04/09/02

Columbus

- Democratic secretary of state candidate Bryan Flannery took aim yesterday at Ohio campaign finance rules that allowed five Republican statewide candidates to receive $1.2 million from county parties since last fall.

Including donations from the Ohio Republican Party, Flannery said, a statewide GOP ticket led by Gov. Bob Taft received nearly $2.3 million from party accounts from September 2001 to February 2002.

Questions have been raised about the contents of county party funds after revelations that indicted broker Frank Gruttadauria gave $50,000 in December to the private operating account of the Hamilton County GOP.

That same county party gave more than $300,000 to the campaign of State Treasurer Joseph Deters, whose office did business with Gruttadauria's employers.

Flannery said it appears Republicans are moving sums among county, state and federal accounts and back to candidates - and "absolutely circumventing" the intent of the campaign finance law.

As parties move money around, exactly where it comes from is obscured, he said.

Of particular concern is the role of the private operating accounts, which are supposed to be used only for day-to-day expenses and party building.

But a local or state party can also legally transfer operating money to the national party, which in turn can give money to state parties.

A series of large donations flowed to statewide candidates from county parties shortly after a deal was cut to avert a Republican primary contest in the attorney general's race between Deters and Auditor Jim Petro.

The three largest gifts were $218,900 to Taft from Summit County, $75,000 to Petro from Cuyahoga County and $67,500 to Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell from Hamilton County.

"The intent was for the people of Ohio, the public, to know who's influencing elections," he said. "And we don't know that at all, because of the way they're using these accounts."

Chris McNulty, executive director of the Ohio Republican Party, said the county donations to statewide candidates are easily explained: two filing deadlines, for finance reports and statewide candidacies, fell within a month of each other at the beginning of the year.

"It should shock no one that every candidate did as much as they could right before filing deadline to raise money," McNulty said.

"A good showing at the filing deadline shows both the strength of the party and the strength of the candidate."

He said county parties can legally transfer money to the national level and then back - but he emphasized that every transaction is reported.

He said Democrats are free to do the same. Three of the Democrats' five statewide candidates got under $3,000 from county parties during the same period.

Flannery said Blackwell should investigate. Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said state candidate funds operated by the counties are routinely audited, adding that Blackwell has no authority to review private operating funds.

LoParo said Blackwell has already looked at the Hamilton County fund for statewide candidates and found no irregularities.

"If Mr. Flannery has specific knowledge of campaign finance violations, it would be highly unethical for him not to report that information to the secretary of state's office immediately," LoParo said.

Contact Julie Carr Smyth at:

jsmyth@plaind.com, 800-228-8272