06/02/02

When this page endorsed Joe Deters for Ohio treasurer in 1998, we wrote that the job should be "entrusted only to a person with unquestioned financial acumen and integrity."

Nearly four years later, Deters' financial acumen has been proved solid. His integrity, however, is increasingly ripe for questioning. In recent months, Deters has emerged as a practitioner of a ubiquitous, but thoroughly lamentable, form of Ohio politics: pay to play.

A Plain Dealer investigation revealed Friday that Deters awarded a $42 million investment contract to a Pennsylvania firm that in short order began to donate considerable sums of money to Ohio GOP accounts with a history of generously supporting Deters.

Although none of the $58,000 the firm has given since 2000 has gone directly into Deters' campaign accounts, there's little question that the firm - Valley Forge Asset Management Corp. - and its political funding arm suddenly began to pay rapt attention to Ohio politics about the time Deters was finalizing plans to invest the $358 million Ohio received as its share of the multistate tobacco settlement.

Indeed, if you follow the money trail, the political slight of hand closely resembles the type of sucker shell games sometimes found on New York City street corners or in state capitol buildings. It's a three-step process: A public contract is awarded. The winning contractor begins writing checks to state and local parties. State and local parties redistribute the largess.

That alone, though distasteful, would be legal. But in this case, laws may have been broken.

Ohio law is clear on the amount of money an individual can give to a political action committee that makes contributions in Ohio: The limit is $5,000.

Two men connected to the Pennsylvania firm far exceeded that amount, each giving $185,750 to the Concerned Citizens PAC during 2000 and 2001, of which $58,000 ended up in Ohio GOP coffers.

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has asked the Ohio Elections Commission to investigate whether the PAC filed the proper paper work and whether its "donations" broke Ohio law. This inquiry should proceed expeditiously.

Treasurers, by the nature of their work, rely on bankers and other financial interests to fund their campaigns. It's no different for attorney general candidates, whose campaigns draw contributions from lawyers, or state auditor candidates, whose backing often comes from accountants. But there are clear lines that shouldn't be crossed and "appearances of misconduct" that shouldn't be risked. Good public servants ground their political reputations in integrity and honesty. Deters has been too willing to gamble with his once-sterling name, and for that, he may have to pay a price.