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Buckeye Football – Present and Future
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The Onion, By Any Other Name…
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Will Health Care Reform Pass?
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Health Care Financing Reform: (70) Savings in Medicare Advantage
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TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
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Faye Dunaway to be Evicted?
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Monique asks how to get tickets for the Polar Express.
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Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
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Personal Rant – Why I am Glad I live in NEO
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 04:40 p.m. EDT, Jul 22, 2008
The Ohio Ethics Commission and the Summit County prosecutor will decide if the chairman of the Summit County Board of Elections had a conflict of interest when he voted on issues involving his party's finances.
The elections board voted today to refer a complaint against Jack Morrison Jr., one of two Republican board members, to the commission and the prosecutor.
Wayne Jones and Tim Gorbach, the Democratic board members, voted for the referral, while Morrison and Brian Daley, the other GOP member, abstained.
Brian Juliao, a Republican board employee, filed the complaint against Morrison with the board. He said Morrison's law firm, Amer Cunningham Co., has done work for the Summit County Republican Party and Morrison is a party officer. He said Morrison twice voted on issues involving the party's finances, rather than recusing himself.
Juliao claims this violated Ohio's ethics policy, which forbids board members from voting on issues involving family members, business colleagues or other close associates.
''Based on what I see here, he should be referred to the ethics commission,'' Juliao told board members during this morning's meeting. ''He has a history of not recusing himself.''
Daley asked Juliao several questions about his history with the elections board. Morrison remained silent during this exchange and the subsequent vote, even temporarily relinquishing his position as chairman to Daley.
Juliao said he was hired on March 5 by Akron attorney Don Varian, Daley's predecessor on the board. A recent Ohio Supreme Court decision removed Varian from the board, replacing him with Daley, the Summit County GOP's chosen candidate. Varian was one of the leaders of an effort to oust Alex Arshinkoff from his long-held position as county GOP chairman.
Juliao said he became aware of the potential conflict involving Morrison a week and a half ago. Juliao said he is ''part of the faction seeking to remove Arshinkoff.''
Daley recused himself from the vote on the referrals to the elections commission and prosecutor after Juliao suggested that his participation could be a conflict.
Morrison declined after the meeting to discuss the complaint.
In other business, the elections board:
• Referred to the county prosecutor 26 voter registration applications that appear to be fraudulent. The forms contain incorrect addresses and questionable signatures.
Sen. Barack Obama's campaign brought most of the faulty applications to the board's attention before they were entered into the system, said Marijean Donofrio, the elections director.
The applications apparently were filled out by a campaign volunteer, said Bryan Williams, the deputy elections director.
• Discussed concerns about several recent employee moves.
Gorbach said during the board meeting that he was concerned that Williams, who is Republican, didn't tell Donofrio, a Democrat, about the shifts before they were made. Williams agreed that he should discuss such changes in advance with Donofrio.
Among the recent moves was bringing back board employee Maria Kotsatos full-time as a front-desk clerk. This tie vote has been sent to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for a ruling. Kotsatos was one of the employees loyal to Arshinkoff who was let go in early March, when Varian joined the board.
Morrison said the deputy director and director may hire part-time employees without the board's approval.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at
330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeacon
journal.com.
The Ohio Ethics Commission and the Summit County prosecutor will decide if the chairman of the Summit County Board of Elections had a conflict of interest when he voted on issues involving his party's finances.
The elections board voted today to refer a complaint against Jack Morrison Jr., one of two Republican board members, to the commission and the prosecutor.
Wayne Jones and Tim Gorbach, the Democratic board members, voted for the referral, while Morrison and Brian Daley, the other GOP member, abstained.
Brian Juliao, a Republican board employee, filed the complaint against Morrison with the board. He said Morrison's law firm, Amer Cunningham Co., has done work for the Summit County Republican Party and Morrison is a party officer. He said Morrison twice voted on issues involving the party's finances, rather than recusing himself.
Juliao claims this violated Ohio's ethics policy, which forbids board members from voting on issues involving family members, business colleagues or other close associates.
''Based on what I see here, he should be referred to the ethics commission,'' Juliao told board members during this morning's meeting. ''He has a history of not recusing himself.''
Daley asked Juliao several questions about his history with the elections board. Morrison remained silent during this exchange and the subsequent vote, even temporarily relinquishing his position as chairman to Daley.
Juliao said he was hired on March 5 by Akron attorney Don Varian, Daley's predecessor on the board. A recent Ohio Supreme Court decision removed Varian from the board, replacing him with Daley, the Summit County GOP's chosen candidate. Varian was one of the leaders of an effort to oust Alex Arshinkoff from his long-held position as county GOP chairman.
Juliao said he became aware of the potential conflict involving Morrison a week and a half ago. Juliao said he is ''part of the faction seeking to remove Arshinkoff.''
Daley recused himself from the vote on the referrals to the elections commission and prosecutor after Juliao suggested that his participation could be a conflict.
Morrison declined after the meeting to discuss the complaint.
In other business, the elections board:
• Referred to the county prosecutor 26 voter registration applications that appear to be fraudulent. The forms contain incorrect addresses and questionable signatures.
Sen. Barack Obama's campaign brought most of the faulty applications to the board's attention before they were entered into the system, said Marijean Donofrio, the elections director.
The applications apparently were filled out by a campaign volunteer, said Bryan Williams, the deputy elections director.
• Discussed concerns about several recent employee moves.
Gorbach said during the board meeting that he was concerned that Williams, who is Republican, didn't tell Donofrio, a Democrat, about the shifts before they were made. Williams agreed that he should discuss such changes in advance with Donofrio.
Among the recent moves was bringing back board employee Maria Kotsatos full-time as a front-desk clerk. This tie vote has been sent to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for a ruling. Kotsatos was one of the employees loyal to Arshinkoff who was let go in early March, when Varian joined the board.
Morrison said the deputy director and director may hire part-time employees without the board's approval.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at
330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeacon
journal.com.
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