Bill to target candidate spending

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Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann

A Republican from Medina will push the measure.

COLUMBUS (AP) — State lawmakers reacting to the downfall of former Attorney General Marc Dann will consider requiring politicians to reveal donors to shadowy accounts used to pay for office transitions and inaugurations.

The move comes after Ohio’s government watchdog said Dann had entered “new and unregulated territory” when he created a nonprofit corporation that raised nearly $200,000 from individuals and businesses soon after his election in 2006.

Money from Dann’s transition account was spent on a business run by his wife and on aides who were already getting state paychecks, the report said. The accounts are not subject to campaign finance laws that establish transparency, limit contribution amounts from individuals and ban contributions from businesses, excluding those that form political action committees.

But the accounts, which fall under the Internal Revenue Service code that regulates nonprofit groups, weren’t just a creation of Dann, a Democrat who resigned in May amid a sexual harassment scandal involving a top aide.

Gov. Ted Strickland, Auditor Mary Taylor, Treasurer Richard Cordray and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner all had similar accounts. They are also used by officials across the country.

“Why would we require everyone to report every shoe button in a campaign fund and then after they are elected have a period of no reporting of what they get?” state Rep. Bill Batchelder, a Medina Republican, said Tuesday.

“I think it puts the person in a potential conflict situation when it’s done without any transparency,” said Batchelder, who will push a bill next year to create disclosure requirements for the transition corporations.

Transition accounts largely fly under the radar of those who track and criticize the influence of money in politics. But the accounts have all the ingredients of a system that can be abused, said Steve Weissman, associate director for policy at the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonprofit organization affiliated with George Washington University.

“Any time you have undisclosed, potentially large donations, you have the potential of corruption,” Weissman said. “And no one can see it. It’s easier to do a favor for somebody when the somebody is invisible.”

Brunner, a Democrat who was elected at the same time Dann was, raised about $43,000 in her transition account from sources such as Nationwide Insurance, Duke Energy and the Craig Group, a major Columbus lobbying firm.