Kitchen’s late disclosure in violation; Sammarone’s role questioned

By Marc Kovac | November 14, 2014 at 12:02a.m.

COLUMBUS

With the Ohio Elections Commission finding DeMaine Kitchen, a former Youngstown mayoral candidate, committed a violation by filing a late financial disclosure statement, the panel may turn its attention to former Mayor Charles Sammarone.

“Whatever the people in charge say needs to be done I will follow,” Sammarone said.

The commission decided Thursday not to penalize Kitchen for taking an improper cash contribution.

Kitchen, a former chief of staff to Sammarone, unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate for mayor in the general election a year ago. During his campaign, he received a $4,000 cash contribution from Sammarone, a Democrat who now serves as city council president.

The state limit on such contributions is $100. Kitchen also reported the contributions several months late.

County elections officials filed a complaint with the elections commission in April, outlining the improper contribution and delayed disclosure.

Kitchen’s campaign has since repaid $3,900 of the funds, via checks to Sammarone in April and May, according to updated campaign finance disclosures. Those same documents disclosed checks of $2,500 and $1,400 contributed to Kitchen’s campaign around the same time from Sammarone.

Commission member Lynn Grimshaw asked whether Kitchen was the correct person to face a violation for the contribution. The wording in statute, he said, focuses on the contributor.

Grimshaw later attempted a motion to determine whether Sammarone had violated elections laws by offering the cash contribution, but other members of the board voted against the move.

However, the panel did say it could still consider the matter against the former mayor in the future.

“My view is that that’s a matter for another day,” Grimshaw said. “My view is he should be the respondent for this violation of the statute.”

During the hearing, Mark Hanni, Kitchen’s attorney, contended political shenanigans by Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras was behind the complaint filed by the county board of elections. Betras is the board’s vice chairman.

“It was all a diversion to discredit the Sammarone name in Mahoning County,” Hanni said.

Sammarone’s son, Chris, unsuccessfully ran in the May primary for county probate court judge against Susan Maruca, the party’s endorsed candidate and a former Betras law partner. Maruca lost to Judge Robert Rusu in last week’s election.

Betras called the claims by Hanni “ridiculous.”

“We found this discrepancy and they mailed it down [to the Ohio Elections Commission]. That was the extent of it.”

He added, “We had a legal obligation to send it down. We found someone not doing something that they were supposed to be doing, we send it down. It’s $4,000 in cash that they did, and somehow I’m playing politics about it?”

Hanni angered Betras by campaigning on behalf of a challenger to the chairman in June while running for a common pleas court seat. Judicial candidates aren’t permitted to involve themselves in partisan politics under the judicial code of conduct. After the June vote, Betras said Hanni wouldn’t get the party’s support for his actions. Hanni withdrew from the race a month later.

At Thursday’s hearing, Hanni apologized to the elections commission on Kitchen’s behalf, saying the late filing was the result of a health issue in the candidate’s family. Kitchen, he said, didn’t realize the larger cash contribution was not allowed and told the board of elections that he would rectify the situation.

“When that was brought to his attention, the campaign was broke at the time and he had to go and apply for a loan,” Hanni said.

Commission members questioned why Kitchen would take such a large cash contribution in the first place.

“Why $4,000 cash?” asked Chairwoman Degee Wilhelm. “That’s a lot of cash to hand over. ... I’m still scratching my head. ... With all the scrutiny of campaigns, it’s just hard to understand how that transaction seemed appropriate.”

But Hanni said Kitchen fully disclosed the contribution and repaid it in two installments.

“Full disclosure was made,” he said. “It’s not like something was being hid. ... The spirit of the law was definitely complied with.”