Josh Mandel, the Republican Ohio treasurer looking to move up to the Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, appears to have skipped meetings of the state Board of Deposit for mysterious reasons.
Mandel, who officially chairs the board, has not attended even one of its 14 monthly meetings since he was elected treasurer. His schedules for those days, provided to The Huffington Post, do not clarify what was more pressing for the young treasurer than attending sessions of a body that oversees billions in state funds.
According to the records, Mandel had nothing on his schedule on five different occasions when the board met. On two other occasions, Mandel blocked out time for the meeting, but a Democratic source said that the board's minutes show Mandel did not attend. On four other days, Mandel's schedule says he met with staffers at the time of the board meeting, but the staffers actually were at the meetings, not with Mandel, according to the minutes.
One time Mandel did a radio interview instead of attending the board meeting, and last month he went to a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., instead of presiding over the meeting. This past Thursday, he did not attend for unknown reasons, but traveled to another part of the state later in the day to meet with business leaders, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Treasurer spokesman Seth Unger has said repeatedly that Mandel "directs and empowers his staff of financial professionals who represent him on the Board of Deposit, and has full confidence in his Chief Financial Officer who serves as his designee."
Past Ohio state treasurers have skipped many meetings as well, but not all of them.
Unger did not immediately answer a request for comment on the apparent gaps in his boss's schedule.