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Citizen Action says parties could do more on disclosing donors

05/15/01

COLUMBUS - Political parties continue to raise millions of dollars each year without disclosing the names, occupations and addresses of many of the donors.

It's all legal, but the government watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action renewed calls yesterday for better disclosure and tougher campaign finance laws.

"The voters deserve to know who is trying to influence Ohio elections, who is trying to influence legislation," said Citizen Action Research Director Laura Yeomans.

Citizen Action analyzed political parties' campaign reports for 1999-2000. Although the Ohio Democratic Party received an "A" for voluntarily providing the names of donors who paid into a special building fund, both parties received an overall "C" for disclosure.

Citizen Action analyzed political party accounts because they are becoming conduits through which secret donations are legally laundered, Yeomans said. Parties are exempt from a 1995 law that limits the amount of money statewide candidates can collect from individuals and requires candidates to list donors' occupations.

Last year, Gov. Bob Taft became embroiled in a fund-raising scandal in which he helped the GOP promote "Team Ohio," an exclusive club that promised "access" to top-ranking GOP officials in exchange for a $25,000 donation to the Republican Party building fund.

As long as the building fund money is not used to benefit individual candidates, the party can keep its donor list secret.

Democrats responded to the Team Ohio controversay by providing the names of all donors to their building fund and calling on the GOP to do the same. The Republican Party kept its donor list secret.

Members of both parties eventually called for legislation to plug the loophole that allows such funds to be shielded from disclosure.

Although no new laws were passed - or even debated - Yeomans did say that the political parties are doing a better job of disclosing more information.

Republican Party spokesman Gary Abernathy said GOP officials appreciate Citizen Action's work but said, "We're concerned about following the law . . . and by that standard, we get straight A's."

Democratic Party spokeswoman Kena Hudson noted that the report did not include money paid into the party's federal accounts. Those accounts represent the vast majority of the Democrats' donations, she said, and they comply with federal laws that require donors' names and occupations to be listed.

E-mail: stheis@plaind.com Phone: 216-999-4213

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