COLUMBUS | State Treasurer Joe Deters
acknowledged that campaign contributors have been steered to the
Hamilton County Republican Party as a way to help fund his campaign.
He said, however, that while there is a "high likelihood" money
given to the Hamilton County party, which he used to head, might
come back to him, there's no guarantee.
"There's a variety of ways people can help my campaign, under the
laws we have," Deters said recently. "They can give directly to my
campaign committee, they can assist other organizations they believe
are going to help my campaign. . . . If somebody gives
money to Hamilton County (GOP), although that has got a very high
likelihood of helping my campaign, there's no deal there."
Last year, five Columbus-area stockbrokers who do business with
the treasurer's office gave a combined $125,000 to the Hamilton
County Republican Party.
Deters said he did not ask the brokers to make the contributions
but his fund-raiser, Eric Sagun, did.
"I assume they wanted to help my campaign," Deters said. "If
people want to assist in the campaign, Eric can give them a range of
options. And the most obvious option is to contribute directly to my
campaign. The other thing they can do is contribute to county
parties that would be favorably inclined to my campaign and there is
no other county party as favorably inclined to my campaign than
Hamilton County is," Deters said.
"Did Eric tell them that it would be a good place to dump money
and help Joe's campaign? I'm sure he did. I didn't. That's not my
job. That's Eric's job. It's all perfectly legal and it's fully
disclosed," Deters said.
Deters said it is up to Hamilton County GOP Chairman Mike Barrett
to decide where to spend those contributions. Last year, Deters'
home party gave his campaign treasury more than $300,000.
Sending money to county political parties can be a legal loophole
in Ohio's campaign finance laws.
A consultant to Jim Petro, the state auditor who is running for
attorney general this year, said recently he also had told
contributors they could give to county party funds, although the
consultant emphasized that the campaign then has no control over how
the party spends that money and no guarantee it will come back to
the campaign.
Petro last week decided to return $8,700 it had received from the
Montgomery County GOP because the party had gotten the money from
nursing home operators. Companies that serve Medicaid recipients, as
many nursing homes do, are banned from donating to campaigns for
attorney general, who has the jurisdiction to investigate Medicaid
fraud.
State law limits how much political action committees and
individuals can give to candidates directly. But contributors can
make additional donations to the state candidate funds operated by
county parties. County parties can give $540,500 to statewide
candidates, $108,000 to state Senate candidates, and $53,500 to
House candidates each year.
County parties must report who contributes to these campaign
funds and who receives the money.
Parties can also accept donations to their operating funds, which
are private, and the Hamilton County Republican Party was in the
news this year when it was learned it had received a $50,000
operating fund donation from a Cleveland broker, Frank Gruttadauria,
who was later jailed and is suspected of bilking investors.
Gruttadauria's company also did business with the treasurer's
office. Deters said Sagun, who also works as a fund-raiser for
Hamilton County GOP, had asked Gruttadauria to make a contribution.
"But that's not the money that goes to me," Deters said. "Besides
that, when I learned of the donation and his disappearance, I told
them (the party) to call the FBI."
Contact Laura Bischoff at 614-224-1624
laura_bischoff@coxohio.com
[From the Dayton
Daily News: 06.04.2002]
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