Friday, October 22, 1999
GOP lawmaker to head PR-lobbying operation
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Armed with an opinion clearing him of any ethical impropriety, a top Republican lawmaker announced Thursday he will resign to head a new lobbying and public relations firm.
Rep. E.J. Thomas, R-Columbus, is leaving Nov. 1 to become the chief executive officer of Groundswell, Inc., a joint venture between Cincinnati-based Northlich Stolley LaWarre and a Columbus firm run by two of the state's most pow erful lobbyists, Neil Clark and Paul Tipps.
The venture gives Northlich, Cincinnati's largest ad agency, a stronger presence in the state capital. It also provides Mr. Clark and Mr. Tipps with expertise to compete with a rival company that already offers public relations, lobbying, advertising and political consulting under one roof.
Before taking the job, Mr. Thomas faced questions about potential conflicts between his role as chairman of the House Finance Committee and Northlich's interest in competing for anti-smoking advertising funded by Ohio's $10.1 billion share of the national tobacco settlement.
The Finance Committee will debate legislation pending in the Senate that would establish a framework for how the unprecedented windfall should be spent. Advertising contracts would be awarded by a separate panel created to oversee the tobacco payments.
While Mr. Thomas said he had planned to leave the General Assembly before term limits ended his tenure, he decided to hasten his departure after the Legislative Inspector General issued an informal opinion clearing him of any ethical conflicts.
“Notwithstanding this vindication of my position that no conflict ever existed ... I have chosen to end speculation and make a decision sooner rather than later,” Mr. Thomas said in a prepared statement.
“My departure from the House before it even receives the Tobacco Settlement Bill underscores my commitment to a high ethical standard — one which reflects the spirit as well as the letter of the law,” he said.
State ethics law will prohibit Mr. Thomas from lobbying his soon-to-be former colleagues for one year.
Rick Miller, Northlich's managing director, said the firm had approached Mr. Thomas about joining Groundswell months before the tobacco legislation was introduced.
Northlich may seek some of the advertising work funded by payments from cigarette makers, he said, but Groundswell will not.
“We knew there never was a conflict here,” Mr. Miller said. “We have become one of the fastest-growing communications firms in the Midwest without any money from the tobacco settlement.”
By creating the new firm, Mr. Miller said, Northlich gives its corporate clients a company that melds advertising and public relations experts with lobbyists familiar with the way in which laws and regulations are made.
Mr. Clark and Mr. Tipps have been exploring such a venture to compete with HMS Success, another Columbus lobbying powerhouse. They also created another firm, State Street Consultants, that plans to hire more former lawmakers and prominent politicians to work in cities across the state.
“This is the wave of the future,” Mr. Clark said. “With term limits, there is going to be an increasing need to educate public officials about legislation and to get your message across.”
All the players in this battle for the hearts and minds of public officials have lengthy political resumes.
Mr. Clark is a former top aide to Senate Republicans. Mr. Tipps is a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.
HMS, meanwhile, includes David Milenthal, Dennis Wojtanowski and Jan Allen, all of whom have ties to former Democratic Gov. Richard Celeste. Others on the HMS team are Ms. Allen's husband, Curt Steiner, former chief of staff for former Republican Gov. George Voinovich, and Jenny Camper, former spokeswoman for Mr. Voinovich and Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.
HMS is running the campaign to raise money for the expansion of the Albert B. Sabin convention center.
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