Access at a big price

Column by Randy Ludlow

COLUMBUS - Would you pay $50,000 to sit next to Bob Taft at an Ohio State football ga me and nosh on canapes with the governor and First Lady Hope at the Mansion?

No? How about at the deep discount price of $25,000?

OK. Nothing personal, governor, but most of us working Joes and Janes don't have that kind of money. We have more compelling uses for our cash like food, mortgages, car payments and college for the kids.

If we want to communicate a concern to the state's chief executive, we have to make do with a letter we doubt he ever really will read.

But, for those blessed with fortunes that allow them to write five-figure checks with the same deliberation most of us give to buying a can of soda, $25,000 is a bargain for the ability to whisper in Taft's ear.

It's called access and it was offered for sale by the Ohio Republican Party in an unseemly mess involving unknown donors and the use of state property to raise big bucks for the party's secretive operating fund.

Gov. Taft admits he signed a letter last Sept. 10 offering membership in ''Team Ohio'' to well-heeled donors who agreed to make annual donations of $25,000 or $50,000 or more to the Ohio Republican Party.

But, in one of those I-did-it-but-didn't-know moments that afflicted his 1998 campaign, Taft said he was unaware of an attachment to the letter that effectively put him and other statewide office holders up for sale.

The calendar of events for ''Team Ohio'' members at the $25,000 level included a reception at the Governor's Residence, a Washington D.C. dinner with Ohio's GOP congressional delegation and VIP seating at party events.

The $50,000 donors received all of the above, plus an Ohio State-Purdue football game hosted by Taft in the governor's box at Ohio Stadium and admission to a reception featuring Bob and Elizabeth Dole.

And, most ominously of all - and perhaps most importantly of all to the 15 wealthy ''Team Ohio'' members - the attachment promised ''access to key GOP officeholders.''

A chagrined governor agreed the deal looked shady and expressed regret it was ''inconsistent with the ethical standards and tone we have sought set in the governor's office since I've b ecome governor.''

The quid pro quo of access for cash has proven to be a huge political and personal embarrassment to Taft, who has found religion - or spin control as it's called in politics - s ince the little scandal broke.

There is no prohibition against using state-owned property such as a football stadium or the Governor's Residence to raise political funds, but Taft says the practice will end.

There is nothing illegal about indicating you will take someone's telephone calls or meet t hem in person if they pony up some cash, but Taft says access no longer will be promised ''Team Ohio '' members.

And, law does not require the disclosure of donors' names or the unlimited amounts they can give to party operating funds used for utility bills, staff salaries and the like, but Taft now is calling for full disclosure.

Minority Democrats, who are reveling in the GOP mess and standing on firm ground in lambastin g the sleaze factor of cash for access, obliged by racing to write a bill to open party operating accounts to public inspection.

Where Taft stops short is pressing Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett to disclose the names of the donors and the amounts they contributed in exchange for promises of access to corne r offices.

That decision, Taft ducks, is for Bennett to make.

And Bennett, of course, isn't about to bite the hands that feed him by divulging the names of his mega-buck donors - not when he has the law on his side.

''The public trust is more important than secret deals or handshakes. Every principle of open government demands. . .the disclosure of these names,'' says Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Leland.

Most Ohioans would agree with Leland that troubling perceptions and questions remain about wh o gave how much and what return they sought on their investment.

The old axiom goes: ''You get what you pay for.'' For the sake of good and ethical government, let's hope it doesn't hold true in this case.

But, we may never know.

Randy Ludlow is the State house correspondent for The Post.