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Aey’s college transcripts provided at hearing
Photo
David Aey
A decision on Aey’s candidacy is expected next week.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Board of Elections will wait to determine whether David P. Aey is qualified to run as a write-in candidate for county sheriff.
The board heard a protest to Aey’s candidacy Thursday from Sheriff Randall Wellington.
Wellington questions whether Aey has the post-secondary education required to run for sheriff. To be eligible, a candidate must have at least two years of post-secondary education.
After refusing to provide his college transcripts to the elections board, Aey’s attorneys provided copies at Thursday’s hearing.
The transcripts show Aey has 60 credit hours, more than enough to qualify as a candidate — though six credit hours fewer than Aey previously stated he had.
Robert J. Rohrbaugh II, one of Aey’s attorneys, said he didn’t know anything about his client’s previous statements that he had 66 credits.
Of the 60 credits, 16 are for “lifeskills” given by Jefferson Community College in Steubenville and 18 are from Kaplan University, an accredited online school.
Board Vice Chairman Mark Munroe said he was “disappointed and frustrated” that Aey had refused to provide the transcripts before Thursday.
“This has been held back like some highly regarded military secret,” he said.
The board postponed a vote on Aey’s eligibility until next week to give its members, as well as Wellington and his attorney, time to review them and determine their authenticity.
There is no need to rush the decision, board members decided, because they’re waiting on the secretary of state to break a 2-2 vote they had last week.
The tie vote was to determine whether Aey, who was disqualified as a sheriff candidate for the March Democratic primary, is eligible to run as a write-in.
The board expects the secretary of state to decide on Aey’s eligibility next week.
J.B. Hadden, Wellington’s attorney, had planned to call Aey as his only witness Thursday.
But Aey didn’t show up for the hearing, even though his wife, mother and about 20 supporters were there.
Hadden had asked the elections board to issue a subpoena for Aey to appear.
The board opted not to issue the subpoena because they were expecting Aey to attend his own hearing, said Thomas McCabe, the board’s director.
Aey couldn’t be reached Thursday to comment.
“It’s a very emotional hearing; my client’s a very emotional person,” Rohrbaugh said when asked why Aey was a no-show. “Campaigning is so very important. He decided to not be in attendance. I don’t think there should be anything that should be looked into that.”
Rohrbaugh said he didn’t know what Aey was doing instead of attending the hearing.
skolnick@vindy.com