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Published: Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Dann says foe dropped BWC ball

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The Republican says her opponent is making false accusations against her.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — State Sen. Marc Dann, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, said Republican Betty Montgomery "could have been the hero" by preventing fraud and theft at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Dann said he thinks that Montgomery, the Republican attorney general candidate, had several opportunities to detect and prevent the scandals that led to millions of dollars' being improperly spent and invested. Montgomery served as attorney general from 1995 to 2002, and as state auditor since 2003.

"She missed every opportunity," said Dann. "She can't say she was part of the solution."

Montgomery said she did everything she could to uncover the scandal and assist federal and state investigations related to the BWC issue.

But, she said, the firm auditing the BWC failed to provide her office with information that uncovered problems at the agency and she did a lot of work "behind the scenes" to assist investigations into the problem.

She also said Dann "either doesn't understand or isn't being truthful" about her involvement in the matter.

Discussing campaign

Dann, of Liberty, and Montgomery, of Reynoldsburg, in Wood County, met separately Tuesday with The Vindicator to discuss the campaign. The two square off during the Nov. 7 election for attorney general.

Dann has led the charge on criticism of the BWC, saying it's a perfect and extremely expensive example of the "pay-to-play" mentality in the Republican-controlled state government.

Montgomery said an audit of the BWC by KPMG, an accounting firm, failed to disclose the financial problems at the agency, most notably a $50 million investment fund handled by Tom Noe, a Toledo-based Republican contributor charged with forgery, money laundering and racketeering in connection with the investment.

Montgomery said she first learned of the BWC problem after reading about it in The Blade, a Toledo newspaper. She said she later read KPMG's working papers of the BWC audit and saw a mention of the Noe coin investment problem.

KPMG didn't mention the Noe issue because the firm didn't believe it wasn't a serious concern in relation to BWC's $15 billion in assets, said Montgomery, who doesn't agree with the accounting firm's assessment.

Dann said as auditor, Montgomery hired KPMG, and is ultimately responsible for the BWC problem.

"The state constitution says her office is in charge of audits," Dann said.

Also, when Montgomery was attorney general, she was BWC's attorney and should have looked into what was happening at the agency instead of turning a blind eye to it, Dann said.

"We could have avoided this is the attorney general had done her job," he said.

Casting a shadow

Montgomery said she doesn't like how Dann has conducted himself during this campaign.

"It's hard to be falsely called unethical and incompetent," she said. "He's cast a shadow on my reputation. The litany of accusations that question my ethics makes it hard for me not to be unhappy."

If he's elected, Dann said, he would move some of the attorney general's operations out of Columbus and into cities such as Youngstown, Warren, Toledo and Akron.

That would help stimulate job creation in those cities, Dann said.

A recent Columbus Dispatch poll has Montgomery ahead of Dann by eight percentage points. She is the only Republican beating her opponent in the poll.

Montgomery, who received the most votes of any candidate in the 2002 statewide election, said the poll shows "it's a tough race for all Republicans, but I hope it shows that I've represented the people properly."

Dann said he is "thrilled" with the results because it shows him within striking distance of Montgomery.

skolnick@vindy.com

Wednesday, September 27, 2006