The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Two Democrats want to prohibit Ohio lawmakers from accepting free or reduced-price tickets for professional sporting events.
The proposal comes on the heels of state lawmakers committing $600 million to a new multi-billion-dollar stadium for the Cleveland Browns.
The owners of the team, Jimmy and Dee Haslam, are major political campaign donors.
State Reps. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, and Karen Brownlee, D-Symmes Township, argue it’s a conflict of interest for public officials to accept tickets for professional sporting events. The funding mechanism lawmakers established for the Browns is meant to help pay for other sports and cultural facilities in the future. Brennan and Brownlee’s measure creates an explicit prohibition on accepting tickets for the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB or MLS.
But that doesn’t mean it’s OK to tempt lawmakers with free tickets to a WNBA game or a NASCAR race. Ohio’s ethics law seems broad enough to cover any professional sports ticket already. State law prohibits lawmakers from accepting “anything of value” from an “improper” source.
Definitions
The Ohio Ethics Commission has weighed in where to draw line with gifts repeatedly. A little more than 30 years ago, the commission issued an opinion stating explicitly that city council members couldn’t accept season tickets from professional teams playing in the city.
A Cleveland Plain Dealer story at the time detailed how the Browns and then-Indians had been giving season tickets to all 21 members of the council for roughly 30 years. The Cleveland Cavaliers, which had recently moved from nearby Richfield, gave out several tickets as well.
At the heart of Ohio’s Ethics law are two questions: what’s it worth? And where’d you get it?
Although the statute applies to “anything” of value, the commission states accepting nominal items — a cup of coffee, box of popcorn, etc. — isn’t prohibited. That said, the commission warns that over time several nominal gifts could add up to a substantial one.
In 2001, the Ohio Ethics Commission issued another opinion on whether a public official could accept a free golf outing from an individual that does business with that official’s agency. Again, no.
The commission quoted yet another opinion, this time from the Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline.
“The value of a round of golf or a ticket to a sports event in most instances would be ‘substantial,’ not de minimis,” the commission stated.
The other consideration is a gifts’ source. If the giver is someone doing business with, regulated by, or interested in matters going before the receiver, they would be considered an “improper” source under state law.
Brennan and Brownlee’s bill
As an American government teacher, Brennan worries about the message it could send for lawmakers to show up at games after signing off on the seed money for a franchise’s new stadium.
“I also used to work at the Browns stadium and at the Progressive Field for a season or two,” Brennan said. “And you know, when you see an elected official come in, it always made you wonder, did they pay like everybody else to get in, or did they get a reduced price to get in?”
“I just think it’s a clear ethical violation,” he added. “I think it compromises the credibility of the institution.”
Brownlee said their intent is to cover all professional sports even if a handful of leagues aren’t reflected in the current definition.
“Our thinking was that, especially based on what has happened this year with the budget, that it was imperative to get something clean out very quickly in response to (the) special interest of professional sports,” she explained.
Both lawmakers acknowledged the similarities between tickets to some college events and professional ones, but they decided not to go down that road. Even if universities have business before lawmakers, Brownlee said it’s difficult to know where to draw the line. Say lawmakers signed off on funding for a new tennis stadium, she offered. Is an invitation to the inaugural match more like free tickets or more like a ribbon cutting?
Brennan thinks an explicit prohibition on pro sports tickets will clarify questions about which sources are ‘improper.’ He explained some lawmakers already accept tickets and those gifts are reflected on their annual ethics forms.
A review of recent filings from leaders of both parties in the Ohio House and Senate showed only one lawmaker accepting any tickets at all. In December last year House Speaker Matt Huffman accepted two tickets valued at $826 to the Ohio State University v. Tennessee football game in the College Football Playoff. Because it was a college game, Brennan and Brownlee’s measure would have no impact on the gift’s status under state ethics law.
Ohio Capital Journal reached out to Speaker Huffman for comment, but his office did not respond.
“Even if it’s not a huge problem now,” Brennan said, “it’s a way of nipping it in the bud going forward. And again, doing a little part of bolstering public trust in the institution and their elected officials.”
