We’re equal opportunity in Ohio,
Republicans, Democrats, whatever you’re calling yourselves. We’ll investigate
you.
Now, what is Gov. John Kasich up
to? Well he’s stealing from the tax payers of Ohio, but apparently his financial
records for JobsOhio are being subpoenaed as well. State Auditor Dave Yost
issued the subpoena Wednesday. Joe Hallett wrote about this for the Columbus
Dispatch. This came after Kasich’s privatized economic-development
agency failed to turn them over. Yep, privatization, one of my favorite things,
between misogyny and cancer. Yost asserts the legal right to review the
financials of the private entity that is attempting to attract jobs to Ohio,
saying, “They are not cooperating with our attempts to audit them.”
The subpoena asks for all the financial
records through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012 and gives them until
Wednesday to comply. JobsOhio was created in early 2011, shortly after Kasich
became governor. JobOhio is a private nonprofit corporation that assumed the
economic-development and job-creation functions of the Ohio Department of Development,
now the Development Services Agency (some are just calling it a slush fund for Kasich), with the legislature earmarking $1 million
for the startup costs, but last week a private audit revealed JobsOhio received
$5.3 million in state grants that hadn’t been disclosed.
All of this comes after questions
about how much taxpayer money has been put into JobsOhio and how it got there
without state lawmakers knowing. Yost issued the subpoena after months of
attempted negotiation between his office and JobsOhio’s chief financial officer
Kevin Giangola. Yost said, “it became clear over the last three days or so that
we weren’t going to hear back from JobsOhio.”
Shocking. Yost continues by
saying, “I was told that the CFO said it wasn’t going to be his decision.”
I wonder who made this decision. Yost
said it was unclear as to whether the decision was made by the governor’s
office, but said he heard “third-hand through the legislative process” that
Kasich’s admin might try to get an amendment into the state transportation bill
to clarify his authority to audit JobOhio.
Rob Nichols, Kasich’s spokesman,
indicated that the administration had no problem with Yost auditing taxpayer
money going to JobsOhio, but he wasn’t clear on Yost’s purview and authority
regarding the private entity: “The auditor has clear authority to audit public
funds, and if there’s any confusion about that authority, then it needs to be
clarified in law. [The Development Services Agency] is requesting that the
auditor audit the public funds it has provided to JobsOhio and the
administration looks forward to working with him on that effort.”
Senate President Keith Faber
(R-Celina) said that “there has been discussion” about clarifying the auditor’s
authority to check the financials of JobsOhio, but he didn’t see “any language
on that.” State Sen. Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville), chair-woman of the
Senate Transportation Committee, corroborated this. Because in Ohio, that's what we do if your job description is a bit fuzzy, we'll clarify it in an amendment and prevent you from doing your job.
Yost’s subpoena could trigger a
court battle over the use of public funds for private purposes (yes, please)
between heavyweight Ohio Republicans: Yost and Kasich. Yost said, “I was (Delaware County)
prosecutor for eight years, and among the people I prosecuted were people of my
own party. Duty brooks no friendship.”
When asked about whether JobsOhio’s
refusal to provide financials rouses suspicion, Yost said, “My job is to follow
the dollars and facts and go where they lead, and that’s what I’m going to do.
We all want job creation, but I have to do my job.”
Yost asserted that JobsOhio
officials said, “JobsOhio is a private corporation and the auditor of the state
doesn’t belong in there.”
Yost said, “We simple have a
disagreement about the law as well as a policy disagreement. If it turns out
the law limits the ability of the auditor to examine the finances of that
organization, then the law needs to be changed.”
At this point things are still
unclear as to what authority Yost has. In January, Yost sent a letter to the
chairman of the House committee saying his office had “clear and unambiguous”
authority to examine the financials. He cited state law, which gives the
auditor the ability to “audit the accounts of private institutions, associations,
boards, and corporations receiving public money for their use and may require
for them annual reports in such form as the auditor of the state prescribes.”
Yost continues in the letter, “To
put it simply, the auditor of the state’s authority follows public money
wherever it flows—including private entities.”
No one disagreed with the letter
when it was read into record. Several GOP lawmakers were surprised when the
private audit was reported on Tuesday. Rep. John Patrick Caney called for a
state audit, “The secretive nature surrounding the use of these tax dollars is extremely
alarming. I support the mission of JobsOhio, but they can’t just haphazardly
prop up operations with public funds.
A spokesperson for JobsOhio didn’t
respond to the Columbus Dispatch for
comment.
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