Friday, April 21, 2000

BY Joe Hallett and Darrel Rowland
Dispatch Public Affairs Reporters

Ohio Democrats moved on two fronts yesterday to exploit a Republican access- for-cash controversy by proposing legislation to make all political contributions public and decrying the use of Ohio Stadium for fund-raising.

Statewide GOP officeholders, meanwhile, sought to distance themselves from the "Team Ohio'' fund-raising plan in which Gov. Bob Taft offered seats in his box for an Ohio State football game, a reception at the Governor's Residence and other perks in exchange for $25,000 donations to the Ohio GOP.

While Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery, Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and Treasurer Joseph D. Deters acknowledged either they or their fund- raising agents helped raise Team Ohio funds, all disavowed knowing that access to the governor and other GOP elected officials was offered to entice contributions. Auditor Jim Petro said he took no part in Team Ohio solicitations.

All four of the GOP officials denied participating in special briefings and conference calls offered to Team Ohio members by the Ohio Republican Party.

"I was aware the party was raising money for Team Ohio, but I was not aware there was some statement of access,'' Deters said. "That's just a bunch of garbage. That should never, ever be said or implied. Any statement that people will gain access by giving is just wrong. I won't have anything to do with that kind of thing.''

Montgomery said, "In hindsight, I understand why everybody is unhappy. In retrospect, it was an error in judgment we probably all shared.''

Taft last year signed a Sept. 10 letter inviting Republicans to join Team Ohio, but said he was unaware of an attachment to the letter that offered special access to prospective $25,000 donors. Still, Taft accepted responsibility, acknowledging that it appeared improper and promising it would not happen again.

Money from the solicitation went into the state GOP's operating fund, an account that can accept unlimited contributions that do not have to be reported to the public.

Leigh Herington, D-Ravenna, assistant Senate minority leader, said yesterday that he is drafting legislation to require state political parties to disclose all contributions to operating funds.

"Ohioans have the right to know who is contributing to the state parties,'' Herington said.

Taft and the other statewide Republican officeholders, along with House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, R-Reynoldsburg, have said they will support legislation requiring party operating funds to be reported to the public.

As long as Herington's bill simply closes the loophole that keeps operating funds secret, then Republicans should support it, Blackwell said.

"I think we ought to close this deal right away,'' he said. "We have the support of the governor. We could do it as a piece of emergency legislation and get it passed.''

Referring to the Herington bill, Mary Anne Sharkey, spokeswoman for Taft, said, "The governor is in favor of its intent. We'll have to take a look at its language.''

State Sen. Eric Fingerhut, D- Cleveland, urged Taft to pressure Ohio GOP Chairman Robert T. Bennett to immediately disclose contributors to the party's operating fund.

"If elected Republicans are really for full disclosure, they should start now,'' Fingerhut said. "There's no need to wait for a bill to go through the legislative process.''

Bennett has declined to name Team Ohio members or disclose the operating fund, and Sharkey said Taft is leaving that decision to Bennett.

Noting that Senate Democrats used a loophole in Ohio election laws to avoid filing a post-primary election report last Friday, Sharkey said, "While we're speaking about full disclosure, Senate Democrats ought to release their primary report.''

At noon yesterday, eight College Democrats from Ohio State University rallied outside the Statehouse to protest Taft's offer of seats in his Ohio Stadium box to Team Ohio contributors. Carrying placards inscribed with admonitions such as "Football Not Fund-raising'' and "Big 10, Not Big Bucks,'' the students decried using taxpayer-owned facilities to fetch political donations.

Nikki Jaworski, a 20-year-old sophomore from Brecksville, Ohio, said Taft's apology for the fund-raising tactic rang hollow.

"Gov. Taft didn't come out and say, I'm ashamed of this, in October, he came out because he got caught,'' Jaworski said.

Ironically, Taft dealt with allegations surrounding the Ohio Republican Party's operating fund eight years ago when he was secretary of state.

Taft, who at the time was in his second year as the state's chief elections official, rejected allegations from the Ohio Democratic Party that the GOP improperly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars through the mysterious account into 1990 statewide campaigns.

He also ruled the Ohio GOP did not have to divulge the contributions to and expenditures from the operating fund -- a decision that reversed an earlier determination by Taft's chief campaign-finance examiner.

Taft said the examiner -- who said the GOP fund should have been disclosed because campaign money was commingled with operating money -- "overreacted.''

"I don't think it would be fair to require them to fully disclose when there appear to be only omissions and not commissions,'' Taft said then.

Operating funds can legally remain secret only if they are used to staff or maintain a party's headquarters or pay for such things as polls or sample ballots that don't benefit a specific candidate. If operating money goes directly to a campaign, the cash must be disclosed.

State law regarding a party operating fund has been revised numerous times in the past few decades -- most recently in legislative changes two years ago. However, the basis for keeping the fund's finances secret is a letter from former Secretary of State Ted W. Brown, a Republican who left office at the end of 1982.

Taft also was quick to forgive the GOP for providing three staff members to Republican statewide campaigns a decade ago, including his own. Taft noted that the party refunded the operating account from campaign funds within a few weeks.

The issue came before Taft as Ohio Democrats pursued a lawsuit alleging the GOP improperly spent $1.7 million in campaign donations. Republicans derided the allegations, and the suit was voluntarily dismissed in April 1994.

Party operating accounts have been controversial at the local level as well.

The Franklin County GOP's operating account was used as an illegal conduit in the late 1980s to funnel more than $160,000 in payroll deductions from county employees to the municipal clerk of courts, William J. Dawson, and three county commissioners: Jack Foulk, Dorothy Teater and Roger Tracy. The four were fined, as was county GOP executive director Terry Casey.

Dispatch Statehouse Reporter Alan Johnson contributed to this story.