Ohioans who hope to take a closer look at JobsOhio in the wake of news that Intel has moved the goalposts yet again may find it difficult to do so. After all, the agency is a “private” economic development corporation — one of a growing number of such efforts in the Buckeye State and across the country to keep more of government’s handling of taxpayer dollars in the shadows.

Technically, yes, JobsOhio is a private corporation — set up by the state legislature, capable of receiving government contracts, and spending money that at one time went to the state treasury. (It was given the contract to run state liquor sales, and then is “funded solely from the profits on sales of spirituous liquor in Ohio.”)

But it does its work, it claims, on behalf of Ohioans; is supposed to be a nonprofit; operates on what used to be public money; and was allowed to make the only bid for that state liquor contract.

What do Ohioans have to show for it? Slower job growth than the national average, big companies pushing back their timelines to fulfill their promises, and, as the Ohio Capital Journal reported recently, no “hard evidence that it’s not paying businesses to do what they would have anyway.”

Residents are justified in wanting to know what exactly JobsOhio is doing, given that, were it not for a little legal/political sleight of hand, it would be a public agency. Despite its claims of “complete public reporting” and having the “highest standards of accountability and transparency,” reporters — including those from the Capital Journal — have had a difficult time getting any real information.

When the news outlet asked for a listing of compensation at JobsOhio, it was told it had to file an open-records request — with the Ohio Department of Development …which in turn had to use taxpayer dollars to create a document with the information and answer the request.

According to the Capital Journal, what it eventually received was a non-searchable PDF listing the salaries for 159 positions, without employee names listed or meaningful job titles given. What the news outlet was eventually able to glean was that in 2023, the total amount spent on salaries at JobsOhio was approximately $21.2 million. Median compensation at the agency is $113,145 (and, yes, that includes the interns making $10,000 a year and a CEO making $709,000). Twenty-four JobsOhio employees are making more than $200,000 a year; nine of those are making more than $300,000. The average per capita income in Ohio in 2023 was $39,455.

And given that these folks have been so opaque about the deals they have made with employers, and what — if any — successes they’ve achieved, all we can go by are headlines like what we’ve been reading on Intel.

It’s not a good look.

Surely they know that. They must. It begs the question, then, if JobsOhio is earning its keep and fulfilling its responsibility to Ohioans, what does the agency have to hide?