COLUMBUS -- "When a Cleveland bridge that carries 35,000 vehicles a day has a problem, Ohio Department of Transportation Deputy Director Bonnie Teeuwen has to make calculations that are a lot less cut and dried than figuring structural stresses or materials strength: How much should she say to whom, and in what sort of tone?
On Sept. 11, 2007, Teeuwen sent ODOT's then-director, James G. Beasley, an emergency repair request for the Main Avenue Bridge that said, in part: "The localized buckling indicates that the lower chords are overstressed. Failure to repair these chords as soon as possible could result in the collapse of the suspended span." Chords are steel plates that support the bridge.
The next day, ODOT issued a news release telling the public the bridge was 'structurally safe,'" Cleveland Plain Dealer.
COLUMBUS -- "What makes the secrecy of Cuyahoga's commissioners especially troubling for advocates of good government is that it continues during the biggest corruption probe in county history, which focuses on one of the men behind the closed doors -- Jimmy Dimora... Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action said commissioners should have handled more business in public after the investigation became public 11 months ago with agents raiding Dimora's home and office and the home and office of Auditor Frank Russo. 'I'm surprised they didn't attempt to create as open a process as possible at that point,' Turcer said. 'It shows a lack of shame,'" Joe Guillen, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Published June 28. Jun 22: Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson unveils 'new and improved' ethics policy
Mayor Frank Jackson
CLEVELAND -- "Mayor Frank Jackson on Friday rolled out what he called a 'new and improved' ethics policy for city workers following a federal corruption probe that upended Cleveland's building department.... Councilman Mike Polensek said Friday that he thinks the mayor's push for city employees to understand the ethics policy is a good start.... Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action echoed that, but added, 'What the city needs, what Cuyahoga County needs, is ethics reform,'" Amanda Garrett, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Posted Jun 19; Associated Press Posted Jun 22. Jun 19: Cuyahoga patronage practices outlined in federal documents: Crisis in county government
CLEVELAND -- "Certain county officials used taxpayer-funded payrolls to give jobs and raises to each others' friends and relatives and pay back personal and political favors, according to federal documents filed last week.
Charges against three employees of the Cuyahoga County engineer's office show what can happen when a culture of patronage goes unchecked...
'It's like a round robin of gifts and perks and all at the expense of taxpayers,' said Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action. Turcer said she's never seen anything in Ohio as vast as the quid pro quo that permeates Cuyahoga County's government.
'It is this kind of thing where you're trying to put the puzzle pieces together and it's scary how neatly they fit together,' she said," Rachel Dissell, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Jun 17: Who will stand against corruption in Cuyahoga County?
CLEVELAND -- "Who will break the silence? Which elected official will express the outrage that so many residents and taxpayers in Cuyahoga County are feeling? Which prominent Democrat -- because almost every major official in this county is a Democrat -- will have the guts to stand up and tell Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo that they need to go?
Yes, it's true that Dimora and Russo have not been charged with any crime. And it's also true that last Friday's criminal information filed by the U.S. attorney is largely based on allegations by four men who are expected to plead guilty and hope to save what they can of their own hides," editorial, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Jun 16: Settlement of dispute not public record?
COLUMBUS -- "The Ohio Concrete Construction Association and the Ohio Department of Transportation have reached a settlement in a mandamus action alleging the state agency illegally withheld public records.
But, ODOT says, the settlement of the case since dismissed in the Ohio Supreme Court.. is not a public record because it is not final.... According to the state's Sunshine Laws manual, if a draft record would be a public record in final form (such as settlement agreements) and it has been shared with others -- which obviously is true in this case -- it is a public record," Randy Ludlow, Columbus Dispatch.
