|
The
Columbus Dispatch
www.dispatch.com
Environmental cleanup:
Bond issue had support from firms in finance
Michael
Hawthorne
Saturday, December 16, 2000
Backers
of a $400 million environmental bond issue spent nearly
$900,000 persuading voters to support their cause, with
most of the money coming from industrial companies, developers
and bond firms.
Most
of the money paid for three television commercials featuring
the co-chairs of the pro-Issue 1 campaign, Gov. Bob Taft
and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn.
Ohioans
responded by approving the ballot initiative with 57 percent
of the vote on Nov. 7. Now it's up to state lawmakers to
determine how the money will be spent.
During
the last weeks of the campaign, big givers to the pro-Issue
1 campaign included the East Ohio Gas Co. ($25,000); Bank
One ($20,000); Fifth Third Bank ($20,000); Salomon Smith
Barney ($20,000); Goldman Sachs & Co. ($10,000) and
Seasongood & Mayer ($10,000), according to post-election
reports filed yesterday with the office of Ohio Secretary
of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.
Issue
1 authorized the state to issue $200 million in bonds to
help restore abandoned industrial sites, also known as brownfields.
A like amount will be set aside to buy green space, preserve
farmland and provide more hiking and biking trails around
the state.
The
financial firms are expected to vie with other competitors
for the lucrative business of handling the bond work.
Most
environmental groups were absent from the campaign-finance
reports, but one gave generously.
The
Nature Conservancy, a national land-preservation group whose
logo was featured prominently in one of the Issue 1 ads,
gave $40,000 during the latest reporting period. The group
previously chipped in $50,000 and $24,694 of in- kind services
by sharing polling data with the pro-Issue 1 group.
Of the
$971,675 raised by Citizens for a Clean Ohio, $600,000 was
used to air the television ads. Another $184,075 went to
Paul Werth and Associates of Columbus for public relations
work. The group also paid Republican political consultant
Mark Weaver $14,808 for producing the ads and handling media
calls.
No decisions
have been made about how the $85,076 left over in the group's
bank account will be spent.
"It
will be used for some future good-government purposes determined
by the governor, since he raised most of the money,'' Weaver
said.
|
