Taft memo reveals gaffe
An attorney said payments were made once the mistake was discovered.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Hundreds of injured workers temporarily received less in state benefits than they deserved thanks to poor record-keeping at the state insurance fund for injured workers, according to a memo released Monday by Gov. Bob Taft.
The memo's disclosure was the latest twist in the scandal surrounding the Ohio Bureau of Workers' compensation. Taft released the four-year-old document at the request of The Associated Press three days after the Ohio Supreme Court narrowed the governor's right to shield certain internal reports.
State Sen. Marc Dann, a Democrat running for attorney general, sued for the memos to learn more about problems at the workers' comp bureau. The agency is still recovering from a scandal that revealed an unorthodox $50 million investment in rare coins and a $215 million hedge fund loss.
The scandal led to Taft's historic no-contest plea last year on charges he failed to report several golf outings, and has given Democrats hope of breaking a Republican lock on state political offices.
The memo from Taft's former business aide, Doug Moormann, says the payment problem affected permanently disabled workers who should have received more money when they hit retirement age.
'Poor record keeping'
The bureau reviewed 8,900 cases and found initially that up to 1,500 workers needed to receive extra benefits because of the mistake, the memo said. Social Security benefits meant to kick in and replace other federal disability benefits once a worker retired were not immediately paid because of "poor record keeping," the memo said.
At the time, Moormann likened the problem to a similar situation at the state human services agency where parents did not receive millions of dollars in child-support payments they were owed.
The workers' comp bureau was researching the problem and couldn't immediately comment, spokeswoman Nancy Smeltzer said.
Moormann said he recalled the problem but couldn't remember exactly how it was resolved. Phil Fulton, a Columbus attorney who handles injured workers' cases, said workers were repaid once the mistake was discovered.
The records released Monday were weekly reports from Moormann and other business aides to Taft, including Jim Samuel, who went to Taft's office in 2003 after years as a top bureau official. Taft later demoted Samuel for failing to inform him of the potential hedge fund loss.
At Dann's request, Taft released many of the records last year but had resisted disclosing information that didn't relate directly to the bureau. It was not clear Monday whether the Moormann memo was released last year.
Dann said he was reviewing the documents and couldn't immediately say whether he received it last year.