Cheering for Constituents

Attending every county fair, kissing babies, and shaking a few thousands hands sounds like tedious (and possibly dirty) work that most of us are not willing to do. However, would you do it if we threw in Ohio State season tickets on the 40-yardline? According to Ohio State spokesperson Shelly Hoffman, that offer is extended to legislators and some of their staff, the governor and his cabinet, statewide officeholders, and a handful of elected officials in Columbus and Franklin County. Elected officials are permitted purchase four season tickets and the others individuals can purchase two. No questions asked.

Chances are, if you are an Ohio lawmaker reading this, the above described decision has never been too difficult for you. The decision is even easier when you realize that publicly elected officials get to spend other people’s money on those tickets. Yep, those guys and gals use funds given to them as campaign contributions to buy the tickets.

J. Curtis Mayhew, Ohio’s campaign-finance administrator, says the purchases are legal. “There’s no doubt that the statute is pretty lenient with regard to how they can spend their money,” he says. “Really, the big prohibition is on converting it to personal use.”

Catherine Turcer, who monitors campaign spending for the government watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action, said such purchases might be legal -- but they are not always ethical, especially when given as gifts to lobbyists.

"They have access to something that other people do not have access to," she said. "Very few alumni have access to this number of tickets. And then that they could buy these with their campaign funds? It may be legal, but that doesn't mean it actually passes the smell test."

Buckeye Commentary is not a registered lobbyist but we do currently occupy a niche public forum. We are not saying that we would take tickets purchased with campaign monies, but we are saying that Steve Stivers has nice hair and Dave Robinson will make an excellent congressman. Were just saying.

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