Ohio 3rd: Turner's Ethical Lapses Questioned

(Update Below)

Overview: Big GOP donors funnel a $1.5 million contract to Rep. Mike Turner's wife

Representative Mike Turner has enjoyed a good reputation in Dayton and, for the most part, has appeared to be at arm's length from the scandals that have rocked Ohio politics in recent years. While the rest of the Ohio Republican Party fought for their political lives in 2006, Turner's seat remained relatively safe.

However, the ethical lapses discussed Sunday in the Dayton Daily News by Tom Beyerlein could change all of that. Beyerlein shines a light on the Turner Effect, a marketing firm operated by Mike Turner's wife Lori. According to the DDN article, Turner's firm was contracted by the Dayton Development Coalition (DDC), a group that promotes the Dayton area and which lobbies members of Congress. The DDN article says that there's nothing illegal about Turner's wife's firm receiving a $1.5 million no-bid contract from people who occasionally support the Republican Party and have lobbied the congressman. But it doesn't pass the sniff test.

According to the DDC's own website (more after the jump), getting federal contracts is a big part of what they're about. And hiring a Congressman's wife is the next best thing to hiring the Congressman himself.

It's worth noting that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) list Turner Effects as one of the biggest recipients of campaign cash among relatives of members of Congress, with over $51,000 rolling in between 2001 and 2006. That alone raises alarms, but there are more questions raised by the Dayton Daily piece that need to be answered. Among them:

1. What is Turner's relationship to Clay Mathile, the billionaire who funded a slush fund for the Montgomery County Republican Party, and whose funding of a "marketing concept" led directly to the no-bid contract received by Turner Effect?

2. Why does Turner's 2007 disclosure form report that the Turner Effect generates no income, when it has been paid $300,000 for its work for the Dayton Development Coalition?

3. Why does the Turner Effect's website advertise its specialty in working with government and offer NAISC codes for how to pay for services if they aren't lobbyists, or if they aren't selling access to Lori Turner's husband?

4. Looking beyond this episode, What is Turner's connection to Jack Abramoff, and the tribes represented by him, and Bob Ney?

More, much more, after the jump, including some background not provided by the Dayton Daily News piece.


For several years, the Republican Party in Montgomery County, under the direction of Jeff Jacobsen, operated a secret fund. The donors to the fund were kept secret, and even though Ken Blackwell's office began an investigation into the matter, nothing--predictably--was done until Jennifer Brunner came into the office. She concluded the investigation, and exposed billionaire Clay Mathile as one of the fund's major donors. Among other things, this fund was used to fund Mike Turner's campaign. Jacobsen wrote a letter to fellow GOP members explaining that the funds supported Turner's campaign, and this financial support from the secret fund was not revealed in 2004 FEC reports. Jacobsen also admitted that Nathanson in turn hired two other consultants, Kyle Sisk and Brett Buerck, who wrote a leaked memo describing how to launder campaign money.

In a recent interview with The Plain Dealer, the Dayton-area Republican concealed the extent of his relationship with the two consultants, denying that they’d done anything other than offer friendly advice.

Two days later, he admitted they’d done much more. Jacobson acknowledged that he had used the Montgomery County Republican Party’s operating account, which he controlled, to hire Dayton political consultant Jim Nathanson. In turn, he said, Nathanson hired Buerck and Sisk to promote Jacobson’s campaign for the Senate presidency.

“I know, I know, I know. All right. I am a jerk,” Jacobson said when asked why he had repeatedly denied that Nathanson had hired Buerck and Sisk to help him become Senate president. “I’m sorry I was cute.”

The question for Turner is, why didn't he disclose the funds he received from the Montgomery County secret fund, and how those funds were used? Why was Turner's consultant seeking advice on how to launder money?

After all of this, you would think Clay Mathile, one of the major funders of the Montgomery County secret GOP slush fund, would be radioactive. But he has also funded a "marketing concept" which promptly led to the Dayton Development Coalition's award of a no-bid $1.5 million contract to Turner's wife's firm. As CREW and Public Citizen point out, at the very least the appearance is bad:

Past and present coalition officials say the Turner Effect was hired in 2006 without competitive bidding simply because it was the best choice among local companies. But two congressional watchdog groups in Washington said the situation creates, at best, an appearance of conflict of interest. "There is an appearance of impropriety," said Naomi Seligman-Steiner, spokeswoman for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "It's not illegal, but it is problematic."

Craig Holman, legislative representative for Public Citizen's Congress Watch, said, "That's something we've seen over and over again. If a lobbyist can find a way to funnel money to a member of Congress, they'll do it — even if it means hiring the congressman's spouse."

Lori Turner can say the Dayton Development Coalition doesn't lobby her husband--not formally anyway--but that doesn't mean they won't do so in the future, and that's a clear conflict of interest. The Coalition's website says as much:

Once the various priorities have been developed, we want to maximize our region’s ability to secure funding and other needed support from our state and federal government delegation. We facilitate the effort to ensure that the Dayton Region speaks with one voice to this end. We recognize that a collaborative approach is the key to success. Nowhere is this more evident than in pursuing the involvement of the state and federal governments. It allows us to maximize the regional benefits when new initiatives are unveiled in the community, and enables the Dayton community to leverage past successes to achieve future success. (emphasis mine)

Pretty clear then, that the DDC is looking to influence federal dollars, and to that extent, employing the wife of a Congressman would be a pretty clear conflict of interest in anyone's book. This is exactly why Ohio Republican politics have gotten a bad name, and why the culture of corruption has continued unabated.

Turner's past contributors deserve some scrutiny as well. Turner has received contributions from Bob Ney and Jack Abromoff and tribes represented by him, which according to the National Journal he hadn't returned as of 2006. He's a big recipient of De Lay money, to the tune of $20,000. (I've emailed Turner's office asking if those contributions have been returned.)

What do these donors get in return? A loyal Republican who's voted with Tom De Lay 94% of the time and a loyal Bush partisan who attacks witnesses baselessly when they dare to criticize the President. He may not have done much to help Dayton, but he sure has helped himself and his Republican cronies in Washington.

FINAL POINT related to this story. The concept Turner Effect came up with to promote Dayton? "Get Midwest." Seriously. That's what 1.5 million gets you. "Get Midwest." Wow, businesses will be flocking to Dayton now, with a great slogan like that. Every consultant interviewed by the Dayton Daily agreed: it's a dumb slogan.

Update: Good diary here at Kos on the same subject.