$15K for NCAA matchup flowed through JobsOhio

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Receipts show an affiliate of Ohio’s privatized job-creation office spent $15,000 in taxpayer dollars for a Dayton-area development agency to help underwrite a 2012 NCAA basketball game attended by President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Gov. John Kasich.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Monday that receipts show the JobsOhio-affiliated Ohio Business Development Coalition also gave $35,000 in public money for the Toledo Mud Hens to develop a local branding campaign.

The sums were part of the $8.4 million in public money that JobsOhio received over 18 months and repaid the state in March, the newspaper reported. Other expenses covered by public funds included salaries, benefits, parking, cellphone bills, websites, and a $1.35 million state ad campaign.

State Auditor Dave Yost successfully subpoenaed JobsOhio’s private books earlier this year after agency officials said they weren’t public. That prompted a legal change that lawmakers said was intended to clarify their intent that JobsOhio’s private books stay private. Lawmakers protected the records from the state auditor’s review by declaring JobsOhio’s main funding stream — from bond sales backed by state liquor proceeds — private.

Some $6.8 million in grants administered by the coalition — including those for the sports-related expenses — accounted for the bulk of the total, the newspaper reported.