Report: FBI Probes Two Republicans in Heated Ohio Races

By Shane Goldmacher  //  May 21, 2012 | 10:58 a.m.

Updated at 1:08 p.m.

Ohio is a critical state this year. Not only is it a perennial battleground for the presidency, but Republicans are hoping that GOP state Treasurer Josh Mandel can swipe a Senate seat from Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown and that the party can win a marquee House matchup that features two incumbents lumped together by redistricting: Reps. Jim Renacci, a Republican, and Betty Sutton, a Democrat.

But in a lengthy piece about the state of the battleground state, The New Republic reported on a development that could complicate matters for the GOP: an FBI investigation into donations to the two Republicans, Renacci and Mandel. TNR said FBI agents have been questioning employees for the Suarez Corporation, which is run by a big Republican donor, about their contributions. Last year, the Toledo Blade reported that 17 employees for the company had contributed to either Mandel or Renacci (or both), 16 of whom had given the legal maximum of $5,000.

The New Republic's Alec MacGillis set out to speak with some of those employees.

I visited the home of Michael Blubaugh, a copywriter at Suarez who had given $5,000 each to Renacci and Mandel last year-and whose wife, Donna, had done the same. They live in a modest subdivision, in a home valued by Zillow at about $142,000. When Donna came to the door, she said she had already been asked about the donations by the FBI. The inquiry had caught her by surprise, she said, "because I didn't know about the rules, so I was like, 'What?'" But she said the $20,000 had been given of her and her husband's free wills. "Our house may not look it, because we're saving for retirement, but my husband makes good money as a copywriter," she said. But why give so much to the candidates? "My husband made the decision, not me," she said.

Another donor, Charles Stewart, suggested there had been an investigation, as well. And Renacci's chief of staff, , told TNR that investigators had asked for records from their treasurer.

In an interview, James Slepian, Renacci's top aide, said they last heard from federal authorities four or five months ago and that "neither campaign is the subject of any kind of investigation," but that investigators instead appeared to be looking into whether donors were improperly reimbursed. "To date we have been given no information by anyone that anything unusual or improper took place," Slepian said. But "if at any point that donations made to our campaign were made improperly, every dollar will be returned immediately." "The campaign is aware of the investigation and is fully cooperating," said Travis Considine, communications director for Mandel's campaign. "Neither the campaign nor anyone associated with it is a target of the investigation." Michael Puterbaugh, corporate counsel for Suarez Corporation, declined to speak about the matter. "We have a corporate policy that we don't respond any claims or allegations that haven't been publicly filed," he said. An FBI probe would be bad news for the GOP. Republican groups have spent millions to batter Brown on the airwaves, hoping Mandel can compete in the in the battleground state. And the Renacci-Sutton race is expected to be close, as well, with the two incumbents holding a combined $2 million in campaign cash at the end of March.

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