Official rejects lobbying complaint against Latino commission
State body helping illegal immigrants, watchdog charges
Thursday, July 15, 2010 11:39 PM
By Alan Johnson

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A second state agency has declined to investigate an immigration watchdog's complaint accusing the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs of improperly lobbying state lawmakers on the behalf of illegal immigrants.

Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe's office recently rejected the complaint filed in June by the Immigration Reform Law Institute of Washington, D.C. One part of the complaint was found to be unsubstantiated; Bledsoe said he lacked jurisdiction to investigate two others.

The immigration group initially filed its allegations with Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles. But Charles, also citing lack of jurisdiction, forwarded it to the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, which Bledsoe heads.

The Washington group's website says it exists to "protect the legal rights, privileges, and property of U.S. citizens and their communities from injuries and damages caused by unlawful immigration." It complained that the state-funded commission "violated Ohio law by actively lobbying the state legislature to provide favorable treatment for illegal aliens and ignore their unlawful immigration status."

Florentina Staigers, a Columbus lawyer and former staffer at the Hispanic/Latino commission, called it "a petty, baseless complaint by a hate group."

It was filed on behalf of eight Ohio residents, including Claudia Leonard of Concord, Ohio, northeast of Cleveland.

"Illegal immigration is a huge issue right now," Leonard said. "This is a case of a state agency with state dollars overstepping their bounds."

She said she's disappointed that the inspector general declined to investigate.

"We're going to see a game now of tossing the hot potato then burying it," she said. "We are very suspicious."

Bledsoe's office dismissed the group's complaint that the Hispanic/Latino commission had lobbyists who were unregistered. But the office ruled it had no jurisdiction to decide on the other two complaints: that the commission exceeded its statutory authority by lobbying on behalf of illegal immigrants, and that it illegally required members to be of Spanish-speaking origin.

Lilleana Cavanaugh, executive director of the commission, said her office has received no official complaint and is not under investigation.

"The Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs is confident that it has been fulfilling its statutory mandates," the commission said in a statement. "If an investigation is initiated, OCHLA will fully cooperate."

The agency has an annual budget of $335,332 from state general-revenue funds.

The Washington group cited several instances where it claimed commission employees or board members lobbied the General Assembly not on behalf of Spanish-heritage Ohioans but on behalf of immigrants who are here illegally.

Among other things, the commission's annual report said that "being in the U.S. without papers is not a crime," which the institute argued was an attempt to "persuade legislators to ignore federal immigration laws and provide illegal aliens the public benefits and privileges available to Spanish-speaking citizens."

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