Tag: David W. Johnson

Ohio GOP Leaders Call for RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to Help Fix State Party

Neil W. McCabe

Two leaders of the Ohio Republican Party told The Ohio Star and The Star News Network Thursday that it is time for Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to get involved in reforming the Ohio GOP. “I don’t understand why Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the national Republican committee hasn’t looked into these issues, and gotten back to us, and backed us getting answers to our questions regarding the financial activities of the Ohio Republican Party,” said Mark A. Bainbridge, a member of the state party’s central committee, and one of five members of the central committee suing the state party, its Chairman Robert A. Paduchik and Treasurer David W. Johnson. Bainbridge, a certified public accountant, now in private practice, retired from Ernst & Young as a partner after three decades at the Big Four accounting firm, is at the forefront of exposing more than $3 million in accountable funds, including a $1.7 million write-off of retained earnings. The lawsuit asked the court to restore Bainbridge and others to their committee assignments after Paduchik summarily took them off those assignments, order an audit of the Ohio GOP books going back to 2017, and claw back funds Paduchik transferred to campaigns…

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State Chair Paduchik Denies The Ohio Star Credentials to Cover Friday’s Ohio GOP Central Committee Meeting

Neil W. McCabe

The chairman of the Ohio Republican Party denied press credentials to The Ohio Star and its national political editor Neil W. McCabe for Friday’s Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee meeting at Lewis Center’s Nationwide Conference Center.

“I sent your request to Chairman Paduchik, and he asked me to send you this response on the record: ‘Your request for credentials to attend the meeting as a journalist have been denied because The Ohio Star is fake news and you’re not a journalist,’” said Daniel J. Lusheck, the 30-year-old party spokesman and Marine Reserve veteran.

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Paduchik Gavels Short Unruly Ohio GOP Central Committee Meeting; Two Resolutions Left Unaddressed

Neil W. McCabe

The Ohio Republican Party chairman gaveled shut the December 3 meeting of the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee held at the Nationwide Conference and Hotel Center here roughly 90 minutes in, leaving two resolutions unaddressed on the agenda.

“We are taking a recess until the hall is cleared,” said Robert A. Paduchik, who took over leadership of the state party from Jane E. Timken in February, shortly after 11:30 a.m., after members of the committee complained that individuals in the public gallery participated in voice votes.

The public gallery had two dozen chairs in a roped-off section in the back of the room for the roughly 100 people who showed up for the open to the public meeting. A handful of protesters held signs and during the meeting and burst into applause or cheers.

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Ohio Republican Party Central Committeeman Bainbridge: I Am Not Working with ‘Dark Money’ Group, I Did Not Force Ohio GOP’s Timken-Conflicted Audit Firm Off Account

Neil W. McCabe

The retired Ernst & Young partner and member of the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee responded to charges from the party chairman Robert A. Paduchik and his supporters that he is ignorant of non-profit accounting and that he delayed the resolution of the party’s books by forcing the party’s audit firm to resign.

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Ohio GOP State Committeeman, a CPA, Calls on DeWine to Force Out Party Chairman Bob Paduchik

Neil W. McCabe

A retired partner from Ernst and Young, one of the Big Four international accounting firms, sent a November 24 letter to Republican Ohio Gov. R. Michael DeWine requesting the governor pressure Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Chairman Robert A. Paduchik to resign for his failure to respond to Ohio Republican State Central Committee member questions regarding missing funds from the party’s balance sheet.

“As a follow-up to my letter to you of November 8, 2021, enclosed is a letter I sent to members of the Ohio Republican State Central Committee related to unexplained ORP Net Worth Decrease of $270,600 in 2021,” wrote Mark A. Banbridge, who left Ernst and Young in 2009, before establishing his business advisory firm in Columbus.

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CPA Firm Hired to Audit Ohio GOP Financial Records Resigns ‘Effective Immediately’ 

Brian Ball

The Canton, Ohio-based firmed hired in April to audit the financial statements of the Ohio Republican Party has resigned, highlighting ongoing concerns of accounting  practiceve of an organization that has not had an audit for 16 to 20 years.
Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Paduchik dropped that bombshell during his chairman’s report to the Fall meeting of the Ohio GOP’s State Central Committee more than a week after receiving the letter from the Clifton Larson Allen LLP certified public accounting firm.

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Ohio Republican Party Treasurer Johnson Defends GOP Chair in Accounting Tiff, Bashes ‘Malcontents’ Calling for Expansion of Audit Back to 2017

Brian Ball

  COLUMBUS, Ohio – The treasurer of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) has defended top management’s handling of the political organization’s financial statements against concerns the policies and procedures have created risk for improper accounting. David W. Johnson, the 32-year incumbent Columbiana County GOP chairman now in his second term as the Ohio GOP’s treasurer, dismissed allegations of poor accounting practices in need of closer scrutiny as “built of exaggerated and unsubstantiated, even false claims” from fiscal review committee members Mark Bainbridge of Upper Arlington and  Denise Verdi of Timberlake and audit committee member Laura Rosenberger of Springfield in series of emails exchanged with GOP management since May. Johnson did not identify with specificity which allegations of poor accounting practices made in a series of emails sent by Bainbridge, Verdi, and Rosenberger to ORP Chairman Bob Paduchik in May and June that were “exaggerated and unsubstantiated and even false claims.” In an article published on Thursday titled, “Ohio GOP Central Committee Members Challenge Chairman Paduchik on $638k Write-Off in 2021 and $1.7 Million Deduction to Equity in 2017,” The Ohio Star reported: The Ohio Star has obtained internal emails exchanged between three of the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee 66…

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