[ back ]
Former mayor, wife fined in Orange election case
(by Sali McSherry - September 02, 2010)
Former mayor, wife fined in Orange election case
By SALI McSHERRY
Former Orange Mayor Joseph Dubyak and his wife, Kristin, and attorney David Gallup were fined $600 for two campaign violations in July, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained last week.
Orange Village Council President Daniel Brown and Councilwoman Lisa Perry filed the complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission in May.
Mr. Brown offered testimony at a Columbus hearing in July. He told the board, "There was very clearly a premeditated attempt by trained election experts, as I would call them, to deceive the public by creating adverse campaign literature in our very small community, which was quite detrimental to the people that it attacked."
The Dubyaks and Mr. Gallup were charged with violating the Ohio Revised Code for concealing or misrepresenting a contribution, as well as late filing of campaign financial reports to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. The commission voted unanimously on both violations.
One issue, according to the complaint, was that resident Howard Stern wrote a $50 check and handed it directly to Mr. Dubyak, an attorney, for his 2007 mayoral campaign. It was found later that the words "Citizens for a Better Orange" were added to the payee line on the check without Mr. Stern's knowledge, according to documents.
Mr. Gallup, who was treasurer of the political action committee, said he added those words in order to reflect Mr. Stern's stated intentions as they were reported to him by Mr. Dubyak. He said Mr. Stern, a longtime associate and friend, never had complained or even mentioned the check to him in the 2 1/2 years that followed the incident.
Another issue was that Mr. Gallup reflected an additional $600 in cash in the May filing of the committee's financial report and that he later indicated it should have been reflected in the January report.
Ohio Elections Commission chairman John Mroczkowski said he thought that it did border on concealment, because it never was reported throughout the documents they were given.
The only time the error was corrected was after it was called to his attention that there was a problem, Mr. Mroczkowski said.
One of the board's choices was to refer the issue to the prosecutor, commission member Bryan Felmet said. But, as a former prosecutor, he said it was a question of whether the prosecutor would do anything with it, given all he or she has to do.
"I think the best way to send a message is to send a fine, and I don't think it has to be enormous to do that, but I think enough to get the attention," Mr. Felmet said.
He said the Dubyaks and Mr. Gallup had submitted substantial information to the board, but "it's just not helpful to them." The board said the three had an opportunity to make their case at the hearing but had chosen not to do so.
The three defendants were penalized $500 for the concealment charge and $100 for a financial report submitted several days late to the elections board, according to the commission.
There was a finding of no violation regarding the other reporting allegations made in the complaint, according to documents.
[ back ]
