Saturday, October 30, 1999
Lawmakers slam 2% Club
Bill would ban employee contributions
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
John Holcomb
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HAMILTON — Two state representatives called on Friday for immediate hearings on a proposed law that would ban the “2 Percent Club” practice statewide.
Rep. Gene Krebs, R-Cam den, and Rep. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, want hearings on a bill introduced by Rep. Jeff Jacobson, R-Dayton, which would prohibit all Ohio officeholders from accepting campaign money from their own employees.
The Enquirer's revelations about employees in Butler County Prosecutor John F. Holcomb's office giving 2 percent of their salaries to his campaign — under pressure, some ex-employees said — showed that the need for the law is urgent, Mr. Cates and Mr. Krebs said Friday.
“Reading the articles in the newspaper this week has made me disgusted with how the spirit of the law has been broken, but it's more repulsive to see party leaders and officeholders defend this shameful practice,” Mr. Cates said. “Current law has a loophole big enough to drive an armored truck through it ... I don't care if they are Republicans or Democrats, expecting employees to pay an "office tax' to secure their employment is just plain wrong.”
While the practice had been outlawed for state-level officeholders in 1995, it has been allowed in other politicians' offices since then — as long as the contributions are voluntary
and unsolicited. This system has helped Mr. Holcomb amass a campaign war chest of $155,000, one of the largest among county-level officeholders in southwest Ohio.
Mr. Krebs said the measure has bipartisan support, with nine Republicans and five Democrats behind it — which reflects the political make-up of the House of Representatives.
“(That) shows this is not a partisan issue,” he said. “It has to do with doing what's right ... county employees are there to serve the public, not to be used as ATM machines for their boss' political donations.”
Mr. Holcomb, who has held office since 1973 and has been without political opposition since 1988, refused to comment for this story. But in previous interviews, Mr. Holcomb, the sole Democrat holding countywide office in Butler County, defended the practice. He said the donations are voluntary and criticism of his fund-raising shows Republicans are out to get him.
As the controversy continued to swirl around his political opponent, Robin Piper on Friday seized the moment and filed petitions that officially put him on the November 2000 ballot as the Republican candidate for Butler County prosecutor.
Mr. Piper said he paid the 2 percent for most of the 13 years he worked for Mr. Holcomb because other employees told him everyone had to donate. He also says the practice must end.
Although the election is more than a year away, Mr. Piper said, “I've been promised indirectly that this is going to be the dirtiest, ugliest cam paign that's ever happened in Butler County ... I'm not going to be intimidated by veiled threats. I wasn't in the courtroom, and I won't be in politics.”
Mr. Piper worked as an assistant prosecutor for Mr. Holcomb until last March, when he resigned under pressure.
In a letter dated Feb. 25, 1998, Mr. Holcomb told Mr. Piper that it was time for him to “become separated from this office.” He criticized Mr. Piper's handling of several cases, but concluded the letter by saying, in part, “Robin, you have not been on our team for some time. You got yourself involved in Republican politics. ... Your actions have sent and are sending the wrong message.”
Mr. Piper said he first started thinking about running for prosecutor in late 1996, when Mr. Holcomb was gravely ill. A fellow employee asked Mr. Piper whether he would seek the Democratic nomination if Mr. Holcomb failed to recover. Mr. Piper, however, said he didn't want to run as a Democrat because he's conservative at heart, and he became active in the Republican Party.
When Mr. Holcomb returned to the office in 1997, after missing more than a year of work, Mr. Piper said he informed his boss about his aspirations.
“At that time, everyone was under the impression that he wasn't going to run again,” Mr. Piper said. He believed Mr. Holcomb supported his ambitions at that time. “As I recall, his words to me were, "Don't half-step it,'” Mr. Piper said.
However, Mr. Holcomb decided to run again, and discussed with GOP leaders the possibility that he might run unopposed.
During that discussion in Mr. Holcomb's office last spring, Butler Republican Party chairman Carlos Todd said Mr. Holcomb appeared to briefly entertain the notion of switching parties, despite his reputation as a staunch Democrat.
Butler GOP finance chairman Joe Schwarz Sr. suggested that Mr. Holcomb could only avoid opposition in the next election by becoming a Republican, Mr. Todd confirmed, but called the statement merely a “gesture” that Mr. Holcomb probably wouldn't have taken seriously.
However, according to Mr. Todd, Mr. Holcomb did muse aloud that the county's Democrats had done little for him. But he ended by stating something like, I taught my kids how to live and now I'm going to teach them how to die.
Mr. Todd said he took that to mean that Mr. Holcomb, 62, would end his political career as a Democrat.
“And even if he had been willing to switch parties, I don't know if I would've been receptive to that,” he said. “I don't know that the party would have accepted John Holcomb. That's just the feeling that I have.”
In fact, Mr. Todd said, had the two men both sought the GOP's endorsement, Mr. Piper, 46, “would've walked away with it.”
“He's young, he's enthusiastic; he has all the credentials, the charisma and enthusiasm, and he's a gentleman,” Mr. Todd said. “He deals with constructive criticism in a professional manner, and that can't be said about John Holcomb — he doesn't take any criticism.”
PREVIOUS REPORTS
Voluntary donations questioned Oct. 24, 1999
About the 2 Percent Club Oct. 24, 1999
Prosecutor defends employees' donations Oct. 26, 1999
Legislator seeks to end '2 Percent Club' Oct. 27, 1999
Prosecutor's '2 Percent Club' splits parties Oct. 28, 1999
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