It was bad before the pandemic hit- and has been investigated before, but, during the pandemic, while so many people have lost their jobs, hospitality businesses have been strangled, and the courts have ground to a halt, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck was out there handing out bonuses to his employees, again.
Reconstructing Dayton, a 501(c)(4) non-profit (founded by yours truly) committed to helping eliminate duplication of services and waste in Montgomery County had been digging into Heck’s generosity and already found that he was breaking the law by not equally compensating public defenders as required by law by using his illegal bonus system. Yes, illegal, because as a public employee you aren’t allowed to receive gifts- even if they are from your boss. But, there has been no public outcry yet- because, well, if you cross Mat Heck, he’s a vindictive kinda jerk with power. That’s why no one has even challenged him since 1991.
As if Reconstructing Dayton hadn’t already proved that he was breaking the law- we dug in further- asking a bunch of other counties if they handed out bonuses- and compared salaries and crime stats- to see if Montgomery County was getting it’s money’s worth out of Heck’s office. One after another responded to our public records requests: mostly saying “Bonuses? Wouldn’t that be illegal?” and giving us salary data that was compiled and compared. You can read the whole post here: The Inefficiencies of the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office: A Deeper Look at Bonuses [1]
While it may be too long for some of you- let’s put it this way, Heck uses his bonuses to keep his employees in line. He rewards his friends- like Debra Armanini who got a $23,405.24 bonus. For the record- that’s more than the average income in Dayton of $19,872 [2], you know the people she serves by putting them in prison. The county commission is in cahoots with Heck, somehow claiming that the budget they approve- with the personnel budget they grant- is his to do as he likes- instead of being like every other department and returning un-allocated funds to the general fund.
Of course, the criminals on the commission, who for years have clawed back un-allocated funds for veterans that went to the Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission don’t see a problem with their double standards. And, the reason they get away with it? Because they too are terrified of le’enfant terrible Heck.
And, to make up for their illegal mismanagement of funds through Heck’s illegal bonus bonanza – they are raising your property taxes by as much as a whopping 43% for some folks [3]– right in the middle of an economy wrecking pandemic.
We’ve still got yet another reason Heck shouldn’t be allowed to hand out bonuses- or be a member of the Bar- and probably be living behind bars- but, as usual, we save the best for last.
One of the reasons Reconstructing Dayton is a 501(c)(4) is so that we can collect donations without donors having to be disclosed, and that we can back candidates who advocate for consolidating and streamlining government in Montgomery County. There is no reason for the 7 local municipal courts- with separate websites- and rules. There is no reason for the citizens to give Mat Heck cash to buy off his minions and control them to do his dirty work either. We plan on continuing our efforts to bring transparency and accountability to public office in Montgomery County and the Greater Dayton area. To do this, your donations are needed and appreciated. Please consider donating to Reconstructing Dayton to help us continue this work: www.reconstructingdayton.org/donate [4]
David — Your aspiration for your “Reconstructing Dayton” includes “consolidating and streamlining government in Montgomery County.” Rather than explaining your vision of transformation, however, please consider that you are losing your focus — spinning your wheels — trying to make the case that County Prosecutor Mat Heck is a lawbreaker. Whether, or not, Mat Heck is a lawbreaker seems irrelevant to your goals for Reconstructing Dayton, such as dealing with “7 local municipal courts- with separate websites- and rules,”or establishing a Rank-Choice election system, or a “Truth in Government” system or “digitizing all the campaign finance records in Montgomery County into a true, clear reporting system for all elected officials, tax levies and the like,” or “a county charter, as outlined in Article X of the Ohio Constitution.” Your reading of the law is that Heck is in violation by paying his employees generous bonuses. But Heck evidently has the support of all three County Commissioners — all Democrats — and, for years, the Commissioners have sanctioned Heck’s system of bonuses. I’d bet that if you would ask the Commissioners you’d find that they have verified with the state that Heck’s bonus system is legal. You might call the Commissioners “criminals,” but I see no reason to think they are anything other than competent and ethical public servants. The reason why the Commissioners treat the budget of the Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission differently than the Prosecutor’s Office may have something to do with the fact that the Prosecutor is an elected official. Again, why not ask the Commissioners why there seems a discrepancy and then evaluate their response — rather than jumping to a conclusion of criminality or unjustified deference of the Commissioners to Heck based on fear. Alexander Sharp put a lot of effort in his recent Reconstructing Dayton article: “The Inefficiencies of the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office: A Deeper Look at Bonuses.” But, this effort really it is a waste, when you have so many other areas needing research and analysis. I’m impressed by Alexander’s commitment to fairness in showing information that seemingly detracts from the anti-Heck campaign. He writes: “Before… Read more »
David —
You write: “Reconstructing Dayton, a 501(c)(4) non-profit (founded by yours truly) committed to helping eliminate duplication of services and waste in Montgomery County had been digging into Heck’s generosity and already found that he was breaking the law by not equally compensating public defenders as required by law by using his illegal bonus system.”
However, I responded to Alexander Sharp’s January 5 article Heck Uses Bonuses to Circumvent Ohio Administrative Code that the data given in that article was incomplete. There is simply an assumption that Heck’s bonuses gave his attorney’s a big pay advantage over the public defender attorneys. There is an accusation, but the data is missing to back up that data. I wrote:”To make a convincing argument, you need more data that would compare the total payouts given to attorneys in the two groups.”
Alexander agreed and replied “I agree that we need to request those numbers and paint a complete picture with them,” but to this day, that data about public defenders compensation has not been posted, so it is not accurate to claim that you have shown that Heck is “breaking the law by not equally compensating public defenders as required by law by using his illegal bonus system.”