Watchdog agencies necessary to ensure government honesty

As the Republican majority in the Ohio General Assembly picks the winners and losers in the state’s two-year budget sweepstakes, it appears the policing of government is not on the priority list.

That isn’t surprising, given the responsibilities of the Ohio Inspector General’s Office, the Ohio Ethics Commission, the Ohio Elections Commission and other similar entities. They’re there to keep government honest.

It is no exaggeration that watchdog agencies and the individuals who work for them have become an essential part of democracy.

Take away the gatekeepers, and what you’re left with is an open road to corruption. In fact, even with the policing of public employees, laws still are broken, rules and regulations still are ignored, and greed continues to flourish.

Residents of the Mahoning Valley have long had a front-row seat to government corruption, and have welcomed the participation of state investigative agencies in rooting out crime.

Yet, the GOP-dominated Legislature and the administration of Republican Gov. John Kasich don’t see the need to increase funding for the inspector general’s office, the ethics commission or the other entities.

Last week, the Columbus Dispatch published a story headlined, “State budget shortfall worrying watchdogs.” The story, which appeared in last Sunday’s Vindicator, detailed the challenges the inspector general and other watchdogs will face if they do not receive the level of funding in the state’s two-year operating budget that’s essential for them to perform their duties to the fullest.

“Do the fiscal constraints mean it’s more likely that government workers will get away with wrongdoing?” the Dispatch asked rhetorically.

Here’s what Randall K. Meyer, Ohio’s inspector general, had to say: “The honest answer is yes, because you can’t hit as much as you’d like to hit.”

Meyer’s jurisdiction covers 96 percent of state workers. The word “hit” refers to investigations.

SUCCESS OF WATCHDOGS

According to the Dispatch, the Ohio inspector general’s office launched investigations in recent years that nabbed one state agency for failing to return more than $30 million due Ohio taxpayers and another that improperly handled more than $250 million in federal grant money.

Then there’s the saga of the Ohio Elections Commission, which was forced to seek $50,000 in emergency funding last week just to keep its doors open through June. It is revealing that the commission’s staff is smaller than it was 21 years ago.

Finally, the ethics commission, which has jurisdiction over more than 600,000 state and local government employees, has had its budget frozen since 2010.

The Mahoning Valley has long attracted the attention of watchdogs because of the deep-seated culture of corruption.

Indeed, the latest high-profile, headline-grabbing criminal cases involving public officials and a prominent business leader grew out of an investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission.

Several years ago, in the wake of the highly charged purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place (the former Southside Medical Center complex), Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains formally asked the ethics commission to open an investigation to determine if there was any wrongdoing on the part of the proponents and opponents of the Oakhill purchase.

Commission investigators spent a year sifting through records and documents and concluded there was enough evidence to justify a criminal investigation of some of the opponents.

Gains then sought special prosecutors, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, two high-profile public officials – John A. McNally, the mayor of Youngstown who was a county commissioner at the time of the Oakhill purchase, and Michael Sciortino, former county auditor – and Youngstown Atty. Martin Yavorcik face a litany of state criminal charges. They stem from what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to prevent Commissioners Anthony Traficanti and David Ludt from buying Oakhill Renaissance Place. The trio are alleged to have taken their orders from businessman Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., who as president of the Cafaro Co. did not want the sale to go through.

Traficanti and Ludt had made it clear they intended to move the Mahoning County Job and Family Services agency from the Cafaro-owned Garland Plaza to Oakhill Renaissance.

McNally, Sciortino, who lost his re-election bid, and Yavorcik are scheduled to go on trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court next March.

Another Valley connection

By any measure, the 2008 investigation by the inspector general of former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, this area’s favorite son until he fell from grace, will rank as one of the highlights of this region’s history of political corruption.

The IG’s report accused Dann and members of his inner circle – after he was elected attorney general in 2006 – of using $195,000 in undisclosed donations for questionable purposes.

The honest, law-abiding residents of the Mahoning Valley have benefited greatly from the government watchdog system. We, therefore, urge the GOP-controlled General Assembly and Gov. Kasich to give such agencies the money they need to operate at the highest level possible.