DAYTON — The Dayton Tea Party is suing the Ohio Municipal League and Ohio Township Association to compel the groups to release records about their finances, operations and lobbying efforts.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday with the Ohio Supreme Court, the Dayton Tea Party challenged the Municipal League’s and Township Association’s position that they are private organizations.
The lawsuit contends the two groups receive most or all of their funding from public officials across Ohio using taxpayer dollars, which makes them subject to open records laws. The organizations dispute this claim.
“The rule in Ohio is that if you are the functional equivalent of a public agency, you can be compelled to produce records, even if you are not, per se, public,” said Maurice Thompson, executive director of 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, a public interest law firm in Columbus that advocates Constitutional rights and limited government.
Thompson represents the Dayton Tea Party in the legal action.
Rob Scott, president and founder of the Dayton Tea Party, said his goal is to determine and expose how taxpayer dollars are being spent by these groups.
“We want to shine a light on local governments using taxpayer money to lobby for more taxpayer money,” Scott said.
The lawsuit grew out of public records requests Scott submitted to the groups on March 31 that he says they denied. Scott said the documents requested were in regard to the groups’ opposition of repealing of Ohio’s estate tax and support of increasing spending on local governments.
Thompson and Scott said the Municipal League and Township Association use public money to support and lobby for ideological causes, including higher taxes, more regulation and increased government spending.
Matt DeTemple, executive directive of the Township Association, said he could not comment on the case because he has not examined it, but his organization is private and exempted from public records laws.
The Township Association represents more than 5,200 members from 1,300 townships, and its goal is to promote township government through lobbying efforts and educational forums.
Susan Cave, executive director of the Municipal League, also declined to comment on the case because she has not seen it.
But she said her organization represents 750 of Ohio’s 900 cities and villages and offers members educational and training resources.
Cave also said her group lobbies on behalf of members.
Most of the group’s funding comes from membership fees.
The Municipal League and Township Association have 21 days after receipt of the lawsuit to file a response with the court, according to the Ohio Supreme Court.
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