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COLUMBUS — The Ohio Ethics Commission yesterday said it would refer its investigation into Gov. Bob Taft’s failure to report several golf outings on his financial disclosure statements to prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

Franklin County and Columbus prosecutors said they anticipate the referral will occur soon.

Citing a state law that requires Ethics Commission investigations to be confidential, Executive Director David Freel wouldn’t answer questions about Mr. Taft or provide any details about the commission’s actions.

“The commission believes the law equally applies to everybody, at whatever level of government,” Mr. Freel said. “The public wants to know that public officials are paying their own way or that they are disclosing when they aren’t.”

State law requires officeholders to list each source of gifts over $75.
It is a first-degree misdemeanor to knowingly file a false ethics form, with a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

Since 2001, public officials also have been barred under state law from accepting free golf outings with anyone doing business with their agency.

Stephen McIntosh, chief prosecutor for the Columbus city attorney, said he had not received a referral yesterday from the Ethics Commission, which met behind closed doors for three hours to review its investigation of Mr. Taft.

The commission investigated the governor’s failure to disclose up to 60 golf outings and other events on his annual ethics statements.

Mr. McIntosh said he expects that Mr. Taft’s criminal defense attorney, William Meeks, will meet with prosecutors to discuss the ethics investigation.

In a written statement, Mr. Meeks referred to Mr. Taft’s failure to disclose golf outings as “inadvertent.”

“Consistent with his earlier statements, the governor will release information to the public when the commission process is complete,” wrote Mr. Meeks, who didn’t return messages seeking comment.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, a Republican, said in a written statement: “Typically, the commission, when a case is referred to the appropriate prosecutor, will take several days to collect the evidence, interviews, or other information and present it in a binder with a cover letter of referral.”

On June 21, the same day The Blade made inquiries, Mr. Taft admitted he had failed to include golf outings on his ethics statements. He released a written statement that included a copy of a June 14 letter to Merom Brachman, chairman of the Ethics Commission.

Senate President Bill Harris (R., Ashland), right, said he’s confi dent that Gov. Bob Taft will ‘do what’s right’ in the ethics dispute. The two, with House Speaker Jon Husted (R., Kettering), left, are shown at the state’s budget signing ceremony on June 30 in Moraine, Ohio.
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‘Full responsibility’

“I take full responsibility for any errors and omissions and will continue to cooperate with the commission in this matter,” Mr. Taft wrote.

Since then, Mr. Taft has refused to provide any information about his failure to properly fill out his annual ethics statement.

In response to public records requests, the governor’s office last week released documents showing Mr. Taft had accepted about 25 invitations to play golf since taking office in 1999.

The records did not indicate who paid for the outings, which included a May 13, 2001, golf round at the Inverness Club with Tom Noe, Toledo businessman Mike Wilcox, and state Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green).

Mr. Noe, who convinced the state to invest $50 million in rare-coin funds he controlled, is at the center of a scandal that has led to the conviction of Mr. Taft’s former chief of staff, Brian Hicks, on an ethics charge and the resignation of the bureau’s CEO-administrator.

The scandal has triggered the need for:

• A federal grand jury in Toledo to focus on whether Mr. Noe violated federal campaign finance laws by giving others money to contribute to President Bush’s re-election campaign last year.

• A federal grand jury in Cleveland to examine investment practices at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

• A state grand jury in Toledo to focus on possible criminal activities in Mr. Noe’s rare-coin funds.

Mr. Taft’s mid-June admission that he had failed to disclose golf outings and other events triggered an investigation by the ethics panel.

“It makes an independent determination as to whether that information was a knowing falsification,” Mr. Freel said. “Ultimately, that is up to the prosecutor to prove by the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The Ohio Democratic Party issued a news release asking if Republicans plan to use the “coupon defense” in response to the ethical questions being raised.

$80 coupons used

Yesterday, The Blade reported that Toledo businessman Mike Wilcox used $80 coupons when he hosted Mr. Taft and Mr. Gardner, along with Mr. Noe for a golf outing at Toledo’s exclusive Inverness Club.

A round of golf costs $140 per person at the club, but the $80 coupons reduced the total to $60, which is $15 below the state-required limit for reporting gifts.

