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State office challenges Brennans' committee donations
Charter school magnate and wife told to prove they didn't give aid illegally to 4 Republicans
By John Higgins
The Ohio secretary of state is challenging the legality of contributions given by Akron businessman David Brennan and his wife to a pair of political action committees.
Jennifer Brunner's campaign finance administrator, J. Curtis Mayhew, told the Brennans in a letter Thursday that there is evidence suggesting that the money — about $30,000 — was funneled through those committees to four Ohio Republican candidates, causing the Brennans to exceed campaign contribution limits.
Mayhew is giving the Brennans and the two treasurers of the political action committees 21 days to persuade the state that they did not make illegal contributions to gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Blackwell, attorney general candidate Betty Montgomery, state representative candidate William Batchelder and state auditor candidate Mary Taylor.
If the state is not satisfied with their answers, Brunner's office may file a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission.
The Beacon Journal could not reach Brennan or the PAC treasurers for comment.
Brennan, whose White Hat Management is one of the nation's largest for-profit operators of charter schools, is the retired founding partner of the Brennan, Manna & Diamond law firm in Akron.
Joseph R. Weber, treasurer of the Main Street PAC, has been a longtime associate of Brennan in law firms and businesses. Thomas F. Needles, treasurer of Go-Go PAC, has been a consultant and lobbyist in Columbus for Brennan's charter schools.
Mayhew says in his letter that the
Brennans contributed the maximum amount in their own names to the four candidates' campaigns in the 2006 and 2007 election cycles, but then appear to have used the two political action committees to give beyond the legal limit.
Mayhew said that filings show that almost all of the money given by the PACs in 2006 and 2007 came from the Brennans. Main Street PAC had $9,392 on hand at the beginning of 2006; Go-Go PAC had $2,349 on hand.
The Brennans were the sole contributors to both political action committees in 2006 and 2007, giving each committee $30,670, according to a Beacon Journal analysis of state campaign finance records. Since the creation of the two PACs in 1999, the Brennans have contributed a total of $136,340. Their donations comprised more than half the total $247,845 raised by the two PACs.
In 2006, Go-Go PAC contributed $10,000 to the Blackwell campaign and $500 to Montgomery. It gave $250 to Batchelder the following year
Main Street PAC contributed $10,000 to Blackwell and $5,000 to Taylor in 2006 and $5,000 to Batchelder in 2007.
"Given the amount that Main Street and Go-Go had on hand at the beginning of 2006, it appears that David Brennan and Ann Brennan were the source of funds to Main Street and Go-Go's contributions to the Ohioans for Blackwell, Batchelder for State Representative, Montgomery Campaign Committee, and Citizens for Mary Taylor committees — even though David Brennan and Ann Brennan had already contributed the maximum amount allowed by law to these candidates," Mayhew wrote.
Mayhew also wants the Brennans and the PAC treasurers to show that the two PACs are not affiliated, noting that prior to 2005, all eight of the individual contributors, including the Brennans, who financed Go-Go also contributed to Main Street.
If the two PACs are affiliated, then they share contribution limits, but both gave the maximum $10,000 to Blackwell in 2006, according to Mayhew's letter.
Last week, the Ohio Elections Commission issued a record $5.2 million in fines to a pro-charter school political action committee for illegally funneling money to Republican candidates in 2006.
The commission fined the All Children Matter Ohio political action committee and the All Children Matter Virginia PAC $2.6 million each.
Brennan has contributed money to the Virginia PAC.
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com. David Knox, manager of computer-assisted reporting, contributed to this story.
— John Higgins
Akron Beacon Journal
2008-04-11
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