CLEVELAND-- "The first major charges in a three-year county corruption investigation -- filed in U.S. District Court Friday -- paint a portrait of government leaders who saw the public till as a bankroll for personal fun. The behavior of political leaders laid out in the charges is staggering both in its scope and its audacity... 'We deserve better,' said Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a public watchdog group. 'It's not enough to be disgusted. Voters need to ask for better or else they'll continue to be taken advantage of,'" John Caniglia, Peter Krouse and Rachel Dissell, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Published June 12. June 15: State foots bill for some fancy travel
COLUMBUS
-- "Bracing for a budget crisis back in January 2008 that now engulfs state government, Gov. Ted Strickland issued an executive order prohibiting all non-essential travel overseas and in the United States for state workers.
But a Dispatch investigation shows that, although total state travel costs have declined, state employees continued to travel for an array of conferences, association meetings and other purposes, both out of state and overseas... 'During this economic crisis, our public officials and government officials need to really, really look at what is essential,' said Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a nonpartisan government watchdog," Mark Niquette, Columbus Dispatch. Published June 14.
DAYTON -- "Ohio's elections chief has ordered up the utility records of a state senator accused of not living where he's registered to vote.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has directed the Montgomery County Board of Elections in Dayton to consider the subpoenaed documentation of water, electric and natural gas usage by Jon Husted.
Republican Sen. Husted is the former Ohio House speaker. The investigation by Democrat Brunner concerns whether he lives in a Dayton suburb," Associated Press.
COLUMBUS -- "Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor today launched a new Web site intended to track the more than $8 billion in federal stimulus money coming into the state.
'Ohio is expected to receive more than $8 billion in federal stimulus funds and Ohioans deserve to know how that money is being spent,' Taylor said in a statement. 'Accountability and transparency are important to the proper function of government and my office is making this site available to the public as we gather information necessary to properly audit the receipt and use of those monies.'
At OhioStimulusTracker.com, visitors will be able to see which local governments are receiving funds and for which projects. Taylor said the Web site will allow people to report allegations of fraud," Reginald Fields, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
WASHINGTON DC -- "'Government data is a national asset. It belongs to the tax payer,' said Beth Noveck. Noveck is the Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government. She points to a brainstorming session at whitehouse.gov/open. 'We do not have a monopoly on the best ideas,' said Noveck. 'And we do not have all the answers to the questions that we need, in order to face the tremendous challenges that we confront today.'
So the reaction from government watchdogs – three words: more, more, more. 'My understanding is that the government intends to put up a lot more information as time goes on,' said Marcia Hoffman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation , 'But it remains to be seen what exactly that information is going to be and how they are going to encourage agencies to voluntarily put it up there.' Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation said that the government should make it a priority to get the most important information up sooner. She highlighted lobbyist information and said, 'There are many lobbying reports that filed in the Justice Department that have never seen the light of day. That is to say that they are not on-line, that being the definition of ‘light of day’ in the 21st Century,'" Andrea Seabrook, Washington, National Public Radio, All Things Considered.
Valerie Jarrett is Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for
Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison.
WASHINGTON DC -- "Senior White House officials in the Office of Science and Technology Policy... announced an exciting new experiment the Obama Administration is conducting to develop policy on open, transparent, participatory, and collaborative governance [on May 21, 2009]. If you are interested in civic engagement, collaborative public management, public-private partnerships, dispute resolution in government, freedom of information, or access to government data, this is an initiative you may wish to participate in. There is a transformational change in the use of technology underway in this administration," The White House, open government blog.
COLUMBUS -- "A federal law prohibits universities from releasing "educational records," and parking tickets qualify at Ohio State.... And the former U.S. senator who wrote the law 35 years ago is aghast by how it has been bastardized. What it was supposed to do, James Buckley told us, was keep grade cards and transcripts private unless a student wanted them made public.
Now, the law is used by some schools to block the public from seeing who got parking tickets or whether they're paid. It prevents the public from knowing whether sports agents or other people with questionable motives have too much access to student athletes. It prevents donors and taxpayers from knowing whether sports programs that spend billions every year are being held to the highest standards," Benjamin J. Marrison, The Columbus Dispatch. May 27: House finance Chairman Vernon Sykes retracts suggestion for private meetings on budget
COLUMBUS -- "A key House lawmaker rescinded his call for private meetings between Democratic subcommittee chairs and Senate Republicans after a reporter asked if the talks could violate the state's open meetings law....
Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a public watchdog group, said the joint meetings Sykes called for would have violated the state law.... 'So often we don't know what happened in the discussion leading up to the final decisions because of all of the caucusing that goes on,' said Turcer. 'We need a process that is more open, not less open,'" Aaron Marshall, Cleveland Plain Dealer. May 27: Strickland makes “final” release of school data to Rep. Morgan
COLUMBUS -- "Gov. Ted Strickland has made a fifth and the governor’s office says “final” release of information to Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, in response to Morgan’s request for information on Strickland’s “evidence-based” model for school reform.
Strickland’s office announced the release on Tuesday, May 26 and referred to Rep. Morgan’s “overly-broad public records request.”
Morgan said he was reviewing the material. He said the latest release came after he sent Strickland’s office a letter on May 19 complaining that he hadn’t received any additional material after an Ohio Supreme Court ruling in the case. Morgan had gone to the Supreme Court in an effort to get the material," William Hershey, Dayton Daily News. May 15: Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office employee roster includes 350 workers related to other employees
CUYAHOGA COUNTY-- "The employee roster at the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office resembles a towering family tree with hundreds of branches.... Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a public watchdog group, said it is time for Cuyahoga County officials to end the rampant practice of hiring friends and relatives.
'We expect this kind of nepotism from the mob,' she said. 'This kind of big family is not what we expect from our government. It's time to break this cycle,'" Mark Puente, Cleveland Plain Dealer. May 13: Treasure trove of fraud is revealed Documents in box link former ODOT official to schemes
CUYAHOGA COUNTY -- "Documents found in the garage of a former state transportation manager helped expose a wide-ranging corruption scheme that involved kickbacks, phony bids and front companies, a watchdog report revealed yesterday.
Investigators probing alleged fraud at the Ohio Department of Transportation seized a box of documents that shed light on a decade-long system of rigging bids, the state inspector general said.... [Inspector General Thomas P.] Charles' office forwarded those allegations to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office. No one has been charged," James Nash, The Columbus Dispatch.
COLUMBUS -- "It's a shame that some of our state legislators have chosen to ignore the election law about campaign financing that they, in fact, drew up.
The Friday Dispatch article "Election-law violators owe $31.7 million" said that there is $31.7 million owed to the taxpayers of Ohio because of noncompliance with the law and that the likelihood of collecting even a fraction of what is owed is doubtful.
That the state is settling for pennies on the dollar with these people is a travesty. Couple that with the report that the Ohio Elections Commission can't seem to keep up with its responsibility to report election-law violations in a timely manner, and the public is getting shortchanged two ways," The Columbus Dispatch. Apr 30: Editorial: A bad call Ohio Supreme Court puts the public's right to know at risk
COLUMBUS -- "Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a government agency doesn't have to turn over a fact-finding report prepared by a private lawyer because doing so would violate attorney-client privilege. It's disappointing that not one of the seven justices stood up for the public's right to monitor its government.
The court took a far more expansive view than it needed to of the attorney-client privilege and of the exceptions to Ohio's public-records law. In doing so, the court has opened a door for government mischief.
'The decision lays out a road map for governmental entities to cloak fact-finding reports with the attorney-client privilege, thus shielding the report from inspection under the Public Records Act, simply by engaging counsel to prepare the report,' said Marion Little, a Columbus lawyer who has represented The Dispatch in public-records cases," The Columbus Dispatch.
COLUMBUS -- "The Ohio Supreme Court has shoved the state farther down that slippery slope of keeping secrets from the public.
The court ruled unanimously last week that a report from a public agency investigating corruption allegations against that agency's boss is not a public record. It stressed that the documents used to compile the report are public records, but decided that the report itself is protected by attorney-client privilege.
