Saturday, February 19, 2000
Taft denies McCain tiff
Anyway, he's not coming to dinner
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — Republican Party leaders in Cleveland say the office of Gov. Bob Taft tried to prevent them from accepting GOP presidential candidate John McCain as a speaker at a fund-raiser.
Mr. Taft, a supporter of George W. Bush, on Friday denied his office intervened in the process.
Matt Cox, executive director of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, said a news release announcing Mr. McCain would attend the annual Lincoln Day dinner was sent by accident, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
Once the release was out, Taft staffers “gave us the opinion that it would probably not be in the best interests of Gov. Bush or Gov. Taft to have Sen. McCain as our Lincoln Day speaker,” Mr. Cox said.
Mr. Cox played down the controversy Friday, saying that the decision not to invite Mr. McCain was an internal one.
Mr. Taft accepted an invitation on Feb. 9 to speak at the annual fund-raiser, Mr. Cox said. The date has not been set but will be sometime in mid- to late March.
On Wednesday, Mr. McCain unexpectedly accepted a blanket invitation to speak at the event that had been sent out earlier, Mr. Cox said. But he could appear only on Feb. 26.
“While we were very excited and honored to have gotten that phone call, because of time restraints we couldn't put together an event in 10 days,” Mr. Cox said.
Mr. Cox acknowledged that Mr. McCain would have been a higher profile speaker than Mr. Taft.
“If one of the options was speeding up Lincoln Day, yes, we would have had to uninvite the governor,” Mr. Cox said. “But we didn't want to do that.”
Mr. Taft said that any calls made by his staff to the Cleveland GOP after Feb. 9 would have been to make sure he was still speaking at the event.
AP coverage of South Carolina primary
Flooding hits Falmouth, may spare us
Falmouth flees rising river
Let children learn what they love to do
County may form stadium authority
Surprise cost hikes common
'Cheapest' gas is still $1.39
Ohio atttorney general wants Justin case
Walgreen's move to cost city $3.7M
Downtown shop closes after 95 years
Taft denies McCain tiff
Dems seeking to oust DeWine differ little
GOP rivals call DeWine soft
LaRosa's becomes police substation
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
GET TO IT
H.T. Chen dances are savory blend
Strauss, old Vienna enliven Music Hall
Bacteria found in chicken destined for schools
County race down to one
Deerfield inquiry under way
Fairfield councilman asked to quit
Green Twp. snags road money
Killing statement allowed
Officials want city reclassified
Peace is active, Assisi friar says
Property tax would be higher if Monroe updates own schools
Quilts made to give away
Racer won't face further sex charges
Residents to discuss parking
Suspect's claims of incompetency disputed
Teen riderhopes to make U.S. team
Theater to drop curtain on '60s wide-view films
TRISTATE DIGEST
