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Disclosure Report Card: Most candidates disclose properly, a few flunk.

Hold for release: 11:00 AM, April 26, 1999 For more information: Laura Yeomans (330) 343-9588 Chris Castle (614) 263-4111 COLUMBUS -- Ohio Citizen Action released today their 1998 Disclosure Report Card: Which Ohio Candidates Properly Disclose Contributions? The report analyzed whether candidates provided the employer identification of contributors who gave more than $100, as is required by the 1995 Ohio campaign finance law. The study found the following: Ohio candidates disclosed 95 percent of employer identifications required, up from 92 percent in 1997 and 88 percent in 1996. Most top government leaders received high grades. Secretary of State Ken Blackwell identified 99 percent of the employer of his large contributors. Others receiving an "A" grade include Speaker of the House JoAnn Davidson, Senate Minority Leader Ben Espy, House Minority Leader Jack Ford, Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery, Auditor Jim Petro, and Governor Bob Taft. Top officials who received poor grades include Treasurer Joseph Deters who received an "F" for identifying 57 percent and Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Thomas Moyer, received a "C" for identifying 79 percent. Senate President Richard Finan identified 82 percent for a "B". Some candidates failed to identify the employer of well-known wealthy contributors such as David Brennan of Brennan Industries, Ward Timken of Timken Company, and Thomas Rumpke of Rumpke Waste. "While evaluating 1998 campaign contributions, it became clear that several steps could improve Ohio's campaign reporting system," said Laura Yeomans, Ohio Citizen Action research director and author of the study. "The Ohio General Assembly should adopt the Voters' Right-to-Know bill, an electronic filing proposal introduced by Representative Ron Amstutz of Wooster, Ohio. With electronic filing, candidates can use computers to send a computer disc or email message to the Ohio Secretary of State reporting their contributions and expenditures. Under this system, the Ohio Secretary of State would not have to pay an agency to retype thousands of pages of campaign reports. Electronic filing would eliminate several data entry errors observed in the Ohio Secretary of State's database, such as typists failing to enter the employer of contributors." Ohio Citizen Action also found that some of the Ohio Secretary of State's campaign finance reporting forms had not been updated to request employer identification information where it is required by law. "The new Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, and his staff are committed to improving efficiency in the campaign finance reporting system. They should update campaign finance reporting forms to solicit legally required information," Yeomans said. Ohio Citizen Action campaigns on issues from public health and the environment to utility and insurance rates.