Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) released almost all of the remaining resumes requested by the state Democratic Party, a move that has not quieted the opposition.
Mandel, the GOP nominee against U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), released 33 of the 34 remaining resumes to state Democrats, saying they have been "voluntarily presented" to his office. The release followed weeks of Mandel's office saying it did not have all the resumes for staffers hired by the Tea Party favorite to fill posts in the treasurer's office. Several of the resumes, according to the Dayton Daily News are for longtime political aides or friends of Mandel.
Seth Metcalf, Mandel's general counsel, wrote in a letter to state Democrats dated June 15 that the resumes are not considered public records under state law and were being handed over voluntarily by his office. The treasurer's office argued in the past that most of the 34 outstanding resumes were for employees hired by Mandel during his 2010 transition period and that transition team documents were not subject to state open records laws. However, Gov. John Kasich (R) announced in 2010 that resumes collected during his transition were subject to state open records laws.
Mandel's office also has told the Toledo Blade that the treasurer's office was not in possession of the documents.
"On June 12, 2012, the resumes of individuals that accepted offers of employment prior to January 10, 2011 were voluntarily presented to the office of the Treasurer of State," Metcalf wrote in his letter. "Since such resumes are now within the possession of the office of the Treasurer of State, these resumes became "public records" on June 12, 2012, and are therefore currently available for production, and thus appear on the enclosed CD."
Metcalf, a college friend of Mandel's whose resume was included in the latest release, did not indicate how the treasurer's office obtained the resumes. Seth Unger, the spokesman for the treasurer's office whose resume also was included, did not return a call for comment.
The party made its ninth request for the resumes last week, and is now questioning how Mandel obtained them.
"For 14 months Josh Mandel refused to fully disclose the resumes and qualifications of treasurer's office staffers in an effort to cover up the fact that he hired unqualified political cronies, and now he wants Ohioans to believe that he miraculously stumbled upon 33 of the resumes in question," Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Andrew Zucker said. "That's flat-out absurd and Josh Mandel knows it. Until Josh Mandel states from whom or from where he suddenly received the resumes of 33 staffers he hired at taxpayer-expense, Ohioans will wonder what he's still hiding as his reputation as a politician who can't be trusted sets in stone."
Democrats questioned whether a "resume fairy" dropped the documents off at Mandel's Columbus office.
The missing resume belongs to Christopher Shumaker, an account examiner in the treasurer's office, who received his first state paycheck Aug. 13, 2011. According to Shumaker's LinkedIn profile, he is a graduate of Capitol University in Columbus and was a tax intern at OhioHealth before joining the treasurer's office.
Democrats, who have been seeking the resumes since 2011, were alternately denied or ignored by Mandel's office, at one point receiving the entire state payroll as a response. The Dayton Daily News reported allegations of "cronyism" in Mandel's office earlier this year, and The Huffington Post reported that Mandel dispatched his debt-management director to a beginner's class in the subject when he was first hired.
The delivery of the resumes comes the same day as questions from Brown's campaign about Mandel's attendance at five events in Washington. The event schedule for Mandel released by Brown's campaign includes four fundraisers and a conference call with members of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Thirty GOP senators helped raise money for the 34-year-old at one of the fundraisers.
The Columbus Dispatch reported Monday that Mandel declined to answer questions about his trip to Washington while attending one of the fundraisers.