- Esrati - https://esrati.com -

What really needs to be investigated at the Board of Elections

Former Montgomery County Board of Elections workers try to point out that incomplete ballots may have been provided in a 2006 election. (this story broke on esrati.com [1]) Instead of investigating the claim- the BOE starts a witch hunt on how this election info was leaked. The prosecutor’s office plays along- but fails to file charges on the leakers- or investigate the BOE to see if they really did screw up.

Net gain for the voters/taxpayers- nothing. Same old, same old.

From today’s DDN:

The Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office has declined to file charges against two men who admitted distributing a Board of Elections document they said was evidence of wrongdoing in the 2006 elections, according to documents obtained by the Dayton Daily News on Tuesday.

After a review of the investigation, the prosecutor’s office cited “a lack of evidence” that election statutes had been violated, according to the investigative report filed by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Sgt. M.D. Hutchison….

“It was my position that it was either a fake or it was just a working copy,” (Steve) Harsman  (Dem Director of the BOE) said. Harsman said that the board had asked for an investigation both of the charges made in the letter and a determination of how the document was released. Hutchison’s report shows that Eric Worthen, an elections board employee from 2003 through 2006, and Douglas Tully, who worked there from 1994 through 2007, were the two former employees who admitted distributing the document.

The board must employ equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. Both Worthen and Tully are Republicans, said Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Greg Gantt.

Gantt, who is also chairman of the elections board, said he was disappointed with the prosecutor’s office decision not to file charges against them.

The four members of the board, two Democrats and two Republicans, have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Harsman said that the board would be putting out an official statement later this week.

Worthen said Tuesday night he wasn’t surprised that no charges had been filed against him because “the document that was released was legitimately obtained.”

Worthen also said he stood behind the charges made in the anonymous letter and he wondered why the board members refused to do anything about them….

“The board did nothing wrong,” said board member Dennis Lieberman, the former chairman of the county Democratic Party, who added that “I think the information they provided is false information.”

via Charges not filed in voting dispute [2].

But let’s look past the matter of whether an election was conducted properly and look at the people who run the Board of (S)elections, how they get there and why no one is willing to hold them accountable. It’s time to demand a major change in how BOEs are put in place in Ohio.

First is the insane concept that we should have un-elected people running the elections. There is only one person in the state who is elected to oversee elections: the secretary of state. Our current one, John Husted, consistently broke the law about residency when he was a state rep and a state senator- with no accountability to anyone- since the local BOE continued to be deadlocked 2-2 and the deciding vote was the SOS which gave him a hall pass.

The idea of letting the Democrats and the Republicans have their political parties fill the four board seats (which pay $20k a year for 2 meetings a month) is the first bit of hypocrisy. What about third parties- and what about the gross overpayment- usually each party’s chair sits on the board to collect a paycheck.

Then we have the “separate but equal” office structure with 2 people for every one job- one a Dem and one a Rep. This is not only expensive- but has turned into the biggest patronage cesspool going. We’ve had a convicted rapist hired, without a job application [3]. We’ve had an alleged meth dealer working there [4] for years (son of a powerful lobbyist) who was fired for forging a signature on an absentee ballot. [5]

The list goes on. But what is most intriguing is that while the county cries poverty- bonuses, raises and an excessive amount of overtime (for salaried directors) are being handed out. Here is a spreadsheet of pay at the BOE for you to examine from a public records request made by a reader:

