Financial industry’s money donations to Strickland draw fire

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau Updated 10:27 PM Tuesday, July 27, 2010

COLUMBUS — Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine called Gov. Ted Strickland a hypocrite on Tuesday, July 27, charging that while the governor has been slamming Republican John Kasich for his ties to Wall Street, the Strickland campaign has taken $1.5 million in contributions from the financial industry.

The Ohio GOP also said the Strickland administration made Lehman Brothers — which employed Kasich as a managing director for eight years — part of $6 billion in state bond deals. Lehman filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, helping trigger the U.S. recession.

DeWine said, “As of today, he has been on a year-long tirade against the financial services industry yet he has no qualms about continuing to take their campaign cash and give Lehman Brothers business. It’s one of the most glaring examples of hypocrisy that I have seen in a long, long time... Ohio can’t trust a leader who says one thing and does another.”

But included in the GOP’s tally of financial industry money flowing into the Strickland campaign are contributions from local insurance agents and people who work for Ohio-based Nationwide Insurance, Key Corp., Fifth Third and Huntington banks. Even a Nationwide Children’s Hospital programmer, a Federal Reserve Bank economist, and president of an apartment complex developer were in the GOP’s count.

DeWine said the GOP used the same broad definition of the financial industry as “Ted Strickland and his Democratic allies” have used.

In terms of $6 billion in bond deals, the GOP included the $5.5 billion deal in 2007 when Ohio sold its future tobacco settlement payments for cash. Lehman, one of 25 firms in that bond sale, was put in charge of setting up a reserve fund in case the bond was late or didn’t meet expectations.

Strickland administration spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said Lehman guaranteed a 4.6 percent annual return on the fund — a return that fell through when Lehman went bankrupt. Ohio is now seeking $30 million from Lehman in bankruptcy, she said.

The Strickland campaign said it welcomes the GOP’s focus on Wall Street.

“Now that the Ohio Republican Party is finally acknowledging that Wall Street values do not reflect Ohio values, then what does that say about the Republicans’ candidate for governor, former Lehman Brothers Managing Director John Kasich? Only one candidate in this race made millions of dollars on Wall Street, lied about his role there, and helped pitch doomed Lehman Brothers investments to Ohio pensions and it is not Ted Strickland,” Strickland campaign manager Aaron Pickrell said.

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