Huffington Post – Days after being accused of hiring young, inexperienced staffers for key positions in the state Treasury, new evidence shows that Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, the Republican nominee for the state Senate race, dispatched a top aide to a beginner’s course in the subject he was overseeing.

A roster of attendees for a seminar on the fundamentals of municipal bond law, held at the April 2011 National Association of Bond Lawyers, shows that Joe Aquilino — Mandel’s debt management director at the time — attended the conference. The seminar is tailored for those new to the subject.

According to the brochure for the NABL seminar, its purpose was to help people “learn the building blocks of municipal finance and gain or strengthen basic knowledge of state, tax and securities law issues in municipal finance.”

Aquilino, 26, had been the political director for Mandel’s 2010 campaign for treasurer before being tapped to oversee Ohio’s debt management, including issuing new bonds and working with the state’s investment underwriters. Aquilino has since left that position to serve as political director for Mandel’s Senate race against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

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