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JobsOhio Provides Private Financial Records To State Auditor
By: Associated Press
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UPDATE 11:44 a.m. Ohio's private nonprofit job creation agency says it has turned over its private financial records to the state auditor to comply with a subpoena.
JobsOhio spokeswoman Laura Jones said the records were delivered Tuesday ahead of a noon deadline.
The agency complied despite continuing to maintain that Republican Auditor Dave Yost doesn't have legal authority to audit the private side of the fledgling agency's books.
Yost says Ohio law gives him the right to review private financial records with ties to public funds.
JobsOhio was created by Ohio Gov. John Kasich to "move at the speed of business." It received $1 million in taxpayer dollars as start-up money and has gone to market with a $1.5 billion bond sale backed by rights to Ohio's liquor business.
The state's job creation nonprofit JobsOhio faces a deadline Tuesday to produce its private financial records for the state auditor – or explain why it won't.
Questions have mounted about how JobsOhio is spending its private dollars since Ohio Auditor Dave Yost issued a subpoena last week seeking access to the private side of its books. Yost said he was driven to issue the order after JobsOhio declined to volunteer the information.
Republican Gov. John Kasich's administration and GOP leaders who control the Legislature contend Yost only has authority to audit JobsOhio's public dollars.
Yost says he also has the right to audit the private funds because they've been generated by public investments.
His subpoena seeks financial statements, spending and revenue ledgers, salary and benefits payments and other documents.