OHIO: Gay Rights Lobbyist Named Director Of State Republican Party

Matt Borges, a hired lobbyist for Equality Ohio and other unrelated groups, has been named the executive director of the Ohio Republican Party. Borges had been working on a still-pending bill to ban anti-gay housing and employment discrimination.

Borges, recently named to his role by Ohio GOP Chairman Robert T. Bennett, said he will take a leave of absence from the Columbus lobbying firm Roetzel & Andress through the end of the year and will resign as a lobbyist registered with the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee. His leave will begin soon — there’s one little-known bill in the legislature of interest to a client he’d like to see through — and will include a hiatus from lobbying for his 16 clients currently registered with the state. They include the MetroHealth System of Cleveland and Akron public schools.

At this writing I haven't found any mention that Borges is gay himself, but merely counting Equality Ohio among his many clients is enough to condemn him to anti-gay hate groups.