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D. Mallory under ethics investigation

Chrissie Thompson
cthompson@enquirer.com

COLUMBUS – State Rep. Dale Mallory, D-West End, is facing investigation by a state panel for failing to report an Indian Hill lobbyist's gifts of a Bengals ticket and fancy dinners.

Last month, John Rabenold of Axcess Financial in Sycamore Township was fined $2,000 for failing to report gifts to lawmakers, but a judge waived a planned one-night stay in jail because Rabenold's sentencing took place the day before his 15-year wedding anniversary.

Rabenold pleaded guilty in March to paying for lawmakers to see the Bengals' 23-13 victory over the Detroit Lions on Dec. 6, 2009, and to dine the next month at Via Vite Downtown and Lindey's in Columbus. A General Assembly panel, the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, is deciding whether to press charges against the lawmakers that accepted those gifts, and officials have declined to name the people who are under investigation.

But on Friday, Mallory reported a $147 campaign payment to Rabenold as reimbursement for "tickets and dinner." So Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien confirmed Mallory is one of the people under investigation for possible ethics violations related to the Rabenold case.

"He was one of the ones in attendance at that game," O'Brien said Monday.

Mallory failed to respond to multiple voice mails and text messages left by The Enquirer on his office and cell phones.

In 2010, after accepting the gifts, Mallory was one of a few Democrats to vote against a bill that would have restricted pay-day lenders, such as the one that employs Rabenold. The bill failed to clear the Senate and become law.

O'Brien declined to say how many other lawmakers are under investigation or to share their names. Tony Bledsoe, Ohio's legislative inspector general, declined to comment.

Under Ohio law, state legislators are prohibited from accepting gifts from lobbyists that exceed $75 in value, so lawmakers who accepted the Bengals tickets may have committed an ethics violation.

In addition, lawmakers can't accept more than $75 per calendar year in food from a lobbyist and must file a report listing gifts worth more than $25 received from any lobbyist.

The law allows legislators to use campaign money to pay for expenses related to their official duties, so Mallory's use of the campaign money to reimburse Rabenold would preclude a defense that he viewed Rabenold as a friend and not a lobbyist.

At the time of the gifts, Rabenold, who once ran for the Ohio House as a Republican, was lobbying against legislation that sought to regulate payday lenders, which charge interest as high as 400 percent per year. Payday lender Check 'n Go is a subsidiary of Axcess Financial.

The Columbus Dispatch first reported Mallory had received the gifts from Rabenold.

Mallory is scheduled to leave the Statehouse after this year. He has reached the eight-year term limit for his House seat. In May, he ran in a six-way primary for the Democratic nomination for the 9th State Senate District, but came in second behind former Cincinnati Councilman Cecil Thomas, of North Avondale. ⬛