First Name Last Name Job Title 2004 Overtime Lump Sum Longevity 
TINA BROWN DEPUTY CLERK 31,823.60 0.00 1,700.00 1,950.00
CAROLYN CLARK CLERK 40,632.60 5,535.40 3,060.00 0.00
ROBYN FECKE CLERK 34,177.55 2,938.15 4,125.80 0.00
STEVE HARSMAN DIRECTOR 85,762.09 8,871.61 6,910.00 0.00
WILLIAM HIBNER III CLERK 34,365.75 1,840.15 1,860.00 0.00
HELEN JACOBSON CLERK 15,806.56 2,065.59 0.00 0.00
LAURA JORDAN CLERK 27,574.35 0.00 1,700.00 2,850.00
BEVERLY KING CLERK 58,491.74 7,545.74 4,810.00 0.00
ROBIN LEHMAN CLERK 54,740.00 0.00 1,700.00 0.00
SUSAN MARTIN CLERK 46,814.21 8,314.81 3,877.00 0.00
CATHERINE MERKLE CLERK 41,043.52 3,747.12 3,450.00 0.00
KAREN O’MEARA CLERK 5,333.75 2,076.12 0.00 0.00
ALICIA SCOTT-BEY CLERK 36,325.33 3,636.73 1,675.80 0.00
BETTY SMITH DIRECTOR 65,208.40 0.00 5,200.40 0.00
First Name Last Name Job Title 2005 Overtime Lump Sum Longevity 
TINA BROWN DEPUTY CLERK 30,236.60 0.00 0.00 1,559.00
CAROLYN CLARK CLERK 44,626.46 6,239.23 2,000.00 0.00
ROBYN FECKE CLERK 33,187.08 1,219.45 1,000.00 0.00
STEVE HARSMAN DIRECTOR 83,019.60 0.00 3,600.00 0.00
WILLIAM HIBNER III CLERK 36,325.56 2,064.52 1,000.00 0.00
HELEN JACOBSON CLERK 12,278.42 0.00 150.00 0.00
LAURA JORDAN CLERK 27,144.80 0.00 0.00 1,522.00
BEVERLY KING CLERK 67,425.27 9,743.73 3,100.00 0.00
ROBIN LEHMAN CLERK 7,602.72 0.00 0.00 0.00
SUSAN MARTIN CLERK 46,043.32 5,468.40 2,600.00 0.00
CATHERINE MERKLE CLERK 42,572.38 1,521.37 2,600.00 0.00
KAREN O’MEARA CLERK 6,056.63 570.00 0.00 0.00
ALICIA SCOTT-BEY CLERK 31,363.13 50.33 300.00 0.00
BETTY SMITH DIRECTOR 64,268.80 0.00 0.00 0.00
First Name Last Name Job Title 2006 Overtime Lump Sum Longevity 
GUY ABER CLERK 6,816.25 851.25 0.00 0.00
APRIL ALFORD CLERK 9,079.75 2,198.75 0.00 0.00
DENIS ASLINGER CLERK 36,037.08 6,111.88 2,000.00 0.00
TINA BROWN DEPUTY CLERK 36,845.39 5,671.44 0.00 0.00
CAROLYN CLARK CLERK 52,660.20 10,913.40 3,000.00 0.00
ROBYN FECKE CLERK 38,591.45 7,069.85 600.00 0.00
STEVE HARSMAN DIRECTOR 97,918.41 9,080.65 5,000.00 0.00
WILLIAM HIBNER III CLERK 38,887.34 3,341.74 1,700.00 0.00
HELEN JACOBSON CLERK 14,891.20 215.47 1,100.00 0.00
LAURA JORDAN CLERK 18,093.20 0.00 0.00 0.00
BEVERLY KING CLERK 70,451.69 18,620.49 500.00 0.00
SUSAN MARTIN CLERK 49,070.61 9,505.01 900.00 0.00
CATHERINE MERKLE CLERK 44,551.98 4,986.38 900.00 0.00
KAREN O’MEARA CLERK 14,320.00 2,967.50 0.00 0.00
ALICIA SCOTT-BEY CLERK 35,014.20 2,001.40 1,100.00 0.00
BETTY SMITH DIRECTOR 98,332.11 9,686.35 5,000.00 0.00
First Name Last Name Job Title 2007 Overtime Lump Sum Longevity 
GUY ABER CLERK 23,991.94 1,526.24 1,000.00 0.00
APRIL ALFORD CLERK 29,281.45 858.15 2,500.00 0.00
DENIS ASLINGER CLERK 48,077.05 3,290.25 3,750.00 0.00
TINA BROWN DEPUTY CLERK 36,931.54 1,527.54 2,500.00 0.00
CAROLYN CLARK CLERK 48,418.22 2,675.42 3,750.00 0.00
CHRISTOPHER COONEY CLERK 6,172.50 627.50 0.00 0.00
ROBYN FECKE CLERK 37,799.66 2,132.95 2,500.00 0.00
STEVE HARSMAN DIRECTOR 93,850.40 0.00 5,000.00 0.00
WILLIAM HIBNER III CLERK 42,291.56 2,488.76 3,750.00 0.00
