COLUMBUS: When state Rep. John Widowfield cleaned out his office, resigned and left town on May 28, word quickly spread that he might have been involved in the illegal sale of Ohio State football tickets.

It is alleged that the Cuyahoga Falls Republican used campaign funds to purchase and scalp the highly prized tickets. If he pocketed thousands of dollars from the sales, then Widowfield broke the law by converting campaign contributions for personal use.

By virtue of his office, Widowfield — who never attended Ohio State, and has degrees from the University of Akron and Hiram College — was allowed to buy season tickets to sporting events that are among the most desired in the country.

He was on a special list of people in high places who each year are entitled to a privilege denied thousands of OSU alumni and Ohio families — seats in the Shoe.

Four 2007 season tickets, which were typically offered for sale to lawmakers, have a face value of $1,680 and are considered worth much more on the open market.

The university employees who manage that list are in the office of government relations, the office responsible for lobbying government officials on behalf of the university.

And the same lobbying arm that afforded Widowfield special front-of-the-line status has for years reached out to anyone in public office who has the power to legislate, regulate and investigate the university.

Now, as the Widowfield probe continues, Ohio State's lobbying efforts to make friends and influence important people are raising questions about potential conflicts of interests.

For instance:

• Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe, who is subpoenaing records and conducting interviews on the Widowfield case, bought season tickets in 2007 and for the upcoming 2008 season.

• All but one of the 12 lawmakers who preside over private meetings of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee also purchased seats in the stadium last year, some out of pocket while others used campaign funds, as Widowfield did. The panel met in secret on the Widowfield matter just hours before the lawmaker resigned May 28 and the dozen members are forbidden, by laws they passed themselves, from talking to the public about the meeting.

• Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien, who has met with Bledsoe regarding Widowfield, is on the ticket-buying list. O'Brien is empowered to make the call to pursue charges — or not — should Bledsoe's investigation determine that Widowfield broke any laws.

• And Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, whose office is responsible for pursuing action against campaign finance violations and has been involved in the Widowfield query, purchases season tickets to OSU football games.

But OSU's lobbying reaches beyond the agencies investigating Widowfield to include several public bodies with far-reaching authority over the university.

Although the university has refused a public records request from the Akron Beacon Journal to turn over a list of all season ticket holders, Ohio State released the names of at least 335 ''public officials'' who purchased 2,755 season tickets through the university's lobbying arm from 2005 through 2008.

While it is generally understood that governors, past and present, are invited to OSU football games, the university's lobbying office set aside 20 season tickets for Gov. Ted Strickland's office to purchase in 2007, not including extending the same offer to his Cabinet members — 11 of whom bought tickets.

The man responsible for investigating any potential conflicts of interests or ethical lapses on the part of the governor's administration — Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles — is also a season ticket holder, thanks to the OSU lobbying office.

He was joined in 2007 by six of the seven justices on the Ohio Supreme Court, 110 of Ohio's 132 state lawmakers, and three of the four statewide officeholders, including Auditor Mary Taylor of Green, whose office audits the university's books.

Treasurer Richard Cordray was the only state officeholder to decline the offer, noting he watches the game at home with his family.

The Ohio Ethics Commission was absent from the list. The commission receives annual financial disclosure statements from the executive branch of state government, local public officials, university presidents and members of their boards of trustees.

Raising ethical questions

Catherine Turcer, director of the Money in Politics project for Ohio Citizen Action, said purchasing the tickets raises ethical questions because the source is the university's lobbying office.

''Jim Tressel [OSU's football coach] isn't offering these tickets to lawmakers. It's the university's governmental relations office — their lobbyists,'' Turcer said. ''Ohio State does not allow these tickets to be purchased at face value out of the goodness of their heart. There are strings attached.''

Turcer said Bledsoe, Brunner, O'Brien and Charles may be compromised and not know it.

''They are buying these tickets while wearing scarlet-and-gray-colored glasses,'' Turcer said.

The university maintains it is not extending any special favors because public officials must pay face value for the tickets.

State ethics laws require lobbyists and lawmakers to disclose any gifts, and state officials cannot accept gifts exceeding $75 in value from any single lobbyist.

Curt Steiner, senior vice president for university relations, is a registered lobbyist paid $324,900 a year to manage the school's communication efforts internally and externally, including overseeing the office of government relations.

''The university is extending this opportunity and has extended this opportunity for years and years,'' Steiner said, adding the program is in place to build relationships with stakeholders.

He said he did not create, but rather inherited, the program when he took the job in 2004 and the only changes he has made were to broaden the list to include a few Columbus civic leaders.

Steiner said there are no written guidelines or standards for developing the annual lists.

Without written guidelines, OSU's lobbying arm has carte blanche when it comes to deeming someone ticket worthy.