The Democratic party printed mock coupons for the “Bob Taft Special” — $80 off a round of golf — with expiration dates of Nov. 7, 2006, the date of the next gubernatorial election.

Prosecutors will need to prove that Mr. Taft intentionally did not disclose golf outings and other events on his annual ethics statements.

Mr. Taft articulated his knowledge of the state’s ethics code during an ethics symposium at Xavier University in May. He told people gathered there that “public servants must pay if they want to play.”

“Public employees can enjoy entertainment, such as golf or dining out with persons working for a regulated company or one doing business with that state only if they fully pay their own way,” Mr. Taft said during the Xavier speech.

But in June, after he acknowledged the problems with his disclosure statements, Mr. Taft refused to say whether he was aware of the 2001 Ethics Commission ruling that made it a violation of state law for a public official to accept free golf outings with people doing business with their agency in the state government.

Ethics were also considered a chief concern of the Taft administration, according to e-mails released by the governor’s office.

Ethics training

In 1999, Mr. Taft issued an executive order mandating that his cabinet directors, assistant cabinet directors, and senior staff receive four hours of ethics training every two years.

Four years later, an e-mail written by Judith L. French, Mr. Taft’s chief legal counsel, said the meeting would “cover conflicts of interest, public contracting, nepotism, revolving door issues, and financial disclusure [sic].”

Until now, Mr. Taft has steered clear of ethics investigations — but his integrity has been questioned in the past.

Earlier in his tenure as governor, Mr. Taft offered seats in the governor’s box at Ohio State University football games and invitations to receptions at the governor’s mansions in exchange for secret contributions benefiting the state Republican Party’s campaign coffers.

In 2000, he made phone calls to raise secret contributions for a business-backed effort to oust Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick.

Privately, some Republicans are questioning Mr. Taft’s legal strategy to argue that he didn’t “knowingly” fail to disclose golf outings on his ethics statements.

They also are questioning whether Mr. Taft, in hiring Mr. Meeks — who is known for negotiating with prosecutors and judges and not talking to the press — is losing the battle in the court of public opinion.

Orest Holubec, Mr. Taft’s communications director, wouldn’t comment on that criticism.

“The important point is he initiated the process with the Ethics Commission and has been cooperating with the Ethics Commission and will continue to do so, and when the process is complete, he will make the errors and omissions public,” Mr. Holubec said.

Senate President Bill Harris (R., Ashland) said he did not know the details of the commission’s actions yesterday, but he remained confident the governor will “do what’s right.”

“If there are some things he needs to be accountable for, he will address that,” Mr. Harris said. “I’m willing to give him the opportunity to do that before I start making judgments.”

He noted that people should not jump to conclusions about the governor’s behavior.

“There’s a big difference in whether or not it is allegations or that it may or may not be true or facts,” he said. “I think we ought to let the appropriate people, in this case the Ethics Commission, evaluate the data.”

State Sen. Marc Dann, a Democrat from suburban Youngstown and outspoken critic of the Republican leadership in Columbus, criticized the governor for not being more open about his unreported gifts.

‘Tell us right now’

Mr. Taft repeatedly said he was “respecting the process” of the ethics panel, and he would provide more information at an appropriate time.

“There was nothing that required him to wait for the Ethics Commission,” Mr. Dann said. “He should tell us right now who he accepted golf from.”

The Ethics Commission consists of six members: three Democrats and three Republicans. All members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.

Currently, one Republican seat is vacant. The other five members were appointed by either Gov. George Voinovich or Mr. Taft, both Republicans.

In response to the questions about Mr. Taft’s golf outings, Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) yesterday said she plans to introduce a bill to create an Ohio Department of Public Advocate, which would be designed to “discover and dismantle pay-to-play schemes” in the state.

The department would have the power to sue state agencies on behalf of Ohio residents and add new levels of accountability.

“This is America, and you shouldn’t have to belong to a country club to be heard in Columbus, Toledo, Bowling Green, or anywhere else,” Ms. Fedor said in a statement.

Also yesterday, Sen. Tom Roberts (D., Dayton) introduced a resolution to form a committee to “investigate the allegations of malfeasance” concerning the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

Mr. Freel said the investigation into alleged ethics violations by state and local officials involving Mr. Noe and the bureau continues.

Contact Steve Eder at:seder@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

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