State Integrity news for Ohio from SII partner WVXU:

In existence for only a year and a half, JobsOhio is a public-private partnership that claims to have helped create more than 31,000 new jobs in the Buckeye State.

But critics characterize the agency as an unaccountable group with access to taxpayer dollars. An unlikely alliance of liberals and conservatives is involved in a lawsuit that questions whether state officials violated the constitution when they created JobsOhio.

Read and hear more from WVXU - Cincinnati.

State Integrity news for Ohio from SII partner WVXU:

Ohio earned a “D” in the recent State Integrity Investigation looking at transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in place in all 50 states. The state fared poorly in the area of effective access to information.

Public officials must conduct the public’s business in public. That’s the gist of Ohio’s Open Meetings Act, part of the state’s Sunshine Law. But do they? And how is technology changing the game?

Read and hear more from WVXU - Cincinnati. 

State Integrity news for Ohio from WVXU:

What happens only once every ten years, involves drawing lines on a map of the state, but causes more consternation and political teeth grinding than a hanging chad? If you said redistricting, you're right.

It's a process that leads to legislative standoffs and lawsuits. That's been the case in Ohio recently. In fact, the State Integrity Investigation gives Ohio a failing grade in this area, meaning it's a process that's susceptible to corruption.

Read and hear more from WVXU - Cincinnati. 

State integrity news for Missouri, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

If a tree is felled in the forest to create the paper upon which a politician's ethics proposal is printed, does it make a noise? The question arises because last week, Republican Dave Spence, a candidate for Missouri governor, unveiled a comprehensive proposal to change ethics laws to protect citizens from official corruption.

Now, as we head to the governor's race in November, both presumed candidates, Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, and Mr. Spence, a Republican, are saying the same thing: The state's anti-corruption laws are too weak.

Read the rest of the story at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

State integrity news for Ohio, from WCPN:

Ohio received a poor grade in a recent study looking at policies and practices guarding against public corruption. Does the "D" on the report card mean taxpayers are more likely to get their pockets picked?

We'll meet the author of Ohio's State Integrity Audit, talk about why Ohio got such a poor grade and explore critics' claims that the report is too subjective.

Listen to the discussion at WCPN.

State integrity news for Ohio, from the Columbus Dispatch:

The proposal by Rep. Rex Damschroder, R-Fremont, would require House and Senate committees to post all written testimony online within 10 days.

He said the bill “is all about utilizing technology to make government more transparent. The testimony that we hear in our committees are public records, and there is no reason in this day and age that the general public should not have easy access to these documents.”

Read the rest of the story at the Columbus Dispatch.

By Caitlin Ginley

Citing the Buckeye State’s D grade from the State Integrity Investigation, Democratic legislators in Ohio have called for a bipartisan task force to review current ethics laws and consider new legislation to strengthen accountability and transparency.

“We have a responsibility to the people of Ohio and it is simply unacceptable for us to fail to ensure government is working for Ohioan’s best interest at all times, not for special interest or influences,” said Rep. Jay Goyal (D-Mansfield), in a press conference held Tuesday.

In a letter to legislative leaders, the House Democrats noted “great concern over the recent ethics report from the State Integrity Investigation.”

State Integrity news for Ohio from Statehouse News Bureau:

Democratic members of the Ohio House say lawmakers need to create a bipartisan task force to review current ethics laws and practices.

Ohio recently received poor marks from a national group that looks at 14 categories of ethics and accountability in government. The State Integrity Investigation gave Ohio a “D” grade overall.

Read and hear more from Statehouse News Bureau and WKSU.

State integrity news for Ohio, from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

The arrest of a state lawmaker last week on corruption charges provided fodder for a new national study released today that says state governments, including Ohio, are ripe for corruption. It says states do a poor job of delivering transparency and accountability to their citizenry.

The administration of Gov. John Kasich decried the findings. Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Kasich, said he called the Center for Public Integrity, one of the groups that undertook the study, to get its list of contributors, but his request was denied.

Read the rest of the story at the Cincinnati Enquirer.

State Integrity news for Ohio and Kentucky from SII partner WVXU:

When it comes to transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in state government, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana are getting weak grades on a report card being released today.

The State Integrity Investigation is a data-driven assessment that looks at 330 different corruption risk indicators across 14 categories of government-- from access to information to redistricting. Ohio's overall score was 66, good for a solid D. Kentucky scored 71 and Indiana 70, both getting a C minus.

Hear more from WVXU - Cincinnati.