Paul Kostyu: Ex-OEA official, STRS board president sentenced to 3 year probation

By Paul E. Kostyu

Copley Columbus Bureau chief

Canton Repository, June 21, 2006

COLUMBUS - A former official with the Ohio Education Association and former president of the state’s teacher pension board was sentenced to three years of probation for violating state ethics laws.

Jack H. Chapman pleaded guilty in Franklin County Municipal Court on Tuesday to three charges of conflict of interest.

He’s the second former board member and third State Teachers Retirement System official to be ensnared in an ongoing ethics investigation. Charges against other system officials are expected.

Chapman, an often outspoken member of the board, was barely audible when he responded to questions from Judge H. William Pollitt. After the hearing, Chapman refused to comment to reporters.

Pollitt sentenced Chapman to 180 days in jail for each charge, but suspended the sentence and put him on probation. He ordered Chapman to pay three fines — $884, $169 and $225 — which represent the cost of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Indians tickets he used, the golf outing he took in Washington state and the ticket he used to the Broadway show “Hairspray.”

Chapman also must pay $4,000 to the Ohio Ethics Commission for the cost of its investigation of him. And he must perform 60 hours of community service, 30 in a Franklin County public school and 30 in a senior center or retirement home. Chapman also agreed to assist prosecutors with the continuing investigation.

Chapman’s attorney, H. Ritchey Hollenbaugh, told the judge the former president of the OEA’s Central Ohio District didn’t know he was not to accept the gifts, and the court should consider his years of service as a middle school teacher and his 14 years as a volunteer on the teacher pension board. Hollenbaugh made a similar argument when he defended former Canton City Schools teacher Hazel Sidaway, who was convicted in April on two similar charges.

Though prosecutors did not respond to Hollenbaugh in court, they did afterward.

David Freel, executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission, said he didn’t accept the professed “naiveté.” Quoting the judge in the Sidaway trial, Freel said, Chapman “would have had to been under a rock” not to know about the ethics standards.

In 2002, Chapman was the retirement board’s top traveler, going on 12 trips and spending $14,684 of teacher pension board money.

In a trip evaluation, Chapman recommended a convention in Anchorage, Alaska, “based solely on the opportunity ... to network with peers.” One of the sessions he attended discussed “the loss of faith in corporate America.”

Reach Copley Columbus Bureau Chief Paul E. Kostyu at (614) 222-8901 or e-mail: paul.kostyu@cantonrep.com

TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM IN COURT

Three officials with the State Teachers Retirement System have pleaded or have been found guilty of violating state ethics laws. Here’s a scorecard.

Name: Herbert L. Dyer

Position: Former executive director

Charges: Four counts of conflict of interest; one of failure to disclose gifts and meals

Result: Pleaded no contest, found guilty in September 2005 of failure to disclose golf outing in New Castle, Wash.

Sentence: Reimburse STRS for outing and meals, $394; pay fine $1,000 ($300 suspended) and court costs.

Name: Hazel Sidaway

Position: Former board president

Charges: Four counts of conflict of interest; three counts of nondisclosure of gifts

Result: One count of conflict of interest dropped; found not guilty of nondisclosure and conflict of interest; found guilty of two counts of conflict of interest on April 14.

Sentence: 180 days in jail (suspended); two years probation; fined $670 for using four Cleveland Indians tickets and two Broadway show tickets; paid court costs ($1,204) and $5,381 to Ohio Ethics Commission for cost of investigation; 200 hours of community service (100 in Canton City Schools and 100 in a nursing home or retirement facility).

Name: Jack H. Chapman

Position: Former board president

Charges: Three counts of conflict of interest

Result: Pleaded guilty, June 20

Sentence: 180 days in jail (suspended); three years probation; fined $884 for using Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers tickets; $169 for a golf outing in New Castle, Wash., and $225 for using a Broadway show ticket; paid court costs and $4,000 to Ohio Ethics Commission for cost of investigation; 60 hours of community service (30 in public schools and 30 in nursing home or senior citizen center).