MAHONING COUNTY More credit card concerns

The prosecutor said he'll reserve judgment until after he sees the bills.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Bills for credit card charges made by Mahoning County Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock are again getting a look from Prosecutor Paul Gains.
This time it's a trip to Philadelphia, and the question is whether Sherlock allowed a noncounty employee to sign a receipt on the county card. Gains said if he finds any irregularities he will forward the information to the Ohio Ethics Commission.
"It's like anything else, you keep your options open," Gains said. "Just because somebody says a crime has been committed doesn't mean it's true. I operate by evidence."
Sherlock was criticized earlier in the week because an airplane ticket for her friend Leo Jennings was charged to a county credit card. He was to accompany her on a trip last month to Chicago, where Sherlock was to attend an environmental conference. The trip ended up being canceled.
When the bill arrived and Sherlock realized what happened, she paid the charges before the county had a chance. Gains looked into that matter and said there was no wrongdoing.
Also on Philly trip: The following day, bills from another trip Sherlock took, this time to Philadelphia, were brought out. Jennings was also on that trip, and there were allegations that he'd made charges on the county card.
Sherlock said the trip was in August and was to gather information and materials she is using in development of a long-range economic development plan for the county. The trip was authorized by commissioners.
Jennings also accompanied Sherlock on that trip, as did his and her children. As was the case with the Chicago trip, Sherlock said she paid the part of the bill that was not work-related.
Candy bar charges: The charges Jennings supposedly incurred were for candy bars he bought from a vending room at the hotel where they stayed, she said.
The vending room operates on the honor system, with guests expected to fill out a form listing the item and price of anything they take. The items are then charged to the guest's room, she said.
When the bill arrived, those items were marked with a highlighter pen and sent to the commissioners' office for payment. When the bill was photocopied, the highlighter obscured Jennings' name, she said.
"The goal of all involved here was full disclosure, not concealment of this $5 expenditure," Sherlock said.
She said Ohio law does not prohibit public officials from traveling with their families as long as their travel is not paid for by the county. Since she paid the bill as soon as it arrived, rather than waiting for the county to pay and then making reimbursement, she did nothing wrong, Sherlock said.
She said the "specious allegations" and "baseless assertions" were made by her political foes to discredit her.
Recycling division card: As was the case with the Chicago expenses, the Philadelphia charges were made on a card issued to John Cox of the recycling division.
County Administrator Gary Kubic said commissioners do not have individual credit cards. There is a card for their office, but it had been rendered inactive because the bill was being processed through the county's system.
"Leo Jennings did not sign county receipts," Kubic said.
bjackson@vindy.com