Lawmakers warn of politics in grant program

COLUMBUS (AP) — Top Ohio lawmakers warned Thursday that Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration is jeopardizing the independence and future of the state’s respected high-tech grant program.

In an unprecedented move, Senate President Bill Harris and House Speaker Jon Husted appeared jointly before the little-noticed Third Frontier Commission and urged a reversal of a July policy change that gives the state Department of Development a role in evaluating grant recipients. Both lawmakers are Republicans, and Strickland is a Democrat.

Husted, of Kettering, said legislators specifically crafted the Third Frontier program to be free of political influence by placing grant evaluations in the hands of outside experts, including the National Academy of Sciences. He reminded Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who directs the commission, that the GOP did so at the urging of Democrats concerned the program could become a slush fund for then-Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican.

“We should assure the public that the best available science, not the best available connections, are determining who gets these contracts,” Husted said.

The high-tech initiative, begun in 2006, has committed $874 million in grants to Ohio companies advancing biomedicine, advanced energy, electronics and other science and technology fields, according to figures released Thursday. The commission signs off on final grant awards and must issue a written report if its decisions differ from its science advisers.

Husted said he was not suggesting the administration intends to do anything improper in awarding Third Frontier contracts, but that more administrative control over the program could make it difficult to sell to legislators and voters in the future in such a closely politically divided state.

Fisher, who also oversees the Development Department, said the recent policy change simply formalized a role for state development experts who are already providing input on grant awards. He said it was the commission’s intent to use the information to augment information from the outside scientific institutions.