Saturday, April 15, 2000

By Alan Johnson and Joe Hallett
Dispatch Public Affairs Reporters

In a fund-raising scheme reminiscent of President Clinton's Lincoln Bedroom scandal, Gov. Bob Taft dangled a party at the Governor's Residence and seats in his Ohio Stadium box to lure campaign contributions for a secret fund of the Ohio Republican Party.

In a letter dated Sept. 10, 1999, a copy of which was obtained by The Dispatch from a prospective donor, Taft invited Republicans to join "Team Ohio,'' an exclusive club requiring a $25,000 annual commitment to the state GOP. A $50,000 annual commitment enrolled contributors in the "Team Ohio Advisory Council.''

Attached to Taft's invitation was a 1999 calendar of "Exclusive Team Ohio Events,'' including a reception hosted by Gov. Taft and first lady Hope Taft on Oct. 8 at the Governor's Residence in Bexley. Advisory Council members also were invited to sit in the governor's box at Ohio Stadium for the Ohio State-Purdue football game on Oct. 9.

A brochure listed other "specific benefits of membership,'' including "access to key GOP officeholders and candidates from the state and national level.''

Brian K. Hicks, Taft's chief of staff, said there is nothing improper about the fund-raising technique.

However, after the governor's office was questioned about the Team Ohio solicitation on Thursday, Taft yesterday quashed those kinds of requests for the future.

"The appearance is certainly inconsistent with the governor's commitment to the highest ethical standards,'' Hicks said. "He has told me this won't happen again.''

There is no legal prohibition against using taxpayer-owned state facilities to raise money or to reward political contributors, said Philip Richter, executive director of the Ohio Elections Commission. And OSU officials said they don't care what Taft does with his eight tickets valued at $48 each.

But critics said that although such techniques are legal, they are unethical.

"This stinks to high heaven,'' said Larry Makinson, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group that tracks money in politics.

Peter Eisner, managing director of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, said, "The political use of public venues and mixing party politics with the work of the people is in all cases not acceptable.''

Most of the Team Ohio money went into an Ohio GOP operating fund, which can receive unlimited contributions that do not have to be reported publicly. Such operating funds were created in a little-noticed portion of a campaign-finance-reform bill passed by the Republican- controlled legislature in July 1998. Taft, then secretary of state, strongly backed the new law.

Ironically, in testimony on a proposed campaign-finance-reform bill to a U.S. Senate committee on April 5, Ohio GOP Chairman Robert T. Bennett said, "We, as a party, report everything.''

This week, however, Bennett declined to name Team Ohio members or to report how much money each contributed, saying he did not have to under Ohio law.

"If the law requires me to disclose them, I will comply with the law,'' he said. "If it doesn't, I'm not going to report them.''

The state GOP also said no contributor took advantage of the Taft offers; Bennett said such high-rollers can get access to top government officials anytime they want.

Taft refused to be interviewed, but his press secretary, Scott Milburn, said he did not know the names of Team Ohio members or the donations they gave to the party. Hicks also said neither he nor the governor saw the list of special events to which Team Ohio members were invited.

Former Govs. George V. Voinovich, a Republican, and Richard F. Celeste, a Democrat, occasionally entertained donors at the Governor's Residence and invited them to OSU football games. But such invitations were not linked to campaign contributions, said spokespersons for the two former governors.

The use of taxpayer-owned facilities to entice contributions or reward donors, and provide extra access to high-ranking government officials, is an all-to-common and unsavory practice, Makinson said.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush has done it, allowing at least 15 contributors of $100,000 or more to his presidential campaign to stay overnight in the Governor's Mansion.

Clinton did it, too. In a fund-raising scandal in 1996, donors who contributed $100,000 or more to the Democratic National Committee were allowed to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Is Taft's use of public facilities to solicit big donors any different?

"The only difference is that it's in Columbus and not Washington, D.C. When you add to it the fact that there is no record of who's doing it, then it is exactly like the Lincoln Bedroom,'' Makinson said.

Bennett bristled at such a comparison.

"Ain't nobody sleeping in the Governor's Residence,'' he said, contending that comparing the situation to the Lincoln Bedroom scandal is like "comparing apples with watermelons.''

Bennett said inviting contributors to functions with the governor is "all part of taking care of those people who help you out. I'm not going to apologize for it.''

He noted that Taft holds many receptions in the Governor's Residence for Ohioans who are not contributors to his campaign or to the party. The Tafts hosted 25 or more events at the Governor's Residence in the past year, Hicks said.

"That is their home. We have hosted an awful lot of people at the residence: legislators, ethnic groups, even the Statehouse press corps,'' he said. "Ohioans expect their governors to entertain at the residence.''

Tom Whatman, executive director of the Ohio GOP, said Team Ohio has been in place for three or four years as a means of attracting top- echelon givers. Team Ohio had 15 members in 1999; the party goal is to double that this year.

Whatman said Team Ohio contributions are used primarily to cover the $1.5 million annual cost of operating the party's headquarters at 211 S. 5th St., including salaries and electricity and telephone bills.

Money contributed by Team Ohio members cannot be used for candidates' campaign costs unless it is reported. But people who received Taft's solicitation letter might have thought otherwise.

"Team Ohio members have played an integral role in our success,'' Taft wrote. "They have made it possible for candidates at all levels to receive the benefit of an effective get-out-the-vote program and direct cash support.''

David J. Leland, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, charged that the state GOP was trying to hide money, and protect the anonymity of its biggest contributors, by funneling contributions into the party's operating fund, the only one exempt from public disclosure under Ohio law.

Leland said the lion's share of contributions to his party go into candidate and campaign funds, which must be publicly reported.

"Every donation we get, we report,'' Leland said. "We have a little bit in our operating account, but we report it.

"Why are they (state Republicans) hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars? I'm disturbed with the lack of reporting. Nobody's paying those kind of dollars to get a seat at the football game. What they're really doing is paying to get access to the governor. The question is, who is making these contributions and why don't people know who these people are?''

Bennett said the $25,000 contributions from Team Ohio donors often are split among party accounts.

"We don't have to report the operating account, but as a matter of course, Team Ohio money does get reported if it goes into another account -- that portion of it,'' Bennett said. "Everything we use on campaigns we report 100 percent, by law, full disclosure.''

Dispatch Public Affairs Editor Darrel Rowland contributed to this story.