Laura Yeomans, Research Director
Citizens Policy Center
May 24, 1999
Press release
Major Findings
In 1995 the Ohio legislature passed campaign finance reform legislation
limiting campaign contributions and requiring certain types of financial
disclosure. Reform allowed larger contributions to flow to political
parties than to candidates. Candidates were required to provide the full
address of contributors and to disclose the employer of contributors giving
more than $100. Candidates must also provide the addresses of contributors.
Political party committees were exempted from these basic disclosure
requirements.
This study analyzes whether state level political party committees revealed
the addresses of contributors, and the employers of individual contributors
who gave more than $100, even though Ohio law does not require it.
Disclosure of the address, city, and zip code for contributors is important
because it allows voters, citizen activists and researchers to have the
opportunity to identify the source of contributions to each political party.
Ohio law clearly requires employer identification of large contributions for
statewide and legislative candidates. Employer identifications are valuable
because they enable the public to learn about the economic interests behind
financial contributions. With such information, voters have more indications
about who supports a party and what positions parties may take on key
decisions.
- In 1997 and 1998 all Democratic and Republican political party committees
voluntarily disclosed 96 percent or more of the addresses of contributors.
This is a wonderful advance over the 1995-1996 period, when the Ohio
Republican Party committees disclosed 92 percent or more of the
contributions they received and Ohio Democratic Party committee funds
disclosed 17 percent or less of the addresses of contributors.
- In 1997 and 1998 the Republican Senate and House caucus committees
voluntarily disclosed the employers for 91 percent or more of the dollar
amount of contributions from individual contributors who gave more than
$100. The Ohio Democratic Party voluntarily disclosed 82 percent or more of
the employers of contributors. The Center commends the Ohio House Republican
Campaign Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party, the Ohio Democratic Party
State Candidate Fund, and the Republican Senate Campaign Committee for this
voluntary disclosure. It was above and beyond the disclosure required by
Ohio law.
- The Ohio Republican Party committees did not voluntarily disclose the
employers of their individual contributors who gave more than $100. The
House Democratic Caucus Fund disclosed 11 percent of the dollar amount that
should have been disclosed and the Committee for a Democratic Majority
disclosed 67 percent.
1997-98 Disclosure Report:
Ohio Statewide Political Party Committees
Disclosure of Addresses
|
| Committee |
Total Contributions |
Contributions
with addresses
|
Percent with addresses |
Grade |
| Ohio Republican Party Campaign Committee |
628 |
622 |
99% |
A |
| Ohio Republican Party Public Funds |
47 |
47 |
100% |
A |
| Ohio Republican Party State Candidate Fund |
3559 |
3557 |
99.9% |
A |
| Ray C. Bliss Building Trust Fund |
24 |
24 |
100% |
A |
| Republican Senate Campaign Committee |
1907 |
1906 |
99.9% |
A |
| Ohio House Republican Campaign Committee |
2873 |
2873 |
100% |
A |
| Ohio Democratic Party |
775 |
766 |
98.8% |
A |
| Ohio Democratic Party Building Fund |
123 |
122 |
99.2% |
A |
| Ohio Democratic Party Political Party Fund |
61 |
59 |
96.7% |
A |
| Ohio Democratic Party State Candidate Fund |
365 |
365 |
100% |
A |
| House Democratic Caucus Fund |
2079 |
2077 |
99.9% |
A |
| Committee for a Democratic Majority |
365 |
364 |
99.7% |
A |
| Reform Party of Ohio |
77 |
13 |
16.9% |
F |
1997-98 Disclosure Report:
Ohio State Political Party Committees
Disclosure of Employers of Individual Contributors Who Gave
More than $100 |
| Committee |
Total individual contributions |
Contributions with employer
disclosed |
Percent of amount with employer |
Grade |
| Ohio Republican Party Campaign Committee |
$553,423 |
$0 |
0% |
F |
| Ohio Republican Party Public Funds |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Ohio Republican Party State Candidate Fund |
$1,272,614 |
$0 |
0% |
F |
| Ray C. Bliss Building Trust Fund |
$1,000 |
$0 |
0% |
F |
| Republican Senate Campaign Committee |
$665,714 |
$639,926 |
96.1% |
A |
| Ohio House Republican Campaign Committee |
$814,489 |
$748,604 |
91.9% |
A |
| Ohio Democratic Party |
$743,035 |
$621,235 |
83.6% |
B |
| Ohio Democratic Party Building Fund |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Ohio Democratic Party Political Party Fund |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
Ohio Democratic Party State Candidate Fund
|
$486,492 |
$401,696 |
82.6% |
B |
| House Democratic Caucus Fund |
$71,095 |
$8,025 |
11.3% |
F |
|
Committee for a Democratic Majority
|
$24,900 |
$16,600 |
66.7% |
D |
| Reform Party of Ohio |
$500 |
$0 |
0% |
F |
Recommendations
- Political party committees in Ohio should be required to disclose the full
name and address of contributors. This disclosure should include the name,
street address, city, state and zip code of contributors.
- Political party committees in Ohio should be required to disclose the
employer of contributors who give more than $100, so that voters will have
important information about the economic source and interests of contributors.
- This kind of information should be filed electronically by parties and candidates and quickly posted on the Internet by the Ohio Secretary of State. H.B. 119, sponsored by by Rep. Ron Amstutz of Wooster would accomplish this.
Acknowledgments
The Citizens Policy Center thanks the Joyce Foundation, George Gund
Foundation, and Piper Fund for their support of this project to document
progress in disclosure in party committees and caucuses. The findings and
opinions expressed in this report are those of the Citizens Policy Center.
The Citizens Policy Center, a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization, is the
research and public education affiliate of Ohio Citizen Action. The Center
was founded in Cleveland in 1976 to conduct research and public education
about issues affecting industrial states, recognizing that the industrial
states were going through economic changes that would make obsolete much of
the conventional wisdom about state and local public policy.
Laura Yeomans is the research director of the Citizens Policy Center. She is
the author of this report. Patty Wise is the research department database
manager who prepared much of the analysis in this report. For questions
about the report, call Yeomans at 1 (330) 343-9588.
To obtain a hard copy of this report, send a self-addressed $.55-cent stamped
envelope to the Citizens Policy Center, P.O. Box 8, Dover, Ohio 44622.
© 1999 Citizens Policy Center
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