The Ohio Ethics Commission has declined to investigate contracts the city awarded to Toledo Mayor Mike Bell’s niece.
The state Democratic Party had requested an investigation in September after a Blade article revealed that a development company owned by Shayla Bell, 27, had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal loans and grants through a neighborhood stabilization program administered by the city.
She had no development experience and started the company shortly after her uncle took office. The mayor has said she earned the contracts on her own with no assistance from him.
In its Oct. 19 response to the party’s request, the ethics commission said that although state law prohibits elected officials from using their office to award public contracts to immediate family, nieces don’t count unless they live in the same household as the elected official.
The commission did not address a second issue concerning whether the contracts violated a state law intended to curb pay-to-play politics.
Ms. Bell’s company, Fort Industry Development, has two minority owners, Jim Nicholson and Paul Pellioni, who own Toledo Mirror & Glass and who each gave more than $1,000 to the mayor’s campaign. Mr. Pellioni is also a college friend of the mayor.
State law bans the award of public contracts to those who have contributed more than $1,000 to the campaign of an officeholder with ultimate responsibility for awarding the contract, unless that contract is “let by competitive bidding.”
In its letter to the Democratic Party, the ethics commission said the pay-to-play ban doesn’t fall under its authority and suggested the party take up that issue with the Ohio Elections Commission or the Lucas County prosecutor.
The party has since sent complaints to the elections commission and the city’s chief prosecutor, Dave Toska. Mr. Toska works for the city’s law director, Adam Loukx, who promptly turned down the request for an investigation last week.
“There is nothing to suggest that the [ethics] commission’s conclusion in this matter was incorrect,” Mr. Loukx wrote. “In fact, the commission’s conclusion mirrors the determination that this office had already made. There is no evidence to suggest that illegal activity has occurred.”
Ms. Bell, recently hired as a marketing coordinator at Hollywood Casino Toledo, declined to comment about the commission’s decision.
She also turned down a request to talk about her new job, as did the mayor, who was a big supporter of the 2009 statewide ballot initiative that allowed the construction of four casinos in Ohio, including the one in Toledo. Ms. Bell has held sales and marketing jobs in the past with local insurance companies, according to her resume.
Contact Tony Cook at: acook@theblade.com or 419-724-6065.
First Published October 31, 2011, 4:30 a.m.
