Sheriff to Aey: Challenge isn’t over Candidate OK’d for March ballot

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Failing to persuade the Mahoning County Board of Elections to disqualify his Democratic primary challenger, Sheriff Randall Wellington plans to take his case to a higher authority.

“I’m very disappointed,” Wellington said moments after the board’s decision Friday. “We’ll go right to the Ohio Supreme Court. We’ll go very quickly. We’ll file sometime next week. We’re not going to let it die here.”

David P. Aey of Boardman, who is challenging Wellington in the March 4 Democratic primary, said he is “extremely pleased” with the board’s decision.

He said it’s time for Wellington to stop wasting time trying to get him off the ballot and engage in a meaningful conversation on who is the better candidate for sheriff.

At issue is the eligibility of Aey, who spent nearly 15 years as a deputy, to run for sheriff.

In 2007, the sheriff was paid $91,860, according to the Mahoning County payroll.

Wellington, of Youngstown, contends Aey doesn’t meet minimum requirements under state law to be a sheriff candidate.

An eligible candidate must either have at least two years of supervisory experience as a peace officer at the rank of corporal or above, or to have served at the rank of sergeant or above in the five-year period before the filing deadline. If a candidate has neither of those, he must have at least two years of post-secondary education from an accredited college or university.

Aey received an associate degree last year from Belford University, described by experts as an online diploma mill. Aey said the agency notified him that his life skills made him eligible for the diploma after he paid about $400 to $500 and passed a test.

As Wellington began to discuss Belford, Matthew Giannini, Aey’s lead attorney, acknowledged his candidate doesn’t meet the educational qualifications but has the supervisory experience.

Elections board members agreed with Giannini about the latter, voting 3-0 to keep Aey on the ballot. Member Clarence Smith said the requirements to run for sheriff are ridiculous, but they exist. He abstained from voting.

The other members said they based their decision partly on a 1996 Ohio Supreme Court decision that Aey’s attorneys didn’t argue at the hearing.

The decision in Hawkins v. Pickaway County Board of Elections ruled that a sheriff candidate who failed to hold a rank specifying supervisor status but did supervisory work was eligible to run.

“Courts must liberally construe in favor of the person seeking to hold office,” the opinion reads.

That decision also ruled that the two years of supervisory experience doesn’t need to be on a full-time basis.

Aey’s rank in the department was always deputy. But he served as a field supervisor for the U.S. Marshals Service’s Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force on a full-time basis for 17 months and on a part-time basis for 23 months.

Besides Wellington and Aey, five others testified at the three-hour hearing. Those who testified were all members of the task force and said Aey was a supervisor.

Although they were subpoenaed to appear Friday, seven members of the U.S. Marshals Service were no-shows.

Wellington sent a letter last week to U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliot of the Northern Division of Ohio filing a formal complaint against Dean G. Michael, a deputy U.S. marshal who coordinated the violent fugitive task force.

Michael wrote a Nov. 12, 2006, letter to Aey detailing the latter’s role with the task force. The letter is part of the documentation Aey provided to the board of elections outlying his qualifications. In the letter, Michael wrote that he first reviewed the matter with Elliot, who consulted with the agency’s ethics division.

Wellington wrote that Michael’s letter violated federal law on illegal political activity of U.S. marshal employees and the sheriff was filing a formal complaint and is considering a lawsuit.

Aey said the letter, which he described as apolitical, was the reason the marshal employees didn’t show up Friday.

When asked by Giannini if he wrote a letter threatening to sue marshals if they testified Friday, Wellington said, “That is absolutely false.”

Also, Barbara L. Ribarich, an Aey supporter, withdrew a protest against Wellington contending the sheriff committed election falsification with his nominating petitions. Wellington had insisted the claim was without merit. Aey also said he didn’t see a problem with the sheriff’s petitions.

skolnick@vindy.com