Ohio Gov. John Kasich succeeded in winning the removal of Kevin DeWine as state Republican Party Chairman, but the heavy-handed tactics his political operatives used to boot DeWine are the subject of an on-going FBI probe.
Kasich’s troubles don’t end there.
A long-time GOP county chair warned party leaders via email that if the regime change “was attained through threats and bribes, I would suggest that the results of a vote would be invalid.” She also asked if whispers of an FBI investigation into the matter were true.
She got her answer a few weeks later when a Cincinnati lawyer issued a statement confirming that the FBI had a lengthy interview with his client, Andrew Manning -- the first to go public with an account of the heavy-handed tactics used to guarantee DeWine’s ouster.
Kasich – already among the nation’s least popular governors – could see his administration implode just as Mitt Romney and Barack Obama step up efforts to court voters in a state each places in its must-win column.
Those responsible for the “threats and bribes’’ are in Kasich’s inner circle and political insiders call them the KGB – short for Kasich Goon Brigade. The Brigade stands accused of dangling the promise of lucrative state appointments and threatening the jobs of others in order to stack the State Central Committee with people committed to DeWine’s removal. The Central Committee is elected and votes to hire or fire the state party chairman.
Kasich has been trying to get DeWine fired since he was elected governor in November 2010. Before officially taking office in January 2011, Kasich asked DeWine to step down. DeWine refused and reminded his fellow Republicans that his short tenure as chairman resulted in a Republican sweep, even defeating an incumbent Democratic governor (Ted Strickland) and an incumbent attorney general, (Richard Cordray), and winning control of the Ohio House of Representatives. Soon after, the Central Committee unanimously re-elected DeWine Party Chairman.
But Kasich wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. So the KGB went to work.
In March, The Columbus Dispatch reported on high-pressure tactics used on one Committee member:
The chairman of the Portage County Republican Party says that allies of Gov. John Kasich offered him special influence over gubernatorial appointments if he agreed not to run for the state GOP central committee, which Kasich has been trying to take over.
Andrew Manning sent a notarized affidavit to state and federal law-enforcement officers yesterday, asking them to investigate whether laws were broken in the alleged effort to get him to drop out of the committee race.
Manning ... said in an interview that he felt uncomfortable with what he perceived as the offer of a quid pro quo and “relentless” pressure from friends of Kasich.
In the affidavit, Manning said he met on Feb. 4 at the Portage Country Club in Akron with Bryan Williams, a Kasich appointee to the Ohio Board of Education, and Summit County GOP Chairman Alex Arshinkoff to discuss his candidacy.
As Kasich forces attempted to toss out DeWine, at least one county chair – Helen Hurst from Lorain – sent an email that cautioned against the move on DeWine.
In a March 22 email titled “Deep Concerns” obtained by the Daily Kos, she wrote:
I am very troubled by the constant stream of allegations about the tactics employed by Governor Kasich's advisors. I have heard that the FBI has opened an investigation.
Is this true? Given this new information, would it not be prudent to cease further discussion of a regime change at the ORP until we have all the facts?
I know some have suggested a majority of members on the State Central Committee support your position. But if that support was attained through threats and bribes, I would suggest that the results of a vote would be invalid.
I respectfully await your response.
Helen Hurst, Chairman
Lorain County Republican Party
She sent the letter to Franklin County GOP Chair Doug Preisse, a lon-time Kasich ally, and cc’d others on the Central Committee.
Soon after Hurst’s email, the Ohio Ethics Commission received an anonymous complaint that alleged Manning’s experience is “part of a widespread effort … to win control of the Central Committee by dangling the promise of lucrative state appointments, threatening to remove members on existing state boards, vowing to hurt a regulated Ohio-based utility and threatening to ruin the reputations of private citizens.”
Plunderbund , Ohio’s leading political blog, is the only outlet that printed the entire complaint.
Among the more explosive allegations:
Kasich allies threatened to do financial harm to Dayton Power & Light, an investor-owned utility subject to regulation by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, unless Jean Raga dropped out the Central Committee contest. She is married to DP&L lobbyist Tom Raga, who supports Kevin DeWine’s continued employment as Ohio Republican Party Chairman. The intimidation included blocking Mr. Raga’s participation in invitation-only meetings in the governor’s office.
Mrs. Raga dropped out of the contest on the eve of the election. Her husband, DP&L lobbyist Tom Raga, has been invited back to the private meetings in the governor’s office.
For nearly two months, reporters combed the state to find someone willing to talk on the record about the threats and confirm the FBI’s involvement.
On May 17, they received confirmation of the FBI’s interest in the case in an e-mail from Cincinnati lawyer David Langdon, a long-time Republican Party loyalist who is representing Manning.
Langdon’s email is short and to the point:
I represent GOP State Central Committee Member and former Portage County Republican Party Chairman Andy Manning. He authorized me to release the following statement:
“FBI agents interviewed Andrew Manning last week. He answered questions about the statements in his affidavit, which he sent to the Justice Department in March of this year, that top allies of Gov. John Kasich offered him special influence over gubernatorial appointments if he agreed not to run for the state GOP central committee.”
He will have no further comment until the investigation has concluded.
Thank you.
The Columbus Dispatch and Cleveland Plain Dealer joined Plunderbund in reporting the email but the Plain Dealer offered another bombshell.
The KGB is so powerful that it can get private citizens fired from private companies.
From the May 17th Plain Dealer:
Maggie Cook, a Warren County resident, said her job with the Associated Builders and Contractors was threatened if she did not get out of a central committee race to clear the way for Rebecca Heimlich, Kasich's candidate.
Cook, who supported DeWine, refused to drop out and said she was fired soon after from her job as ABC's membership director, a position she likened to sales. When asked if she thinks the governor's supporters had her fired, Cook measured her words carefully.
"I don't really know what to think because they brought a new president on, but I was in sales and it was really easy to see if you were doing your job well or not," Cook said. "I was making all my targets. I had sales metrics, monthly and quarterly goals, and I had met all of my metrics for the year. But life goes on."
Cook says her termination letter simply states that ABC was exercising its right to terminate her as an at-will employee. She had worked for ABC from Dec. 7, 2010, to Dec. 30, 2011.
Cap Square insiders marveled at Kasich’s ability to get a private entity to fire one of its own.
Also turning heads is the qualifications of those who supported Kasich, then won lucrative state appointments. Marilyn Slaby, for example, agreed to side with Kasich and won appointment to the House seat to which her husband, Lynn, had recently been elected. The House seat opened up after Kasich promoted Lynn to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, a highly paid panel that has the complex task of regulating electric, gas and phone companies. Lynn got the appointment even though he told the Akron Beacon Journal that he knew virtually nothing about utility regulation.
The Slaby appointments were telegraphed in advance by Plunderbund which predicted that Mr. Slaby would be appointed to the PUCO and Mrs. Slaby would be appointed to his House seat:
Guess who is expected to get appointed to Slaby’s House seat? His wife, Marilyn, who also sits on the Central Committee.
Plunderbund predicted the Slaby family musical chairs a month before it occurred.
KGB supporters are now insisting that the federal probe was inspired by Obama supporters who want to sully a Republican governor in a swing state during an important national election. An odd theory given that everyone who is complaining is a Republican.