HELEN JACOBSON CLERK 13,953.23 0.00 0.00 0.00
SUZANNE JOO CLERK 5,547.50 157.50 0.00 0.00
BEVERLY KING CLERK 64,848.33 6,076.33 4,000.00 0.00
ROBIN LEHMAN CLERK 39,631.10 1,770.65 4,050.00 0.00
SUSAN MARTIN CLERK 47,156.53 2,888.53 2,500.00 0.00
CATHERINE MERKLE CLERK 47,997.86 2,229.86 4,000.00 0.00
JOHN MURPHY CLERK 22,928.26 1,428.26 1,500.00 0.00
KAREN O’MEARA CLERK 21,415.71 824.01 1,300.00 0.00
ALICIA SCOTT-BEY CLERK 33,927.94 259.14 800.00 0.00
BETTY SMITH DIRECTOR 93,850.40 0.00 5,000.00 0.00
First Name Last Name Job Title 2008 Overtime Lump Sum Longevity 
GUY ABER CLERK 40,250.26 10,455.70 0.00 0.00
APRIL ALFORD CLERK 37,146.88 6,921.28 0.00 0.00
DENIS ASLINGER CLERK 60,236.28 15,069.88 0.00 0.00
TINA BROWN DEPUTY CLERK 49,778.03 14,634.03 0.00 0.00
CAROLYN CLARK CLERK 61,645.19 16,248.39 0.00 0.00
CHRISTOPHER COONEY CLERK 52,985.74 17,054.54 0.00 0.00
ROBYN FECKE CLERK 52,573.66 14,805.66 0.00 0.00
ANNA FERNANDEZ CLERK 16,085.20 6,885.20 0.00 0.00
STEVE HARSMAN DIRECTOR 134,659.70 38,354.02 2,500.00 0.00
WILLIAM HIBNER III CLERK 49,745.02 9,506.62 0.00 0.00
HELEN JACOBSON CLERK 15,951.21 975.45 0.00 0.00
SUZANNE JOO CLERK 28,525.36 4,695.48 0.00 0.00
LAURA JORDAN CLERK 26,682.74 5,275.24 0.00 0.00
BEVERLY KING CLERK 86,393.17 28,429.97 0.00 0.00
ROBIN LEHMAN CLERK 73,447.41 21,793.01 0.00 0.00
SUSAN MARTIN CLERK 64,972.08 19,749.68 0.00 0.00
CATHERINE MERKLE CLERK 65,131.40 18,677.00 0.00 0.00
JOHN MURPHY CLERK 36,623.96 9,167.96 0.00 0.00
KAREN O’MEARA CLERK 38,879.74 10,398.14 0.00 0.00
JENNIFER ROBERTSON CLERK 10,162.38 4,428.38 0.00 0.00
ALICIA SCOTT-BEY CLERK 35,574.62 2,413.02 0.00 0.00
BETTY SMITH DIRECTOR 132,551.58 36,245.90 2,500.00 0.00
CAROL VARRO PART TIME CLERK 28,199.00 9,744.00 0.00 0.00
First Name Last Name Job Title 2009 Overtime Lump Sum Longevity 
GUY ABER CLERK 37,211.52 2,307.32 0.00 625.00
APRIL ALFORD CLERK 33,338.84 337.84 0.00 925.00
DENIS ASLINGER CLERK 51,275.28 2,679.08 0.00 925.00
TINA BROWN DEPUTY CLERK 39,052.78 1,128.18 0.00 1,075.00
CAROLYN CLARK CLERK 49,505.37 684.17 0.00 1,150.00
CHRISTOPHER COONEY CLERK 56,986.39 2,150.39 0.00 1,000.00
ROBYN FECKE CLERK 43,808.95 1,841.95 0.00 1,575.00
ANNA FERNANDEZ CLERK 26,525.13 825.13 0.00 0.00
STEVE HARSMAN DIRECTOR 101,407.00 0.00 0.00 3,775.00
WILLIAM HIBNER III CLERK 46,968.92 1,021.52 0.00 825.00
HELEN JACOBSON CLERK 13,064.52 0.00 0.00 0.00
SUZANNE JOO CLERK 34,710.73 1,019.53 0.00 600.00
LAURA JORDAN CLERK 26,672.33 649.60 0.00 550.00
BEVERLY KING CLERK 66,219.51 2,404.51 0.00 1,175.00
ROBIN LEHMAN CLERK 58,484.75 2,634.75 0.00 1,850.00
SUSAN MARTIN CLERK 50,556.06 1,056.46 0.00 1,850.00
CATHERINE MERKLE CLERK 53,633.09 1,768.49 0.00 975.00
JOHN MURPHY CLERK 31,780.43 1,095.03 0.00 575.00
KAREN O’MEARA CLERK 32,948.36 836.36 0.00 900.00
JENNIFER ROBERTSON CLERK 34,711.86 1,020.66 0.00 600.00
ALICIA SCOTT-BEY CLERK 34,516.80 0.00 0.00 0.00
BETTY SMITH DIRECTOR 101,407.00 0.00 0.00 3,775.00
CAROL VARRO PART TIME CLERK 13,735.00 442.50 0.00 0.00
