Article published Monday, September 19, 2005

A BLADE INVESTIGATION
Big spenders funnel cash to Coleman; ODOT contractors pad candidate's war chest

Part 2 of a 3-part series

By STEVE EDER and JAMES DREW
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

Part 2 of a 3-part series

COLUMBUS — Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman has sharply criticized Republican leaders for allowing campaign contributions to interfere with their duties to the state, charging that they’ve fostered a “pay-to-play system” in Ohio.

But in Mr. Coleman’s pursuit to succeed Gov. Bob Taft, engineers and consultants seeking lucrative contracts with the Ohio Department of Transportation have helped stock his $1 million campaign war chest.

About 13 percent of Mr. Coleman’s campaign cash has come from the same engineers and consultants that have pumped money for years predominately into GOP campaigns in the state.

A larger Blade investigation published this week shows that those who contribute get the work.

Engineering firms have given more than $1.2 million to politicians, political parties, and political-action committees over the past decade.

In the last five years, those same firms received as a group more than $400 million in ODOT contracts.

Mr. Coleman, a Democrat, is no stranger to many of the givers, some of which financially supported his mayoral campaigns and have won millions of dollars in contracts from the city of Columbus.

Mr. Coleman is adamant that the awarding of all government contracts be based solely on qualifications, rather than contributions and political paybacks.

“The concern is not the campaign contributions,” Mr. Coleman said Friday. “The concerns arise on the issues of ethics and what the expectation may or may not be. I think that in state government, there has been a culture of expectation. There has been a culture of ‘you have to pay-to-play.’ ”

Republicans — facing scrutiny for the investment scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation kicked off by former Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe — have accused Mr. Coleman of presiding over his own “pay-to-play” culture in the city of Columbus.

“If there were a pay-to-play culture in Columbus, it would not be tolerated in my city,” Mr. Coleman said. “I would not tolerate it in state government.”

In light of the scandal that has put the long-standing Republican control of state government in question, Mr. Coleman has pledged to clean up corruption at the Statehouse if he is elected governor next year.

Jason Mauk, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party, said Mr. Coleman is a “walking contradiction” when he alleges “pay-to-play” by GOP officeholders.

‘It’s hypocritical’


“It’s hypocritical for him to point fingers at somebody and say they are corrupt, and then he engages in the same kind of activity that has become synonymous with how he runs city hall,” the GOP spokesman said.

Since Mr. Coleman was elected in 1999, the city of Columbus — with the approval of City Council — has doled out millions of dollars in contracts to engineers and consultants.

Employees of several of those contractors and other firms seeking work from the city or the state have contributed about $134,000 to Mr. Coleman’s gubernatorial campaign. In comparison, Mr. Coleman’s opponent for the Democratic nomination for governor, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland (D., Lucasville) has accepted $4,000 from the same engineering and consulting sources.

Mr. Coleman has no plans to stop taking money from the engineers and consultants who seek government contracts.

“My expectations are that they can get nothing in return for it other than good government,” he said last week.

A substantial chunk of the money Mr. Coleman has raised for his gubernatorial campaign has come from employees of Burgess & Niple and DLZ — a pair of Columbus-based firms that rank in the top 10 in ODOT contracts and have deals with the city of Columbus.

A total of $40,000
Employees of Burgess & Niple have contributed $19,000 and DLZ associates have forked over $21,000 to Mayor Coleman’s gubernatorial campaign.

Burgess & Niple, along with DLZ, scored multimillion-dollar projects in Columbus after Mr. Coleman took office when the city went ahead with plans to rebuild two major bridges that cross the Scioto River in the city’s downtown — the Main and Town Street bridges. Columbus City Council is responsible for appropriating the money for the projects.

DLZ won the design contract for the Main Street Bridge, which is worth about $7.7 million. The bridge is expected to be completed in 2009.

The city chose a design from Burgess & Niple for the Town Street Bridge project. The design contract for the Town Street Bridge, which is expected to be completed in 2010, is worth about $6.8 million.
A DLZ executive didn’t respond to messages from The Blade seeking comment.

Earlier this summer, Burgess & Niple had about 20 people in attendance at a fund-raiser for Mr. Coleman. Each gave $1,000.

Ron Schultz, Burgess & Niple’s chairman, said the firm has known Mr. Coleman for years and has worked with him as the mayor.
“We do support the local officials with whom we work,” Mr. Schultz said.

Mr. Coleman’s spokesman, Dan Trevas, said the contractors are not necessarily contributing to the mayor in hopes of cashing in on the statewide level if he becomes governor, but because they are familiar with his system after working with him on the city level.

And, while many big businesses typically contribute to Republican candidates in Ohio, they sense the changing tide in state politics, Mr. Trevas added.

‘Change is coming’
“I think they see change is coming, and then they see somebody who they can say, ‘We got a fair deal working with the city,’” Mr. Trevas said. “They are supporting Mike Coleman because they believe he supports a government that gives businesses a fair chance to compete for contracts.”

Mr. Trevas said he expects that the engineers and consultants financially supporting the mayor are contributing to his campaign in part because they are used to sending money to politicians who control the state’s bank accounts.

“Folks are caught in that system now because they simply feel it is the only way to be heard under this one-party rule, and under the impression that this might be the only way you ever get to do business in Ohio,” Mr. Trevas said. “We are going to change that climate and it may be that they want to see that change, and they want to support people who will change it.”

Mr. Coleman has proposed creating an anti-corruption prosecutor post and he’s lent his support to a statewide ballot initiative on Nov. 8 to limit campaign contributions.

His opponent, Mr. Strickland, said he believes that the state’s entire contracting system deserves a close examination.

Heightened scrutiny
“One of the things that I think we should look at as a state is how decisions are made to spend our money,” he said. “Given the circumstances that exist in Ohio, there should be a heightened scrutiny on the way decisions are made to spend public dollars.”

Mr. Strickland said he wouldn’t turn away contributions from the contractors and estimated that the reason he hasn’t been the target of their giving is because they don’t know him. But, he said, it is important that people who contribute understand that their campaign dollars won’t translate into state contracts. “I would appreciate contributions from them, but if any one of them thinks that under a Strickland administration a decision would be made regarding contracts based upon campaign contributions, and if that’s their motive, then they are doing the right thing by not giving to me,” he said.

Catherine Turcer, the legislative director for Ohio Citizen Action, said Ohio needs to explore limiting — or even eliminating — contributions from people who do business for the state.

For now, some candidates are stuck with a system where they must raise money to be competitive in closely contested races, and that means taking contributions from people who have or want contracts, she said.

But, Ms. Turcer said, “It is always worth a look at large contributors, and try to figure out what the heck it is that they want and who is actually supporting candidates. We need to look very closely at anybody who is raising money for the gubernatorial race.”

Mr. Mauk, the Ohio GOP spokesman, said there is nothing wrong with firms receiving state contracts and also contributing to state officeholders. “Companies that do business with the state make contributions to take part in the political process. That is not corruption,’’ he said.

Blade staff writers Joshua Boak and Mike Wilkinson contributed to this report. Contact Steve Eder at:seder@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.