COLUMBUS – Columbus City Council President and mayoral candidate Andrew Ginther went before reporters at City Hall Monday to defend both himself and the city amid pay-to-play allegations surrounding a red light camera company
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“I have never asked for anything in return for my public service,” he said.
Ginther described news reports about his involvement in the Redflex bribery case as “gross misrepresentation” and “flat-out wrong.”
A former chief executive officer of the company pleaded guilty to bribing Columbus elected officials through the Ohio Democratic Party to install the cameras and keep them operating in the city.
Records from the U.S. District Court in Columbus show that from 2005 to 2013, Karen Finley, made campaign contributions to elected public officials in Columbus and Cincinnati. The cameras were installed in Columbus in 2006 but were turned off in March after state law limited their use.
Finley, 55, of Cave Creek, Ariz. has pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.
Ginther, a Democrat, says has never met Finley and has no say in whom the state Democratic Party supports.
Ginther said he is not part of the Redflex investigation other than to assist with documents and that the Ginther committee received more than $30,000 from the state party in 2011.
“The initial stories linking me to these acts were flat-out wrong. This is not about me. It never has been about me and never will be about me,” he said in a statement that was also posted on his Facebook page. “As the truth unfolds, it will be very clear that I was not the focus of this investigation, period. I am not a target, subject or person of interest.”
Court records provided to The Dispatch do not name Ginther or other elected officials, but several sources, along with campaign finance reports, said that Ginther’s campaign solicited a $20,000 contribution from Redflex dubbed a “success fee” by a lobbyist in late 2011 and that the campaign eventually received a similar amount from the state party.
Ginther has asked Columbus City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer to investigate all current red light camera contracts and the head of the city’s Public Safety Department says, at the direction of Mayor Michael Coleman, his agency will cooperate with the “examination of the procurement, contract, and legislative process associated with the City of Columbus photo red light program” director George Speaks said.
“I am confident that the Department of Public Safety has complied with all laws and city policies. We will continue to cooperate with any and all investigations and examinations,” he said.