COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican leaders in the House and Senate on Friday asked the Legislative Inspector General to investigate why the Legislature's research staff delayed a report on school funding for seven months, even while lawmakers were debating the issue.

        Senate President Richard Finan and House Speaker Larry Householder sent a letter to James Rogers, the inspector general, in response to reports that the staff member who prepared the report “felt threatened and intimidated.”

        The report by the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission, which detailed how state education mandates could cost school districts up to $500 million annually, was supposed to be released in October but was not.

        LSC Director Robert Shapiro has said he should have followed the progress of the report more closely. The report was prepared by Matthew Wells, a statistics researcher for the agency charged with preparing and analyzing bills in the Legislature. Mr. Shapiro said staff members had questioned the report's accuracy.

        On Thursday, the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported that Mr. Wells' lawyer, Marc Dann of Youngstown, said that Mr. Wells had “felt threatened and intimidated throughout the process” of writing the report. The newspaper did not say who was allegedly pressuring Mr. Wells. Mr. Dann did not return a telephone call Friday.

        The Akron Beacon Journal reported Wednesday that a commission staffer had said politics played a role in shelving the report.

        Mr. Finan, a Cincinnati Republican, said Mr. Rogers should investigate the allegations instead of a bipartisan committee of lawmakers that LSC's oversight committee, which includes Mr. Finan, had appointed Wednesday.

        “I felt, and so did the speaker, that the way things were going, especially with what this guy was saying in the papers — I was very disturbed by his statements in the paper — that we needed an expert to do this, and that's what Jim Rogers is,” Mr. Finan said. “He also has subpoena power, which we don't.”

        House Minority Leader Jack Ford, a Toledo Democrat, and his Senate counterpart, Leigh Herington, had asked Mr. Rogers and other investigative agencies Thursday to look into the matter.

        “He (Wells) had been told not to release the report. The only people who would tell him not to release the report had to be in a supervisory position, inside LSC or without. I know no Democrat told him,” Mr. Ford said. “The Democrats call for a full-scale investigation and the day after that the Republicans jump on board. That, I have a problem with.”

        Mr. Finan and Mr. Householder stressed in their letter that Mr. Rogers' office was qualified to handle the investigation.

Officers honored during rally
Clergy call for boycott of Taste
Racial tension in Cincinnati
Team's tab likely to top taxpayers'
Our city not so hot for singles?
Plot to poison teacher leads to girls' arrests
From school janitor to schoolteacher
Indian Hill school, buses vandalized
Diarro's family is grateful
HOWARD: Neighborhoods
Job fair today for seekers age 14-25
Youth Employment Fair
MCNUTT: Warren County
$100,000 win seen as 'miracle'
Alert cop gets help after stickup
Allegations fly over delayed school funding report
Badin pranksters will be able to graduate
Bill would let legislators avoid suits, hide papers
Blast punctuates '1812 Overture' at Deer Park High
Boone Co. Title IX suit settled
Ex-cop loses manslaughter appeal
Festival to show kids that art 'jams'
First, flood watch; then it rained
Generations share jazz
Glass Ministries asks pro athletes to help spread word
Halfway home may be halted
Horse owners react to illness
Judge rejects claim inmate wasn't killer
Latinos and Amish bring new vitality
News anchor says no to politics
24 sign on as advisers for 12th St. tear-downs
Unions get to advise Gov. Patton
Unlikely teacher shares ways
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report