All Children Matter....so do Ohio's Election Laws!

April 9, 2008
The Toledo Blade

An appropriate fine

WITH a record $5.2 million in fines against an unregistered political action committee, the Ohio Election Commission has - finally - begun to put some real teeth in state election law.

Hitherto prone to handing out comparative slap-on-the-wrist penalties, the commission last week put the big bite on a Michigan-based group called All Children Matter, which promotes charter schools and political candidates who favor them.

The group, not registered in Ohio, funneled $870,000 from its Virginia PAC to its Ohio PAC in contravention of a state law that prohibits such "back door" transfers of political money exceeding $10,000. Each PAC was assessed $2.6 million, combining for far and away the heaviest fine in election commission history.

The case was initiated by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who said she was pleased by the commission's "strong statement in favor of fairness and accountability." Attorney General Marc Dann lauded the action, saying it "sends a strong message about playing by the rules. … The public needs to know where campaign money is coming from and who's giving it."

To its credit, the panel acted on a unanimous 5-0 vote, putting a bipartisan exclamation point on its decision and snuffing any claim of partisan motives.

That didn't stop the attorney for All Children Matter, William Todd, from insisting the contribution in question amounted to merely a "technical violation" of the law and muttering darkly about "a level of antipathy behind this that is hard to understand."

To the contrary, this tough fine should serve to catch the attention of political groups which, in the past, have been able to pretty much disregard violations that carried only nominal penalties.

As Catherine Turcer, of the Ohio Citizen Action advocates, put it, "This firmly says our campaign finance laws matter. Our limits are there for a reason and you can't just go to another state to circumvent the law."