The Toledo Blade sued last year to obtain the report, which had been commissioned by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. The document dealt with allegations that the port authority's president had an extramarital affair with a lobbyist profiting from the port. After viewing the report, the port authority board fired its president, but agreed with port lawyers who argued that the report's release 'would be an unprecedented extension of the Ohio public records law,'" Cleveland Plain Dealer. Apr 27: Gov. Ted Strickland must keep providing records on education plan, Ohio Supreme Court says
COLUMBUS -- "The Ohio Supreme Court ordered Gov. Ted Strickland to continue complying with a public-records request for information on his school-funding plan made by a Republican state lawmaker.
Rep. Seth Morgan, of the Dayton area, took the Democratic governor to court this month after twice filing public-records requests with Strickland's office for documents relating to his "evidence-based" school-funding model and not getting them.
After the suit was filed, Strickland gave Morgan thousands of pages of documents he sought while delaying others until they could be examined thoroughly by legal counsel," Aaron Marshall, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Posted Apr 25
NELSONVILLE -- "The president of Hocking College's faculty union was astonished when she received public records she requested from her employer.
It's what she didn't receive -- faculty and staff evaluations of the finalist who is the union's apparent choice as the college's new president -- that led her to denounce the selection process as a 'fiasco.'
Cheryl Manksy, a math professor and union president, was told yesterday that the evaluations had been destroyed by Alan Geiger, a college trustee who is leading the presidential search," Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch. Posted Apr 24 Apr 21: Ohio Supreme Court rules investigative report of Hartung affair not a public record
Jim Hartung.
COLUMBUS -- "An investigatory report drafted by a private law firm on behalf of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority is protected by attorney-client privilege and not a public record that must be turned over to The Blade, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The Blade had tried to obtain a copy of the report drafted by the Toledo law firm of Spengler Nathanson, hired by the public agency using public dollars to look into potential legal liabilities stemming from the alleged extramarital affair of the authority's then-president, James Hartung, with Kathy Teigland, a contract lobbyist for the authority.
The authority's board subsequently terminated Mr. Hartung's employment on Aug. 1, 2008, citing the improper relationship with a port authority vendor," Jim Provance, Toledo Blade. Apr 21: Husted turns over some records, complains of treatment
DAYTON -- "Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, submitted some documents requested by the Ohio Secretary of State in her residency investigation of him, although he did not provide water, phone or tax records and he blacked out information on most of what he gave her.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s office released the documents on Monday, April 20, after Husted submitted them on Friday.
The documents include a single Dayton Power and Light bill from April 2 showing his monthly usage as 197 kilowatt hours at his home at 148 Sherbrooke Drive, Kettering," Lynn Hulsey, Dayton Daily News. Apr 17: Strickland notes 17 trips on ethics form Financial disclosure statements required by state panel
COLUMBUS -- "Gov. Ted Strickland took 17 trips last year for various official functions, costing taxpayers nearly $8,400.
Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who was also Ohio's development director in 2008, topped his boss with nearly $15,500 in state-paid travel costs.
And Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner accepted 14 gifts of more than $75, including flowers, a clock for performing a wedding and tickets to a pre-game lunch at the Ohio State-Ohio University football game," Mark Niquette, The Columbus Dispatch. Apr 17: Editorial: No muzzle Banning broadcasts of 911 calls would harm the public's right to know
COLUMBUS -- "Having an open and accountable government entails some risk. But those risks are far outweighed by the value of keeping government open to examination. At a minimum, before proposing to close records, government officials should have to prove that substantial harms have occurred and that they significantly outweigh the public's right to know.
The news media have an obligation to use 911 tapes sparingly and responsibly, and in most cases do so. Only a tiny percentage of 911 calls are broadcast. An occasional example of sensationalism is not a compelling reason to wipe out a whole section of Ohio's open-records law. Such broadcasts sometimes show heroic responses by 911 dispatchers and, sometimes, abject failures by them. In both cases, the public is served by knowing how these public servants are doing jobs that can mean life and death in emergencies.
