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Governor, lawmakers reduced to panhandling
By Dennis J. Willard
Beacon Journal Columbus Bureau
Published on Sunday, May 03, 2009
COLUMBUS: Nothing good happens after midnight.
We attempt to teach our children and athletes that lesson, but the message seems to be lost on House Democrats and Gov. Ted Strickland.
After midnight Monday, in the early hours of Tuesday, Democrats gave the Strickland administration the legal authority to use taxpayer-paid employees and resources to create and run nonprofit corporations as a sub-unit of a state governmental department.
It was one of dozens of policy and spending proposals contained in a 796-page omnibus amendment that suddenly appeared and was enacted by Democrats on the House Finance & Appropriations Committee.
I know. You're shaking your head.
These nonprofit companies would be used, and I quote, to ''solicit financial contributions or in-kind contributions of goods to support the fulfillment of the duties and responsibilities'' of state government.
So we will have mini-fund-raising entities operating within the walls of government with public employees actively soliciting contributions.
This is how it would work: Someone working in government, like a deputy director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, would get the green light from their director and the governor to form a nonprofit company that would ''act in the interest of the department.''
Let's give the nonprofit a name. Hmmm. How about ''Pay To Pave Inc.''
Now, the department needs money because times are tight, so the deputy director, who serves as Pay to Pave's director, begins the process of ''soliciting individuals, companies and foundations to contribute money or in-kind services.''
In-kind services is a term commonly used in campaign finance laws to mean something of value other than a pile of cash or a check with a bunch of zeros. Examples include someone paying for the food at a fundraiser or a state party picking up the multihundred thousand dollar tab for television commercials for a candidate.
These should be called ''you're too kind'' contributions.
And it is appropriate to make the comparison between these mini-fundraising entities and campaign committees — which solicit contributions from individuals and Political Action Committees (PACs) — because both are supposed to be transparent, and each is formed with the intention to rake in as much money as possible.
The Strickland administration believes this
bold new foray into public policy is all good, because everything will be transparent and open to the public.
The public will know which taxpayer-paid employees are working for the nonprofit corporation. Contributors will be listed along with the amount of money or value of in-kind services donated as will be the vendors working for the nonprofit.
Ohio has similar full-disclosure laws for campaign contributions, but candidates and committees move money around, so often the true source cannot be pinpointed.
And the loophole-ridden campaign laws cannot account for the motivation of the donors and neither will the new laws on nonprofit governmental entities.
Departments can have as many nonprofit fundraising corporations as they wish, but they must be audited, issue financial statements and state employees cannot benefit from the corporation or the money solicited.
Contributors have rules to play by, too. Their donations must be voluntary and not ''made with or in return for any state contracts, grants or other financial benefits.''
If the contributor has business pending before the department or one in the ''foreseeable'' future, then they cannot donate money or in-kind services to the department.
Contributors cannot receive any special treatment, nor can the public employee's official duties be influenced by the contributions.
If a violation occurs, then the contribution must be returned to the contributor.
Wow, that is going to really put second thoughts into the minds of anyone doing business with state government.
Defending the proposal
State Rep. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, who chairs the finance committee, said the amendment came from Strickland's lobbyist.
Strickland's spokeswoman, Amanda Wurst, defended the proposal.
She said state agencies currently solicit contributions, and this would put standards in law. No one in state government currently tracks the amounts or contributors.
Wurst said it was a timing issue when asked why the administration pushed for the policy to be included in the post-midnight omnibus amendment.
By doing this, the governor avoided any public hearings or debate on his new transparent nonprofit entity policy.
The Strickland administration also points out that the new law follows recommendations from two Ohio Ethics Commission advisory opinions.
In October, the ethics commission issued an advisory opinion to Pamela L. Bennett, who is president of the Friends of the Ohio Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden that the governor's wife, Frances, chairs, and the transportation's director's wife, Alta Beasley, co-chairs.
The organization is a 501(c)3 charity that wants to raise $3 million for work at the residence.
The commission cleared Frances Strickland and Beasley to work on the campaign as long as the contributions were voluntary, the fundraising did not affect the objectivity and independence of public officials and no one involved personally benefited from the donations.
