports: “The charges include compelling prostitution involving a minor, promoting prostitution and pandering. He is being held in the Franklin County jail pending an appearance in Municipal Court this morning. Police said they have seized a computer and two vehicles. One was his wife's car, which detectives said was the setting for photos of the 17-year-old girl that McFadden then posted online.”

And the Dayton Daily News: "McFadden has been involved in Democratic politics, working for Catholics for Kerry in 2004, Catholic Alliance for the Common Good in 2006, and Sen. Hillary Clinton's primary bid last year. Strickland appointed him to head the Office on Faith-based Initiatives, a post McFadden held from February 2007 to October 2007. Dailey said, "He was not a good fit for the role... It was a mutually agreed to decision that the position wasn't working out for him."

Lots of churches and non-profits in Columbus do this faith based initiative grant stuff at the local and federal level to rehab houses, feed and serve the poor. Personally, I think it’s a bad idea. The government gets cheap labor, and the church folk get screwed. When there’s a change in administrations, the programs suffer plus the church has been taking handouts instead of tithes. It's a pact with the devil--don't preach the gospel and we'll give you money. Wonder how much he’s tainted these programs? Let's hope some observant Christians reported to Strickland--You don't become a crook over night. They leave crumbs to follow. What better place for the fox to hide than inside the hen house? After he left the governor’s staff he worked for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. What a combination! Didn’t anyone catch on to this guy? Don't they need references?

Strickland is having problems vetting the morals of his staff and fellow Democrats. Marc Dann, Ohio’s attorney general, finally resigned after sexual harrassment and misuse of government funds were revealed. As one wag put it, they couldn’t get him on adultery, or they’d lose half the legislature. After the 2004 loss, Democrats looked around at what worked for Republicans and decided it was religion and family values. Governor Strickland, a former Methodist pastor, seemed a good bet, and he ran on a squeaky clean ethics platform because our former governor didn’t report a free golf game.

The Marc Dann stories in Dispatch, right up through this week.

Update: While checking this story later in google for updates, I see a rabid anti-Republican, anti-Bush web site (got BDS bad) in the original title referred to McFadden as a GOPer. After realizing he was a Democrat, the blogger (I think it was a Huff Puff post) changed GOPer to Pol, not Dem. However, the URL remained the same even though the title changed, so when you see it on Google, it looks like McFadden was a Republican. Porno-pimpers come in all colors and parties and I doubt that his party had a significant role in his scumminess. However, I think it's delightful that the blogger looked at his "faith-based" and assumed the worst, then found out he worked for Kerry, Clinton and Strickland, all loyal Democrats.