When it comes to the public's business and public records, the benefit of the doubt should go to openness, transparency and accountability. Secrecy should be suspect. Secrecy promotes abuse; openness promotes reform," The Columbus Dispatch. Apr 17: Ohio college trustees have donated generously to Democrats
COLUMBUS -- "After his party maligned Republicans three years ago for selling university trustee seats to generous campaign contributors, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland has also appointed some big political donors to the coveted posts.
An Associated Press analysis shows that trustees appointed by Strickland have given nearly $268,000 to statewide, legislative and judicial campaigns since 2005, $121,000 of that to Strickland and about $19,000 to Democratic House Speaker Armond Budish.
Some $60,000 of those donations came within a window close to their appointments when giving would have been prohibited if a Democratic-sponsored bill had passed in 2006," Julie Carr Smyth, Associated Press. Apr 14: OpenSecrets lets users download data for free
"While the Obama administration is working on making government data available on sites like Data.gov for citizens to mash up, a government watchdog group is doing the same for campaign financing information.
The nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics is making 200 million data records from its archive free for anyone to download for noncommercial purposes on its site OpenSecrets.org.
The organization expects regular citizens to use the information, available in CSV (comma-separated values) format, to analyze funding for political campaigns through projects like charts, maps, and mobile applications," Stephanie Condon, CNET News.
COLUMBUS -- "Republicans in the General Assembly are right: The Legislative Budget Office ought to be re-established so that lawmakers have a source of budget information and analysis independent of the governor's office.
Creating the state budget is a joint project of the governor and the General Assembly, so all related information ought to be as readily available and transparent as possible. But Republican legislators feel they can't get enough data from the administration of Gov. Ted Strickland to do their job.
The administration has been stonewalling legislators and the media about the numbers behind Strickland's ambitious school-funding formula. On Monday, Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, a member of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee, filed suit against the governor for failing to comply with public-records requests for the documents used in developing his school-funding plan," The Columbus Dispatch. Posted Apr 12. Apr 13: Blog: GOP lawmaker gets plenty of reading material
COLUMBUS -- "Gov. Ted Strickland’s office on Friday begrudgingly handed over another 6,171 pages of material to a Republican lawmaker who filed suit in the Ohio Supreme Court this week in order to force the governor to disclose the evidence behind his evidence-based funding model.
Strickland has used words like 'immature' and 'raw politics' to describe the lawsuit and criticism from Rep. Seth Morgan, a Huber Heights Republican and member of the subcommittee examining the governor’s school-funding plan.
Sticks and stones, says Morgan, who on Wednesday was granted a motion to expedite the hearing process on his lawsuit," Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch. Posted Apr 10. Apr 9: Public records law put to test State Supreme Court appears cold to 'opening' district exams
CINCINNATI -- "Forget about "cheat sheets" or copying answers from the kid in the next desk.
If a group of Cincinnati teachers prevails in a case now before the Ohio Supreme Court, enterprising students might be able to ace their tests simply by using the state's public-records law to get a copy of the test before it's given.
So say the Cincinnati Public Schools, which are fighting the teachers' demands for copies of semester exams given to ninth-graders," James Nash, The Columbus Dispatch. Apr 9: Blog: High-flying Congress members? Check out their staffs
WASHINGTON DC -- "One of the most popular toys on Capitol Hill these days is a website, LegiStorm, that lets you look up salaries, financial disclosure statements and trip records -- not just for members of Congress but for their staffs, too. This stuff has long been available on paper, but LegiStorm makes it easy to find without going to several offices and digging through multiple files and fine-print record books. The result: angst and envy as congressional staffers compare one another's financial status. Some of them think the site's founder, Jock Friedly, is the Devil incarnate, and others have begged LegiStorm to take their records offline, as The Washington Post reported last week.
