OHIO TREASURER'S RACE Boyle says incumbent plays favorites

The VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mary Boyle, Democratic candidate for Ohio treasurer, is criticizing her incumbent opponent for "picking favorites" by giving a disproportionate number of small-business loans to his home county.
Meeting with some local Democratic leaders and news reporters at the Youngstown Business Incubator here Friday, she said she argued that Ohio's Small Business Linked Deposit Program should be used to help areas that have high unemployment rates, such as the Mahoning Valley.
Annual report
Boyle cited a 2002 annual report on the loan program indicating Mahoning and Trumbull counties got a little more than $6 million in small business linked deposit loans in 2002, while incumbent treasurer Joseph Deters' home county of Hamilton received about $60 million. Hamilton is in the Cincinnati area.
Mahoning businesses received $5.2 million, Trumbull businesses got $1.5 million and Columbiana businesses received $1.5 million.
Boyle said the criteria used for the business loan program appear sound, but she questions how the incumbent is applying the criteria. She also suggested that Deters may not be promoting the program adequately in the Valley and in other areas with high jobless rates.
"If our state government is going to work for the people, you can't pick favorites," she said. "Deters has chosen to develop jobs in his home county rather than the rest of the state."
About the fund
The linked deposit program was created in 1983.
Boyle said funds are set aside and made available to banks to be offered as "bridge loans" for businesses, in addition to other financing sources.
Boyle noted that Mahoning County's jobless rate has been averaging 6.8 percent, 2 percent higher than the Ohio average, while Hamilton County's rate is a more healthy 4.3 percent.
"If I were going to give out business development loans, it makes sense to me to give them to areas with high unemployment," she said.
Boyle is a former Cuyahoga commissioner. She ran unsuccessfully for state Senate positions in 1998 and 1994. She also was scheduled to meet with representatives from several local women's groups and to attend a Western Reserve Building Trades fish fry while visiting the Valley.