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Bureaucrats in Columbus have gotten quite good at using public money to create what they want us to believe are "private" entities. JobsOhio, formed in 2011 to pull profits from the Ohio liquor franchises into the coffers of what was labeled a private corporation, is the perfect example. Its purpose was to distribute those public funds. But the agency has been less than transparent.
Because of the nonprofit veil with which it has draped itself, JobsOhio's operations are not always easy to sort through. A Youngstown organization took on the task and discovered JobsOhio is granting more than $2 million in economic incentives to West Warren Development LLC, to build an industrial park. One of the three managing partners of West Warren Development is Chuck George.
George had also recently been named board president of one of JobsOhio's seven regional network partners, Lake to River.
As the Ohio Capital Journal summed it up, "George is board president of one of the 'network partners' of an economic development agency that is lending at least $2 million in what used to be public dollars to a private business he heads."
JobsOhio says it doesn't see a problem with that. But it's a bad look for state officials. Transparency in government is a bedrock of our system. The taxpayers have the right to know where their dollars are being spent. JobsOhio should keep that in mind.