State Supreme Court sides with JobsOhio (updated)

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s high court denied legal standing Tuesday to opponents of the private
job-creation agency created by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, ending a legal fight that has dogged JobsOhio
since its inception in 2011.
In a 5-2 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court said ProgressOhio, two Democratic state lawmakers and their
allies failed to prove they had a stake in the case, siding with lower courts.
“If and when an injured party seeks to challenge JobsOhio, we may entertain such a case,” Justice Judith
French wrote for the majority. “But those parties are not before us today.”
The ruling marked a significant victory for Kasich, JobsOhio and the holders of $1.5 billion in bonds
that the agency put on the market in January 2013. JobsOhio moved forward with the bond sale despite the
pending court case.
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, Justice Judith Lanzinger and Beth Whitmore, sitting for Justice Terrence
O’Donnell, concurred with the ruling, with Justice Judith Kennedy concurring in judgment only. Justices
Paul Pfeifer and William O’Neill dissented.
The lawsuit alleged that JobsOhio’s funding structure violates a prohibition in Ohio’s Constitution
against turning taxpayer dollars over to a private entity. That question remains unresolved, unless
another lawsuit is brought against the nonprofit job-creation board that Kasich envisioned to move “at
the speed of business.”
The state argued that the parties, ProgressOhio and Democrats Mike Skindell and Dennis Murray, couldn’t
show harm, so they didn’t have standing to sue. Opponents argued the law created an impossibly small
window in which they had to both experience harm and meet the deadline for filing their legal challenge.

“To succeed in bringing a public-right case, a litigant must allege ‘rare and extraordinary’ issues that
threaten serious public injury,” the court said. “Not all allegedly illegal or unconstitutional
government actions rise to this level of importance.”
Pfeifer said the decision Tuesday marked the third time the Republican-dominated court had failed to
determine the constitutionality of legislation creating JobsOhio — saying first “not here,” then “not
now.”
“Today, this court ends all doubt about when it will determine the constitutionality of the JobsOhio
legislation, essentially responding, ‘Not ever,”’ he wrote.
John Minor, president and chief investment officer of JobsOhio, has said proceeds of the bond sale
allowed the agency to hire more staff and expand its public outreach efforts to bring jobs to the state.
The bond sale was backed by future liquor profits.
The fight over the standing issue had drawn attention across the political spectrum.
The libertarian 1851 Center for Constitutional Law sided with ProgressOhio, a sometime political
adversary, in its legal effort. The law center’s Maurice Thompson argued that laws denying taxpayers the
standing to sue government are dangerous and increasingly common. The conservative Ohio Roundtable had
also closely watched the case, viewing it is precedent-setting for other groups seeking to challenge the
constitutionality of government actions.
During oral arguments in November, JobsOhio opponents said the state’s Constitution would be left
defenseless if their politically diverse coalition wasn’t granted standing in the case. The 1851
Center’s Maurice Thompson, arguing for the plaintiffs, told justices the law that created JobsOhio
contained almost insurmountable legal hurdles. That included a 90-day window to sue that closed before
the office could have had any impact on a potential plaintiff.
State attorney Stephen Carney argued that plenty of parties had a legitimate right to sue JobsOhio, they
just chose not to. He argued those with standing must have an individual stake in the case, not be
pursuing generalized “public interest.”
He said those with a stake include public employees who might have been harmed as state development
functions began to be handed over to the private entity in 2011, or bondholders and liquor dealers
affected by the transfer of Ohio’s spiritous liquor business to fund the entity.

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