Friday, April 28, 2000

One party chairman trumpets his party's full disclosure while chiding the other party to take the wraps off "a multimillion-dollar, supersecret slush fund.''

Is it the latest salvo from Ohio Democratic Chairman David J. Leland toward the Ohio Republican Party's controversial operating fund?

No. Republicans aimed this shot at Democrats.

Jim Nicholson, chairman of the Republican National Committee, last week demanded the Democratic Governors' Association disclose its "conference account.''

He said the fund "is accountable to no one and reports its contributions nowhere.''

Nicholson said "every penny'' of a similar account for the Republican Governors Association is disclosed.

"The DGA Conference Account is the last remaining political slush fund today,'' he charged.

That's probably not quite how Leland would put it. The Democrat has been hammering at the Ohio GOP to take the wraps off its operating fund, which is not subject to state contribution limits and whose donors and most expenditures are secret.

Leland, who notes Ohio Democrats have made public their operating fund, has traced $2.4 million used from the GOP operating fund for federal campaigns. Donors of $25,000 or more to the GOP account -- so- called "Team Ohio'' members -- were offered a reception at the Governor's Residence or a seat in the governor's box at Ohio Stadium for an OSU football game.

"All they have to do is reveal the names of these high-dollar Republican donors,'' Leland said of the Ohio GOP.

"If they refuse, one can only surmise they have something to hide from the public.''

Would Nicholson agree?

-- Darrel Rowland