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Aey certainly gets points for perseverance
You have to give credit to David P. Aey for not giving up.
Aey appeared to be a real threat to Mahoning County Sheriff Randall Wellington in the Democratic primary.
The only thing that kept him from being a truly viable challenger in the March primary was he lacked one of two basic qualifications to run for sheriff.
A candidate for county sheriff must have at least two years of supervisory experience as a peace officer at the rank of corporal or above, or at least two years of post-secondary education from an accredited college or university.
The county board of elections certified Aey as sheriff because of his time on a federal task force in which he had supervisory duties.
But the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Feb. 14 that Aey didn’t have the rank of corporal or above and disqualified him. An appeal to a federal judge failed.
That appeared to be the end of Aey’s candidacy for sheriff.
But the disqualification didn’t stop Aey.
With no chance of meeting the first requirement, Aey decided to obtain the credits needed to have at least two years of post-secondary education.
That was a pretty bold move.
In the information he filed with the county board of elections, was an associate degree from an unaccredited online school.
Aey said he didn’t know the “school” was a diploma mill, even though it offers doctorate degrees in seven days for $549 on its Web site.
After his disqualification, Aey said he spent six months obtaining college credit that would typically take two years to earn.
That included 18 hours from Kaplan University, an online for-profit school that is accredited as well as 17 credit hours for “lifeskills,” Aey said.
He also said he received 15 credit hours for classes he took at Youngstown State University and 16 credit hours at Jefferson Community College in Steubenville.
Now Aey wants to run as a write-in candidate for sheriff.
Winning a write-in campaign for a countywide position against a longtime incumbent in a presidential election year is going to be incredibly challenging.
But as it was for the primary, Aey is going to have to fight to be a candidate.
Aey hasn’t provided the transcripts to the elections board. The board is definitely going to want to see them.
In the packet was a “verification of candidate for sheriff” form signed by R. Scott Krichbaum, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court’s administrative judge.
Aey and his supporters say the judge’s signature on that form proves he’s qualified to be a candidate.
But the judge says his signature only verifies that Aey passed state and federal criminal background checks. “I don’t verify any of” his qualification, Judge Krichbaum said. “I never saw any of his educational background.”
Aey’s eligibility as a candidate is a decision for the elections board, the judge said.
Officials at the board are awaiting word from the secretary of state’s office as to whether Aey can run for sheriff even if he meets the education requirement.
An office spokesman says an Ohio Supreme Court Oct. 2, 2007, ruling permits someone who files candidacy papers for the primary for a county post and is disqualified to file as a write-in in the November general election for the same seat.
Wellington and county elections board officials don’t see a connection to the Elyria case and Aey’s current situation.
The Elyria case involved a mayoral candidate who lost the Democratic primary last year and wanted to run for re-election to her seat on the city’s school board.
The Lorain County Board of Elections refused to allow her to do so. She appealed and won.
A 2003 state law prohibits a person filing for a seat in the primary on the state, county and local levels who is disqualified from seeking the same office in the general election. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld that law in 2005.
The county elections board will decide next week what to do.
Either way the courts will again determine Aey’s eligibility.