Robocall mystery solved

The mystery over who paid for controversial automated telephone calls has been solved -- sort of.

David Langdon, a Sharonville attorney who admitted he "facilitated" the robocalls but refused to say who paid for them, has confessed.

No one paid for them.

But, as of today, the anti-tax group Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes -- or COAST -- will pay, Langdon said.

Langdon told the Enquirer in a Monday interview, when asked who paid for the calls and how much they cost "None of your business, none of your business, none of your business." At the time, Langdon said, he was willing to pay for the calls himself if he couldn't get someone else to.

The automated calls featured Prosecutor Joe Deters encouraging residents to attend a public hearing for "Phil Heimlich's jail plan."

Republican Commissioner Phil Heimlich is joining with Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. and financier Carl Lindner Jr. to propose placing before voters a quarter-cent sales tax increase in Hamilton County for 20 years to pay for a new 1,800-bed, $225 million jail and property tax rollback.

Because the calls specifically mentioned Heimlich, critics have charged the calls were an attempt to boost Heimlich's campaign for re-election to commissioner where he faces David Pepper, a Democrat.

"We're not hiding anything from anybody," Langdon said today.

But Langdon wouldn't name:

* The company -- or its location -- he hired to make the calls;
"It was all done by e-mail," Langdon said.

* The number of calls made.
"I absolutely have no clue," Langdon said.

* The calls cost.
"I don't know off the top of my head," Langdon said.
Langdon refused to review the contract to recall the cost.

When asked how much COAST agreed to pay for the calls, Langdon said as COAST's lawyer, he couldn't answer that. But when reminded he said COAST hadn't agreed to pay the cost until today, Langdon still refused to say how much COAST agreed to pay.

COAST founder Tom Brinkman, also a Republican Ohio lawmaker, said he knew nothing about it -- but others in COAST may because COAST members can act independently on behalf of the anti-tax group.

"I know that's hard for people to fathom. That's called trust," Brinkman said.

Chris Finney, another COAST board member, didn't immediately return telephone calls today.

The way to find out what the calls cost, Brinkman said, was to "wail till (COAST) files its campaign finance report."

COAST is a registered Political Action Committee and required under Ohio law to file reports on money it raises or spends on ballot issues or campaigns. That comment was almost exactly what Heimlich said earlier today when asked again about the calls.

"We will strictly comply with all (Ohio) campaign finance requirements," Heimlich said.

"You know, it's downright silly," Hamilton County Democratic Party chairman Tim Burke said of the secrecy over the calls.

"Why (is COAST) afraid to be clear with the public on who paid for what. They want to maintain secrecy."