Columbus Dispatch...
Candidate: Kasich allies offered a deal if he quit race
By  Joe Hallett
Friday March 9, 2012 

The chairman of the Portage County Republican Party says that allies of Gov. John Kasich offered him special influence over gubernatorial appointments if he agreed not to run for the state GOP central committee, which Kasich has been trying to take over. 

Andrew Manning sent a notarized affidavit to state and federal law-enforcement officers yesterday, asking them to investigate whether laws were broken in the alleged effort to get him to drop out of the committee race. 

Manning provided a copy of the sworn statement to The Dispatch and said in an interview that he felt uncomfortable with what he perceived as the offer of a quid pro quo and “relentless” pressure from friends of Kasich. 

“In my opinion, I felt it was unethical and it crossed the line, but I don’t know about it being against the law,” said Manning, who has been on the 66-member central committee, the state party’s governing body, since 2008. 

Manning, who said he didn’t “see a reason why (Kevin) DeWine should be kicked out as chairman,” noted that in 2010 he “worked very hard to see John Kasich elected.” 

He said he mailed the affidavit to the FBI in Cleveland and Cincinnati, the prosecuting attorneys of Franklin, Summit and Portage counties, and to the Ohio inspector general. 

“There may not be anything there, but it’s worth them looking into,” said Manning, adding that he has talked with other central committee members who are “under a lot of pressure” from Kasich associates. 

Rob Nichols, the governor’s spokesman, said Kasich would never permit anyone to do what Manning alleges in his name. 

“That may be how it used to be done or how other folks do it, but it’s not how this governor works,” Nichols said. 

Kasich and his allies mounted an all-out campaign to wrest control of the Ohio Republican Party and oust its chairman, Kevin DeWine, in Tuesday’s primary election. Kasich fielded a slate of central committee candidates in his attempt to place at least 34 of his loyalists on the committee, the number needed to overthrow DeWine, whose current two-year term expires in January. 

The move against DeWine has caused a civil war in the state party, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent in the central committee races. Kasich and his lieutenant governor, Mary Taylor, made robocalls on behalf of their slate. 

Both sides have declared victory, but the true result won’t be known until April, when Kasich’s allies are expected to force a vote on DeWine by the newly elected committee. 

Manning said the outcome of his race for re-election to the committee from the 18th Senate District against challenger Jamie Callender, a former state representative from Lake County, was undetermined yesterday and might require a recount. The committee is composed of a man and a woman from each of the state’s 33 Senate districts. 

In the affidavit, Manning said he met on Feb. 4 at the Portage Country Club in Akron with Bryan Williams, a Kasich appointee to the Ohio Board of Education, and Summit County GOP Chairman Alex Arshinkoff to discuss his candidacy. 

The purpose of the meeting, Manning said, “was to get me to withdraw as a candidate because it was perceived by ... Kasich and his advisers that I was supporting” DeWine. 

“Had I agreed to withdraw as a candidate, they told me I would be designated as the ‘Governor’s Guy’ in Portage County and that I would be given influence in who Gov. Kasich appoints to Kent State University boards and other state government appointments as they come open. 

“After the meeting,” Manning added in the affidavit, “I felt somewhat uncomfortable. I have always tried to conduct myself ethically, and this did not sit well with me.” 

Manning told The Dispatch that he thought Williams and Arshinkoff “were acting as representatives” of Kasich and that he perceived them to be offering a quid pro quo “to be able to have a lot of say in who is appointed to boards and commissions.” 

“It wasn’t overt,” he said, “but this is pretty much how I understood it: If I was not to be a candidate, then I would get the governor’s support and help.” 

Williams did not return a phone message, and Arshinkoff declined to comment until he’d had a chance to read the affidavit. 

Manning said he also received “relentless” pressure from two former governor’s office employees, Ben Kaiser and David Luketic. Kaiser joined the Capitol Square lobbying firm owned by Robert F. Klaffky and Douglas J. Preisse, key advisers to Kasich. Luketic also is working on the dump-DeWine campaign, headquartered at the Klaffky-Preisse firm. 

Luketic didn’t return a phone call, but Kaiser said he could remember two phone conversations with Manning. 

“At no point did I ever threaten him or anyone in this process,” Kaiser said. “I was just trying to find out where people are and what’s going on so I have a good picture.” He said the notion that any representative of the governor offered inducements “is crazy.” 

Rumors have swirled for weeks about threats, inducements and intimidation in the central committee battle. Pro-DeWine allies previously steered The Dispatch to Greg Simpson, a central committee candidate from southwestern Ohio, alleging that he had been offered a quid pro quo by Kaiser and Luketic. But Simpson denied that, saying “they were very cordial and professional and mostly wanted to know what I did for a living.” 

DeWine refused to comment beyond saying, “I’m fully focused on uniting this party to defeat Barack Obama in the fall.” 

Read this and other stories at the Columbus Dispatch