Why is Tim Kambitsch above the law?
You didn’t elect Tim Kambitsch, but you did give him close to $200M of your hard-earned tax dollars to build new libraries. He has a kangaroo court of a board overseeing him, that thinks he does no wrong. Members include the wife of the head of the “Dayton Business Committee” and other insiders. For all most of us know, they could all be related to companies he has spent a large portion of that $200M with. No one audits him, no one watches what he’s doing. Just like the Dayton Development Coalition, Citywide Development, the Downtown Dayton Partnership, Metroparks, the list goes on.
So when Judge Parker ruled and told him he had to hand over the surveillance video of my unfortunate first visit to the new main library on August 19, 2017, he decided after delaying for a year and a half, to delay again by only giving me 16 minutes of a 45 minute visit. When told to give me more, they spent more time telling me how there wasn’t anymore than the additional 30 seconds they delivered after another delay. From the first day to today, it has been 895 days or 2 years, 5 months, 12 days and I finally got a day in court. The judge, instead of throwing Kambitsch in jail for contempt, gave him yet another 30 days to deliver the video that I first asked for on Aug 19th 2017.
The judge did impose a penalty the first time of $1000. That was $100 per day, with a max of 10 days, for every day they were late. That’s the way the state laws read, giving public officials no real reason to comply. They don’t pay the penalty out of their paycheck, they don’t have to pay for their lawyers protecting them, and best of all, even if they don’t comply- nothing happens to them.
When I had to say the second time, this isn’t all the video, the clock should have started over, pay another $1000 and do not pass go. Now that I am asking a THIRD time, there should be another $1000. And, btw, the judge chose not to award my legal fees, even when he agreed that I was right and Kambitsch was wrong. I want to take it a step further. For every one of the 56 cameras that he didn’t provide the footage from the second time and the third time, there should be $100 per camera per day.
And, it should come out of Kambitsch’s paycheck, because he is breaking the law. He is the one delaying. He is the one abusing his power. For it to come from the taxpayers isn’t penalizing him, it’s penalizing me and you.
The civil suit over the civil rights violations against me has been filed in Federal Court. The library carries insurance to cover those costs, so once again, Mr. Kambitsch has no personal skin in the game. He gets to go on doing as he wants. As I said in my one chance to speak, at least when Joey Williams makes a mistake, he admits it. Kambitsch shows his white privilege and thumbs his nose at Judge Parker, almost as if Parker is powerless to hurt him.
I’ve spent over a 100 hours on this case. I have probably 20 hours in putting the poorly labeled and redacted video together and cross referencing it with the photos I took that day. I won’t get paid for any of it. Kambitsch got paid for being in court today. How’s that for injustice?
What Judge Parker does with his next ruling, if he even chooses to is anyone’s guess. But know right now, Kambitsch doesn’t care, and he already knows he’s done his best to delay this as long as possible- to make sure, no one knows the truth about the whole thing. I was right. He was wrong, and he’s too much of a smug shit to admit it. He’d rather waste the tax payers money ad infinitum because, well, he can. And so far, Judge Parker hasn’t done a thing to prove him wrong.
925 days from ask to ordered delivery date. That’s the worthless Ohio Sunshine laws for you.
I have adored the library since I was a child, but this right here is why I pause in supporting their fight against e-book publishers who are gouging libraries: If they have the $$ to waste on this ridiculous lawsuit, then why should I believe they’re good stewards of our tax dollars, period? Not cool, DMCPL … not cool.
This is bigger than just wasting tax dollars on a ridiculous lawsuit. This is about transparency to the public and the executive director blatantly ignoring the law. He should be removed by the Board of Directors, but instead he will probably be lauded.
The library is a public space paid for by public dollars. The security video is public property (ie – a public record) and nothing should be hidden. The law says that if ANYONE asks for it, it must be turned over within a reasonable time period. The law isn’t specific on what constitutes a “reasonable time period”, but it’s generally understood that 30-45 days is reasonable. The fact that this guy is withholding public records from the public speaks volumes and makes you wonder what else is being withheld.
The law also says that you are not allowed to ask the reason behind a public records request. In other words, the library isn’t allowed to ask “David, why do you want these videos?” and then say “Oh, we don’t like the fact that you might use this video to sue us, so we’re not going to turn it over to you.” But that appears to be exactly what Judge Parker is letting the library do here.
