Ohio’s top law enforcement official wants to delay extending a deal to lease state liquor profits to JobsOhio, which he dubbed “a deal that requires nothing in return from the private corporation.”
Last week, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who is running for governor in 2026, sent JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef a letter questioning a 15-year extension of JobsOhio’s lease.
The state is considering adding 15 years to JobsOhio’s 25-year state liquor profits lease. Under the original deal, JobsOhio made an approximately $1.4 billion upfront payment.
Yost questioned why the extension does not require a similar payment.
“I have grave concerns that this is not a good deal for Ohioans,” Yost wrote in the letter. “Fifteen years is a long time, and the people of Ohio deserve proper consideration and a full explanation.”
“It appears to me JobsOhio is required to pay nothing for a 15-year extension of this limited, one-time franchise,” Yost added. “How is it in the best interest of the people of Ohio to extend such a valuable franchise under these circumstances?”
Yost said his office was set to meet with JobsOhio officials on Friday to learn more about the proposed agreement. However, Yost said JobsOhio canceled the meeting and cannot reschedule it before the Controlling Board considers the extension on Wednesday.
“I am requesting that you delay the adoption of this measure until we have had an opportunity to more fully discuss the matter and its implications for Ohioans,” Yost wrote in the letter. “The statute authorizing this extension requires the approval of JobsOhio to proceed, so it is within your ability to delay this matter in the interest of public trust and transparency.”
In a separate letter to the Office of Budget and Management Director Kim Murnieks, Yost asks the Controlling Board to hold off on considering the extension during Wednesday’s meeting.
A new Ohio.news analysis found that while JobsOhio has created tens of thousands of jobs, they have come at a high cost.
Between 2015 and 2023, JobsOhio reported creating 170,941 jobs. With a net operating income of $12.7 billion during that time, or more than $1.4 billion per year for those nine years, each job cost an average of $74,281.
During that timeframe, the cost per job varied from $43,128.25 in 2015 to $235,584.42 in 2021 to $126,477.55 in 2023. While JobsOhio is “the state’s unique private economic development corporation,” the agency is not the sole creator of jobs in the state.
According to numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Buckeye State only added 173,400 jobs between 2015 and 2023.
In 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be an anomaly. BLS numbers indicate the state lost 295,700 jobs, while JobsOhio claimed to add 19,021 jobs.
Removing the 2020 numbers from the equation reveals that JobsOhio added only 151,920 at $73,171.38 per job, while BLS numbers show that the state added 469,100 jobs.
The latest kerfuffle involving Yost as JobsOhio is hardly the first bit of controversy for the agency. In December, an annual review found “a handful of instances where the nonprofit failed to submit paperwork for things like conflicts of interest, missed performance metrics and financial disclosures,” WFMJ-TV reported.
Former Republican Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci took it a step further, suggesting JobsOhio see a similar fate as the United States Agency for International Development, which President Donald Trump is working to shutter.
“Just like USAID on the federal side, JOBSOHIO in our state needs [to be] dismantled as well,” Renacci said in a post to X. “Your tax money has funded private directors and pay-to-play projects and is unaccountable to anyone. It’s a scheme. Shut it down!!”
