Did Belinky, staff violate records law?

Did Belinky, staff violate records law? By Peter H. Milliken milliken@vindy.com YOUNGSTOWN Judge Mark Belinky of Mahoning County Probate Court and his staff might have violated state law by releasing correspondence related to an unemployment-compensation claim of a former court employee to The Vindicator, the county human-resources director said. “Now that I have had the opportunity to review the ORC [Ohio Revised Code], I have verified what I believed to be the case and would not release the information in response to a public-records request,” Rachel L. Livengood, county HR director, wrote in an email to The Vindicator. The benefits claim was made by Donald D. Gaudio Jr. of Boardman, a former probate-court deputy clerk and guardianship investigator who Judge Belinky fired July 14. Gaudio could not be reached for comment. The court administrator said Gaudio was fired for “unacceptable behavior,” but Gaudio said on a radio talk show Tuesday he believes he was fired for speaking to an FBI agent investigating the judge. On Wednesday, The Vindicator sought information from Judge Belinky. He refused an interview, but his staff did provide the newspaper with the Gaudio documents. Livengood made her statement after citing Section 4141.21 of the revised code, which says information about individuals, which is maintained by or furnished to the Ohio Job and Family Services director, is not open to the public. Mark Moretti, a public- information officer for the Ohio Attorney General’s office, called the newspaper’s attention to Section 4141.22, which says: “Whoever violates this section shall be disqualified from holding any appointment or employment by the director or a county family-services agency or workforce development agency.” That section, however, does not refer to penalties for judges or their staffs or anyone else outside the county or state JFS system. Earlier Wednesday, Luann James, executive assistant to Judge Belinky, said she believed the correspondence pertaining to Gaudio’s unemployment benefits claim was a matter of public record and agreed to furnish it to the newspaper. “That’s for the judge’s office to decide. ... These are the court’s personnel matters, and the court has to handle them as it sees fit,” said John A. McNally IV, a lawyer and chairman of the county commissioners. Gaudio is appealing the state’s denial of his unemployment compensation claim. “I truly believe that I was terminated because Judge Belinky is being investigated by the FBI, and that somehow he knew that I had been questioned by the FBI,” Gaudio wrote on an Ohio Department of Job and Family Services appeal form, in which he asks for an expedited hearing. “I was questioned numerous times by Agent Wallace Sines. I would have filed this appeal much sooner, but I had to wait for the FBI to speak to their legal team and didn’t get a reply from them until Aug. 29,” Gaudio wrote in his Sept. 27 appeal. Gaudio wasn’t specific in his appeal about any alleged wrongdoing the FBI might be investigating. He authenticated his claim on the air Tuesday on the Louie Free radio program, which is aired from 8 a.m. to noon weekdays on WYCL-AM 1540. John Stoll, a supervisory special FBI agent in Youngstown, would neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation concerning the probate court, and Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Cleveland, also declined to comment. “Claimant [Gaudio] was discharged for violating court policy by engaging in unacceptable behavior toward a member of the general public on June 15, 2011,” Lucia Lovell, court administrator, wrote to state JFS officials in response to Gaudio’s claim. “This agency finds that the claimant was discharged with just cause,” the state’s office of unemployment compensation ruled in its Aug. 10 denial of his claim for benefits. In a sheriff’s department report, Samuel M. Moffie, a Boardman businessman, said Gaudio threatened to punch him in the face June 15 in the county courthouse rotunda just before the swearing-in ceremony for county Treasurer Daniel R. Yemma. In his appeal, Gaudio told state officials the sheriff’s office investigated Moffie’s complaint and that no charges were filed against him based on that complaint.