Boss Hogg Needs to Go

Last evening, a post on my facebook feed caught my attention. It was from the sheriff on his personal facebook page. He has his professional one too and didn't post this particular item there so he probably thinks it's ok. I don't. But, maybe it's just me.

Quick review: Sheriff Pat Kelly has a 'Sheriff Pat Kelly' facebook page and a 'Pat Kelly' facebook page. He posts a lot of the same stuff on both. Awhile back, some people were complaining that he shouldn't be posting official sheriff stuff on his personal page so he made the sheriff page so he could do that. I have an issue with some of the stuff he posts on that page because it comes off sounding like the arrested persons are already determined to be guilty when we STILL have innocent until proven guilty in this country. I think. If I were a defense attorney, I'd be all over that for my client. A whole nuther issue.

Anyway, last night I saw this:

Pat Kelly

Thanks so much to my family, friends and supporters that came to walk with my campaign group and to my staff, employees and reserves that came out and participated in the parade with my office. Thanks to Pearl Graham for driving the SALT float and all the members of SALT that participated. To Becky and Suzie for preparing a wonderful cookout. To Smith Concrete for your support. To everyone and especially Jim Childs for your support and the job you do. Thanks to all!

Sweet that he's thanking his supporters and all but some of those supporters are "staff, employees and reserves" and "especially Jim Childs".

Stuff like this kinda bothers me. Even if there is no coercion from 'boss' to 'employee', or employee sucking up to boss, it looks wrong.

And that's why we have laws. We have the Federal Hatch Act and the Ohio “Little” Hatch Act. These are not obscure laws that no one has ever heard of. If you've ever been a public employee, you probably know what they mean, generally speaking.

Basically, if you are a public employee, stay out of partisan politics. You can vote, you can have an opinion, and you can be involved in nonpartisan campaigns and run for nonpartisan offices (school board and such), but to be on the safe side, stay out of the fun part of politics.

Christina L. Corl wrote a pretty good overview.

There is good rationale for this going in both directions. An employee can't be forced to campaign for their boss, which used to happen frequently, and employees can't curry favor with their boss by campaigning for him.

What adds flavor is we went through this before. Back when the race was between the current sheriff and the previous sheriff, one of the deputies was fired for campaigning against his boss. Termination of employment is the penalty that is to be paid but since an arbitrator over-ruled the initial finding, the deputy got his job back and 75K besides. And now that deputy is Sheriff Kelly's "friend and sounding board" according to Pat Kelly's facebook posting of this afternoon. Nope, no impropriety here.

Having employees and other underlings (rumor has it Explorer Scouts too) campaigning may seem rather frivolous to some. I find it quite important because if the sheriff chooses to ignore some laws, how does he enforce any laws? The sheriff is not above the law nor are the deputies.

If this particular issue isn't quite enough to cause alarm, try adding a couple of issues that reveal a pattern of behavior. A county commissioner who beat his wife and had pot in his house was treated much differently than someone else under similar circumstances. The hiring of a convicted felon as a deputy - the son of a friend who campaigned for him. And we'll not get into the money issues from that office - yet.

And I'm going to pay attention when the sheriff says I can't drive my truck in the snow. Hold your breath.

And I'm suppose to follow his orders if marshal law is ever declared. Hold your breath.

If Sheriff Kelly loses the election this fall, is he going to delete his personal facebook profile or turn it over to Mr. Kane? After all, the url is facebook.com/athenssheriff.

Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should

Athens County Auditor, Jill Thompson, is in the midst of a battle with the sheriff, Pat Kelly, and the prosecutor, Keller Blackburn, over where some of the funds for their offices should be kept. It seems the sheriff and the prosecutor want to move money to outside accounts and the auditor is questioning the appropriateness of their requests, as well she should.

According to The Athens Messenger:

Blackburn and Sheriff Patrick Kelly sent Auditor Jill Thompson letters instructing her to move money from their Drug Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement Trust Fund accounts into outside bank accounts they would control.

Maybe it's just me but it sounds a bit shady.

Blackburn seems to think it's ok since it's not tax money but money from criminal cases. Ummmm, I disagree. Regardless of how the money is generated, it still belongs to the citizens of the county to be used on their behalf to catch criminals and prosecute them. There must be a system of checks and balances, so to speak, for the citizenry to have some semblance of faith in the government that the officials aren't lining their own pockets.

And that's where the auditor comes in to the picture. We have a great auditor in Athens County. I'm convinced the reason she lost her bid for state representative had more to do with voters not wanting to share her with the rest of the district. I heard those sentiments expressed by R's and D's both. Keep in mind, she is one of two elected R's in this superD county.

If the auditor doesn't have oversight on the various accounts that are set up for each of the county departments, how can we, as citizens and taxpayers, know that the money is being spent appropriately? As a citizen, I don't need to know every microscopic detail of the budgets in the county. I'm sure it would make my head explode. That's why we have an auditor. But if something doesn't sit right with me, I need to be able to have a look at the books. If each department gets to utilize outside accounts for this, that, or the other, I can never be sure that the money isn't being used nefariously and the auditor loses the ability to do what she was elected to do.

Both the sheriff and the prosecutor are claiming that it is because of the 'sensitive nature' these particular funds are used for as the reason they need to do this. It seems to me that a big part of both departments deal with things of a sensitive nature.

Also, in the Messenger:

Blackburn said that if Thompson issues the checks so the money can be moved, she would not face any future state audit liability because she has documented her concerns.

That isn't the point, Keller. Jill is doing her job. Just because she has documented her concerns, doesn't mean you are entitled to get your way. Maybe if you concentrated more on doing your job, there would be fewer criminals getting away with murder.

And, there is a track record already that these funds are misused. The sheriff's Furtherance of Justice account (which is allowed by Ohio Revised Code) audit showed expenditures without supporting documentation as well as money spent on carpet, which is not a valid expense for this account. Pat says he thought that was an okay purchase. Wrong.

So if you don't even know what is and is not approved purchases, why should the auditor give you another account to manipulate? That's like doubling a kid's lunch money this week because he spent last weeks' lunch money on video games. So now he can get a video game AND lunch. Or maybe two video games.


And your argument that other counties do it is so lame. When I tried to make that argument as a kid to my mother, she said: If the rest of your friends jump off a bridge, are you going to do it too?

Of course not. And that is what I gather Jill is trying to say too. You, Pat and Keller, have your jobs to do. Let Jill do hers. It goes a long way with the citizens who follow such things to know that the money is being watched closely and that the system of checks and balances we have within our government is working. If you're given too much financial latitude, there will always be a sector of the public who is suspicious that some shenanigans are going on with their money. And they should be suspicious. Because even if it isn't happening, the possibility that it could happen is enough for your credibility to be questioned. That makes getting reelected that much more difficult. Doesn't it?

Just as I was about to post this, this showed up on my facebook feed:

WSAZ NewsChannel 3

Mason County Sheriff David Anthony files for re-election after being indicted earlier this month for misuse of gov't funds and wanton endangerment. Even though it's innocent until proven guilty, can he overcome the court of public opinion? Details at 5:30 and 6!