| 2005 Campaign Finance Disclosure |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Background In December 2004, the Ohio General Assembly held a special session devoted to campaign finance reform. House Bill 1 (HB 1) of this special session was somewhat contentious because it quadrupled campaign finance limits for individual donors. However, HB 1 included some marked improvements in campaign finance disclosure and a specific requirement to clarify the economic interests of individual contributors
In 2005, many statewide candidates failed to meet even the most basic identification requirements. The following candidates failed to identify less than 65% of the required economic information of individual donors: Bryan Flannery, Marc Dann, Tim Grendell and Barbara Sykes. This can be contrasted with the candidates who identified more than 90% of the economic interests of individual contributors: Betty Montgomery, Jennette Bradley and Mary Taylor.
Disclosure of Contributions of $10,000*
Total Disclosure Breakdown
No gubernatorial candidate received a grade higher than a B. Bryan Flannery received the lowest overall grade due to his disclosure of only 8.9% of the sources of funds that require identification. Both Republican gubernatorial candidates received higher grades than either democratic candidate. Republican State Treasurer candidate Jennette Bradley received the highest grade of 98.8%. Both Dann and Brunner updated their disclosure of employers based on preliminary results of this study. ___
Both Republican and Democratic candidates running in the State Treasurers race received the highest overall grade (81.2%). Candidates running for Governor received the lowest grade (63.9%) but this is due Flannery's surprisingly low grade. Recommendations During 2006, candidates should disclose a minimum of 95% of the required economic information so that voters can "follow the money." It is not unreasonable to ask candidates to follow the law. Good disclosure is the first step in rooting out problems in the system. It is nearly impossible to get a picture of the flow of contributions to candidates if they do not properly disclose. 2005 Contributions to Candidates for Statewide
Office
Methodology Analysis of Campaign Finance Reports The Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund analyzed 2005 contributions (2005 Midyear Filing and the 2005 Annual Report) to gubernatorial candidates. Totals include contributions from political action committees (PACs), labor unions, political party and candidate committees and individuals. The database is based on the filings of the gubernatorial candidates, available in computerized form from the Ohio Secretary of State. These filings were submitted electronically by the candidate committees to the Secretary of State and are available on-line at www.state.oh.us/sos/. To identify the employers or the organizational affiliations of contributors, the Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund did searches on the Internet and used the following databases:
It should be noted that a check from Christine Schulman to Ted Strickland's campaign on July 14, 2005 was returned because the check was written on an account that was closed. He did receive a contribution of $10,000 that cleared from Schulman on July 27, 2005. Disclosure The Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund analyzed the 2005 contributions to candidates for statewide office. This information was obtained in electronic format from the office of the Ohio Secretary of State. The analysis of the disclosure of employer/name of business is based solely on the information provided in the employer/name of business field. Our grades are based on the total dollar amount, rather than the number of contributions. Grades were calculated by dividing the total dollar amount of contributions identified by the total dollar amount of contributions that were required by law to be identified. Here is an example of how each grade was calculated: Candidate A identified $2,296,109.10 of applicable employer/name of business contributions and $2,347,184.10 should have been identified. $2,296,109.10/ $2,247,184.10 = 97.82% Before releasing this report, the Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund sent a letter to each of the candidates explaining each candidate's grades. Two candidates reported filing amended reports based on this study: Jennifer Brunner and Marc Dann. For each candidate, the total amount examined includes the following:
Acknowledgements The Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund thanks the Joyce Foundation and the George Gund Foundation for their encouragement and funding to analyze campaign contributions. The Education Funds thanks Larry Hansen, vice president of the Joyce Foundation, for his guidance. The Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund thanks Curt Mayhew from the office of the Ohio Secretary of State for his advice and information. Thank you to Grant Earich, Eric Lowe, Becky Rhodes and Sean Soisson for assisting with research and editing. Catherine Turcer and Jason Danklefsen are the co-authors of this report. Turcer is the campaign reform director for the Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund. The Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund is the non-profit, research and education affiliate of Ohio Citizen Action. The Education Fund produces studies on money and politics and toxins in the environment. For questions or comments about this study, contact Catherine Turcer, 1200 Chambers Road, #307, Columbus, Ohio 43212, (614) 487-7880, cturcer@ohiocitizen.org. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|