Taft backs election ad disclosure

COLUMBUS - Gov. Bob Taft yesterday urged swift passage of legislation forcing special interests trying to influence Ohio Supreme Court elections to reveal who's bankrolling their ads.

"Ohio voters are entitled to nothing less than full disclosure," he wrote in a letter to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green).

The bill would require organizations financing "electioneering communication" airing 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary to publicly disclose any contributor of $500 or more as well as any expenditure of at least $10,000.

Mr. Gardner said he hopes the bill will reach the Senate floor before the end of the month. The bill, a narrowed version of more sweeping campaign-finance reform proposed three years ago, would apply only to Supreme Court candidates and would affect campaigns for four bench seats on the ballot in November.

Mr. Taft also supported the far more sweeping reform package that ran into a brick wall in the General Assembly. But before signing on, he helped raise funds for an anonymously bankrolled effort that spent $4 million to unsuccessfully target Justice Alice Robie Resnick, an Ottawa Hills Democrat, for defeat in 2000.