Rokita, Messer deny wrongdoing in possible straw donor scheme

Three Indiana members of Congress gave and received money from Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci in what experts said may have been an improper straw donor scheme — including two Indiana congressmen running for the U.S. Senate.

The Senate candidates, Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer, denied any wrongdoing. Rep. Jackie Walorski's campaign did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails seeking comment.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Messer and Walorski received contributions from Renacci's congressional campaign between April and June last year. Although he was not named in that story, Rokita also received campaign contributions from Renacci.

Within two months of receiving a donation, all three then contributed money to Renacci's gubernatorial campaign. In Messer's case, the contribution occurred just one day after his campaign received a donation from Renacci.

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Under Ohio's campaign finance laws, Renacci was prohibited from transferring more than $12,707 from his federal campaign to his gubernatorial account once he announced he was dropping out of the congressional race to run for governor in March 2017.

But over the next few months, Renacci's congressional campaign gave out $56,000 to 12 House Republicans — eight of which donated a collective $26,700 back to Renacci's state campaign for governor, often within weeks or even days of receiving the contribution from Renacci's federal campaign.

Brendan Fischer, an election and ethics expert at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, told the Enquirer that the flow of money from Renacci's federal account and into his state account could be a violation of Ohio's straw donor ban.

“What this sounds like is a straw donor scenario, where Renacci is using funds from his federal campaign account to unlawfully support his state gubernatorial run and doing it through his fellow elected officials,” Fischer said.

Some of those transactions involved Indiana Republicans:

Renacci's congressional campaign gave Messer's campaign $4,000, and his leadership PAC an additional $2,000 on June 27. The very next day, Messer donated $2,000 to Renacci's gubernatorial campaign, according to Ohio campaign finance data.

Renacci's congressional campaign gave "Hoosiers for Rokita" $4,000 and $2,700 to his leadership PAC on May 9. Rokita's leadership PAC then gave $2,000 to Renacci's gubernatorial campaign on June 28.

Renacci's congressional campaign gave Walorski's campaign $4,000 on April 27, 2017. Her campaign then gave $4,000 to Renacci's gubernatorial campaign on June 13., according to Ohio campaign finance data.

Messer's campaign said there was no agreement between the two campaigns for Messer to donate to Renacci's gubernatorial campaign in an exchange for a donation to his own.

"Luke believes Jim Renacci is a great, conservative member of Congress, and he has been happy to support Jim over the years," Messer's campaign manager Chasen Bullock said.

Messer has participated in fundraisers with Renacci in the past, but there is no record of him donating to any of Renacci's campaigns prior to June 2017.

Rokita donated to Renacci's congressional campaign once in 2011 when Renacci ran unopposed in the Republican primary and three times in 2012 after he had secured the GOP nomination.

Nathan Brand, a spokesman for Rokita's campaign, said there was no agreement for Renacci to donate to Rokita's campaign in exchange for Rokita's donation to Renacci's gubernatorial campaign.

"Todd Rokita is happy to support a conservative friend like Jim Renacci because he is a conservative fighter who is challenging the liberal elites," Brand said. "Meanwhile, Joe Donnelly's extreme allies in Hollywood and Washington continue to bankroll his Senate campaign, because they know he will continue to be a friend to the radical interests of the looney left."

At the time of the donations, Renacci was engaged in a heated primary contest for governor against several other prominent Ohio Republicans. The race for campaign cash was an important factor in establishing viability.

Renacci later dropped out of that race to run for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat in January.

While Rokita and Messer have supported Renacci's congressional campaigns in the past, their decision to support his gubernatorial primary bid was an unusual one.

Neither they nor Walorski, for example, have donated to the state campaigns of several other Republican members of Congress who, like Renacci, were competing in primary contests for governor.

An IndyStar review of campaign finance records found no contributions from Rokita, Messer or Walorski to the state campaigns of Rep. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee or Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho — all of whom are running for governor in their home states.

"That’s another piece of evidence that you could argue is kind of damming," said Andy Downs, a political scientist at the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. "If this is really about supporting your friends in contested primaries … or supporting a conservative candidate, why didn’t you also give to X,Y and Z?"

Rokita, for example, has strong ties to both Black and DeSantis.

He is vice chairman of the House Budget Committee, which Black leads, and he has teamed up with DeSantis on several issues, including a bill to stop the use of taxpayer funds to settle sexual harassment claims against lawmakers and as part of a group of representatives who penned a letter demanding former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton be prosecuted.

James Slepian, a spokesperson for Renacci's campaign, called the accusations that it looked like a straw donor scheme a "conspiracy theory," and said Renacci donated to support his fellow House Republicans, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

He also emphasized that those contributions to Renaci's campaign equaled only about a quarter of what Renacci's campaign donated to other campaigns and Republican committees.

Renacci's campaign did not return a phone call from the IndyStar.

Downs said straw donor cases can be difficult to prove "because you're trying to get at intent."

"I can certainly understand why people think it is (a straw donor scheme)," he said. "But at this point we don’t have enough data to say yes it is or no it isn’t."

In 2014 Renacci's campaign found itself in the middle of a court case involving another alleged straw donor scheme in Ohio.

Federal prosecutors accused an Ohio direct marketing firm and its owner of skirting federal campaign contribution limits by funneling about $200,000 through the company's employees and their spouses in 2011 to the campaigns of Renacci and Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who was running for Senate.

The company's owner, Ben Suarez, was found not guilty of violating campaign finance charges, but was sentenced to 15 months in prison for witness tampering in the case.

Neither Renacci nor Mandel were accused of wrongdoing in the case.

Messer and Rokita, along with former state Rep. Mike Braun, are currently engaged in a three-way contest for Indiana's Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, which has been called the nastiest in the nation.

The winner of the May 8 primary will get a shot at incumbent Joe Donnelly, who is widely considered one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats. The race will help determine which party controls the Senate after the November election.

Meet the Senate candidates

Todd Rokita: Rokita is battling 'the elites,' including fellow Republicans who used to support him

Mike Braun: A Republican Senate candidate bringing casual attire but serious business credentials

Luke Messer: A GOP establishment favorite says childhood lessons taught him perseverance

Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at (317) 432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.

Call IndyStar reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.