Northeast Ohio lawmaker resigns

State Rep. Widowfield was accused of selling status-obtained tickets for a profit.

COLUMBUS (AP) — A state lawmaker from Northeast Ohio has resigned amid allegations that he bought Ohio State football tickets with campaign funds and resold them for a profit.

State Rep. John Widowfield, a Republican from Cuyahoga Falls near Akron, submitted his resignation Wednesday in a two-sentence letter. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted acknowledged the resignation in a one-sentence letter without further comment.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Thursday that Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe is looking into whether Widowfield sold the tickets on eBay for a profit after buying them at face value through a season ticket option available to state lawmakers. The sources requested anonymity because the investigative process is secret.

A message was left at Widowfield’s home seeking comment.

Widowfield showed up to his assigned committee Wednesday morning, then suddenly resigned around 1 p.m., just after the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, which handles legislator misconduct, finished meeting. Proceedings of the committee are confidential and Bledsoe declined comment Thursday.

Lawmakers have for years been given the option to purchase season football tickets to Ohio State Buckeyes games at face value. The tickets cost about $62 each and, when the team has been on the trail to the national championship, tickets to a coveted Michigan game have resold for as high as $6,800.

Widowfield’s campaign finance reports show he paid $3,017 between 2002 and 2006 to Ohio State for football tickets.

Lawmakers often give out the tickets to constituents, a local Boy Scout troop or other community group, said former state Rep. Jim Trakas. It is also common practice to sell the tickets at face value, and the legislative e-mail system lights up every fall as members and staff seek tickets to desired games, he said.

But Bledsoe issued repeated warnings to legislators in recent years, particularly because access to games became more valuable and coveted, that they were not to sell tickets for a profit. They are not allowed, according to his memos, to sell something obtained by their status as a lawmaker for a profit. In 2006, they were even discouraged from selling special trip packages to bowl games that OSU offered lawmakers at face value, because it could be perceived as currying favor with a third party.

Bledsoe said a public report is made in any investigation with findings, and that any potential criminal activity his office turns up is generally referred to the Franklin County prosecutor.