Days after penning a letter to the editor saying that his office was responding to all records requests from the Ohio Democratic Party, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) is under fire for withholding 60 resumes the party requested.
Ohio Democrats released information Friday that shows the treasurer's office responded April 24 to a public records request for the resumes of 60 Mandel appointees with the release of 28 staffers' resumes, including 12 already released following an earlier request by the party. Ohio Democrats have requested the resumes for more than a year; the latest request is the party's seventh. Mandel is challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in November.
The Dayton Daily Newss reported in March that several of Mandel's hires have been top political aides or his personal friends. The Huffington Post reported that Mandel sent his debt management director to an entry-level class on the subject after he was hired in 2011.
In Mandel's letter to the editor of CantonRep.com, published on April 20, he wrote that his staff was qualified and experienced, and described the records requests as political. He said that his office was fulfilling them, then highlighted his accomplishments since taking office in January 2011.
Even though the goal of the Democratic Party public records law abuse is to defeat me in an election outside of the treasurer's office, my office still responds comprehensively to the multiple records requests the party makes.
For example, the Democrat operatives made several different requests for information about the employees in my office, and we provided 18 compact discs full of data containing thousands of pages of the employees’ resumés, salary and payroll information.
As these politically motivated requests continue to come in, we will continue to respond to them to the best of our ability.
I am proud to shine a light on our team and their success because I want Ohio taxpayers to see the real public record of the state treasurer's office. As a recent report by the state auditor confirmed, our office is run cleanly, efficiently and by the book.
In an April 24 letter responding to the request, Mandel's general counsel Seth Metcalf, wrote that the office was working on the request. The office sent the resumes of some staffers hired by Mandel, but did not include those of several top aides, including Metcalf. Previous records requests by Democrats were ignored, denied or, in one case, included 12 resumes along with the entire state payroll.
Treasurer's office spokesman Seth Unger did not return messages left on his office and cell phones requesting comment .