WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Ohio Republican Party is paying a $100,000 civil penalty to the Federal Election Commission for improperly funding a voter database assembled in 2014 by a company associated with JobsOhio founder Mark Kvamme, the commission announced Friday.
An agreement between the Ohio Republican Party and Federal Election Commission stated ORP mostly used non-federal funds to finance construction of the $600,000 voter turnout database that was used for federal election activity. It violated the law by “disbursing $489,875 in non-federal funds for federal election activity,” the agreement said. The agreement also requires ORP to transfer $489,875 from its federal accounts to its state accounts as reimbursement for the state money used for the federal database.
The money at issue was paid to a company called FactGem to develop a database called “Project Ruby.” FactGem was run by Kvamme and his wife, who were allies of former Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
A statement from Ohio Republican Party Executive Director Rob Secaur described the matter as a violation that occurred “under the direction of Matt Borges” who headed the party during most of Kasich’s administration.
“The violation involved improper payments for a failed data project; this violation was separate from several other FEC violations which are no longer pending that occurred during Matt Borges tenure,” Secaur’s statement said “We are pleased this issue is resolved and now the ORP is in good standing with the FEC.”
Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Kirstin Alvanitakis described the fine as part of a pattern of fiscal mismanagement by Ohio Republicans. She cited an ongoing FEC probe of money missing from Cincinnati GOP Rep. Steve Chabot’s campaign and noted that Bainbridge Township GOP Rep. Dave Joyce’s former campaign treasurer recently pleaded guilty to stealing $160,000 from his campaign.
“First Steve Chabot and Dave Joyce can’t keep track of their donors’ money," Alvanitakis said. "Now we see the Ohio GOP illegally gave more than half a million dollars to a Kasich crony for an unusable database. Why would any donor trust Ohio Republicans with their money?”
Documents the Ohio Republican Party filed with the FEC said the FactGem plan “was to collect data from publicly available sources, convert that data into voter lists, and then use those voter lists to make phone calls and turn out voters on election day... Unfortunately, Project Ruby never worked as planned.”
The documents said FactGem could not get the project to work, and ORP stopped funding it. Sources close to the Ohio Republican Party described the contract as a waste of money.
“What appeared to be a cutting-edge data project that would revolutionize Republican politics abruptly became a well-intentioned, but ultimately unsuccessful and costly, venture,” said an ORP filing with the FEC. “The break between ORP and FactGem was so abrupt, in fact, ORP today does not even have a copy of or access to any of the data delivered to FactGem.”
The agreement between FEC and ORP says “that in an effort to avoid similar issues in the future, ORP replaced Matt Borges as Chairman; retained legal counsel to advise ORP on compliance matters at both the state and Federal level; required all disbursements to be approved by the Executive Director, the Accounting Director, an outside compliance firm, and legal counsel; implemented robust recordkeeping and document retention policies; and implemented disciplinary procedures applicable to any employee who fails to adhere to the policies and procedures implemented by ORP leadership.”
The penalty stemmed from a 2017 complaint the Ohio Democratic Party filed with the Federal Election Commission.
“While we understand that the requirements of complying with the rules for federal election activities may be burdensome, the ORP has had more than a decade to learn how to properly pay for these activities,” said the complaint signed by ODP General Counsel and Deputy Treasurer N. Zachary West.
“The Federal Election Commission must promptly investigate this misuse of non-federal funds by the ORP and require the ORP to transfer federal funds to pay for this activity in its entirety with federal funds,” the complaint said. “In addition, the Commission should assess any and all necessary penalties and fines for this clear and obvious violation of federal law.”