Feds trying to walk tightrope at trial

Federal prosecutors will attempt an interesting balancing act this week in the Cleveland trial of major GOP campaign donor Benjamin Suarez and his company.

On one hand, the U.S. Department of Justice will try to prove that Suarez funneled $190,000 in illegal contributions to the campaigns of state Treasurer Josh Mandel and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci of Wadsworth. The donations “afforded defendants access to and favorable treatment from powerful elected officials, who thereafter took official actions on their behalf,” the feds say in a pretrial brief.

Yet, although prosecutors are saying that the payments worked — after getting the contributions, Mandel and Renacci wrote letters on behalf of Suarez’s company, which was facing legal trouble in California — no charges are anticipated against the public officials, both of whom say they did nothing wrong.

Tweet on Thursday morning from Ohio Republicans:

“FACT: Ohio unemployment claims in 2014 are the fewest on record. You can look it up ...”

Tweet two minutes later from House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester:

“Another stumble for the #ObamaEconomy, another reason for Americans to ask #WhereAreTheJobs ...”

For one afternoon last week, Reporter Jim Siegel relates, the Caveman Caucus rose again.

The group of archconservative Ohio House members banded together decades ago to fight what they saw as anticonservative policies by House leadership, including Republicans.

Current Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, a founding member and leader of the group, sat down last week with more than 100 House staff members and lawmakers at the Riffe Center to talk about the old days.

The lunchtime presentation included stories about how the caucus formed, discussion of some initial members who have died, and a display of props that Batchelder brought on the House floor years ago, including a dog muzzle (Batchelder felt he was being unfairly silenced) and a hole-filled umbrella (during a rainy-day-fund debate).

Batchelder was joined by fellow veteran conservative Reps. Lynn Wachtmann of Napoleon, who was once called “captain caveman” and is departing at year’s end; Ron Amstutz of Wooster; and Jim Buchy of Greenville.

Batchelder is finishing his 38th and final year in the legislature, making him the secondlongest serving member in Ohio history.

Last week, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald said: “I think we should have a lot of debates. The governor’s team likes to talk about how much more prepared he is, so he should be ready to agree to lots of them.”

And your response, Gov. John Kasich’s campaign team?

“We won’t be doing our debate negotiations through a weekly column,” spokeswoman Connie Wehrkamp said.