Ohio Democrat(ic candidate Dann) sues over workers' comp audit

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/1162839242264040.xml&storylist=cleveland

11/6/2006, 1:48 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State Sen. Marc Dann, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, sued on Monday to force the embattled state fund for injured workers to release more information on why rates were inexplicably lowered for 27 Ohio employers.

A draft audit released last week by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation did not include the names of companies that received the lower rates or how much they saved. The review followed accusations that some lawmakers intervened on behalf of constituents who complained of high premiums and got the rates reduced.

"We need to know who was involved in this practice, how widespread it was, and how much it cost employers who didn't have the political connections it apparently took to receive a rate cut," said Dann, who wants the bureau to release all public records related to the audit.

In 75 percent of the 153 largest rate-change cases, the draft audit found that agency rules were either violated or it was impossible to know because no written explanation was kept. The audit covered January 2003 through September 2005...

[Trillo]

1. If the law doesn't apply to all of us equally,

then legislators and bureaucrats make a mockery of the law.