BuckeyeBlog

The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) sent out an interesting release which, if true, means that one of the main groups pushing for a “yes” vote on Issue 5, the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO), may be misusing state funding (i.e., your tax money that is re-distributed by the state of Ohio):

While it is a non-profit corporation, COHHIO receives virtually 100% of its funding from State and Federal grants.  COHHIO has received more than $4.3 million in State funding from the State of Ohio since 2000.
 
“It is wrong to spend our tax dollars advancing anything on the ballot, whether a candidate or a ballot issue,” said COAST Chairman Jason Gloyd.  “That COHHIO can’t understand that shows they are not responsible with the monies the State of Ohio and the Federal government have given to them.”    
 
The campaign finance report for “Is 391% Too High? Vote Yes on 5 Committee” shows that the remaining donors, combined, gave an aggregate of less than $6,000 to the pro-Issue 5 campaign.
 
The $260,000 in campaign spending by COHHIO compares to only $614,000 in direct program services to help their supposed homeless clients, as revealed by their 2006 990 income tax return.
 
“It is a recurring theme,” said COAST Chairman Jason Gloyd.  “Folks who are funded by government always think we need more government and spend our tax dollars to advance that destructive cause.”
 
There are specific prohibitions in Ohio State law preventing the use of tax monies for political purposes.  COHHIO is either openly violating the law, or thinks it can evade the prohibition because the tax funds flowed first through their non-profit coffers.

Tags: issue 5, payday lending, Regulation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 9:16 am and is filed under Economic Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.