Here’s the top of the news over at the Lucas County Board of Elections. The office has been so dysfunctional that two consultants appointed by the office of the Ohio Secretary of State John Husted recommended the removal of the top two employees, Republican Director Meghan Gallagher and Democratic Deputy Director Dan DeAngelis. Current members of the Board have refused to follow the recs, including the chairmen of their respective parties, Republican Jon Stainbrook and Democrat Ron Rothenbuhler. The other GOP member, Tony DeGidio, once represented Gallagher as her attorney and this potential conflict precludes him from voting, leaving Democratic member John Irish as the sole vote for removal. Plus Stainbrook has alleged that DeGidio only stays in Toledo occasionally and actually lives in Youngstown, and so should be removed from the Board altogether. At a recent meeting, Stainbrook associate Kelly Bensman made the same allegation.
Simple, huh? Wait ‘til you hear the seamy underbelly of this rotten mess.
With friends like these…
Peel back layer one. Of course DeGidio has represented Gallagher. He has been Stainbrook’s attorney, too, and Stainbrook and Gallagher are closest of close friends, with some sources even suggesting a romantic liaison, which they deny. In fact, Stainbrook led the charge to remove former GOP Board members Patrick Kriner and Benjamin Marsh to pave the way for his own appointment to the Board along with his good friend DeGidio, which could in turn lead to the appointment of his besty Gallagher as director.
Layer two. That takes us back to 2011, when Husted issued a directive demanding the firing of then-Director Democrat Linda Howe and then-Deputy Republican Jeremy Demagall. The directive stemmed from allegations of mishandling provisional ballots in the 2010 election of Democrat Carol Contrada to her seat as Lucas County Commissioner over GOP choice George Sarantou. Sarantou’s seeming victory on Election Day was reversed after provisional ballots were counted. The 2011 Board, including Rothenbuhler, Kriner, and Democrat Rita Clark, voted unanimously for the removal of Howe and Demagall. Nary a peep of dissent. Marsh announced his resignation that day, opening the way for the appointment of Stainbrook. Stainbrook had wanted the position in 2010, but was blocked by a party faction led by Jeff Simpson, former candidate for Toledo City Council District Two. DeGidio joined Stainbrook on the Board later in 2011.
Layer three. Fast backward to 2010, the year Stainbrook was re-elected to a second term as Chairman of the Lucas County GOP. It was a contentious battle, so potentially volatile that then-chair of the state GOP Kevin DeWine chaired the meeting. The battle was in part fought over Stainbrook’s attacks on party leadership, including the likes of Kriner and Demagall. His opposition for party chair? Jeff Simpson.
Curiouser and curiouser
Layer four. The question of residency takes us back to 2007, and the District Two candidacy of Joe Kidd, backed by Stainbrook, then less than a year away from his takeover of the local GOP. Kidd was allegedly spending much of his time at an apartment in the Detroit area, where he had supposedly fled after a falling out with the LC GOP. He and Stainbrook were also allegedly working on a book together, and Kidd was recently divorced and undergoing financial issues, so he would spend considerable time in Toledo. His stated residence in District Two, where he crashed on a couch in the basement, was on Fullington Road, the house of mutual friend Kelly Bensman. Yes, the same one. See above. The endorsed Republican for District Two, who filed the challenge to residency, was Jeff Simpson. The Board of Elections, led by Republican Jill Kelly, sided with Kidd, stating the Board’s job is not to keep him off the ballot but to get him on. Kelly is the mother of current candidate for Toledo Mayor, Democrat Joe McNamara.
Layer five. The book on which Kidd and Stainbrook were supposedly collaborating was a depiction of the downfall of the GOP empire built by coin dealer Tom Noe. Kidd was the Party’s Executive Director while Noe was Chair in the 1990s, and had been close enough to Noe to be one of those accused as a conduit for illegally funneling large amounts of cash to the re-election campaign of former President George W. Bush in 2003. Kidd’s job at the time? Director of the Lucas County Board of Elections.
In early 2004 Kidd entered into public jousting with GOP candidate for Congress against Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Larry Kaczala. Soon thereafter, Noe’s wife Bernadette asked for Kidd’s immediate resignation, which he refused. Mrs. Noe made criminal allegations about Kidd’s conduct as Elections Director, after which Kidd reported the money laundering scheme to Lucas County prosecutors. Kidd was granted immunity in exchange for testimony, leading to Mr. Noe’s eventual conviction and prison sentence in 2006.
Layer six takes us back to 1998, when Jon Stainbrook served as an assistant in the LC Auditor’s office. He decided to run against his boss for Auditor, alleging corruption in what became a dirty, mudslinging campaign. Stainbrook lost, and his boss continued as Auditor until his defeat at the hands of the other current Democratic mayoral candidate, Anita Lopez, in 2006. Stainbrook’s boss in 1998?
Larry Kaczala.
