Our decisions are a reflection of our character. And in the past few days we have learned a lot about Ed Fitzgerald’s character.
Ed Fitzgerald smiles like a groupie when he’s with Bill Clinton.
After it was discovered that Ed Fitzgerald was with a woman in a parking lot at 4:30 am, he promptly took the opportunity to blame the entire escapade on Republicans and the transparency that public records bring.
Fitzgerald is the first Cuyahoga County Executive after the residents voted to reform and completely overhaul the government. Given the fact that the county is still bruised from the wide sweeping FBI corruption investigation, Fitzgerald, a former FBI agent himself, should certainly see the value in public records. He won’t even release his own key card swipes to show his work hours. This is information even convicted former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora released.
Now it is known that Fitzgerald went ten years without having a drivers license. He did, however, have a learners permit some of that time. This raises some questions. Did Fitzgerald illegally drive any cars owned by the City of Lakewood or Cuyahoga County? Did he have to provide them with a driver’s license for insurance purposes? Did he carry car insurance on his personal car? How was he able to obtain this without a license.
It appears that in the middle of a possible very peculiar mid life crisis that Fitzgerald decided to run for Governor. And this is who the Democrats nominated, a man who isn’t even responsible enough to legally drive.
A few weeks ago, President Clinton endorsed Fitzgerald saying, “I’d vote for Ed FitzGerald for Governor. I read the resume.” Given Clinton’s poor history with truthfulness, this might have been a prediction of things to come for Ed. Perhaps Clinton should have asked Fitzgerald for a state issued ID.
The top of the ticket is supposed to have the allure of coattails, helping attract voters to the other candidates. At this point of the campaign, it’s easy to assume that Fitzgerald’s adolescent behavior will not motivate left leaning voters to the polls. The Ohio Democratic Party’s support of him seemed to be upheld by the fact that he is a family man and a former FBI Agent. The crutches of that support now are eroded.
Even Brent Larkin says that Fitzgerald has no chance to win. With all expectations of winning gone, Ed is now a man with nothing to lose. If he drops out, his political career is completely over as the deadline to replace him has now passed. If he stays in, he neuters the rest of the ticket’s chance of victory but he possibly could continue a low level political career in some areas where people are elected simply based upon the D after their name.
Fitzgerald likely could have been Cuyahoga County Executive for several terms. But shortly into his first term he decided to run for Governor. He should have known to clean the skeletons out of his closet first. After November he will be left with photos of himself with famous politicians and some embarrassing newspaper clippings. His statewide and likely countywide prospects will succumb to his ambitions and poor decisions.
Fitzgerald will be a victim to his own poor choices and this will always reflect upon his character.
