Ohio Democrats on Tuesday filed their ninth request for the resumes of those appointed by state Treasurer Josh Mandel (R), the Tea Party favorite running for U.S. Senate.
In a letter to Seth Metcalf, Mandel's general counsel, the state Democratic Party asked for the resumes of 34 people Mandel appointed to posts in the treasurer's office, noting that their eighth request from May 3 has not been answered by Metcalf. Democrats have been seeking the resumes for more than a year, with reports surfacing earlier this year that Mandel awarded state jobs to political staffers and longtime friends, including Metcalf, who he went to college with. Mandel is challenging U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D).
Democrats accuse Metcalf of ignoring the requests.
"Although you have still not responded to our eighth public records request for this information, which we sent on May 3, 2012, you responded to a media inquiry by The Toledo Blade on the exact same day regarding the 34 resumes which we are requesting, a fact that concerns us and leads us to believe that you are deliberately ignoring our requests," Democratic Party researcher Michael Carrozzo wrote to Metcalf. "As a reminder, Ohio Revised Code § 149.43 directly states that responses to public records request shall be 'promptly prepared and made available "within a reasonable period of time.'"
Metcalf told the Toledo Blade that the office did not have 34 of the 60 resumes that Democrats have been seeking since April 2011 and provided the party with the copies the administration did have. Metcalf, who has been in office since 2011, said that the office did not have resumes originally gathered by Mandel's transition team in late 2010. Democrats have been blasting Metcalf for using that explanation, noting that Gov. John Kasich (R) turned over resumes gathered by his transition team during the same period after being advised that they were public records.
Among the resumes being sought by Democrats are: Joseph Aquilino, Mandel's former debt management director who Mandel sent to a beginner's class on the subject; Metcalf, a college friend of Mandel's; and Dana Wasserman, Mandel's deputy debt management director, who according to her LinkedIn profile worked in logistics management before taking the state post.
Seth Unger, the spokesman for the treasurer's office, did not return a message left for comment. Democrats are seeking Unger's resume as well.
Mandel's office alternated between denying the resume request or not responding at all, before releasing some resumes in the spring. At one point in late 2011, the treasurer's office provided Democrats with the entire state payroll in response to the resume request.
The move comes a day after Tea Party leaders in Ohio indicated that they plan to campaign hard for the 33-year-old Mandel, saying he is the only candidate to block heath-care reform. The leaders said they made the decision after earlier questioning his "seasoning," because of his young age.