Failed candidate loses 2 members of financial team

6/6/2006

WAUSEON - Both campaign treasurers for the Friends of Marcus U. Bowling resigned last week - a week before the campaign finance reports are due for his failed bid for the Republican nomination to the 74th District Ohio House seat.

"Due to the fact proper receipts and documentation have not been forwarded to me, I am unable to complete an accurate amended return," Bev Schlosser, who is also Fulton County treasurer, wrote Wednesday in a letter to Mr. Bowling that she copied to the Fulton County Board of Elections and others. "Phone calls and requests for needed information have gone unanswered. Vendors have been calling me as you have not returned phone calls to them. I feel this is not my responsibility."

The next day, on Thursday, Mr. Bowling's other campaign treasurer, Tom Lingvai, who is a member of the Bryan school board and the Williams County Republican Central Committee, wrote a resignation letter, also citing lack of receipts and documentation and unanswered requests for information from Mr. Bowling.

"It's either got to be done right or I don't want to be involved," Mr. Lingvai said yesterday.

Both letters were filed with the county elections board Friday. The campaign finance reports are due this Friday. Mr. Bowling said yesterday that he would complete the reports and blamed himself for a lack of communication with his treasurers, saying he had been busy looking for a job and had been "down in the dumps" over losing the election.

He said he had the money to cover his outstanding campaign expenses.

Mr. Bowling had resigned his job as editor of the Fulton County Expositor, a twice-a-week newspaper in Wauseon, to campaign full time for the GOP nomination that was won May 2 by Bruce Goodwin in a four-man race.

Mr. Goodwin is retiring June 30 from Four County Career Center, where he has been director of career and technical education. He will face Democrat Ben McCullough in November for the seat that is now held by Steve Buehrer (R., Delta).

Mr. McCullough graduated from Edon High School last year and is studying political science at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.