Each week, it seems that the scandals in Ohio spread a little deeper and a little higher. This week, we find that Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, may now be up to his neck in his own ethics scandal.
The Toledo Blade today published a lengthy story by ace reporter Jim Drew on a decision last year by the board of the Cincinnati branch of a federal mortgage bank to hire a lobbying firm with close connections to Bennett - so close that Bennett also works as a paid consultant for a related firm. Bennett is chairman of the board of the bank:
Mr. Bennett was chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati in 2004 when the bank paid at least $80,000 to Whatman Associates, a lobbying firm operated by former Ohio Republican Party executive director Tom Whatman, who retained Mr. Bennett at another firm he operates.
David Hehman, president of the Federal Home Loan Bank, said last week that Mr. Bennett recused himself from the vote on Mr. Whatman's hiring.
Did Bennett's recusal provide him the ethical protection he needed? How much trouble Bennett is in may depend whether Bennett really disclosed his connections to Whatman.
Melissa Dallas, a spokesman for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, yesterday provided The Blade with a copy of the federal regulation governing conflict-of-interest issues at the bank.
"A director shall disclose to the Bank's board of directors any personal financial interests he or she has ... in any matter to be considered by the Bank's board of directors ... A director shall refrain from considering or voting on any issue in which the director, any immediate family member, or any business associate has a financial interest," the federal regulation states.
But the Blade disputes whether Bennett disclosed his "personal financial interests":
The bank's president, Mr. Hehman, and one bank board member, however, said they were not aware of Mr. Bennett's financial relationship with Mr. Whatman before the lobbyist's firm was hired by the bank board.
Mr. Hehman said last week that he was unaware "of any business interest" between Mr. Bennett and Mr. Whatman.
Bank board vice chairman Carl Wick, a retired NCR Corp. executive who owns a Dayton area consulting firm, said he knew Mr. Whatman had worked for Mr. Bennett at the Ohio GOP, but he did not know that Mr. Bennett was being paid as a consultant for Mr. Whatman's other company, Strategic Public Partners.
The bank refused to release minutes of the board meetings where the Whatman contract was discussed nor would they say what other firms were in the running. Hehman also refused to comment on what role Bennett had in the decision:
"I won't answer that question," he said. "I don't think it is any of your business how our board acted."
Bennett has been chairman of the Ohio GOP for 17 years. He is credited to a large extent with the Republican's success in seizing control of all three branches of state government, but he is also increasingly being blamed for the excesses and scandals being linked to the state's "one-party rule."
Bill Woods, issue coordinator for the Common Cause Education Fund, said the hiring of Whatman Associates by the bank should be investigated.
He said the $80,000 in fees paid to Mr. Whatman's firm - when Mr. Bennett was on the board of the bank and a consultant himself for Mr. Whatman - is a vivid example of "interlocking money and politics."
[. . .]
"It would seem to me that what you are looking at looks like a potential conflict of interest," the Common Cause official said. "One of the problems we see right now is this absolute power by the Republican Party. They have this arrogance of being able to do anything they want to do."
Rumors about Bennett's departure from his GOP position have circulated the state capital for weeks.
