PUBLIC RECORDS LAWS Auditor, attorney general offer training seminars

Both officials plan to run for governor in 2006.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- People in northwest Ohio who want to learn more about the state's public records laws can attend a seminar Aug. 24 in Toledo conducted by the attorney general's office and Ohio Newspaper Association.
Or they can wait a week for a seminar Aug. 30 in Toledo by the state auditor and Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services.
Public records training in six cities by Auditor Betty Montgomery and in 12 cities by Attorney General Jim Petro also will overlap in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton over the next few months.
Petro, while announcing progress by a group crafting stronger public records legislation, acknowledged last week the two statewide officeholders might be duplicating efforts -- "not something I think government should be doing."
Not said was that he and Montgomery both want to be the Republican candidate for governor in 2006. Secretary of State Ken Blackwell also wants to run.
Efforts contest
But Petro then added, "I like to think we were first on the scene."
He was referring to his overtures to the Newspaper Association the day after the trade group's survey with The Associated Press found that public employees in all 88 counties followed the law less than half the time.
Rep. Scott Oelslager, who tried unsuccessfully to expand public records laws as a state senator in the 1990s, also said Petro called him "right away" to discuss drafting a new bill.
Montgomery is not new to public records training, though. She started running the seminars when she took office as attorney general in 1995. In 2002, she and former auditor Petro successfully ran for each other's jobs because of term limits. Montgomery took the public records duties and most of the training staff with her to the new post.
The auditor's staff has trained 3,000 public officials in 57 seminars since 2003, spokesman Joe Case said.
"I have no complaint about that," said Oelslager, a Canton Republican, whose proposals for the bill include making the training mandatory.
Law firms, legal associations, private consultants and government groups also offer their own versions of public records training.
Common job tasks
Training by public offices doesn't seem unusual, said John Gotherman, attorney for the Ohio Municipal League.
"I can't imagine that's a big issue in who we'd want as our governor," he said.
Spokespeople for both officials said they weren't trying to campaign through head-to-head education.
"We don't see it as a competition at all," Case said. "This is an issue that transcends politics."
Both also made arguments for why training suited their offices.
The attorney general by law must advise local governments on legal issues, and the compilation of open records and open government statutes started with Montgomery's predecessor in the office, Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr., Petro spokeswoman Kim Norris said.
"Historically that function has already been performed here," she said.
The auditor, as well as monitoring public spending, is required to ensure good management practices are in place, said Mark Weaver, a consultant for Montgomery's campaign and a former assistant attorney general under her.
"There are literally hundreds of public entities out there," he said. "One government office couldn't keep up with all the need for training."
Public education
Public officials always are looking for free publicity -- just look at political conventions, said Paul A. Sracic, associate professor of political science at Youngstown State University. Even county weights and measures officials prominently display their names on gasoline pump stickers, he said.
"Anything downticket of the governor, people don't necessarily know who they are," he said. "People are making an effort to just give people a positive association [with a candidate's name]."
"It is a good thing," Sracic said of the training. "You can't have too much of informing people of their rights."