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State lawmakers sever ties with regional chamber after solicitation revealed
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning Valley’s state legislators abruptly split from the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber after they had been teamed up to prioritize local projects for a piece of Ohio’s multimillion-dollar 2016 capital spending.
At issue is the chamber’s soliciting $5,000 from Valley arts entities to lobby on their behalf. Three Valley agencies already committed funds, and a few others were considering it.
Legislators said the dual role created a perception of bias.
Chamber officials said they respect the legislators’ decision, but they never intended to rank the arts projects because that would be a conflict of interest.
The legislators wrote a letter Thursday to Thomas M. Humphries, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer, and Guy Coviello, its vice president of governmental affairs and economic development, that reads: “The nature of your conversations and affiliations with entities in the capital bill raise serious concerns. Therefore, we will no longer regard you as a facilitator for capital bill project submissions. We are disappointed that what was initially a strong collaborative process has been tainted by poor communication and concerns of bias. We feel these actions have undermined our cooperative efforts to strengthen our region’s arts and cultural institutions.”
The legislators also wrote letters to various community leaders informing them the working agreement with the chamber is over because it solicited “various entities to retain them on a fee-for-service basis to advocate for capital bill requests.”
Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, one of the legislators who signed the letters, said, “I’m getting calls from people that the chamber is soliciting $5,000 contributions for advocacy. If they’re charging for advocacy, then we as legislators can’t work with them. There can’t be money solicited with our names on it.”
To date, Stambaugh Auditorium and the Mahoning Valley Historical Society have paid $5,000 to the chamber. Another organization is sending $5,000, and about four others are considering it, Coviello said.
“We would have prioritized community projects, but if the arts community wanted us to prioritize, we would have refunded the money,” Coviello said. “That would be a conflict of interest. But we provide services to help arts communities beyond the capital bill.”
A letter obtained by The Vindicator sent to six arts and entertainment facilities, Youngstown State University, Kent State Trumbull Campus and the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County asks for $5,000 each for an arts collaboration effort that would advocate for state, federal and other funding, establish an arts committee, and to “meet regularly to identify and rank capital improvement projects in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.”
Coviello said Schiavoni called him Wednesday about the solicitation work, and said he’d “get back to us. He did with the letter [Thursday]. I thought there would be more dialogue. I didn’t believe the decision would be that quick.”
State Rep. John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, another legislator who signed the letters, said, “When we found out there were solicitations, we severed ties. We can’t be part of that. If they want to be lobbyists, that’s fine, but we can’t work with that. We wanted to err on the side of caution.”
Also signing the letters were state Reps. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th; Sean J. O’Brien of Bazetta, D-63rd; and Michael O’Brien of Warren, D-64th; as well as state Sen. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd.
“I’m really mad; we were completely misled,” Lepore-Hagan said. “I want to disavow and distance myself from the chamber as quickly as possible. I feel I was being deceived. A $5,000 fee to represent them is wrong.”
In response, Humphries said, “We didn’t deceive anyone. Everything we did, we tried to communicate with” the legislators. “I respect their decisions, and we will follow their directions. It was our intention to help them through the process. Apparently, they don’t need our help.”
H. William Lawson, director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, which gave $5,000 to the chamber, said, “We were expecting advocacy on a project we submitted for the capital bill. But we also paid for help with state and federal funds. We didn’t see this becoming a political issue.”
Lawson said he was surprised this happened. “I just assumed everybody knew what the process was.”
The historical society hasn’t decided whether to ask for the $5,000 back, he said.
The state usually provides money to various capital-improvement projects on even-numbered years. The money is for capital improvements for local governments, economic development and other nonprofits, cultural facilities and institutions of higher learning, with the latter getting most of it.
In 2014, the state shelled out $2.4 billion for improvements. Of that, $17 million went to projects in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
Louis Zona, executive director and chief curator of the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, said $5,000 isn’t a lot to ask to “offset the expenses of lobbying. It sounds legitimate to me. The money was for the capital bill.”
Eric Ryan, head of JAC Management Group that manages the Covelli Centre in Youngstown and the W.D. Packard Music Hall in Warren, said his company hadn’t committed to the $5,000 fee, but also said the amount is reasonable.
“It costs money to lobby,” he said. “A collaborative effort to have the arts community speak as one voice is a good idea. The chamber told us there wouldn’t be preferential treatment based on giving money.”