Last Tuesday, Jacqueline Gaines, a magistrate in Domestic Relations Court lost her Republican primary against Jennifer Petrella by a 2-1 margin. You might remember Jacqueline ran 2 years ago as an unendorsed Dem for Common Pleas judge.

Thursday, she lost her job. Judge Denise Cross (an R, I’m told- it’s hard to remember because the party affiliation never shows on ballots and Cross has been there forever) dismissed her. Gaines is an at-will employee, but, the timing reeks of political not professional actions.

Word on the street is Gaines ticked off other magistrates by suggesting that her status as a mother made her more fit to serve. As if getting pregnant isn’t a skill mastered by teens. Considering if she was one of Matt Heck’s employees (John C Amos)- you can get charged with sexual assault and keep your job for almost a year, yeah, I know, I can’t even make stuff up this good.

“Amos was indicted last year on two counts of rape, one count of sexual battery and two counts of gross sexual imposition. Four of the counts were dismissed against Amos in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday.

Amos changed his plea to guilty for one count of sexual imposition, and pleaded guilty to one count of assault, added as a part of the plea agreement…..

Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. allowed Amos to stay on the job during the years long investigation. Amos resigned from the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office the day of his indictment.”

Former Montgomery County assistant prosecutor John Amos pleads to misdemeanors, rape charges dropped

Of you could work for Mat Heck and steal $90K while working a low wage job- because your wife is Mat’s 2nd Cousin… and now a judge.

But, say something stupid like I’d be a better judge because I have kids… let’s fire you.

The whole judgeship thing in Montgomery County is like getting appointed to the Supreme Court- once you’re in, you’re never opposed after you win your first election (unless you really sucked- then someone like Dick Skelton might come after you).

Besides, most voters have no idea who is a good judge or a bad judge- because most Judges opinions aren’t exactly great reading material, and unless you’ve been in court- you have no reason to dislike a judge (like the way I feel about a few of them).

Other political shenanigans have been taking place under our noses. The Dayton Daily Snooze can’t really tell you what’s going on because they are too busy running press releases for Mike Turner or the Dayton Development Coalition telling you how great a job they are doing at taking the working classes money and handing it to the 1% (Joby Aviation or the Arcade funding for instance).

Word is that Dem party chair Mohamed Al Hamdani called Phil Plummer and tried to do a deal- “you don’t run anyone against Stacy Taylor Benson for Recorder and we won’t challenge John McManus for Treasurer.” This is laughable, the Dem’s have been hemorrhaging candidates faster than Russian convicts have been mowed down by the Ukrainians. (See Jacqueline Gaines above, or former Trotwood Mayor Mary McDonald who will now challenge Debbie Lieberman for County Commission).

Plummer laughed at Al-Hamdani, but he didn’t have any candidates either. A few different ones were asked who declined including a TV journalist, before they settled on a Republican woman named Lori Kennedy who supposedly lives in Florida most of the time to run against Benson-Taylor. Mohamed then had to throw his hat in the ring to take on McManus who will obliterate him (Al-Hamdani barely beat the very qualified Paul Bradley for last place on the Dayton School board- when Jocelyn Rhynard ran her first rogue campaign for School Board against the “Dem Team” of Reverend William Harris, Karen Wick, Mohammed and Paul. Rhynard came in 2nd to Harris. Before he was even sworn in- he was holding illegal meetings and trying to shut down my camera in a school closing task force that resulted in the closing and demolition of Valerie School.

Last but not least, we have the really strange story of Miami Township Trustee John Morris who has recently taken a job in Northern California- where his wife will move to, but he’ll commute back and forth to hold onto his political fiefdom. This makes Jon Husted’s old ruse of owning a house in Kettering and one in Columbus look almost rational when he was a State Rep.

“John Morris, president of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Ohio Valley and executive director for Home Builders Association (HBA) of Dayton, is set to step down from his role at ABC, effective April 1. He will pursue a new role as chapter president of the ABC Northern California chapter while maintaining his position at HBA Dayton. However, the HBA said the decision is still tentative…

Morris said the shift is mainly personal as his son will play football at the University of California, Berkley. His wife will relocate to the sunshine state permanently while Morris will split his time between the two states working for ABC and HBA.

“I’m not completely leaving,” Morris said. “My role at ABC is changing, but my role at HBA is essentially the same. I’ve taken on some new responsibilities which are going to require me to travel. I’ll have a consulting role with ABC and Ohio Valley as they transition and look for a new, permanent president.”

Morris will also maintain his role as a trustee in Miami Township.”

Construction leader to split time between Dayton organization and California group

If I was the folks in Miami Township, I’d be a bit perturbed about this. But, then again, the township may have to declare bankruptcy pretty soon to pay the judgement against them for the wrongful prosecution by one of their police officers.

“Miami Twp. was ordered to pay a $45 million judgment in a civil lawsuit on behalf of a former detective in a wrongful conviction case.”Miami Twp. was ordered to pay a $45 million judgment in a civil lawsuit on behalf of a former detective in a wrongful conviction case.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rose on Wednesday ruled in favor of former Miami Twp. police detective Scott Moore and said the township has a duty to defend Moore against the lawsuit’s claims and must pay the full amount of the verdict against him.

Roger “Dean” Gillispie in November 2022 was awarded the $45 million verdict, the highest in state history, his lawyers from Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law said at the time.”

Miami Twp. ordered to cover $45 million judgment in wrongful conviction case

Maybe this is why we shouldn’t have 30 jurisdictions with 18 police departments in our county- when we could just have unigov- and not hire Barney Fife as a detective. See Reconstructing Dayton for more info on Uni-gov.

A note to new readers- and a hint to old readers

This is my first news post since losing the Dem nomination for Congress. Running for office takes a lot of time and energy, and costs way too much in this country (just ask former Magistrate Gaines). I have been doing this since 2005. I don’t get paid- I don’t sell advertising on the site. I make very long, informative videos (if you clicked on the story about Mohamed and his illegal meeting- you saw one of my favorites- “Goodbye Sunshine”- the one that Judge Dick Skelton pretended wasn’t relevant in court).

There are a few brave souls who quietly support this form of community journalism with recurring monthly donations. They are very much appreciated, as are all the folks who come to me with information that the public needs to know- with my promise of taking their identities to the grave. There are also the anonymous hecklers who like to call me stupid, ugly, and that my mother dresses me funny. Luckily, being in the Army where I jumped out of perfectly good airplanes for a living, made me pretty much impervious to most taunts.

I’ve got a bunch of longer stories to write. This took about an hour. Others can take weeks to write. Someone who I have a love/hate relationship with said this story: The International Man of Mystery, which had to be absolutely correct- should have won a Pulitzer. Instead, the Dayton Daily never covered it- nor did any other major news org- and even after I threatened to file suit against Baguirov if he didn’t resign after he officially changed his voter registration and forced him to resign– it still wasn’t covered. Need proof that this journalism works? Baguirov ran for county recorder- and spent a ton of money to try to stop Google from telling people everything they needed to know about him was on my site- and then, he gave up and changed his name legally to “Al Bagiro.”

So, if you enjoyed this story- and want to keep me going, please consider signing up for a monthly donation. www.esrati.com/donate Thank you.