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statenews.org: Story May 14, 2001
Ohio's Political Parties Are Graded On Disclosure

A new report gives Ohio's major political parties mixed grades for the way they report contributions to their various committees. Ohio Citizen Action, the group that conducted the report, looked at records at the Ohio Secretary of State's office to follow the money trail. And in an interview with Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles, group spokeswoman Laura Yeomans explains how the data was collected.

Jo Ingles reports (2:16) RealAudio

Yeomans says the Reform party was the only minor party that reported getting funds. Her group gave it a grade of "A" for the way it reported its money. The Ohio Democratic party responds to the report by saying the group missed nearly all of its donations because Citizen Action did not look at the party's federal account. That's the money for administrative services, issue campaigns, and for candidates running for federal offices.

The party says that state money is accounted for under federal, not state, reporting requirements. The Ohio Republican party points out the Citizen Action report did not look at money given to labor unions, and the party contends that's where democrats get most of their money. It says it provides as much information as possible. The republican party says it's most concerned with the grade its given by Ohio voters.


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