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Ohio Gov. John Kasich's office sent a letter that asked California Attorney General Kamala Harris to have her "Consumer Protection staff" examine the actions of a California district attorney who was investigating North Canton-based Suarez Corporation Industries.

(The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A lawyer for Ohio Gov. John Kasich asked California’s attorney general to “review the actions” of a California district attorney who was investigating North Canton-based Suarez Corporation Industries.

The company, whose owner has been charged with making illegal campaign contributions to Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and Wadsworth Republican Rep. Jim Renacci, was facing a consumer protection law investigation in California.



In an effort to derail the California investigation, which culminated in a lawsuit that seeks at least $5 million in fines and restitution from Suarez Corporation, company founder Benjamin Suarez sought aid from Renacci, Mandel, Kasich and numerous other Ohio officials.



Suarez, his company, and his company's chief financial officer have been charged with illegally reimbursing employees for roughly $200,000 in donations they made to Renacci's 2012 re-election campaign and Mandel's unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid.

Company officials deny any wrongdoing, and the public officials are not charged with crimes. Renacci and Mandel long ago returned the donations from Suarez employees.

After Suarez was indicted, Kasich announced that he would donate the $22,395 that the businessman gave his campaign in 2009 and 2010 to the National Alliance on Mental Illness Ohio.

Suarez sent a long list of Ohio Republican public officials a six-page letter that alleged "rogue D.A.s" in California were maliciously pursuing his company, and asked them to take specific actions "to prevent this California extortion racket from causing future damage to Ohio business, lost jobs in Ohio and lost revenue to the state of Ohio."

His requests for help met with varying degrees of success.

Mandel wrote letters to Renacci and California Treasurer Bill Lockyer on Suarez' behalf. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted sought more information about the matter from California Attorney General Kamala Harris. Renacci wrote a letter that asked Kasich to contact California Gov. Jerry Brown about Suarez's case.

On March 29, 2011, Kasich's chief counsel wrote a letter to Suarez that said California's consumer protection laws were a policy decision made by that state's residents and legislators and it would not be appropriate "for the Governor of Ohio to intervene in or attempt to influence an on-going investigation or regulatory proceeding initiated by a district attorney in another state.

Almost a month after that, D. Michael Grodhaus forwarded a complaint letter from Suarez to California Attorney General Harris, and asked that her "Consumer Protection staff review the actions of the Napa County District Attorney and his purported investigation of an Ohio-based company, Suarez Corporation Industries."

"SCI believes that it is being unjustly attacked by the Napa County District Attorney for unknown violations of some of California's consumer protection laws," said the April 25, 2011 letter that The Plain Dealer obtained Wednesday. It cited concerns the investigation might undermine Suarez's job creation efforts in Canton.

"Thus if your staff could review the actions of the Napa County District Attorney to determine whether anything improper has occurred or is occurring in this purported investigation of SCI and report back to me, I would very much appreciate it," said Grodhaus' letter.

Harris' June 16, 2011 reply assured Grodhaus the "state's prosecutors and their deputies adhere to high ethical standards," and said the state's consumer protection laws "have been in place for decades and have withstood multiple challenges in the courts."

"Accordingly, while I cannot comment on the specifics of any investigation, potential litigation, or claims made by Suarez Corporation Industries, the investigation undertaken by the District Attorneys appears to be well within the significant discretion vested in them by California law," said the letter, which The Plain Dealer obtained Thursday. "On that basis, I respectfully decline your request to curtain their exercise of that discretion."

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said his office "deemed the company's requests to be inappropriate, and frankly, a little weird," and consequently disregarded them.

He said the legal office had concerns when it learned of "alleged wrongdoing by an officer of the court in another jurisdiction and felt it would have been wrong not to raise a flag with the appropriate authorities."





Nichols said Grodhaus did not know Suarez gave money to Kasich's campaign. Campaign finance records show that Suarez's donations to Kasich occurred before his requests for help. Kasich's campaign did not get any money from Suarez afterward.

The letters written by Mandel and Renacci were sent about the same time they received campaign donations that prosecutors now claim were illegal.

Nichols said Suarez Corporation again contacted Kasich's office for help when the FBI and U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach began investigating the company's campaign donations. The company's human resources director, Julianne Dalayanis, sent Kasich a letter copied to numerous other public officials that claimed a "high crime" was in progress, and accused law enforcement officers of being in league with Democrats.

It asked Kasich to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Suarez's claims, and urged him to request that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia investigate abuses it alleged.

Kasich's constituent affairs director, Dave Ward, replied with a letter that said "the concerns you expressed have to do with an issue that is outside the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office."

"You have contacted the appropriate federal authorities with your concerns, and I encourage you to work with them to address this issue," said Ward's Feb. 26, 2013 letter to Dalayanis.