Justice for All at Ohio State

Jul 6, 2018

In an editorial for USA Today, sports journalist Christine Brennan boiled down the entire Ohio State Richard Strauss abuse scandal into a single statement. These are the final words of her opinion piece:  “If Jordan is found to have known about the alleged sexual abuse at Ohio State and done nothing, he will not survive.”

 Is this the goal of the investigation? Is it the goal of the media? The media has turned a real issue that needs a full and thorough investigation into a political witch hunt. Their goal is to pin this entire scandal, not on the alleged perpetrator Richard Strauss, but to prosecute and eliminate Congressman Jim Jordan.

 Ohio State University has played right into this political weaponization of the scandal. They chose their law firms and one of those law firms is Perkins Coie, the same law firm hired by Hillary Clinton and the DNC. The same law firm deeply enmeshed in the Russian Dossier scandal on Capitol Hill. That scandal is one that Congressman Jim Jordan and his colleagues have been investigating. 

 Perkins Coie has a clear conflict of interest in this case. Ohio State University has an in-house legal department. For those in-house lawyers to fail to recognize this clear conflict is an inexcusable disservice to the University and the pursuit of justice for those who may be victims. 

 There were hundreds of paid professionals who were employed by Ohio State during the tenure of Dr. Richard Strauss. The employment rosters of at least 14 sports departments and the entire medical faculty should be the starting point of this investigation. The Athletic Director and the Administration, including the President’s office must also be fully investigated. And the question must be raised as to why, since all of these student athletes were legal adults at the time, are there no records of any formal charges of abuse registered with the University or the local police authorities. Why is Perkins Coie doing an alumni survey and not calling for a criminal investigation? 

 If the goal is justice for all, then we must consider first the victims and their families, then those responsible for the abuse.That burden falls to Dr. Strauss, now deceased. He committed suicide in 2005. Should we not then be starting with the people who hired and retained Dr. Strauss? What did they know and when did they know it? Could they have known nothing for almost 20 years?

 If Jim Jordan was involved in a cover-up, then he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We don’t need Jim Jordan in Congress for America to survive. 

I am not a Republican so keeping score of a political takedown or escape is not the focus of my concern. I have known Jim Jordan since 1992 and consider him a friend. It appears he is being targeted and scapegoated in the early stages of this investigation. Common sense alone says this story, if true, is much bigger than the role of an assistant wrestling coach in his early twenties.

 So why is the media, including esteemed writers like Christine Brennan calling only for Jim Jordan’s head? 

 The University has done a very poor job to date. The media is in a feeding frenzy. The presence of Perkins Coie has trumped this whole process and turned the matter political and NBC, Rachel Maddow, and Christine Brennan are all piling on and dominating the story with their agendas.

 It is time for the Ohio Board of Regents, the Governor, Attorney General and the State Legislature to call for a full investigation of Ohio State in the full light of day. It is time for justice for all including Jim Jordan.