This case illustrates the problem with these “quasi-public entities” that are paid for with tax dollars. The county library system as well as MetroParks are examples of this. Ditto for the “Centerville Washington Park District”. I haven’t looked into the library’s structure, but the park districts are managed by boards that are appointed by a common pleas judge. So the board members don’t really feel like they have to answer to anyone. And if anyone gets upset with the board, it’s often tough to figure out which judge appointed them, so the public has nowhere to turn.
Judge Parker needs to step up to the plate and do the right thing here. Forced the library to turn over the records.
Thank you Bubba- finally someone gets it. This is blatant disrespect of the law, and a total waste of taxpayers dollars.
When I was mayor, I agreed to meet with someone who had filed a major lawsuit with the City. The morning before the meeting, the city manager and the law director came to my office. “We understand you have a meeting this afternoon with so and so?”
“Yes” I said.
“You can’t meet with him.” Was the reply.”
“Why?” I asked.
“He has a pending lawsuit against the City.” Was the reply.
“What is the worst thing that can happen?” I asked.
“You could be called as a material witness in a court of law.”
“What do I know?” I asked.
“What do you know?”
Well, if so and so keeps it generic and not specific I will be the worst witness in that court. By the way, the two of you can’t fire me.”
They looked at each other, laughed. Agreed with me and left the office.
This is a true story. I won’t elaborate too much. Both sides had already spent $200k on legal fees and the City set aside another $600k to defend it’s position. I kept telling staff to meet with so and so. The odds of winning, according to so and so were 80%. The odds of winning according to the City was 80%. So it was really 50/50.Eventually the two did meet and it was settled for less than $10,000. Had the City lost this case it would have cost taxpayers $20 million. Had they won, it would have meant that 30 businesses would have left Dayton. A pyrrhic victory. Not on my watch. This is the mentality of both major parties. To win at all cost because no one likes to lose. I don’t consider things to be loses. I consider them to be learning experiences. Government entities need to be more willing to learn.
GREAT post @Gary Lietzel!!
Your story reminds me of something that I read a long time ago. There was a study done on doctors and malpractice lawsuits. The study concluded that the doctors with better bedside manner (ie – the “nicer doctors”) got sued less than those with poor bedside manner. No one wants to sue someone that’s “nice”. Often, it comes down to communication and working things out. That sounds like what you tried to do.
If memory serves, I think that David tried to talk to the library right after this incident occurred. Had he and the executive director been able to have a meaningful conversation, neither of them would be in court. But I think that the library refused to apologize for the incident at the time. Too bad.
Bottom line is that the judge should be doing more than he’s doing. I’d like to say “that’s what we have elections for”, but the sorry truth is that the public really has no idea who these judges are and what they’re doing (or not doing) in their court rooms. And the media just lets it slide…. which is a real shame because this case could directly affect the media when they’re doing public records requests. You think that they’d be all over this.
Bubba, only the Montgomery County Republican party spells my name LIE tzelll. And they spent,money promoting that in the last primary for county commission. It is Leitzell.
Sorry, Gary. I didn’t mean to offend you.
Too many years of “i before e except after c ….” pounded into my head.
I’d like to chip in on the list of ‘above it all’ agencies a quasi govt. bureaucracy that operates way under the radar. Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District. The executive board is appointed by the MoCo Commission and last I checked, there’s not a single person of color on this board. It is populated by the big shots of major local companies. It is a farce as they are only on duty to rubber stamp the projects of the director. He is 110% unqualified academically and by experience for this position. Witness the mess the TID made at Austin Landing and at the Dayton Airport. You’d think some of the urban leaders would ask their Dem Commission cronies to strike a balance – and, have this group do some road work on the West side. This phony deal is like the port authority and works w/ DDC, ODOT, JobsOhio et al. It was launched by Admin. Tuss a number of years ago. Why he gave away the autonomy to oversee the infrastructure and grants? Sure made his job a whole lot easier, esp. on an area he had deficiencies.
[…] friends create “conflicts.” Didn’t matter- I pushed, representing myself in court, and caught Kambitsch and the county prosecutors lying in court. Result, I won, the library finally turned over all the video, albeit half-assed, and paid $1000 […]