Associated
with a state watchdog investigation of a former Ohio Department of
Natural Resources Director and staff for their accepting free fishing
charters in July, 2018, new ethics training for agency personnel has
been adopted.
James
Zehringer – who served as the Natural Resources Director under then
Ohio Governor John Kasich – was found to have participated in what
was – and still is – loosely called “Fish Ohio Day/Ashtabula”
while angling aboard a licensed charter boat.
Others
accompanying Zehringer in the 2018 event were - at the time: ODNR
Assistant Director Gary Obermiller, Wildlife Officer Supervisor Scott
Angelo, ODNR Deputy Director Bethany McCorkle, ODNR Coastal
Management Deborah Beck, Wildlife Assistant Chief Peter Novotny, ODNR
Biologist Travis Hartman, (now Wildlife Division chief) Kendra
Wecker, and Wildlife Chief Mike Miller.
Also
attending were Ohio State Senator Joe Uecker and then State
Representative Sarah LaTourette, State Senator Sean J. O’Brien,
State Representative Marlene Anielski, and Ashtabula County
Commissioner Casey Kozolowski.
Fish
Ohio Day/Ashtabula is an adjunct to the approximately 40-year-old
Fish Ohio Day held annually at Port Clinton, and started by the-then
Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes.
Rhodes
used the Fish Ohio Day events to highlight the walleye fisheries in
Lake Erie’s Western Basin by inviting members of the media,
political and civic leaders to a day of angling. It was Rhodes to
coined the phrase “Walleye Capital of the World,” utilizing the
Fish Ohio venue to promote the lake’s rising walleye angling star.
Cognizant
that Ohio’s share of Lake Erie does not begin and end in the
Western Basin, Kasich, Zehringer and Northeast Ohio local officials
and elected leaders devised the Fish Ohio Day/Ashtabula sibling, and
used nine volunteer local licensed charter boats.
The
idea of multiple Fish Ohio Days to promote fishing throughout the
state has even been expanded upon by current Ohio Governor Mike
DeWine and Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz.
However,
says the Ohio Inspector General’s office in a 17-page report, “On
February 15, 2019, the Office of the Ohio Inspector General received
a confidential complaint” that something may have been amiss with
the 2018 Fish Ohio/Ashtabula affair. This complaint jump-started an
investigation by the Ohio Inspector General’s office.
On
its web site the
Office of Ohio Inspector General says “complaints
received by the office are reviewed and evaluated to determine
whether there is reasonable cause to believe the underlying
allegations, if true, would constitute a wrongful act or omission on
the part of a state officer, agency, or employee.”
“At
the conclusion of an investigation a report of investigation is
completed and provided to the Governor and the agency subject to
investigation.”
The
exhaustive report goes on to detail interviews with several of the
2018 event’s participants; the parties explaining the genesis of
the project, including that some state officials stayed at the Lodge
at Geneva-on-the-Lake/State Park, charging the state for their rooms.
The
report likewise states
that “On June 10, 2019, the Office of the Ohio Inspector General
consulted with the Ohio Ethics Commission (OEC) to determine if they
had issued an opinion or some special exception allowing ODNR
employees to accept a free fishing charter from a regulated entity,
and the OEC responded that they had not.”
This
subsequent chain of events had relevance since another such outing
was planned for September, 2019.
“On
August 2, 2019, the Office of the Ohio Inspector General contacted
Damien Sikora, current ODNR chief legal counsel, regarding the (then)
upcoming 2019 Ashtabula Fish Ohio Event that was planned for
September 27-28, 2019.” the report states.
“Sikora
stated that ODNR was aware of the problem with ODNR employees
accepting free fishing charter trips from a prohibited source, and he
noted that for similar future events, ODNR would pay the fishing
charters.”
To
that end the current Natural Resources Department leadership says
appropriate corrective actions were all ready underway.
“Fish
Ohio Day promotes Ohio’s world class fishing and the charter boat
industry for news media writers and legislative decision makers to
benefit Lake Erie’s economy.” said Sarah Wickham, the Natural
Resources Department’s chief of communications in a statement.
Under
the current administration, Wickman says also in her statement about
the 2019 Ashtabula outing, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources
“limited the number of state employees participating to only
include staff to educate legislators and the media about ODNR
conservation practices, the importance of protecting our waterways,
and the economic benefits of angling in Ohio.”
“(The)
ODNR paid for the cost of the charter trips for employees that
participated. Furthermore, an aggressive campaign of ethics training
was provided across the agency beginning in early 2019, with both
in-person and online trainings,” Wickham said.
And
on January 30th the Ohio Inspector General noting
as
well that it
“received
documentation from ODNR that the fishing boat captains who
participated in the Ashtabula Fish Ohio event held on September
27-28, 2019, received payments for their services.”
As
for those past and current Natural Resources officials who
participated in the 2018 outing, the
report says “on
February 4th,
2020, investigators received documentation from the Ohio Ethics
Commission (OEC) that the OEC had sent letters to all who attended
the 2018 Ashtabula Fish Ohio event and who were required to file
Financial Disclosure Statements (FDS), stating a possible need for
those individuals to amend their FDS for the value of the charter
boat.”
However,
no criminal referrals were warranted, the report concludes.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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