Lawsuit dismissal moves JobsOhio one step closer to fruition

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich said he would dismantle the Ohio Department of Development, stripping the longtime state agency of its duties of job creation and retention to be replaced by JobsOhio.

The idea, Kasich said, was to get around some of the deal-making slowdowns caused by the pace of government and instead speed up the process with a business-minded operation working on behalf of the state.

When we last looked at this promise, legislation had cleared the Generaly Assembly creating JobsOhio.

But a lawsuit from ProgressOhio, the liberal think tank based in Columbus, caused delays and  forced the administration to make changes to JobsOhio"s structure on the fly to get around some legal blocks, and generally held in limbo its efforts at becoming a full-fledged agency.

The lawsuit hinged on one question: Is it a violation of Ohio"s Constitution for JobsOhio, a private agency, to operate using state taxpayer dollars?  

Those tax dollars come from liquor sales in the state. JobsOhio is in the process of leasing control of the state"s profitable liquor sales operation in return for capturing its annual profits for its own operations.

This month (June 2012) the Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals upheld a Franklin County lower court ruling which essentially dismissed ProgressOhio"s lawsuit challenging how JobsOhio was structured.

The court ruling was a victory for the governor, moving JobsOhio one step closer to fruition. Not that the administration had been sitting around idling while the legal challenges were pending.

The quasi-private group"s board has already been meeting, discussing job-making deals and branding itself as Ohio"s official economic development agency.

The lower court and the state appeals court both said the plaintiffs had no standing to sue in their courts, meaning the judges essentially took a pass and instead dismissed the case. ProgressOhio could still appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, but it has already been turned away from that court once so it appears that JobsOhio may finally be in the clear.

Maybe.  

The high court could choose to hear the case, if asked. And, the transaction for JobsOhio to formally acquire the liquor operation was delayed by the lawsuit, which means that the financial deal involved there will now be pushed into fiscal year 2013, which starts in July.

There is no reason to think that the financial particulars, which include issuing of bonds to raise funds to pay the state, won"t be hammered out. But the combination of that and the potential for further litigation are still potential roadblocks for JobsOhio, though with each passing day they seem to be shrinking to mere speed bumps. We"ll see.  

In the meantime, Politifact Ohio can set the Kasich-O-Meter for this promise at In the Works.