06/02/02

The Plain Dealer scrutinized more than 12,700 campaign contributions to Ohio Treasurer Joe Deters and three key Republican Party accounts that support him financially - those of the Hamilton County GOP, the Summit County GOP and the Ohio GOP's state candidate funds.

The analysis was aimed at identifying contributions that came from people or institutions that have a financial stake in Deters' office, which pays lawyers, bankers and investment managers to help manage and invest Ohio's $160 billion in treasury assets.

The Plain Dealer found that roughly two-thirds of the $4 million Deters has raised since January 1998 came from people with business ties to the treasury. In addition to representing money from people who work directly with the treasurer, that figure includes contributions from family members, lobbyists, close business associates and employees who work for affiliated firms.

Deters challenged the newspaper's methodology, saying that it cast too wide a net by including family members and employees of affiliated firms.

"I'm surprised you only got to two-thirds," he said, adding, "You can find a link somehow to anybody."

County political parties are not required to disclose employers of contributors, according to Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for the Ohio secretary of state's office.

Candidates such as Deters and state party funds are required to make their best effort to identify contributors' employers. Deters' campaign listed "best effort" for the employers of more than 500 contributors. Employer for 1,975 contributors was simply left blank.

The watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action, which issues report cards based on the quality of reporting by candidates and parties, said Deters and the Ohio Republican Party rate average among candidates and parties at disclosing information.

"A lot of people just don't want the public to know where the money is coming from," said Citizen Action's Patty Lynch. "So they leave it blank or they are as vague as possible."

The newspaper used numerous sources to identify contributors who didn't provide the names of their employers. To find lawyers, it matched the contributors list against a list of Ohio's licensed lawyers provided by the Ohio Supreme Court. For other companies, the newspaper obtained lists of employees, shareholders and directors and matched them against the contributions. Ultimately, The Plain Dealer identified employers for two of every three that had been missing. Still, there was more than $300,000 in contributions from 775 individuals who could not be tracked.

- Dave Davis