YOUNGSTOWN Panel hears case of election ethics

The probate court candidate defended herself against complaints by the incumbent judge.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It could be midweek before the Mahoning County Bar Association's campaign ethics committee announces whether a local lawyer violated judicial ethics in her effort to become a judge.
The committee heard Maureen Sweeney's rebuttal to complaints filed by county Probate Judge Timothy P. Maloney during a hearing at the bar association's Front Street office Saturday.
Sweeney is challenging Judge Maloney for probate judge. The judge is seeking re-election to a second six-year term.
Judge Maloney filed complaints against Sweeney Oct. 29 and Oct. 30 alleging 13 counts of what he believes were violations of judicial ethics in Sweeney's campaign conduct.
The committee found reasonable cause to believe a violation may have occurred in seven of those counts.
The counts stem from language Sweeney used in her campaign literature and television commercials and on her Web site that Judge Maloney said misleads the public.
Among the complaints
Among the complaints were the omission of the words "candidate for" or "elect" on a sign Sweeney used in Fourth of July parades in Canfield and Austintown.
Atty. Kenneth Cardinal, who represents the judge, said the omission implied that Sweeney was already a probate judge. Judge Maloney was not present at the hearing.
Sweeney, represented by Atty. Theodore Macejko, responded that parade participants were prohibited by parade organizers in Canfield from using the words "for" or "elect" on parade displays. To comply with those rules, Sweeney said stars were pasted over the word "for" on her sign. The same sign was used two hours later in the Austintown parade. Because of the heat and humidity, the stars had become permanently adhered to the sign and could not be removed, she said.
However, Sweeney said, campaign workers who marched in the parade wore shirts imprinted with "Elect Maureen Sweeney." She said she also distributed candy sealed in "Sweeney for Probate Judge" wrappers.
Maloney's other complaints were:
USweeney campaign literature said she has "extensive experience" in probate court.
UA television commercial states "it's time to bring order to the court."
USweeney statements may imply Mahoning County Probate Court has no Web site.
UStatements claim the bar association supports change in probate court and has recommended Sweeney.
Cardinal argued that Sweeney was misrepresenting herself by claiming to have "extensive experience" in probate court and then produced documents indicating that Sweeney had handled only 11 probate cases in Mahoning County between 1996 and 2002.
Response
Sweeney responded that she also handled probate cases in Columbiana and Trumbull counties and had worked on other cases in Mahoning County in cooperation with her associates.
Dr. Ralph Walton, chief clinical psychiatric officer for Forum Health, was among those Macejko called to testify in Sweeney's defense.
He responded to Judge Maloney's complaint that Sweeney's statement about bringing order to the court implied that the judge's court was in disarray.
Dr. Walton said Judge Maloney's court is "totally out of order," causing organizations such as Forum Health to incur unnecessary expenses and putting psychiatric patients who may be committed against their will at risk by insisting that hearings be held at Parkview Counseling Center rather than the hospital. He also told the committee that "no other county operates like Mahoning County" in regard to such matters.
After the committee completed the hearing, it would then deliberate and write its findings, said Kathi McNabb Welsh, bar association president.
Those findings could be released as soon as Monday if deliberations are swift, she said.
If deliberations last more than a day, the committee may not release its findings until Tuesday or Wednesday, said Dr. Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez, director of the Dr. James Dale Ethics Center at Youngstown State University and a committee member.
kubik@vindy.com