But there is a side benefit for those who like public disclosure of how their public servants work. Since the data is less cumbersome to find, reporters who regularly check financial disclosure statements for Congress members now can quickly look up data on their staffs, a formerly time-consuming fishing expedition. Which brings us to this irony:
As Congress in early 2006 was wringing its hands over free travel to cushy and exotic destinations, Cleveland Democrat Stephanie Tubbs Jones took a trip with other lawmakers to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Her lodging: The Ritz-Carlton resort. Her mode of travel: private jet. Among her fellow travelers on the free trip, never publicly known until right now: Her press secretary, Nicole Williams," Stephen Koff, Washington Bureau Chief. Apr 8: Blog: Strickland turns over some records on school funding plan
COLUMBUS -- "A lawmaker who turned to the Ohio Supreme Court Monday to try to force Gov. Ted Strickland to turn over the evidence for his school-funding plan got a response a day later.
Much of the research material underlying Strickland's plan, requested by Rep. Seth Morgan, a Dayton-area Republican, was delivered to him in electronic form Tuesday afternoon by the governor's office.... Morgan said he hadn't decided yet whether to drop his suit, but was encouraged to finally get a response from Strickland. 'I guess filing a suit with the Supreme Court has got some dialogue started now,' Morgan said," Aaron Marshall, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Apr 6: Blog: Rep. Morgan takes public records case against Strickland to Supreme Court
COLUMBUS-- "Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, today, April 6, took his public records case against Gov. Ted Strickland to the Ohio Supreme Court. Morgan previously had filed two public records requests with Strickland’s office seeking the documents that are the basis of Strickland’s “evidence-based model” for school reform and school funding. Stickland so far has not communicated directly with his office, Morgan said.
Morgan has petitioned the court to require the Strickland Administration to comply with Ohio’s public records laws," William Hershey, Dayton Daily News.
CANTON -- "Mayor William J. Healy II doesn’t face re-election until 2011. Still, he raised about $28,000 in campaign contributions last year.... Catherine Turcer, executive director of the money in politics project for Ohio Citizen Action, a non-profit government watchdog group, said the public should pay close attention to campaign finance records.
'We have the right to know who is contributing to our decision makers because all voters need to be able to determine whether those contributions are influencing public policy, and that’s actually not an easy thing,' Turcer said. 'If it were easy, it would be bribery,'" Ed Balint, Canton Repository. Mar 26: Sheriff Gerald McFaul resigns amid questions about cash
CLEVELAND -- "Cuyahoga County Sheriff Gerald McFaul resigned Wednesday afternoon following three months of Plain Dealer stories that spawned a criminal investigation and detailed a wide range of misconduct in his office.... Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a public watchdog group, said the state legislature needs to change the disclosure laws to require officeholders to list the dollar amount of all gifts.
'This is so out of bounds and inappropriate,' she said about McFaul. 'It's amazing how he is taking advantage of his employees,'" Mark Puente, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Mar 25: Lawsuit threat ends secrecy over medical mart
CLEVELAND -- "Under threat of a lawsuit from The Plain Dealer, Cuyahoga County commissioners Tuesday promised not to approve a development agreement on the taxpayer-funded $425 million medical mart project until the public has at least a week to review the deal.... But staying under budget is no guarantee that public money won't be used improperly, notes Catherine Turcer, director of the watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action's Money in Politics Project. 'These kinds of public-private agreements can be just a wonderful opportunity,' Turcer said Tuesday. 'But they also bring a host of problems, not least of which is that we, the public, don't know what's going on. . . . The old maxim is, 'Follow the money.' But a lot of times, when [tax] money goes to a quasi-public entity, the public doesn't have any idea where the money is going. And let's face it: It's our money,'" Joe Guillen, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Mar 10: Editorial: Don't tamper with records access fees
CANTON -- "Ohio’s public records laws have a simple premise: Make the public’s access to the public’s own records easy and affordable.
But legislators are always nibbling at the edges of these protections, sometimes with what they believe are the best of intentions.
