Columbus Dispatch...
Lobbyists’ outlay on top officials soars in ’11 
March  19, 2012 

Lobbyists and their clients spent a record amount on Ohio executive-branch employees last year, the state’s legislative inspector general said. 

But a big reason for the jump had little to do with the traditional “wining and dining” of public officials: A majority came from expenses associated with a “digital learning” education conference in California in October. But it’s difficult to determine who paid for the conference and how much was spent on state employees. 

According to an annual report issued late yesterday afternoon by Ohio Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe, $41,235 was spent to lobby executive-branch officials last year — five times more than in 2010. The executive branch includes Gov. John Kasich’s administration and the offices of all statewide elected officials. 

KnowledgeWorks, a nonprofit, Cincinnati-based education reform group, filed paperwork documenting $23,979 to cover travel costs for 15 executive-branch employees to attend the California conference on Oct. 12. Among the people it said it paid for were Robert D. Sommers, at the time head of the Governor’s Office of 21st Century Education, and Ohio schools Superintendent Stan W. Heffner. 

KnowledgeWorks listed $1,975 in travel and meal costs just for Sommers, who is no longer with the governor’s office. 

But KnowledgeWorks spokesman Byron McCauley said the travel, meal and lodging costs for the trip were paid for by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, which sponsored the conference. Speaking with The Dispatch late last night, McCauley said KnowledgeWorks paid for a reception for the Ohio delegation. 

McCauley said KnowledgeWorks was asked by Bush’s foundation who should be invited to the conference, and the Cincinnati group was advised by Bledsoe to list all of them on its disclosure form. In all, the nonprofit listed more than $42,000 in legislative and executive-branch lobbying expenditures. 

There were also a number of errors with the filing. For instance, the report counted $1,642 in travel costs for Dublin school Superintendent David Axner, who is not a state employee. Also, the report lists expenditures on meals for Kasich’s education liaison Sarah Dove, who did not attend. 

When all KnowledgeWorks’ expenditures are removed from the spending count on executive-branch lobbying in 2011, the total is about $16,000 — still more than double what was spent in 2010. 

“(The spending increase) is probably attributable to paying for official travel for policy conferences,” Bledsoe said. “I don’t think people are eating and drinking more and having lobbyists pay for it.” 

Several state lawmakers were also listed as attendees to the conference, including state Sens. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, Tom Sawyer, D-Akron, and Shirley Smith, D-Cleveland. 

The state now has 2,336 registered lobbyists, including 977 registered to lobby the executive branch. Meals or gifts of less than $50 are not required to be itemized on reports filed with Bledsoe’s office. 

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