Mahoning Dems Accuse JobsOhio of Insider Deals
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Democratic Party leaders in Mahoning County added their voices Tuesday to criticisms over how JobsOhio is operating amid reports that members of the agency’s board of directors have direct financial ties to companies receiving public aid.
A press event Tuesday, organized by the Ohio Democratic Party and featuring state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Remedio-Righetti and former Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally, followed news reports last week that six of the nine board members of JobsOhio are connected to companies that received tax credits or other state aid since Gov. John R. Kasich took office in 2011. Additionally, the news reports show that Kasich, who left the board of Worthington Industries, is still receiving money related to his service to the company, which received assistance from JobsOhio following his departure.
JobsOhio is the private economic development agency created by Kasich and the GOP-led state General Assembly after Kasich took office in 2011. The state also stripped the Ohio Ethics Commission of authority over JobsOhio and made it self-policing on ethics matters, and removed the state auditor’s authority to audit the agency.
"JobsOhio was created because the status quo embraced by the people holding this press conference led to skyrocketing unemployment and job loss,” said Connie Wehrkamp, deputy press secretary for Kasich, in a statement emailed following Tuesday's press event. “This is nothing more than a political stunt attempting to distract from the economic progress Ohio has made over the past two and a half years, of which JobsOhio has played a key role. The fact that these politically-motivated attacks are even being made is because incentives to companies are disclosed. Furthermore, JobsOhio's board and staff are required to report their personal financial information to the Ethics Commission, which is part of why JobsOhio is the most transparent private company in Ohio."
Schiavoni, D-33 Boardman, disputed that politics was at work, and pointed out that he was among the few Democrats who voted in favor of JobsOhio. “We were in a situation where we needed jobs now. The state was hurting. I was promised and I trusted the governor and his people that they were going to do this in the correct way,” he said. Unfortunately, he continued, Kasich and his “inner circle” have blocked transparency “and played favorites so that board members could personally benefit from the state’s investment.”
McNally, a former Youngstown law director and a candidate for mayor, complained that state funding cuts have resulted in the loss of nearly $50 million for schools and public safety in Mahoning County at the same time Kasich is funding JobsOhio, which he has benefitted from financially and politically. “There’s nothing wrong with helping attract businesses to the state of Ohio and to cities like Youngstown,” he remarked. “The problem is in this case that [the board members of] JobsOhio might be doing more to take care of themselves than to take care of the rest of the state.”
Ohioans are right to wonder whether this is “just the tip of the iceberg” and if there is a reason why JobsOhio is exempt from public records laws, McNally said. “Because of this culture of secrecy, because of this inability to confront what is becoming news., who knows how many other conflicts of interest may exist with JobsOhio?” he asked.
Remedio-Rightetti called for the state to disclose how JobsOhio is assisting companies in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. “They’re having a $2 billion surplus in Columbus while the counties and cities are failing financially,” she said.
Discussions are underway regarding legislation that would open JobsOhio to greater public scrutiny, Schiavoni said. “If you don’t have transparency, then you can’t have trust in government, and if the people don’t trust the government we have seirous, serious issues,” he remarked.
Schiavoni could not say whether such legislation would have Republican support in the Ohio Senate but noted the efforts of Auditor David Yost, a Republican, to audit JobsOhio’s books before he was “shut down” by Kasich. “So we’re not talking about Democrats versus Republicans. He’s a Republican elected statewide official who had issues with JobsOhio as well,” he said.
In the Ohio House of Representatives, a bill titled “the Jobs Ohio Accountability Act” that would provide “basic oversight” was introduced by state Rep. John Patrick Carney, said Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Jerid Kurtz. “But the House has refused to hold hearings,” he said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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