Report: Unions favored in Ohio school construction

By JULIE CARR SMYTH

COLUMBUS, Ohio

An official who oversees school building projects in Ohio abused his authority in handing out construction contracts, the state watchdog said in a Thursday report.

Ohio School Facilities Commission chief Richard Murray gave unions favored status and joined labor representatives in "arm-twisting sessions" with local school districts, according to the report by Inspector General Tom Charles.

The report also says Murray backed a union-friendly project-labor agreement worth $37 million that would result in payments to a union to which Murray still belongs and to his former union employer, Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, known as LECET. The work would take place at the Ohio Schools for the Deaf and Blind, which are under the direct control of Murray's commission.

Murray criticized the report's findings and defended his conduct as professional. He said only 12.7 percent of Ohio school districts are using project-labor agreements and about half of those were in place before he came on board in September 2009.

He also says he has no intention to give in to a call from the top Senate Republican to step down.

"If I intimidated, if I strong-armed, that would be one thing. But I reject those assertions," said Murray, who was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat.

The School Facilities Commission hands out more than $1 billion a year for school construction. It was created in 1997 to work with local school districts on school renovation and construction projects.

In its first decade, under Republican governors, commission rules didn't allow local districts to require union-scale prevailing wages or the union-friendly project-labor agreements on construction jobs.

That changed under the Strickland administration, but judgments were to be left up to the district, with the commission remaining neutral.

While characterizing some of Murray's lapses in judgment as "arguably minor," Charles' investigation says he ultimately violated that neutrality. The review found Murray continued to use his LECET-issued cell phone and e-mail address for commission work, attended social engagements with union organizations and not non-union ones, and at one point inquired of state ethics officials about staying on as a consultant for his old union employer.

"Rather than put unions on equal footing, we found that Murray provided them with undue access and accommodations," the report said.

The investigation separately found wrongdoing by Gary Coleman, a union official accused of shouting profanities and intimidating local school officials during a meeting that prompted one of the complaints against Murray. Coleman also was a trustee at Shawnee State University, but Strickland accepted his resignation in July. A message seeking comment was left at his home Thursday.

Murray was appointed after a previous Strickland pick, former state Sen. Michael Shoemaker, was forced out of the position. Investigators said Murray made key personnel and building-design decisions after coming on board, including firing the commission's top lawyer, at the behest of labor groups.

Ohio Senate President Bill Harris, a Republican, called on Murray to step down or for Strickland to fire him.

"Intimidation, contract steering and good old boy politics do not build school buildings and have no place in state government," he said in a statement. "I am concerned that the changes that have occurred ... under the direction of Richard Murray have tarnished the reputation of one of the state's most successful programs."

State Budget Director Pari Sabety, a Strickland appointee who chairs the commission, defended Murray and the administration's union-friendly policy changes.

"This administration is proud of its track record and strong support of workers receiving good wages and benefits that can support a family and our communities," she said in a statement.

Murray said many of the districts that have implemented project-labor agreements are in southern Ohio, where districts were worried a lack of the ground rules they provide could lead to Ohio construction jobs going to workers from Kentucky or West Virginia contractors.

The report has been forwarded to the Portsmouth City Solicitor for possible follow-up.