Did Debbie Lieberman commit a crime?

From the agenda of the Montgomery County Commission meeting of 17 Dec 2024:

24-1957 Auth. a Lease Option Renewal with Randolph Investments, LLC, on behalf of the Clerk of Courts Auto Title Division, for the leasing of 1,000 sq. ft. of office space located in the Randolph Plaza Shopping Center, at an annual rate of $9,500 through December 31, 2025.

24-1958 Auth. a Letter of Understanding with the Clerk of Courts for the leasing of 230 sq. ft. of office space at the Westown Employment Opportunity Center, at an annual rate of $1,766.40 through December 31, 2025, with options to renew.

Outgoing County Commissioner Ms. Debbie Lieberman voted for these two expenditures by the county to her future employer, Mike Foley Clerk of Courts (who is currently under investigation for multiple ethics violations) ^[1].

According to ORC Section 102.03 | Representation by present or former public official or employee prohibited. ^[2]

(A)(1) No present or former public official or employee shall, during public employment or service or for twelve months thereafter, represent a client or act in a representative capacity for any person on any matter in which the public official or employee personally participated as a public official or employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or other substantial exercise of administrative discretion.

And then section 5-6:

(5) As used in divisions (A)(1), (2), and (3) of this section, “matter” includes any case, proceeding, application, determination, issue, or question, but does not include the proposal, consideration, or enactment of statutes, rules, ordinances, resolutions, or charter or constitutional amendments. As used in division (A)(4) of this section, “matter” includes the proposal, consideration, or enactment of statutes, resolutions, or constitutional amendments. As used in division (A) of this section, “represent” includes any formal or informal appearance before, or any written or oral communication with, any public agency on behalf of any person.

(6) Nothing contained in division (A) of this section shall prohibit, during such period, a former public official or employee from being retained or employed to represent, assist, or act in a representative capacity for the public agency by which the public official or employee was employed or on which the public official or employee served.

and second half of section 8:

However, no public official or employee of a state agency shall, during public employment or for twelve months thereafter, represent or act in a representative capacity for the official’s or employee’s new state agency on any audit or investigation pertaining to the official’s or employee’s new state agency in which the public official or employee personally participated at the official’s or employee’s former state agency through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or other substantial exercise of administrative discretion.

Section 10:

(D) No public official or employee shall use or authorize the use of the authority or influence of office or employment to secure anything of value or the promise or offer of anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person’s duties.

(E) No public official or employee shall solicit or accept anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person’s duties.

(F) No person shall promise or give to a public official or employee anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person’s duties….

Except as provided in division (H)(2) of this section, this division and divisions (D), (E), and (F) of this section do not prohibit a public official or employee who is not required to file a financial disclosure statement under section 102.02 ^[3] of the Revised Code from accepting and do not prohibit a person from promising or giving to that public official or employee an honorarium or the payment of travel, meal, and lodging expenses if the honorarium, expenses, or both were paid in recognition of demonstrable business, professional, or esthetic interests of the public official or employee that exist apart from public office or employment, including, but not limited to, such a demonstrable interest in public speaking and were not paid by any person or other entity, or by any representative or association of those persons or entities, that is regulated by, doing business with, or seeking to do business with the department, division, institution, board, commission, authority, bureau, or other instrumentality of the governmental entity with which the public official or employee serves….

(J) For purposes of divisions (D), (E), and (F) of this section, the membership of a public official or employee in an organization shall not be considered, in and of itself, to be of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence on the public official or employee with respect to that person’s duties. As used in this division, “organization” means a church or a religious, benevolent, fraternal, or professional organization that is tax exempt under subsection 501(a) and described in subsection 501(c)(3), (4), (8), (10), or (19) of the “Internal Revenue Code of 1986.” This division does not apply to a public official or employee who is an employee of an organization, serves as a trustee, director, or officer of an organization, or otherwise holds a fiduciary relationship with an organization. This division does not allow a public official or employee who is a member of an organization to participate, formally or informally, in deliberations, discussions, or voting on a matter or to use the public official’s or employee’s official position with regard to the interests of the organization on the matter if the public official or employee has assumed a particular responsibility in the organization with respect to the matter or if the matter would affect that person’s personal, pecuniary interests.

