Ohio Elections Commission getting affairs in order ahead of Jan. 1 handoff

By Nick Evans
Ohio Capital Journal

The Ohio General Assembly tacked an expiration date on the state’s independent campaign finance watchdog as part of the latest state budget. On Jan. 1, the Ohio Elections Commission’s responsibilities shift to a new office under the Secretary of State’s umbrella. Beyond that date-certain transfer, much of what happens next is still up in the air. In the meantime, their work continues.

The commission meets
The Ohio Elections Commission meets in a basement hearing room at the Vern Riffe Center, just across the street from the Ohio statehouse. Commissioners sit at a long table on a dais in front of several rows of sparsely filled chairs. The mood among commissioners is light-hearted and collegial. They trade jokes and tease one another about who seconded a motion first.

By and large, the cases coming before them are honest mistakes — part-time treasurers who forgot to file reports or filed them incorrectly. In one case the candidate passed away and the treasurer didn’t realize there was more he needed to do. Many of those incidents receive no penalty or a modest fine of $50-$100.

But commissioners also try to put a foot down after repeated delays. One organization has been struggling to reconstruct its books after a previous treasurer took off with their records. The commission agreed to give them another 30 days. But Commissioner Stephen Caraway warned, “I would be in favor of moving to a substantially higher fine violation, from $50 into the $1000s,” if it’s still not resolved.

In another case commissioners had to throw up their hands. Township trustee candidate Justin Peroli criticized a political mailer sent out by “a multitude of concerned citizens of Lafayette township.” It’s a bogus disclaimer, he argued, because there’s no committee with that name and no campaign finance filings for the mailer.

Commissioners were frustrated but had to dismiss the complaint because they couldn’t serve notice to the non-existent group. A representative from the Secretary of State’s office urged Peroli to file another complaint with them so they could follow up.

Where we’re headed
For the OEC’s critics in the state legislature, that feeble response to obvious violations and repeated extensions for straggling treasurers only underscore the commission’s obsolescence.

“I’ve had a four-year front row seat to how inept this process is,” state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said back in April.

The commission’s perceived shortcomings, though, are a function of the laws governing it. They can impose fines and refer cases for prosecution, but after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Ohio’s false statement statutes, a substantial chunk of the commission’s job went away.

Referring to that case, Stewart said lawmakers never “right sized the operation in response.” As the House’s chief budget negotiator, he pushed to abolish the OEC and transfer its duties to the new Election Integrity Unit with the Secretary of State.

Instead of the Ohio Elections Commission, the budget directs the secretary to set up a new Ohio Election Integrity Commission. That unit will investigate campaign finance complaints as well as election law violations like improper registration. It will have five members instead of the current seven, and at least three of the five must be attorneys. Commissioners will be chosen by the secretary and legislative leaders of both parties.

That’s a departure from the current structure where the governor names three Republican and three Democratic members who in turn select a seventh independent member. In all likelihood, the new arrangement will set up the secretary’s designee as the tie-breaking vote. In cases of a potential conflict of interest, the attorney general is meant designate someone else to investigate a complaint.

Ohio Capital Journal reached out to Sec. LaRose for this story, but his office did not respond.

How do we get there?
At the close of the most recent OEC hearing, commissioners took a moment to discuss what it will look like to wind down their operation. Commissioner Ernie Knight cut to chase.

“So, for me, the most important part, first and foremost, for the next meeting is to understand at a very granular level, if we have enough capital to get through the end of the year,” he said.

In an interview, Executive Director Phil Richter wasn’t particularly optimistic about funding lasting until the handoff.

“Depending on how you mean, ‘get through the rest of the year,’ not necessarily, no,” he said.

The problem is the funding typically appropriated to the commission lands in April or May in an ordinary budget cycle. That’s obviously too late if they’re handing things off at the beginning of January. Richter said they’re still working through the figures, and if it looks like they’ll fall short, “that would be worked out between me, my budget analyst, (the Office of Budget and Management) and the Controlling Board.”

In the next couple of weeks Richter is going to tell county boards to pause new referrals. He wants the commission to clear as much of its docket as possible before handing things over. Right now, they’ve got roughly 150 cases.

“Of the about 150, I feel like we’ll get through most of those,” Richter explained.

But beyond abstract questions about funding or the transferring of cases, there’s the very tangible question of what to do with the office. What happens with the cabinets full of paper files? Or the desks? Or the staff?

“Great question,” Richter said with a grin. “There isn’t an answer right now — let’s put it that way.”

The budget carries a provision transferring existing staff to the secretary, and Richter is hopeful they’ll be kept on. He’d already been contemplating retirement and said he expects to finish the year and move on, although he left the door open to “other opportunities.”

As for the files and furniture, Richter has had preliminary conversations with the secretary’s staff but that’s about it.

“I don’t know that they want all this stuff,” he said. “but all this stuff at one level becomes their stuff.”

“It could be it all just gets taken and put out to storage, out on Surface Road, and put into the next auction,” he added.