First Name Last Name Job Title 2010 Overtime Lump Sum Longevity 
GUY ABER CLERK 42,603.13 7,059.13 0.00 0.00
APRIL ALFORD CLERK 33,373.06 1,596.26 0.00 0.00
DENIS ASLINGER CLERK 50,265.08 4,359.48 0.00 0.00
LINDA BREWSTER CLERK 6,998.80 401.30 0.00 0.00
TINA BROWN DEPUTY CLERK 42,355.05 3,983.05 0.00 0.00
CAROLYN CLARK CLERK 52,992.73 7,087.13 0.00 0.00
CHRISTOPHER COONEY CLERK 60,163.00 8,017.40 0.00 0.00
ROBYN FECKE CLERK 42,714.65 2,507.45 0.00 0.00
ANNA FERNANDEZ CLERK 32,841.25 3,689.25 0.00 0.00
JOHN FLETCHER CLERK 25,981.34 1,854.14 0.00 0.00
STEVE HARSMAN DIRECTOR 129,986.18 35,970.18 0.00 0.00
WILLIAM HIBNER III CLERK 51,110.89 5,259.69 0.00 0.00
HELEN JACOBSON CLERK 9,974.98 0.00 0.00 0.00
SUZANNE JOO CLERK 35,810.65 3,945.05 0.00 0.00
LAURA JORDAN CLERK 30,387.30 1,173.77 0.00 0.00
BEVERLY KING CLERK 71,694.14 11,179.90 0.00 0.00
ROBIN LEHMAN CLERK 62,613.25 10,613.25 0.00 0.00
SUSAN MARTIN CLERK 51,934.15 5,582.95 0.00 0.00
CATHERINE MERKLE CLERK 60,493.83 10,441.83 0.00 0.00
JOHN MURPHY CLERK 32,835.46 2,573.06 0.00 0.00
KAREN O’MEARA CLERK 31,732.79 1,676.79 0.00 0.00
DAVID OWENS CLERK 14,336.16 801.76 0.00 0.00
PRISCILLA RITCHIE CLERK 18,492.01 779.13 0.00 0.00
JENNIFER ROBERTSON CLERK 36,529.45 4,663.85 0.00 0.00
ALICIA SCOTT-BEY CLERK 33,198.45 0.00 0.00 0.00
BETTY SMITH DIRECTOR 126,771.09 32,755.09 0.00 0.00
CAROL VARRO PART TIME CLERK 12,817.50 0.00 0.00 0.00
First Name Last Name Job Title 2011 Overtime Lump Sum Longevity 
GUY ABER CLERK 18,487.50 487.50 0.00 0.00
APRIL ALFORD CLERK 15,225.60 0.00 0.00 0.00
DENIS ASLINGER CLERK 21,767.80 91.00 0.00 0.00
LINDA BREWSTER CLERK 10,080.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
TINA BROWN DEPUTY CLERK 18,480.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
CAROLYN CLARK CLERK 21,856.80 0.00 0.00 0.00
CHRISTOPHER COONEY CLERK 25,077.71 160.91 0.00 0.00
ROBYN FECKE CLERK 19,382.40 0.00 0.00 0.00
ANNA FERNANDEZ CLERK 14,508.88 204.88 0.00 0.00
JOHN FLETCHER CLERK 13,840.16 57.76 0.00 0.00
STEVE HARSMAN DIRECTOR 44,371.20 0.00 0.00 0.00
WILLIAM HIBNER III CLERK 21,213.60 0.00 0.00 0.00
HELEN JACOBSON CLERK 6,216.96 0.00 0.00 0.00
SUZANNE JOO CLERK 15,556.80 0.00 0.00 0.00
LAURA JORDAN CLERK 10,688.66 0.00 0.00 0.00
BEVERLY KING CLERK 28,838.40 0.00 0.00 0.00
ROBIN LEHMAN CLERK 25,398.75 498.75 0.00 0.00
SUSAN MARTIN CLERK 21,776.76 90.36 0.00 0.00
MARK MAZER CLERK 11,700.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
CATHERINE MERKLE CLERK 24,183.97 423.97 0.00 0.00
JOHN MURPHY CLERK 14,764.80 0.00 0.00 0.00
KAREN O’MEARA CLERK 14,448.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
DAVID OWENS CLERK 14,764.80 0.00 0.00 0.00
PRISCILLA RITCHIE CLERK 13,640.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
JENNIFER ROBERTSON CLERK 15,556.80 0.00 0.00 0.00
ALICIA SCOTT-BEY CLERK 15,600.20 65.00 0.00 0.00
BETTY SMITH DIRECTOR 44,371.20 0.00 0.00 0.00
CAROL VARRO PART TIME CLERK 5,760.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Note, the governor of Ohi [6]o makes $144,269