Unfortunately, laws aren’t written by skilled writers, they are written by lawyers and legislators, so interpreting this verbal barrage of diarrhea is almost impossible. But it would seem that the state legislature didn’t want people in office to work for people they had oversight and financial responsibilities over.

Since I’m not a lawyer or a judge, or someone who works for the Ohio Ethics Commission, I asked ChatGPT to interpret the law- and pull out the relevant points, and confirm my suspicions. It chose the same sections to highlight as I did and gave me this response:

This section of the Ohio Revised Code outlines ethics rules and restrictions for public officials and employees, with particular focus on conflicts of interest, improper influence, and post-employment activities. Here’s a summary of how it could apply to the scenario you described:

1. Potential Application to the Scenario

• Section (A)(1) prohibits former public officials from acting in a representative capacity for any matter they personally participated in for 12 months after leaving public office. If the outgoing commissioner allocated funds and then was hired into a role influenced by that decision, it could be seen as a violation of this section, especially if the position or funding was connected to her previous official actions.
• Section (D) prohibits public officials from using their position to secure something of value that creates a substantial and improper influence. If the commissioner’s vote directly led to her own employment, this might be construed as using her office to gain personal benefit improperly.
• Section (E) prohibits soliciting or accepting anything of value that might improperly influence duties. Employment in a “made-up job” after allocating funds could be interpreted as improperly influenced.

2. Purpose of the Law

This legislation is designed to prevent public officials from:

• Using their positions for personal gain.
• Creating arrangements that might undermine public trust or create conflicts of interest.
• Representing or benefiting from decisions they influenced while in office.

The hiring of a former commissioner for a position influenced by their final official actions seems like exactly the type of conflict the law aims to prevent.

3. Penalties

The legislation does not explicitly outline penalties within this section, but violations of ethics laws often involve:

• Administrative penalties, such as fines.
• Criminal penalties, depending on the severity, under related statutes (e.g., bribery, misuse of office).
• Revocation of improperly obtained benefits (e.g., termination of employment).
• Referral to the Ohio Ethics Commission for investigation and enforcement.

4. Next Steps

• Consult the Ohio Ethics Commission: The Commission enforces these laws and provides advisory opinions.
• Investigate Further: Gather evidence about the commissioner’s involvement in the funding decision and the nature of her new role.
• Review Related Laws: Other laws in the Ohio Revised Code (e.g., Chapter 2921 on corruption) might also apply.

In summary, based on this legislation, the outgoing commissioner’s actions might constitute a violation if her vote directly led to personal employment benefits. The situation warrants further investigation and likely consultation with the Ohio Ethics Commission.

I have zero faith in the Ohio Ethics Commission from my previous attempts to get them to act upon my discovery that revealed that Dr. Adil Baguirov broke multiple state and federal laws pertaining to residency, voter registration and financial disclosures ^[4] when he was on the Dayton School Board. The Ethics commission also totally ignored when Lieberman and her former assistant/current campaign manager, John Theobald, steered public health no-bid contracts to “The Wilderness Agency” run by Richard Kaiser and… cofounded (later admission) John Theobald. Read about that here- and how I was threatend with a lawsuit by Lieberman’s husband, former Montgomery County Democratic Party Chair, Dennis Lieberman ^[5].

However, by posting this, and then forwarding it to them for review, we may get some attention.

Here’s the agenda of her final meeting:

And here is the description of Ms. Lieberman’s new position which Foley announced on the Clerk of Courts Facebook page on Dec 19,2024, 2 days after she voted to appropriate funds to his office. Lieberman is supposed to be the Clerk of Courts “director of community development” whatever that means. Considering the clerk also has a full-time former TV journalist as his “Director of Communications” ^[6]you’ve got to wonder what’s next? The Clerk of Courts Public Arts Director. If you are interested in what the Clerk of Courts is legally allowed to do (which includes none of this insanity) you can review ORC 1907.20 ^[7]

Considering this video had to be produced before it’s launch date of 18 Dec 2024, she had to know when she voted to hand the money over to her future boss.

Now, we can wait to see if anyone cares.

“Clerk’s Corruption” a song by David Esrati (you can now share just the song)