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Judge to rule on casino petitions
Two circulators gave false information about the petitions, Democrats say.
YOUNGSTOWN — A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge is expected to rule today on a request by the county Democratic Party to issue a temporary restraining order to stop circulation of petitions for a casino-gambling proposal.
The party contends two people collecting signatures for the measure on behalf of the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, the group behind the casino-gambling issue, provided false information.
The information in dispute — that the proposal isn’t a constitutional amendment, that a casino could be built in Youngstown, and that it would create factory and industry jobs — was captured on videotape.
Bob Tenenbaum, the committee’s spokesman, said Mahoning Democrats should have contacted the group to take care of the problem rather than file a complaint.
The committee already fired two petition circulators who weren’t following the law and plan to do the same with anyone else providing incorrect information, Tenenbaum said.
During a Thursday hearing in front of Magistrate Eugene Fehr, the party, represented by Chairman David Betras and county Commissioner John A. McNally IV, both attorneys, said the committee should be forced to stop circulating petitions until it can be proved that circulators are better trained and do not provide false information to get people to sign.
Because of poor wireless Internet service in the courthouse it took about 10 minutes to show the video, which is less than a minute long, of the two petition circulators in Columbus providing incorrect information.
The committee needs about 404,000 valid signatures from at least 44 of the state’s 88 counties submitted to the Ohio secretary of state by July 1.
After the hearing, Judge James Evans, assigned to the case, said he would rule on the temporary restraining order request today.
It’s a fifth-degree felony to misrepresent the contents, purpose or effect of a petition under state law.
The videotape was filmed by Sandy Theis, a former journalist and currently a consultant for the MTR Gaming Group, which owns the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in Chester, W.Va. MTR opposes the Jobs and Growth Committee’s proposal to build Las Vegas-style casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo.
During testimony, Theis, originally from Warren, said she has videotaped about 6 to 10 petition circulators providing false information about the proposed gambling initiative for the November ballot. She only produced video of two circulators Thursday.
All the circulators knew they were being videotaped and only one asked about the camera, Theis said.
McNally requested the court grant the restraining order and hold a hearing next Thursday.
“False and misleading statements are being made,” he said.
Betras has been adamant that he’ll fight this gambling initiative, proposed for the November 2009 ballot, because it doesn’t include a casino in the Mahoning Valley.
While the two men caught on tape gave incorrect information in Columbus, Betras and McNally said the restraining order request was filed in Mahoning County because the issue impacts this area.
skolnick@vindy.com