Videotape of testimony to be available to public

COLUMBUS (AP)— A videotape of testimony that Ohio’s chief elections official gave this week in a contentious lawsuit must be provided to the public, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled.

As of Friday afternoon, however, the video had not yet been provided to the court, said spokesman Chris Davey. He said it would be made available as soon as the court got it.

A 170-page transcript of the videotape showed clashing between the attorneys for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and the Summit County GOP. The Republicans sued to challenge Brunner’s decision to reject the party’s second pick for an elections official in the Northeast Ohio county.

Assistant Attorney General Richard Coglianese, representing Democratic Brunner, repeatedly objected to questions by state Sen. Timothy J. Grendell, representing the Republicans. At one point, Grendell threw some documents at Brunner, according to the transcript.

The party’s first pick, long-serving party chairman Alex Arshinkoff, was denied reappointment by Brunner after 30 years. She ruled him unfit due to reports of intimidation, coercion and the obstruction of three local judges.

Brunner told Grendell during questioning that Wayne Jones, the finance chairman for the GOP’s rival Summit County Democratic Party, advised her not to renew Arshinkoff and also not to accept the party’s recommended replacement, Brian Daley.

The lawsuit was filed to challenge Brunner’s authority to reject Daley. Brunner has also come under fire for her tough stances against long-serving Republicans at other county elections boards, including Franklin County’s Matt Damschroder, Allen County’s Keith Cunningham and Cuyahoga County’s Bob Bennett, the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.

The court’s ruling Thursday against shielding the videotape of Brunner’s testimony marked the third time in a week that justices rejected Brunner’s attempts to minimize her exposure in case. Her requests to stop the deposition and to prevent it from being videotaped were also denied.

In attempting to block the deposition, Brunner argued that it was unnecessary and should not be required of a high-ranking government official without good reason.

Attorney General Marc Dann’s office, acting as her lawyer, also argued that Brunner could claim the special right of executive privilege that sometimes applies to high-ranking officials. His office cited the high court’s ruling in an earlier lawsuit seeking information from former Gov. Bob Taft that Dann himself filed before he was elected.

But the all-Republican court disagreed that Brunner’s testimony should be specially protected