COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State investigators found no evidence of Ohio lobbying law violations by a Wright State University consultant whose firm was paid nearly $1 million in 2014 to secure state and federal funding for the school.
Attorney General Mike DeWine said Friday that the investigation focused on whether Ron Wine of Ron Wine Consulting Group should have registered as a lobbyist.
State law requires individuals paid to advocate clients' interests before state officials to register as lobbyists if they spend more than 5 percent of their time lobbying the General Assembly or 25 percent of their time lobbying the executive branch. There also are more payment restrictions applying to registered lobbyists.
DeWine's statement says investigators found the portion of Wine's work constituting advocacy of either kind was less than 1 percent.
