COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — When Ohio Supreme Court JusticePaul Pfeifer lamented the courts’ seeming
lack of jurisdiction over Gov.John Kasich’s privatized job-creation board last week, he joined agrowing
chorus of the frustrated.State lawmakers created JobsOhio in 2011 in a bill containing sweeping exemptions
from public records and ethics laws.Defendersof the corporate-style setup point to a laundry list of
reports,disclosures and business filings still required of the entity, but it isnot only Kasich’s political
opponents who have raised concern.Pfeifer,like Kasich a Republican, wondered aloud during Wednesday’s
oralarguments in a JobsOhio legal standing case whether Ohio’s judicialbranch of government will ever get to
weigh in on its legality."Isort of see a big wall," he told the state’s attorney, Stephen
Carney."It all looks alike, it’s all painted the same color, and somehow theSupreme Court or the
courthouse is behind the wall. But finding thedoor, where is it? I mean you say it’s there, but I’m not
understandingwhere the door is."Carney replied that there are plenty of doorsto the courthouse, just
not for plaintiffs led by liberal think tankProgressOhio who he argues can’t demonstrate any real
harm.Amongareas at issue in the case before justices is a 90-day window that theJobsOhio law allowed for
suing that opponents say closed before theoffice could have had any impact on a potential
plaintiff.Anotherfellow Republican, Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, resorted to subpoenaingJobsOhio’s private books
in March for a performance review his officewas attempting to conduct of JobsOhio. Yost decried JobsOhio’s
lack ofcooperation in turning over financial records he said he needed to do athorough job.JobsOhio
ultimately complied with the subpoena underprotest, but that door will be closed to Yost in the future.
Lawmakersin the Republican-led Legislature passed a bill making sure thatJobsOhio’s private books remain
just that: private.Members of theOhio Ethics Commission watch out for potential pay-to-play schemes
andfinancial conflicts of interest, but their role is also limited when itcomes to JobsOhio.In September,
the commission warned six of ninemembers of JobsOhio’s board of directors that their business interestsraise
potential conflicts of interest. The issue ended there, asJobsOhio was crafted to be self-policing when it
comes to suchconflicts.Executive director Paul Nick briefed the board on thematter during an August flap
over potential investment conflicts broughtto the panel’s attention by Kasich’s gubernatorial rival in
2014,Democrat Ed FitzGerald.He read from an Ohio law that saysJobsOhio "shall not be considered a state
or public department, agency,office, body, institution, or instrumentality for purposes of (theethics
law)."Chairman Merom Brachman suggested it was pointless"political theater" for Democrats to
raise such issues, because thecommission had no power in the matter.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All
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