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Betras asks state 2nd time to probe board of elections
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David Betras, Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman.
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Jennifer Brunner
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Thomas McCabe
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
For the second time this week, Mahoning County Democratic Chairman David Betras is asking the secretary of state to investigate the operations of the county board of elections.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner will reply shortly to both letters, said Kevin Kidder, her spokesman.
The second request came Friday after it was reported that nearly a year after the elections board voted to temporarily suspend its director and a clerk for failing to follow an internal office policy that neither has served even a day of suspension.
“The public is now left with the impression that no one is accountable,” Betras said.
For failing to follow the policy to send ballot language to those with tax issues on the November 2009 ballot, the board gave Danielle O’Neill, the clerk responsible for the mailings, a five-day suspension without pay.
For failing to catch the mistake, the board ordered a three-day suspension without pay for Director Thomas McCabe.
The board delayed the suspensions because of a criminal investigation into the matter by the sheriff’s office, said elections board Vice Chairman Mark Munroe, also the county Republican chairman.
The investigation found no wrongdoing and was completed shortly after the board voted Oct. 26, 2009, on the suspensions. But Sheriff Randall Wellington didn’t confirm that until this week.
Betras wrote Brunner on Monday asking her office to investigate the board for disqualifying some signatures — that board members validated, also on Monday — on nominating petitions for James A. Traficant Jr., running as an independent candidate for the 17th Congressional District seat.
The “mishaps, miscues and mistakes that have plagued the” board hurt the credibility of the election process, Betras said.
Munroe said Betras wrote the letters to “deflect attention from the Democratic Party,” which has two local officeholders under criminal indictment.
In the Monday letter, Betras criticized McCabe, a Republican, for calling Traficant supporters “crazies” and using his middle finger when discussing Traficant on camera.
McCabe called Betras’ letter “the ravings of a madman.”
In response, Betras said, “They’re mad because I busted them. Flipping people off and calling them crazy is OK. But holding someone accountable to do the right thing is the ravings of a madman?”