Columbus Dispatch
Baseless flap over JobsOhio
Most state assistance deals made before agency started operating
Wednesday August 7, 2013 

Ohio lost more than 400,000 jobs under former Gov. Ted Strickland’s bloated and outmoded development department. 

Under JobsOhio — Gov. John Kasich’s inventive team of sharp, connected business recruiters — Ohio has regained 162,000 private-sector jobs. 

Show of hands: Who wants to go back to the old way? That would be the guy running for Kasich’s job. 

Ed FitzGerald, a former suburban mayor who has been Cuyahoga County executive for two years, jumped on a news report about JobsOhio that included plenty of balancing facts. He ignored those. 

The Dayton Daily News reported last Wednesday that six of JobsOhio’s nine board members have “direct financial ties” to companies that have received state tax credits or other state assistance since Kasich took office in 2011. It also quoted a state spokeswoman as saying this assistance largely came before JobsOhio even began operating in July 2011. 

Nevertheless, FitzGerald called for an immediate and thorough investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission. 

However, the Ethics Commission will not be considering the complaint FitzGerald filed on Thursday. The legislature exempted JobsOhio from oversight by the commission two years ago, though its board members file financial-disclosure statements... 

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