Auditor hopefuls trade barbs

September 18, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

YOUNGSTOWN

If elected Ohio auditor, Republican Dave Yost said no one will question his “independence” when it comes to investigating potential improper and criminal activities at state agencies.

“I’ve taken the heat from my own party for going after elected [Republican] officeholders,” Yost, the Delaware County prosecutor, told The Vindicator editorial board Friday. “If I’ve gone after Republicans before on criminal matters, why would anybody reasonably question whether I can go up to John Kasich [the Republican gubernatorial nominee] and say, ‘You know what? This state agency is out of control, and here are the things that need to change.’”

Yost questions if the same can be said for David Pepper, his Democratic opponent.

Yost acknowledges he honored a request from Ohio Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine to get out of the attorney general’s race and run for auditor. Pepper, a Hamilton County commissioner, was recruited by Gov. Ted Strickland, a fellow Democrat, for auditor.

“You have to ask if Strickland is successful in his re-election bid, how independent is David Pepper going to be [to conduct audits of state agencies] when he’s been hand-picked by the incumbent governor?” Yost said.

In a Friday telephone interview, Pepper said: “I’ve always been independent minded. After the election is over, the politics end and the business of being auditor begins.”

If elected auditor, Pepper said he’d never let politics play a factor in his decision to investigate any governmental agency.

The winner of the November auditor’s race, which also includes Libertarian L. Michael Howard of Westerville, will replace Republican Mary Taylor, Kasich’s lieutenant-governor running mate.

Pepper raised close to $2 million compared with $595,260 for Yost and about $500 for Howard as of Sept. 3, the most-recent campaign-finance filing date.

“He’s got major labor support and personal wealth; I don’t have either,” Yost said of Pepper.

In response, Pepper said, “You can take away those two things, and I still out-raise him. He was running for [attorney general] for a year and then in January said he’s running for auditor. It’s going to impact his ability to raise money. I’m not surprised he’s struggling. He hasn’t gotten a lot of traction.”