Aey has only himself to blame for rejection

From the outset, David Aey’s candidacy for Mahoning County sheriff has been shrouded in uncertainty and controversy. At issue is whether he meets the qualifications to serve as the top law enforcement official in the county. The Ohio Supreme Court has twice ruled that Aey, a former deputy sheriff, does not meet the educational requirements set forth in state law. And yet, he persists.

Even after the court ruled Friday that the prospective candidate “has not established his eligibility to be a write-in candidate for sheriff,” his lawyer tried to get the four-member board of elections to ignore the 5-2 court ruling and permit him to run as a write-in Tuesday.

Fortunately, board members, who have shown a disturbing willingness to interpret the educational requirement statute rather broadly, thought better of ignoring the Supreme Court. Aey’s lawyer, Robert J. Rohrbaugh II, asked that his client be reinstated even though the board was prohibited from permitting him to run. However, the lawyer for the elections panel advised members to reject Rohrbaugh’s request.

Thus today, Sheriff Wellington, a Democrat, is assured a fourth, four-year term because there is no Republican challenger.

We have no doubt that Aey and his supporters will claim the candidate was shortchanged by the supreme court, but we would point out that had he clearly possessed all the qualifications spelled out in the law for serving as sheriff, there would have been no controversy surrounding his candidacy. He has only himself to blame.

In January, we urged the high court to take up the matter of Aey’s qualifications because of the controversy that was swirling then. He had filed to run in the March Democratic primary, but Wellington filed a challenge on the grounds that he did not meet the minimum state-mandated educational or professional standards.

Aey countered that while he did not have the educational qualifications — a mere two years of post secondary education — his on-the-job experience made up for that shortcoming.

Three of the four members of the elections board sided with him — the fourth abstained. Wellington refused to go along and asked for a Supreme Court review.

Unqualified

In February, the justices found Aey to be unqualified.

But the former deputy wasn’t done. In a seven-month period, he obtained 60 credit hours of post-secondary education, including 16 credit hours from Jefferson Community College in Steubenville for “life skills” earned when he took a training course to be a deputy sheriff more than a decade ago.

In September, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner broke a 2-2 tie vote at the board of election in Aey’s favor. She thus cleared the way for his general election candidacy.

But Wellington would not let the issue die. He went back to the Supreme Court, and on Friday the justices ruled 5-2 against Aey.

The opinion’s bottom line: Peace officer training should not be acceptable as course credit under state law because it is already included in the separate eligibility requirement.

And for good measure, the justices smacked the elections board, saying it had “abused its discretion” by permitting Aey’s write-in candidacy.

Given the public dressing down, election board members would do well to seek an unambiguous legal definition of each of the qualifications pertaining to the office of sheriff so we don’t have a repeat of this controversy.

The Aey flap has made one thing clear: There are no shortcuts to seeking one of the most important offices in county government. Legitimate education and experience will win out every time.