With pending legal challenges delaying the execution of the $1.5 billion lease of the state’s liquor franchise to JobsOhio, which is anticipated to generate approximately $100 million annually to fund the JobsOhio’s economic development efforts (see our January 10, 2013, blog post for more information), the entity has been functioning with money from the former Ohio Department of Development (now the Development Services Agency) in the amount of $1 million, as well as from private donations, such as the $2 million it received from American Electric Power (AEP), The Columbus Dispatch reports.
Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal that AEP’s donation went to the Ohio Business Development Coalition, which was renamed the JobsOhio Beverage System (JOBS) within days of JobsOhio’s opening in 2011. As a separate, nonprofit organization, the JobsOhio Beverage System is currently handling all of JobsOhio’s donations and will be used later to “house the leased liquor profits from the state once the lease is complete,” the article said.
The article also said that JobsOhio “would not disclose the identities” of its donors, but John Minor, JobsOhio’s chief investment officer, stated, “I don’t think we would seek private donations any longer” once the lease of the state’s liquor franchise was executed, “although he wouldn’t rule them out.”
