Mike DeWine took $2100 from 15-year-old

Political class freedom redistribution (Part 4)

Last week OCGJ took a deep dive into the Ben Suarez case where U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Gaughan dropped campaign finance violation charges from the prosecution’s case and gave Suarez 15 months for witness tampering. The dropped charges include making corporate donations, donations in others’ names, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements. Today OCGJ reports we have compelling evidence that supports probable cause that Mike DeWine and Dave Hobson insiders committed those same crimes.

Travis and Lisa Greenwood own The Greentree Group, a “mom and pop” defense contractor founded by Sam Greenwood, Travis’ father and former government employee in the Senior Executive Service. As many senior Department of Defense leaders do, Sam Greenwood leveraged his government service into a lucrative government support contractor business once he passed through the revolving door.

According to the Federal Election Commission data base (www.fec.gov), since 2003 three generations of Greenwoods have contributed nearly $200,000 to Republican candidates, almost all of that going to Mike DeWine, Dave Hobson, Steve Austria and Mike Turner. It’s no coincidence the Greenwood’s prolific giving started in 2003, the same year The Greentree Group was noncompetitively awarded the $1.9 million Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Initiative Agreement contract. That sweetheart deal between the Dayton Development Coalition (DDC) and Greene County government may be the worst example of wealth redistribution by the political class ever recorded in Ohio. OCGJ has compelling evidence of bid rigging, money laundering, breach of contract, and even compromise of controlled unclassified information related to national security, not to mention a wide and deep effort by law enforcement and the courts to keep our investigation from seeing the light of day. Teenager Caitlyn Greenwood’s $2100 contribution to Mike DeWine’s U.S. Senate campaign on June 30, 2006 serves as one more brick in the wall that adds to the mountain of evidence incriminating Ohio political class Republicans, including Attorney General Mike DeWine.

So where did a high school sophomore get $2100 to contribute to Mike DeWine’s Senate campaign? We’ll answer that in short order, but a better question is “Why did she contribute in the first place?” In 2006 the maximum an individual could contribute to a congressional campaign was $2100. The Federal Election Commission data base reveals that Travis Greenwood, Caitlyn’s father, gave DeWine’s senate campaign $1100 on June 28, 2006. On that same day mother Lisa contributed $2100. Two days later on June 30th, 2006 Miss Caitlyn coughed up another $2100, the legal maximum, but it would not be legal if her parents fronted the money, took it from her college fund or baby-sitting money and/or reimbursed her after the fact. That is precisely what Paul Magliocchetti with the PMA Group did that landed him a 27 month prison sentence…..he solicited family, friends and business associates to contribute over-the-limit donations to dozens of congressmen, including Dave Hobson and Steve Austria, and then reimbursed them for their efforts. When the PMA Group mess hit the fan, most of those who received the illegal contributions returned the money or gave it to charity, but we could find no evidence that Hobson or Austria did so.

In any case, back to Miss Greenwood’s donation, $1000 of which appears to be illegal as it exceeded the legal limit given by her parents by that amount. Caitlyn’s donation came in 2006, the same year the BRAC Initiative Agreement contract ended. The Greenwood’s generosity to the political class started in 2003, the first year of the Agreement. Sam Greenwood sat on both the DDC’s Wright-Patt 2010 Committee and Advisory Board, elbow to elbow with Hobson, DeWine and Austria surrogates who advised the DDC on who received citizen class tax dollars from Greene County for the $1.9 million BRAC Initiative Agreement. That explains the source of Miss Greenwoods $2100 campaign contribution….it appears to be a “quid pro quo” for political class influence in awarding an un-bid taxpayer funded contract to Greentree. To be clear, Caitlyn’s contribution came from citizen class tax dollars laundered through the Greene County Commission and the Dayton Development Coalition.

To add insult to injury, Wright State University’s College of Liberal Art’s recognized Travis Greenwood for seeking “to recognize a student whose integrity is recognized as a value in and of itself.” (Source: Donor Profile: Travis and Lisa Greenwood, published by the Wright State University College of Liberal Arts)

You may agree that’s not an accurate characterization of Mr. Greenwood who along with his family donated nearly $200,000 to Republican campaigns including apparently using his teenage daughter as a straw donor to exceed the legal limit.