staff
Catherine Turcer Catherine Turcer
Legislative Director

Catherine Turcer is the director of Ohio Citizen Action’s Money in Politics Project. In 1999, Turcer became the campaign finance director for Ohio Citizen Action and in 2001 she became Citizen Action’s legislative director. Turcer is the co-author of a number of campaign finance studies including The Run for the Money: An Analysis of Campaign Contribution Patterns in Ohio 1999-2000 (March 2002); The Enron Hot Potato (February 2002), $2.9 Million from Polluters to ‘Call the Shots’ at Ohio EPA (April 2003), 2004 Contributions to Candidates for Justice and Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court (Updated Throughout Election 2004) and Following the Money: Contributions to Ohio Gubernatorial Candidates 2005-2006 (Updated Throughout Election 2006). Turcer also provides regular commentary to Ohio newspapers including the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Columbus Dispatch and The Toledo Blade. She is a frequent guest on WOSU-TV’s Columbus on the Record.

In June 2006, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell gave Turcer The Spirit of Democracy Award stating this civic honor was “in recognition of her dedicated service as legislative director for Ohio Citizen Action, where her efforts to persuade the legislative passage of full disclosure in the political arena were instrumental in creating more robust campaign finance laws.” Turcer was the chief lobbyist for the Voter’s Right-to-Know Act of 1999. The Voter’s Right-to-Know Act put campaign contributor information on the Internet so that voters can look at this information before elections. The Ohio General Assembly strengthened disclosure requirements in December 2004. Turcer actively lobbied for and testified in favor of strengthening Ohio’s pay-to-play law. In December 2006, the Ohio General Assembly passed strong pay-to-play restrictions.

In 2003, Turcer was appointed by the Ohio Secretary of State to Ohio’s Help America Vote State Planning Commission. This commission advised the Ohio Secretary of State as the state selected and purchased new voting apparatus. Turcer was instrumental in the passage of a voter verified paper audit trail for computerized voting. In May 2004, Ohio became one of the first states to require a voter verified paper audit trail.

In March 2003, Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer appointed Turcer to two study committees Campaign Finance Disclosure and Public Financing and Voter Guides. Turcer advocated for ending judicial appointments based on political party recommendations. In January 2007, Governor Ted Strickland established the Ohio Judicial Appointments Recommendation Panel to address mid-cycle replacements.

In her spare time, Turcer enjoys volunteering at the Columbus Museum of Art. Turcer earned her Bachelor of Arts in Clinical Psychology and Gerontology from Alfred University in Alfred, New York and completed graduate work in social group and research at the University of Connecticut (West Hartford, Connecticut).

Leontien Kennedy
Program Director

Leontien Kennedy Leontien Kennedy is the Program Director of Ohio Citizen Action’s Money in Politics Project. In 2005, Leontien started as a canvasser with Ohio Citizen Action. After being a field manager and a senior field manager, Leontien Kennedy became the Program Director of the Mid-Ohio region of Ohio Citizen Action. She worked on several campaigns and raised funds for the organization before she started working on the Money in Politics Project in May of 2008.

Leontien Kennedy is a native of The Netherlands and was raised in Amsterdam. She earned an Associate’s degree in Law, a Bachelor’s in Pedagogy at the University of Amsterdam and did comparison research at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, University of London in London, UK. She finished her Master’s degree in Pedagogy in 2003 and moved to Incheon, South Korea where she taught English. In 2004 she moved to Majuro, Marshall Islands to help a local school finish out the school year. In September 2004 Leontien moved to Ohio and began working with Ohio Citizen Action as soon as her “green card” arrived.

In her spare time Leontien enjoys camping. Leontien recently completed a fashion design course at the Columbus College of Art and Design, she likes to design and sew skirts and imagine being part of “Project Runway.”