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Ohio News |
Article published March 8, 2002
State
treasurer urged to reveal deals with broker
Candidates spar over investor’s
gift
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE
COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS - Democratic candidate Mary
Boyle yesterday called on Republican State Treasurer Joe Deters to
reveal all details of his office’s business with a Cleveland broker
accused of stealing millions from a client.
The Hamilton
County Republican Party has confirmed it received a $50,000
contribution from broker Frank Gruttadauria in December for its
operating fund. The county party has been a major direct benefactor
of GOP candidates, especially Mr. Deters, a former county prosecutor
and party leader. The party and Mr. Deters shared a professional
campaign fund-raiser.
"If there is a question of whether
people pay to play in this administration, it seems to me, in order
to make sure he has the confidence of the people of Ohio, he ought
to willingly disclose where those dollars come from," said Ms.
Boyle, a former Cuyahoga County commissioner and state
representative.
"Since he was also a major player and leader
of the Hamilton County laundromat ... he has a further
responsibility to talk about how those dollars get raised and what
they get used for," she said.
The Deters campaign called
"patently not true" any suggestion Mr. Gruttadauria’s operating-fund
contribution and the billions in state trades handled by broker
Lehman Brothers, for whom Mr. Gruttadauria worked, were
connected.
"Mary Boyle didn’t say one word about why she
would make a good treasurer," said campaign spokesman Mark Weaver.
"She opened her campaign with a mud fight. She ought to be
ashamed."
Mr. Deters is unopposed May 7 in his bid for the
Republican nomination for a second term as the state’s chief banker
and investor. Ms. Boyle faces opposition from Willis Blackshear, a
Montgomery County assistant treasurer.
Party operating
accounts are exempt under Ohio law from the public disclosure
requirements to which party campaigns, candidates, and
political-action committees are subject. The parties are not
permitted to funnel operating money to candidate campaigns, but
candidates could indirectly benefit from the staff and materials the
operating funds cover.
The controversy has revived the call
for campaign-finance reform initiated in 2000 when it was revealed
Gov. Bob Taft had raised funds for a similar Ohio Republican Party
fund. The "Team Ohio" effort offered access to the governor in
exchange for contributions of at least $25,000.
Democratic
lawmakers and Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, a Republican, have
called for legislation requiring disclosure of who has contributed
what to whom, regardless of the account.
"The operating
account of the Hamilton County Republican Party, to which the
contribution was made, cannot be and was not ever used to directly
support Joe Deters or any other candidate," said campaign spokesman
Matt Borges.
"We did business with Lehman Brothers, one of
the largest, best known, and best brokerage firms in the world," he
said. "The state made millions off the trades made with their
institutional brokerage desk in Chicago."
That was not true
for many of Mr. Gruttadauria’s clients. He is suspected of diverting
$277 million from their accounts.
Mr. Gruttadauria also made
a $1,250 contribution to Mr. Taft and $1,000 to Attorney General
Betty Montgomery in 1998 and 1999. Both campaigns said they’ll
return the money if it shows they were stolen
funds.
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