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Independent incumbent and Democrat vie for probate court term
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County voters will have a choice between an incumbent running as an independent candidate and a Democratic challenger in the Nov. 4 election for a six-year term as probate judge.
The independent candidate, Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr., who was appointed by Gov. John Kasich, is running on his two decades of practice devoted almost exclusively to probate law before he was installed July 8 as judge.
His Democratic challenger, Atty. Susan Maruca, is emphasizing her empathy for families with matters before the probate court and her desire to offer individualized attention to cases before the court, rather than routinely process a high volume of cases.
The election for the $121,350-a-year judgeship is occurring in the wake of the resignation and criminal prosecution of Mark Belinky, the former probate judge, who resigned from the bench March 14, pleaded guilty to tampering with records May 8. He was sentenced to two years’ probation July 9.
The bill of information, to which Belinky pleaded guilty, says he failed to record more than $7,500 in contributions, expenditures or loans to his campaign fund between Oct. 23 and Dec. 10, 2008.
During the investigation, agents of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the FBI and the county sheriff’s office served search warrants at the probate court and at Belinky’s Boardman home Feb. 7, seizing bank, tax and campaign finance records.
The state auditor’s office is still conducting a special audit of the probate court, which is related to the Belinky case; but Judge Rusu said his court is “cooperating fully” and that he is not a target of the probe.
“The court’s public perception and image is at a low point,” Judge Rusu said, adding that he believes he has the necessary experience and desire to restore public confidence in the court.
“It’s about experience. You have to do the work so you can draw upon your experience, and that’s what I’ve done, and I’m very proud of it,” Judge Rusu said, calling the probate court “a specialized court” requiring specialized knowledge.
“This court will affect every person at some point in their lives,” Judge Rusu said of his court, which processes about 3,500 cases a year.
During his legal career, Judge Rusu said he has handled about 1,300 probate court cases in Mahoning County and about 200 in Trumbull County.
Maruca’s name appears on the Mahoning County Probate Court docket as a lawyer in 10 adoption proceedings between 1999 and 2004 and as a next-of-kin in a 2004 estate case. Maruca said she has never appeared before Judge Rusu.
In Trumbull County Probate Court, Maruca’s name appears on 14 adoption cases between 2000 and 2014, in a will-deposit and a guardianship case, both in 2001, in one estate case each in 2010 and 2012, and as a plaintiff in a 2011 land sale proceeding.
Maruca said those dockets don’t reflect legal research and writing she has done on cases where she isn’t listed on the court docket.
“The probate court is a court for families. Everybody needs that court, and everybody should have that court as a resource,” said Maruca, who has been a lawyer in Mahoning County for 20 years and is a parent of a special-needs child.
“I promise to handle each family as individuals with the utmost care and attention,” Maruca said.
“The traditional view that it’s this transactional court with these specialized forms really sells that court short for what it should be doing,” Maruca said of the probate court.
“My real passion and focus has always been families and helping them in troubled times due to death or disability or serious illness or just the challenges of growing older,” she said.