A Miamisburg attorney will take the seat formerly held by her father, Robert Rettich III, who died in office in February.
Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday appointed K. Alyse Rettich to the Miamisburg Municipal Court bench.
She will assume office Dec. 5 and must run for election in 2023 to retain the post. Rettich, who lives in Miamisburg with her husband and son, earned her law degree from the University of Dayton. She also earned a master’s of business administration from UD and a bachelor’s degree from the Indiana Institute of Technology.
Source: Lawyer to succeed her late father on Miamisburg Municipal Court – Dayton Daily News [1]
It’s been a bit since her Pops died [2] and this appointment was made. Of course there is more to the story, as readers of this blog know. Alyse Rettich’s appointment had to be delayed because of the 6 years of practicing law requirement hadn’t been met, and, the R’s wanted to give her a chance to be an incumbent when running to hold the seat.
But, there’s another slight hickup: residency. Not hers, but her husbands. You see, she’s married to Aarron Newell, the Fiscal Officer of Miami Township. That’s an elected position that requires that the office holder reside in Miami Township (or Miamisburg). Which would be fine if they were still living at 45 Highpoint Dr Apt B Miamisburg 45342, but, they have been living since sometime in July of 2022 at 145 S. Plum St in Germantown which they bought from her father on Oct 28, 2021. This means that he’s been breaking the law for at least four months and she’s a party to it.
Assuming that he gets paid semi-monthly at the Township and his salary is $33297 (the Fiscal Officer salary for Townships with budgets greater than $10M), he has illegally received $11,099 in salary, plus any benefits that Miami Township pays for their elected officials.
Regular readers know from the story of Dr. Adil Baguirov living outside the Dayton Public School district was unenforced [3]. And how no one was willing to enforce the law until he changed his voter registration and I threatened to file a mandamus action for his removal, which got him to resign. The likelihood of anyone enforcing the law on Newell is slim and none- and slim’s out of town. Just another example of how if you are a politician or a lawyer or a judge in this town, you can commit criminal acts at will without fear of repercussion.
In an insulting press release pretending to be journalism the DDn article ends with the self-serving quote that could only come out of someone absolutely NOT qualified to be a judge-
“I’ve worked really hard … to absorb and learn and do as much as possible and to be as hands-on as possible and as open as possible, and I think that honestly, even though I might have just (enough) years in, I think my background and my experience across the board, not just legal experience, but I do have a good amount of trial and legal experience, but even in my other experiences, frankly I think do speak to the fact that I know how to do it and I am more than capable,” she said previously to the Dayton Daily News.
The only thing that’s remotely true is “I might have just (enough) years in” – to become a judge for life in our corrupt “Monarchy of Montgomery County” where elections for judges only happen once in a career.
It’s time for some folks to come clean.
The story keeps writing itself. Didn’t some Repug holding a position in Montgomery County actually live in Columbus. Turner Mikey-mandered the district to fit his home, and so on and so on in perpetuity until the good people of Ohio finally rise out of their slumber and do something to stop the corruption.
It is laughable a lawyer with so little experience has been appointed judge when so many other, actually qualified attorneys were available. Being a judge used to be a capstone to a brilliant legal career, wherein only lawyers who demonstrated exceptional understanding and ability were made judges. Now, an up-talking child with no actual ability will be judge there for 40 years. Sad!
Great story, David!! Her appointment has actually been in the works for several years. Someone in the Prosecutor’s office told me about the “plan” 4 or 5 years ago. Originally, what I was told, her dad was going to wait until she had the necessary years of experience and was going to step down due to health reasons and have the county party get her appointed. Unfortunately, he died before she had the experience and the party had to wait. A couple of things come to mind with this appointment – First, how much did Daddy donate to the party over the years to buy his daughter this seat? I don’t know how transparent the Montgomery County Republican Party’s books are, but it would be interesting to see how much money changed hands. Second – the timing of this is interesting. Technically, she met the minimum experience requirement back in May, but DeWine waited until now to appoint her… after he was re-elected to a second term. Was he afraid of any repercussions if he did it earlier? This situation with Rettich’s husband, Aaron Newell, is also well known locally in Germantown. People started talking about the judge’s daughter and her husband moving back to Germantown back in early spring of 2022. Of course, a lot of “regular citizens” didn’t realize that her husband held elected office, much less that he held elected office that required him to live in Miamisburg/Miami Township. But, local elected officials in Germantown are aware of it since Rettich’s brother AND brother-in-law are both on city council. Germantown is a small town and people talk. After spending several months cleaning up the house and yard, getting it fit to move in, AFIK, they moved into the house in July and brought their newborn twins from the hospital straight to Germantown. You can drive by the Germantown house and easily see that it’s lived in. The bottom line is that Newell needs to step down immediately and repay the money that he’s illegally received after being ineligible to hold that office. And, any Miami Township Trustees… Read more »
and on Dec 9- Newell resigns https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/miami-twp-fiscal-officer-resigns/ARPTBA55ENG7ZKS7OEYGI7ITSU/
Methinks that Aaron and his “judge” wife got wind of this story and he’s trying to resign as quickly as possible before more details come out.
Aaron needs to pay back what he’s stolen from Miami Township. Alyse needs to resign. Neither will do what they SHOULD do – both are too cowardly and dirty.