This is how we pay people to hand out patronage jobs to rapists, dope fiends, friends and family?

How about a real investigation?

 

If you enjoyed reading true breaking news, instead of broken news from the major media in Dayton, make sure you subscribe to this site for an email every time I post. If you wish to support this blog and independent journalism in Dayton, consider donating [7]. All of the effort that goes into writing posts and creating videos comes directly out of my pocket, so any amount helps! Please also subscribe to the Youtube channel for notifications of every video we launch – including the livestreams.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

5 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Bone to Pick

Holy Cut The Pork Batman! You have got to be frekin kidding me. Why does the director and deptuy have almost twice as much ot as other employee’s Maybe the naughty librarian,  who does the time sheets is giving her lover extra hrs, just sayin. They do go to conferances to exotic vacation cities together. Nepotisn at its best here folks. lets look  at a few of these names and affiliations : Jordan (daughter of commissioner Dodge) Susan Martin (sister of former state senator) Tipps (son of former county chairman) Merkle ( widow of County Chairman Owens right hand man) Dave Owens (Brother of County Chairman Owens) Pircilla Ritchie (daughter in law of current board member and might be related to Elvis) Lehman (works at republician HQ and long time political hack) Carolyn Clark (mistress of former republician chairman and many others) This is nepotism at its best and something has to be done about it. Thank goodness for people like ESRATI WHO HAS THE GUTS TO EXPOSE THE CORRUPTION AT THE BOE! David needs to run as a write in now! Where do I send my check

Eric Worthen

I would like it noted for the record that I was impressed with the professionalism of SGT Hutchison when we interviewed about the document and its origin.  He was an honest guy looking for some answers. 

Bone to Pick

Eric thats great but why did he not follow up on other criminal activity that was brought to his attention. He promised the investigation would continue and stopped at the witch hunt the Board sent the Sheriff’s office on. If Liberman thinks the document is altered he should only look at Steve and Betty for changing the numbers, Even Sarge said the numbers don’t add up so WTF lets see what the REAL crime that occured and COMPLETE the investigation. Looks like the Sheriff is muzzling Hutchison. Why did they had it over to the Prosecutor’s office anyway? Sarge said he could not find any crimes committed so wheres the beef jerky. I personally am not impressed, they constantly brought up tipps’s name and looks like to me he had nothing to do with it. Steve wanted to bring the attention to someone other than himself and look no further than Harshman for the real abuse.

Eric Worthen

@ Bone-

I for one would certainly like to see the ardent investigation of the ballot discrepencies starting with disclosure of a precinct by precinct provisional ballot accounting from the ballot scan.  Don’t try to use soil and defaced to explain a way some additional ballots…they are soiled and defaced in pairs… so there is no accounting shift there. No hiding behind base line accounting “smoke and mirrors”…. just a straight page one-page two break down by precinct and we will see the truth of the matter and get an accurate understanding of just how large this mistake was.  It should be an easy report to generate on their muti-million dollar electronic system.  Let’s get to the bottom of the real issue and not be sidetracked by petty political play.

I need more than hollow assurances that noone has “done anything wrong”…. I wan’t proof.