Case in point: House Bill 22 , introduced by Rep. Lorraine Fende, a Democrat from Willowick, and co-sponsored by 11 other House members, including Democrat Stephen D. Slesnick of Canton," Canton Repository. Posted Mar 8. Mar 9: Request made for ODOT records re: AMP
COLUMBUS -- "A public records request and subsequent complaint about the alleged untimely response of that request has been made by Ohio Citizen Action against the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The OAC’s 'Money in Politics' project is searching for public records pertaining to American Municipal Power-Ohio’s 1,000 MW power plant proposed for Letart Falls. The original request for documents was made on Dec. 9, 2008 and on Feb. 23 OAC received word that the no documentation involving AMP-Ohio was found in the District.... On Friday, Turcer said she has since spoken to Sullivan who is now expanding the parameters of a new search. According to Turcer, Sullivan said she would update her on Friday about the new search for public records at ODOT regarding AMP-Ohio," Beth Sergent, Pomeroy Daily Sentinel. Mar 9: Letter to the Editor: Officials stand ready to close meetings
COLUMBUS -- "Here we go again. County commissioners, school boards and even General Assembly concerns are proposing that 'executive sessions' are needed ('Hilliard voters to weigh in on closed meetings,' Dispatch article, Feb. 15). Private meetings should be allowed, condoned, respected -- these groups probably think we should celebrate them.
After all, there are topics just too powerful, too important to be talked about in front of us.
We need to be protected from the tough issues. It's better if these words be spoken in the dark and quiet. Phooey," The Columbus Dispatch. Mar 6: Enquirer sues CPS
CINCINNATI -- "The Cincinnati school board is violating Ohio's public-records laws by not opening mail containing résumés of candidates seeking the district's top job, The Enquirer alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday. The newspaper sued the school district in the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals. The suit seeks to have the board open the post office box where the résumés are mailed and provide public access to the résumés," Kimball Perry, Cincinnati Enquirer.
COLUMBUS -- "Ohio's inspector general has concluded that the Ohio Department of Transportation improperly denied public records requests from in-house job candidates.... The investigation also found the agency failed to comply to records requests from those who did not land the job, which the employee finally received after filing a grievance and reaching a settlement with ODOT," Randy Lulow, The Columbus Dispatch.
COLUMBUS --"After a hard-fought, expensive election season, there’s not a ton of campaign cash remaining in the coffers of some Ohio members of Congress heading into the next cycle.
Freshman Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy of Columbus, for instance, had just $12,216 in her campaign committee as of Dec. 31, according to the end-of-the-year report filed electronically over the weekend with the Federal Election Commission. And Kilroy’s committee has a debt of nearly $163,000....
Those who typically are left with more on hand are veteran lawmakers who didn’t face tough reelection battles," Jonathan Riskind, The Columbus Dispatch. Feb 3: Blog: State employees’ salaries all online
COLUMBUS --"The conservative Buckeye Institute has unveiled an online data base listing all state employees’ salaries.
Just type in a name, and up comes the individual’s salary. A press release says you can also search by the highest to lowest paid," Ellen Belcher, Dayton Daily News. Feb 2: Editorial: Ohio should keep closer tabs on lobbyists
CLEVELAND --"If you fancy a feeding frenzy in human form, scan the Statehouse lobbies during this year's state budget debate and when legalized-gambling schemes surface, as they soon will. That'll also be about when the public interest will be most imperiled in Columbus, because of Ohio's less-than-toothy lobbying law.
The law does require more data about lobbyists' spending than it once did. But unlike some other big states, Ohio still doesn't require lobbyists to reveal how much they're paid, by which clients, for what.
In contrast, January's State Legislatures magazine reports that a score of states have tightened their lobbying laws including, in some cases, 'requiring lobbyists to disclose how much they earn. . . . ,'" Cleveland Plain Dealer. Feb 2: Gov. Ted Strickland raises big money -- for himself
COLUMBUS --"While Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's administration is wrestling with an enormous budget deficit, his re-election campaign is enjoying a $2 million surplus, according to his latest finance report, filed Friday with the Ohio Secretary of State.
