43
Officials discuss whether indicted Warren auditor can or should be removed from office
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Dan Polivka, Trumbull County Democratic Party chairman and a county commissioner, said Monday he’s willing to wait for the legal process to play out before Warren Auditor Anthony Natale, a Democrat, faces questions about whether he should be removed from office.
Natale, 37, of Genesee Avenue Northeast, was indicted last week on one count of conveying false information related to the use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was arraigned in federal court in Youngstown and released.
Natale is accused of sending an envelope containing white powder to his former employer, American Business Center, 7677 South Ave., Boardman, on Nov. 10, 2014, after being terminated from the job. The powder fell out of the envelope onto an employee, causing panic that the powder might be a toxin such as anthrax and leading to an evacuation.
Natale was elected auditor during a contested Democratic primary in early 2015 and an unopposed general election in November. He has been on the job since January. He was at his office when contacted by The Vindicator. “I will be here from 8 to 5 from here on out,” he said.
“I think everyone makes mistakes, and it obviously wasn’t a wise choice. But he has a right to be tried and state his case,” Polivka said.
As to whether the indictment gives the local Democrats a “black eye,” Polivka said: “We have had pretty good officers. It’s unfortunate, but it will have to play out when it goes to trial.”
One of the few Trumbull County elected officials to be convicted of a crime in recent years was Polivka’s former colleague on the board of county commissioners, James Tsagaris.
Tsagaris, of Warren, was convicted of honest-services mail fraud in federal court in 2009 for taking a $36,551 loan that he never repaid from Anthony Cafaro Sr., then president of the Cafaro Co., in late 2004 and voting on matters related to Cafaro.
Tsagaris was sentenced to probation but later served nine months in prison for violating the terms of his probation.
Warren Law Director Greg Hicks, also a Democrat, said he has advised Mayor Doug Franklin that Natale can remain in office while his criminal case works its way through the federal courts.
Ohio law says a person convicted of a felony of fraud, theft or deceit cannot hold office. However, until such time as Natale is convicted, there is no such prohibition, Hicks said. One reason is that the alleged offense is not related to his duties as auditor.
Dan Tierney, spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine, said the authority to seek a suspension for a public official resides with the prosecutor in the government body involved. In this case, that would be Hicks.
Tierney noted that the Natale situation is different from the one involving Mike Sciortino, former Mahoning County auditor, who was suspended from serving as county auditor when he was indicted in the Oakhill Renaissance Place corruption case.
Sciortino was accused of wrongdoing involving his position as auditor. John McNally, Youngstown mayor, was not suspended as mayor because the allegations involved acts committed while he served as a county commissioner.
Tierney did not offer any other avenues in which a public official could be removed from office under circumstances such as those involving Natale. Ohio has a statute called “Removal of public officers” that describes the filing of charges by voters in the county common pleas court.
That process was used by an employee of the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office in 2014 in a failed attempt to remove county Engineer Randy Smith from office for an alleged ethics violation.
Tierney would not comment on whether that method could apply in a case like that of Natale.