Hidden hobgoblins make the government go
It's not the politicians you have to watch out for.
We, as a society, focus too much on politicians. I know. I know. That’s hilarious coming from the guy who monetized his daily ramblings against obscure state legislators.
But it’s true. I’m learning that the politicians, especially in Ohio, are the low-rent perverts used by monied interests as their personal puppet show. The politicians don’t make any real money without doing various levels of corruption like sweetheart real estate deals (difficulty: city council) to insider trading (difficulty: Nancy Pelosi). They are the public face for an otherwise unpopular agenda.
Politicians have to gladhand with the unwashed masses and schlepp for their votes every couple of years. Not to mention the meetings. My god! The meetings alone would make someone who wasn’t a sociopath consider any other line of work.
All that to say that there are tremendous downsides to being a politician. And for all the heat they take, they usually have more intelligent (and eviler) people working for them.
People like Rex Elsass.
As a normal-brained Ohioan—well, as normal-brained as anyone digesting The Rooster five days a week can be considered normal-brained—you’re probably asking, “Who the hell is Rex Elsass?”
Here’s part of a Mackay Coppins profile from 2013 on Elsass’ “Christian company” based in Delaware, Ohio:
Though the Strategy Group's ranks have swelled over the past year — as the company expands beyond its advertising roots and into public relations, voter contact, and research — it continues to be defined by its larger-than-life founder. Elsass is a round, loud, cigar-smoking good 'ol boy with a private jet; a worldview rooted, he'll be quick to tell you, in his Christian faith; and a shameless killer instinct that has turned his company into one of the country's most in-demand political consulting firms.
The firm had the rare distinction of working, serially, for two presidential candidates last year — Michele Bachmann then Newt Gingrich. Other clients include the great Right hopes of 2016: Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. One of the driving forces behind the conservative surge of 2010, when they had more than two dozen tea party clients, the Strategy Group stands poised to ride a similar wave in the upcoming elections.
If there’s one lesson to take from the Holy Bible, it’s the shameless killer instinct of Jesus Christ.
That article details the implosion of The Strategy Group. But Elsass, despite the self-aggrandizing bullshit, kept swimming right into the ongoing RICO trial of his former client, disgraced State Representative Larry Householder.
Elsass’ specialty is the “introductory biography ad,” a tale he spindled perfectly for Ohio’s hog voters in Householder’s return to politics:
You probably had a similar reaction as I did to Householder’s famous ad. But you and I are not the target for that ad.
Elsass, despite being evil, understands basic tenets of communication that are only seen as sage wisdom in the carnival of unfuckable weirdos that is the Republican campaign apparatus.
From another profile on Elsass in 2017 (brackets and emphasis mine):
For one, [former Indiana Senate candidate Jim] Banks, who had been the president of the College Republicans at Indiana University, needed to get a lot less wonky. "You don't need to impress people with your intellect," Elsass told him. "Smart is overrated."
Democratic consultants will continue to ignore this simple trick as the party shifts toward white-collar, college-educated workers.
The incident that sealed his reputation as a ruthless scumbag, a negative ad against a Democratic Supreme Court Justice in 2000, reads as benign in 2023:
In 2000, he crafted attack ads against then sitting Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick. The ad showed Lady Justice peeking beneath her blindfolded eyes at piles of campaign cash Resnick supposedly traded for her decisions. The content of the ads were found to be illegal by the Ohio Elections Commission.
As much as anyone in Ohio, Elsass has played an outsized role in putting the final touches on the death cult that is current GOP politics. Guys like John Kasich, Larry Householder, and Mike DeWine — all came to Elsass for help to get elected.
Much like disgraced lobbyist Juan Cespedes earlier this week, you’ll never see large crowds gathered to burn Elsass in effigy, even though he’s as responsible as anyone in the state for our current predicament.
But unlike Cespedes, Elsass made a career in political fuckery without ever being federally indicted on federal and racketeering charges.
It makes for a luxurious lifestyle if you can stomach the hypocrisy of being a professional liar and political hatchetman while cloaking yourself in the name of Jesus Christ.
If Hell is real, it will be hottest for previously hidden hobgoblins like Elsass.
A rare "Kudos!" to The Columbus Dispatch for actually publishing an article about this scumbag.