Buckeye RINO

Patrick Riley was appointed to be Lorain’s Law Director when Mark Provenza finally resigned.

Ordinarily, the Law Director position wouldn’t come up for a vote until 2011, but an election is needed to fill the remainder of the unexpired term, so the position will appear on the general election ballot in November.  It was assumed that Patrick Riley would not only be the interim appointee, but that he’d also be the Democrat candidate for the remainder of the unexpired term.

Regular readers of Buckeye RINO know that I have given ample warning of candidate filing deadlines.  The deadlines for 2009 have passed, unless one wishes to wage an uphill write-in campaign.  Even the window for filing to run as a write-in is closing fast, though.  Those who wish to run as a write-in must file before 4 pm on Wednesday, September 2, according to the info I see listed at Ohio’s Secretary of State webpage.

May I make a suggestion, just in case someone reading this might be contemplating filing as a write-in candidate?  Make sure, when you are filing the paperwork at the Board of Elections office, that the Board workers provide you with a time-and-date stamped receipt as proof that you did, indeed, submit the required paperwork in a timely fashion.  This suggestion might be a bit too obvious, but I believe it was overlooked, in Patrick Riley’s case.

Either Riley did not file, or all of his filing paperwork vanished.  Republican Mike Scherach, however, did file, and thus his name will definitely appear on the November ballot.  The good old boys (particularly Anthony Giardini) who run the Democrat party in Lorain are aiming to subvert the laws to get Riley’s name on the ballot, anyway.

I haven’t had any conversations or email correspondence with any of the principal players involved in this latest soap opera.  My information on the matter comes from Lorain’s Morning Journal and Elyria’s Chronicle-Telegram.

From the C-T:

“Lorain Democrats met April 30 to choose Provenza’s replacement until the election. Riley won that vote, and he also was unanimously named the party’s nominee for the November election at the same meeting, said Lorain Democratic Party Chairman Anthony Giardini.”

From the MJ:

“The name of Pat Riley as the Democratic candidate for Lorain law director will not be on the November ballot. At least as of right now.

“The paperwork for the job was lost and not properly filed as of the deadline yesterday, but according to Anthony Giardini, executive vice-chairman of the Lorain County Democratic Party and an elections board member, Riley and the party didn’t miss the filing deadline. Instead, Giardini said it was negligence or even foul play within the elections board office that led to the omitting.”

Also from the MJ:

“The Lorain County Sheriff’s Office will spend this week investigating whether Pat Riley’s paperwork for the Democratic bid for Lorain law director was purposefully lost at the elections board. Members of the election board will be interviewed this week about the missing file, Sgt. Don Barker said.

“‘We’re just trying to determine whether there is anything criminal there or not,” Barker said. “We’re looking to see if the files were misplaced or if someone purposefully hid them, but we need to find out where they are.”

“Barker said the last place the file was seen was in Board of Elections Director Jose Candelario’s office. Anthony Giardini, executive vice-chairman of the Lorain County Democratic Party, said Candelario gave the paperwork to a board worker and it went missing. Giardini claims the board worker, specifically Allyson Hurst — the daughter of the Lorain County Republican Chairwoman Helen Hurst — failed to notify the proper people when Riley’s filing went missing.

“‘He told us he saw it in his office, but from there, no one claims to have seen it,” Barker said. “We are interviewing anyone who was in contact with the filing or in the area where it went missing.'”

Do you see the problem?  The first thing Mr. Candelario should have done upon arriving at the Board of Elections office with the paperwork was to write out a receipt.  This was the first order of business.  This should have been done prior to handing the paperwork off to Hurst or any other Board worker.  The receipt would prove when and what paperwork was submitted by the Riley campaign.  Even if Mr. Riley subsequently lost his receipt, the Board would still have a carbon copy of the receipt on their books.  Mr. Riley doesn’t have a receipt, and the Board doesn’t have a carbon copy of the receipt, which clearly indicates that Mr. Candelario never issued a receipt in the first place.

Sgt. Don Barker proceeded according to the premise that there is paperwork that has either been hidden or been misplaced.  However, the search came up with nothing.

From the MJ:

“The Lorain County Sheriff’s Office completed its investigation of what happened to Riley’s paperwork, which is missing at the board offices and resulted in his name, so far, not being on the ballot. But the investigation yielded empty results.”

I think the real reason that there is no paperwork and that Mr. Candelario issued no receipt is that the required form was never submitted in the first place.  I think the paperwork that Mr. Candelario received on behalf of Mr. Riley consisted only of the paperwork needed for Mr. Riley to take office as Law Director as an interim appointee.  I think Mr. Giardini’s assertion that the election candidacy paperwork was given to Mr. Candelario at the same time is mere revisionism.

From the C-T:

“Democrats insist Riley signed both a document to make him Provenza’s replacement and to put him on the ballot. Candelario said he took the documents and gave them to Allyson Hurst the next day to file.”

Democrats can insist, and they can insist, and they can insist . . . and that’s all they can do, is insist, because they can’t prove.  I can insist, too.  I insist that either Riley didn’t sign both or that Candelario didn’t take both, otherwise, Candelario should have provided Riley with receipts for both.

From the MJ:

“Elections board Deputy Director Marilyn Jacobcik, who also serves as secretary for the Lorain County Republican Party, has also been accused by Giardini of knowing Riley’s filing had not been made.

“I did not see the one that would also place (Riley) on the ballot,” Jacobcik said, but confirmed she had seen the filing for Riley when he was appointed as interim law director.

“‘When the (interim) form was initially filed, I thought perhaps they would wait until later,’ she said. “It didn’t surprise me, I thought it a bit odd, but certainly I am not privy to what the Lorain city Democrats are doing.”

“Jacobcik also said she did not suspect any foul play or sabotage.

“‘The whole idea was rather silly to try and transfer blame in that manner,” she said. “It’s rather silly to say a Republican from Avon (Jacobcik) should remind them what they are supposed to do.'”

Besides trying to pin the blame on Republicans, the Democrats are going ahead with a charade to pretend that the necessary paperwork was filed, anyway.

From the C-T:

“Democrat Pat Riley was listed Monday as his party’s candidate for Lorain law director on the Lorain County Board of Elections Web site despite a missing document that could keep him off the November ballot.

“Elections board Director Jose Candelario said he has determined that since Riley gave him the missing document, which named Riley the Democrat’s candidate in the race to serve the remainder of former Lorain Law Director Mark Provenza’s four-year term, it was technically filed.”

So here’s what will happen next:  A meeting of the Elections Board members will vote to put Riley on the November ballot anyway.  That vote will end up deadlocked at 2-2, with the 2 Democrats voting in favor, and the 2 Republicans voting against.  Mike Scherach will then file a protest against Riley’s candidacy, and the deadlocked vote will forward the matter to the desk of Jennifer Brunner, Ohio’s Secretary of State.  Brunner happens to be campaigning for the Democrat nomination for the statewide 2010 U.S. Senate race.  What will she decide?

As for my own opinion, I reject Democrat attempts to play fast and loose with the rules.  With no evidence whatsoever that Riley’s candidacy paperwork was filed, Riley’s name should not appear on the November ballot.  You can sound off with your own opinions by leaving comments below.