LEGAL COMPLAINT TARGETS TAFTS

Group Alleges Improper Campaign To Fight Drug-Treatment Plan

COLUMBUS - Hope Taft has maintained a traditional profile as Ohio's First
Lady, working on Habitat for Humanity projects and even selling potpourri
dubbed "Scent of Hope" to help maintain the governor's residence.

But a complaint filed yesterday with the state's Inspector General charges
that something else smelled in the First Lady's office.

A group called the Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies accused Mrs. Taft,
Gov. Bob Taft, and two high-ranking officials of plotting on state time
over the last year to defeat a ballot issue requiring treatment for
nonviolent first and second-time drug users instead of jail time.

"It went far beyond trying to understand the issue and making policy on
it," said Ed Orlett, a former Democratic state legislator who is the
group's manager. "They've campaigned against this ballot issue since March."

The Campaign for New Drug Policies, based in Santa Monica, Calif., is
trying to collect enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on
the Nov. 5 ballot.

Mr. Orlett's complaint filed with the state's judicial watchdog includes
226 documents that his group received from a request for public records.

In addition to Mr. Taft and the First Lady, the complaint alleges that
Luceille Fleming, director of the state Department of Alcohol and Drug
Addiction Services, and Domingo Herraiz, director of the Office of Criminal
Justice Services, violated state law and a section of the Ohio Constitution.

They are accused of working on politics during state time and attempting to
"subvert the lawful processes of government" by plotting against the
proposed ballot issue.

Mrs. Taft, who has battled against drug and alcohol abuse since
then-Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken enlisted her in 1986, was not available
for comment, said Joe Andrews, the governor's deputy press secretary.

But Mary Anne Sharkey, Mr. Taft's press secretary, said the meetings and
memos about the proposed ballot issue involve no wrongdoing by the Tafts.

"It's proper for him to defend his administration's policies and for his
people to defend the governor's policies. There is not a ballot issue as of
now. The governor has said when and if it gets certified for the ballot, he
will have a campaign, help raise money, and do whatever," Ms. Sharkey said.

Although Mrs. Taft is not a state employee, she has an office and staff
funded by taxpayer dollars.

In a May 30, 2001, memo to her husband and his chief of staff, Mrs. Taft
wrote that during a trip to Washington, she obtained a copy of a strategy
against the proposed ballot issue that advised: "We need to co-opt the
initiative proponents. If we can retain the allegiance of drug abuse
work/practitioners (especially treatment providers), we have an excellent
chance of turning the tables on initiative proponents, and be seen as the
real reformers."

After Mr. Orlett's group filed a public record request, Mrs. Taft moved
most of her weekly meetings on the proposed ballot issue from a state
office tower during working hours to the governor's residence in the
morning or afternoon, Mr. Orlett said.

Minutes of a Nov. 7 meeting distributed to Mrs. Taft refer to a public
relations staffer in the governor's office saying: "We need to find out
from [the governor's legal counsel] Bill Klatt what we can and can't do."
An aide, Jen Carlson, is quoted as replying: "I think Bill said it's OK -
that as long as we're talking about policy it's not a campaign."