Who $upported William Batchelder's Campaign?

Medina Gazette Staff Writer, Hannah Schaefer’s article about William Batchelder III was right on the money. When questioned about donations to the GOP from Robert Meyerson, Batchelder said he was not influenced by any political donations from Meyerson.  Which could be, I suppose, a likely explanation and dismissal of an untrue charge.  But the amounts of money in the article surprised me and piqued my interest.  So, after reading Schaefer’s article, I searched the Ohio Secretary of State’s database to see just who has been contributing to the 69th District Representative’s coffers, and I was astonished to see how generous big business has been to Rep. Batchelder.

I found a remarkable list including oil companies like Ashland and BP America, pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly and Pfizer, insurance companies like Allstate and Nationwide and banks like Charter One and National City.  In addition to this litany of corporate giants, I found tobacco companies like Altria and R.J. Reynolds, Alcohol Distribution PACs like The Beer & Wine PAC and The Wholesale Beer & Wine Association of Ohio PAC and the Arthur Anderson Company.  I found that our local utility companies chipped in too -- Alltel, Verizon, AT&T and Ohio Edison to name just a few.  Each of these organizations invested their money in the political career of Republican William Batchelder III.

In 2005 and 2006 alone, William Batchelder collected $162,084.30 in contributions from PACs and individuals who would like him to represent their interests when he legislates in Columbus – toiling at a job that will pay him directly just over $50,000 per year.

Perhaps Batchelder will continue to prickly resist the temptation to serve this list of investors like he said he did with Robert Meyerson, the former CEO of Tel-xon Corp.  When questioned about Republican party contributions, Batchelder said he was not influenced by any political donations from Meyerson, and pointed out that the Ohio Supreme Court upheld his questioned Judicial decision twice.   

However, it is interesting to note that in his role as a State Representative, the Ohio Supreme Court (7-0 Republican) won’t be judging whom Batchelder represents when he participates in the 127th General Assembly.  The voters of the 69th district will judge.