Givers expect to get — that’s politics, after all
Last week could have been any other at the Statehouse – like some recent weather, blustery and cold – but for two things:
Campaign committees reported how much money in donations they’d sucked in from contributors’ checkbooks and wallets.
And the long-simmering GOP race to become the Ohio House’s next speaker, between ex-Speaker Larry Householder, of Perry County’s Glenford, and House Finance Chair Ryan Miller, of Gallia County’s Bidwell, came to a full boil. Incumbent Republican Speaker Clifford Rosenberger, of Clinton County’s Clarksville, is term-limited. Of course, there won’t be a speakership for the GOP to fight over if, unlikely but not impossible, Democrats win control of Ohio’s House in November.
Which candidate for a statewide office, such as governor, collects how much in donations is one way Capitol Square insiders bet on who’ll win. Business and labor and their lobbyists want to back winners because of this Columbus beatitude: Blessed are the donors; their calls shall be returned.
According to reports filed last week, Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine and his running mate, Secretary of State Jon Husted, are leading the gubernatorial pack financially. (GOP Gov. John R. Kasich can’t seek a third consecutive term.) DeWine-Husted for Ohio said it had almost $10.6 million on hand. Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, competing with DeWine for the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination, and her running mate, Cincinnati business person Nathan Estruth, reported Taylor/Estruth for Ohio had $3.5 million in hand.
And the Cordray/Sutton Committee of Democratic gubernatorial contender Richard Cordray, (once Ohio’s treasurer and attorney general, then director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) and his running mate, former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, reported $2 million on hand.
Other Democrats seeking the party’s gubernatorial nomination are Dr. Jonathan Heavey, of Rocky River, a Cleveland Clinic physician; former Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich; former Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill, of Chagrin Falls; former state Rep. Connie Pillich, of Cincinnati; and state Sen. Joseph Schiavoni, of suburban Youngstown.
Maybe someone believes Ohio politicians when they say that all a campaign donation buys is good government. If so, a lot of Ohio campaign contributors have been swindled.
Democratic then-state Auditor Joseph T. Ferguson told it like it is. A U.S. Senate subcommittee was probing Ferguson’s 1950 campaign against Gov. Bob Taft’s grandfather, Republican U.S. Sen. Robert A. Taft. (The senator won.) Ferguson’s testimony tells an Ohioan what she or he needs to know about how the game is played in Ohio:
U.S. senator to Joe Ferguson: “Did not your friends contribute to your primary campaign?”
Ferguson: “No. You know, nobody will give you money unless they expect to get 10 times as much back.”
Senator: “That is generally true.”
Ferguson: “At least 10 times, I figure.”
Another senator to Ferguson: “Do you think ... contributions (are) given from the heart in the hope that the candidate ... will make this a greater and better government?”
Ferguson: “There may be some ideal people like that.”
Senator: “Do you run across very many?”
Ferguson: “I have not run across very many. I can count them on my fingers, I think.”
That was the perspective of someone repeatedly elected state auditor, unseated in 1952 by someone just as sly – Republican James A. Rhodes – but who made a comeback, first as state treasurer, then as auditor – and saw his son, Thomas E. Ferguson, elected auditor in 1974.
A lot has changed at the Statehouse since Joe Ferguson’s testified in Washington. But what he said about campaign donors is as true now as it was then: If someone gives, he or she expects to get.
Business and labor and their lobbyists want to back winners because of this Columbus beatitude: Blessed are the donors; their calls shall be returned.