For this reason, people like former lobbyist Paul Tipps, who has never held a state public office, is on the list, along with legacy recipients like former Senate presidents Dick Finan and Stan Aronoff, who are now registered lobbyists working the Statehouse.

After the purchase

The university also does not track what public officials do with the tickets once purchased. Student and faculty members must produce identification at the gate on game day to enter the stadium, but other season ticket holders do not.

Widowfield is among 30 lawmakers who used campaign contributions to pay for the tickets in 2007.

Brunner said her office has jurisdiction only over a public official who purchases tickets with campaign funds.

''I don't use campaign funds, so I don't see where the conflict is or where people can allege it,'' Brunner said.

Brunner's office has requested Widowfield's campaign finance reports filed in Summit County in 2007 and has been working with Bledsoe's office.

Bledsoe said he went to two games last year and gave away or, in a couple of cases, sold the tickets at cost, to alumni.

He said he would have a conflict of interest if he sold the tickets for a profit, which he didn't.

''If my action regarding the tickets was a violation, that could create a problem. If I used the tickets in a way allowable by our standards, I don't think it would,'' Bledsoe said.

Charles said he cherishes OSU football and worked the games as a state trooper before he retired from the State Highway Patrol.

He was offered the chance to buy season tickets when he became the legislative inspector general, a position now held by Bledsoe, and continued buying them after being named Ohio inspector general.

''When the opportunity came along, I said absolutely. I'm actually proud of that. I'm not ashamed of it,'' Charles said.

Charles said he does not believe there is a conflict of interest.

''My history speaks for itself,'' Charles said.

He acknowledged he has deposed Steiner on occasion, including when Gov. Bob Taft was being investigated for accepting free rounds of golf and other gifts, but the top lobbyist for Ohio State was never the target of a probe.

He said Steiner played golf with Taft, but he did not pay the former governor's green fees. Charles said he has played golf with Steiner and has always paid his own fees.

Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, who co-chairs the legislative ethics committee with House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, declined to be interviewed.

Husted's spokesman, Karen Stivers, responded: ''As a member of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee and because of the confidentiality of that committee, the speaker has no comment.''

Harris uses personal funds while Husted has paid for season tickets with campaign contributions.

Jason Johnson, a political science professor at Hiram College who teaches a class that includes the politics of sports, said Ohio State tickets can be seen as a ''pseudo-bribe.''

''The issue of getting sports tickets is not the cost; it's being able to get your hands on one. Allowing them to get first dibs is the question you need to be concerned with,'' Johnson said.

Johnson said Ohio State is a public university and a state resource.

''Ohio State is one of the biggest recipients of tax dollars. State officials are handing money back to themselves. This needs to be investigated if they have a direct influence on Ohio State.''

Valuable tickets

There is a dramatic difference, however, between the face value and the street value of the tickets because the demand far exceeds the supply. The face value of a single game ticket in 2007 was $60 and season tickets for one person cost $420.

Jim Lynch, an OSU spokesman, said that the 102,000 seats in the stadium are allocated to about 55,000 donors and others for season tickets, 30,000 students, and 15,000 university staff and faculty members, plus tickets for visiting teams. The rest are allotted to media and public officials.

An OSU graduate, though, cannot buy tickets without paying dues to join the alumni association, and most of those alumni can purchase seats for only one game a year.

The easiest way to purchase tickets is to join the athletic department's Buckeye Club, which allows for the purchase of two season tickets with a minimum annual donation of $1,500.

Others must purchase tickets through scalpers positioned around the stadium before every home game or through brokers listed in the Yellow Pages or on the Internet.

In recent weeks, Ohio State sent letters to thousands of alumni informing them that they would not be able to purchase tickets to single games or the season.

The street value of a home game ticket varies.

When No. 1 Ohio State went against No. 2 Michigan in Columbus in 2006, single game tickets were being scalped for as much as $3,000.

According to StubHub, an Internet broker for ticket buying and selling, a ticket to that game on average was the most expensive seat in college football that year, pulling in $839.

Tax issues

The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges access to the tickets alone increases their value. OSU has information on its Web site advising donors that their tax-deductible contribution will be reduced by $300 because the IRS has deemed that amount to be the fair market value for the opportunity to purchase two season tickets.

In other words, lawmakers who buy four season tickets without making any financial contribution to the university receive an opportunity worth $600.

Turcer said the IRS understands access carries a price and the university and public officials need to reconsider the policy.

''Everyone knows they are worth more than their face value. This is no secret,'' Turcer said. ''Nothing comes for free. It's up to our public officials to think through the perks they are offered in office and ask, 'Is this something that helps me do my job better?' ''

Turcer said Widowfield's quick exodus from the legislature — his resignation was accepted with only a few lawmakers on the floor and no formal explanation — is a sign that lawmakers are extremely sensitive about the tickets.

''They were saying: 'We want this over as quickly as possible. We don't want people to spend any time thinking about this as an ethical question,' '' Turcer said.