Strickland, a Democrat who raised a record-breaking $17 million for his 2006 campaign for governor, took in $1.7 million during the last six months of the year. He raised $422,000 in the first half of the year.
Strickland only recently announced a series of fund-raisers for his 2010 re-election. Though he spent nearly $275,000 in the last six months, he still has $2 million in the bank," Mark Naymik, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Feb 2: Blog: Conservancy judges can meet in secret
COLUMBUS --"Panels of judges who control Ohio's conservancy districts are not subject to Ohio's public-meeting laws and can deliberate and raise property owners' assessments in closed meetings.
That's the upshot of the Ohio Supreme Court's 4-3 refusal this week to review an appeals court decision affirming a lower-court decision to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Stark County woman.... The appeals court found, and the Ohio Supreme Court agreed by not reviewing its ruling, that courts and judges are exempt from public meeting laws. Conservancy district oversight panels are lawfully created courts, the appelate judges ruled," Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch. Jan 29: House fortifies whistleblower protections
WASHINGTON DC --"The House voted yesterday to strengthen whistleblower protections for federal employees, including those working for the Transportation Security Administration and others employed in national security areas.
The bill also would create specific protections for those who expose abuses of authority by those trying to manipulate or censor scientific research in federal agencies for political purposes. Critics of the administration of former president George W. Bush alleged that scientific findings were often influenced by politics.
The measure, passed by a voice vote, was attached as an amendment to the $819 billion House economic stimulus package," Jim Abrams, Associated Press. Jan 26: Editorial: The 'O' is for openness
TOLEDO --"Assuming he sticks with it, President Obama will have initiated a sea change in the way government handles one of its most valuable commodities - information.
On his first day in office, Mr. Obama signed executive orders that underscore his campaign commitment to meaningful change, including a directive to every federal agency and department to comply with requests for public information.
That may not seem like such a big deal to the average American, but it should. The action reverses an eight-year Bush administration policy of aggressive secrecy through manipulation of the federal Freedom of Information Act," Toledo Blade. Posted on Jan 25. Jan 20: Campaign contribution limits still a work in progress
PITTSBURG --"In Ohio, a campaign finance bill designed to stop 'pay-to-play' contracting was approved by the state Legislature in the wake of the Coingate scandal, which essentially brought down the Ohio Republican Party in 2006, said Catherine Turcer, director of the political watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action. 'Here you had a big political donor who was rewarded with the state's investment of millions of public dollars in his business,' said Ms. Turcer, whose group tracks the flow of money and politics in Ohio.
'Because of that scandal, the Legislature passed a law limiting everybody that contracts with all levels of government to an aggregate of $2,000 [in contributions to a candidate] per election cycle,' Ms. Turcer said," Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Jan 20: Councils, boards won't change way they fill vacancies Secret interviews legal, they say, but watchdogs object
COLUMBUS -- "The Columbus City Council appointed two new members on Tuesday. The Columbus school board announced the appointment of a member Tuesday and will soon replace another.
Neither interviewed candidates in public.... 'So often an appointment becomes an anointment, since they do get elected,' said Catherine Turcer, an open-government activist with Ohio Citizen Action. 'So we need as open a process as we can practically have,'" Martin Rozenman and Jim Woods, The Columbus Dispatch. Blog: Closed-door interviews thwart openness Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch.
CLEVELAND -- "Certain county officials used taxpayer-funded payrolls to give jobs and raises to each others' friends and relatives and pay back personal and political favors, according to federal documents filed last week.
Charges against three employees of the Cuyahoga County engineer's office show what can happen when a culture of patronage goes unchecked...
'It's like a round robin of gifts and perks and all at the expense of taxpayers,' said Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action. Turcer said she's never seen anything in Ohio as vast as the quid pro quo that permeates Cuyahoga County's government.
'It is this kind of thing where you're trying to put the puzzle pieces together and it's scary how neatly they fit together,' she said," Rachel Dissell, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
