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Prosecutor, Ethics Commission asked if elections board member voted improperly
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008
The Ohio Ethics Commission and the Summit County prosecutor will decide whether 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 Tuesday 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. Morrison and Brian Daley, the other GOP member, abstained.
Brian Juliao, a Republican board employee, filed the complaint against Morrison. 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 excusing himself.
Juliao contends 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 Tuesday'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, 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 unsuccessful 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 excused 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 prosecutor 26 voter registration applications that may be fraudulent. The forms have 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, deputy elections director.
• Discussed concerns about several recent employee moves.
Gorbach said during the board meeting that he was concerned that Williams, who is a 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.
Donofrio said she thinks the moves were made in secret to return Maria Kotsatos, a board employee who was just brought back part time, to her previous job.
Board members deadlocked 2-2 at their last meeting on whether to bring Kotsatos back full time as a front-desk clerk. The 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@thebeaconjournal.com.
The Ohio Ethics Commission and the Summit County prosecutor will decide whether the chairman of the Summit County Board of Elections had a conflict of interest when he voted on issues involving his party's finances.
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