Two months later, the Strickland administration received a second advisory opinion from the ethics commission on an effort to raise private dollars to implement the Kaizen program in state government, a process used in business to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Most of the disclosure ideas in the budget bill are found in the advisory opinions, but the ethics commission only provides guidelines to play fair and ethically and does not issue value statements on policies.
So the governor can cite the opinions, but that doesn't mean this is a good public policy.
Potential problems
First, there are hundreds of potential pay-to-play questions at work here, and I do not have the creativity or imagination to dream up the myriad of potential problems that could arise.
But it would not be a stretch to see a lobbyist who represents an organization comprised of hundreds of businesses sending a message to his members that it would be a good idea to contribute to a specified nonprofit in a department that regulates their industry.
Or, we could witness what we have in the campaign field, where contributors who have maxed out in giving to one candidate give to a list of others, and those candidates turn around and donate the money back to the original candidate. Lawmakers jokingly refer to their colleagues who move money as ''banks.''
Would it be far fetched to imagine the Ohio Lottery Commission trading a list of potential contributors that do business before that agency in exchange for a donor list from, pick one: prisons, taxation, job and family services?
Also, contributions raised by these nonprofits can be used for day-to-day operations of state government.
There is another issue at play here. The state of Ohio, by getting full blown into the nonprofit solicitation business, would be directly competing for individual and foundation dollars with food banks and other social service organizations that are currently struggling to raise money to serve the poor, hungry, abused, neglected and needy.
An advantage to forming a 501(c)3 nonprofit entity within state government is departments can directly solicit foundation dollars often earmarked solely for charitable organizations, and they can promote the idea that a contribution is a tax writeoff.
But Strickland and state lawmakers should not be reduced to panhandling for state government.
The governor already has a way to raise money: It's called taxes.
Strickland and the sworn members of the Ohio General Assembly have the constitutional authority and responsibility to generate the necessary taxes to operate state government.
If they need the money so badly, then have the guts to enact a tax increase.
Dennis J. Willard can be reached at 614-224-1613 or dwillard@thebeaconjournal.com.
COLUMBUS: Nothing good happens after midnight.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 06:53 AM, 05/03/2009
Vote them all out and start over. From White house to local government. These people are all to far gone to help.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:40 AM, 05/03/2009
Hmmm, Teddyboy has been busy. Don't y'all wish he put this much time and effort into reformin' the school tax plan.
Akron, OH
Posted 10:25 AM, 05/03/2009
Bring Taft back
Akron, OH
Posted 10:44 AM, 05/03/2009
The plan isn't completely bogus. This would give people the opportunity to support city work without raising taxes. There are times when a tax hike amongst the entire population is inappropriate and this would give those who support the department an opportunity to contribute.
My question would be this, who are the volunteer board members, how are they selected for this government group? A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization can not exist without them - and they are the policy setters for the organization.
Posted 01:18 PM, 05/03/2009
Three cheers for Mr. Williard's audacious candor in blowing the whistle on what will be a well-tailored suit of clothes that, if enacted, will cover up the play-to-play shenanigans of the Taft era that are alive and well but less overt than before, due to the fall out from the Noe scandals. Gov. Strickland is on a slippery slope that conflates and confuses government with non-government entities. Anyway, we have way, way too many non-profits in operation, each with their sad tale of funding woe to tell. And despite all the high-sounding rhetoric of what is permissible or not, it all comes down to the same things: if you want to play, you must pay (to our new order). As Ohio's fabled southern governor Jimmy Rhodes said about the hierarchy of contributers to political parties or their candidates, "If you contribute early, you'll get what you want. If you contribute late, you'll get good government."
Orrville, Oh
Posted 03:11 PM, 05/03/2009
State using nonprofit, tax exempt, taxpayer-paid employees to run nonprofit, tax Exempt Corporation.
This is defiant of demands of Natural Law (what Mother Nature, God, or Whatever Power decreed to be the reality of the real world), God, democracy, capitalism, the US Constitution, and free, fair, and affordable commerce.
Demanding every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church markets the cost in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service; Of every workers, consumers, and taxpayers living (including pension and health care). Enabling parents to love, nurse, nurture, discipline, protect, and provide, for every child (job) they conceive and fund schools, infrastructure, national security, government services, and etc.; with money derived from wages or independent business profit.
akron, oh
Posted 11:15 AM, 05/11/2009
this makes me think of the Mayor's Akron USA fund...
