Officials taxed with ethical, perception issues when relatives wo

DAYTON — When the Montgomery County Court needed a law clerk in 2006, Denise A. Riley learned about the job from an inside source — her mother, County Court Judge Adele M. Riley.

The younger Riley got the job, a part-time position paying $15.45 an hour. She works directly for her mother and the three other judges in the court, which serves jurisdictions that have no municipal court.

The court’s administrative judge, James L. Manning, said he believes the hiring of Denise Riley did not violate Ohio’s ethics law, which prohibits public employees from hiring relatives or using their influence to get them hired. Manning said he made the final decision and that Denise Riley was the most qualified applicant because she had graduated from law school.

Judge Riley said she did not influence Manning’s decision. “There was really no involvement. I did tell her about the position and she interviewed with Judge Manning,” Riley said. “I’m aware of the ethics rules but I don’t think there is any issue in this particular case because she works for the court on a very minimal basis.”

Under Ohio’s ethics law, however, the number of hours an official’s relative works is irrelevant. Elected officials and public employees cannot be involved in the hiring of a relative as defined in the law.

“The biggest concern is it’s hard for the public to be assured that the most qualified candidate has been hired unless there is protection against nepotism,” said Jennifer Hardin, chief advisory attorney for the Ohio Ethics Commission.

A Dayton Daily News survey of all 31 elected Montgomery County officials found 13 with relatives working for the county, including six whose relatives work in the elected official’s office.

A total of 19 county employees are relatives of elected officials. Three of the relatives worked for the county before the elected official became a county employee.

The county has 4,640 employees overseen by elected and non-elected officials. Ohio’s nepotism rules cover all public employees.

Eight of the 19 employees related to elected officeholders are in-laws, nieces, nephews or cousins, none of whom are covered by the law’s restrictions unless they live with the official. The law prohibits public employees and officials from being involved in the hiring of close relatives, such as children, grandchildren, spouses and parents.

Montgomery County Probate Judge Alice O. McCollum in 2004 hired her son, Richard Poole, as a temporary file clerk — an apparent violation of the state’s law.

“My initial reason for doing it was I needed immediate help and the one thing that I did not do while he was here was supervise him,” McCollum said.

Poole now works as a court services officer in Domestic Relations Court. McCollum and Domestic Relations Administrative Judge Denise L. Cross both said McCollum did not influence his hiring.

Before the adoption of Ohio’s Ethics Law in 1974, hiring relatives for government jobs was common. For example, a sheriff’s wife often served as a jail matron, said Montgomery County Administrator Deborah Feldman.

The Ohio Ethics Commission issued a specific ruling against nepotism in 1985, and the legislature further strengthened the law in 1994.

“I think what you’ve seen over the last 20 years, almost 30 years, has been a professionalizing of county government,” said Feldman.

One historical area of patronage was the county elections board, which must by law have equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. But while the board still relies on referrals from party members, those applicants must be able to handle the increasing technical requirements of the job, said Steve Harsman, director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

Montgomery County Commissioner Debbie Lieberman’s husband Dennis, a former Montgomery County Democratic Party chairman, is an elections board member appointed by the Ohio Secretary of State, while Commissioner Judy Dodge’s daughter, Laura Jordan, was hired by the board in 2008.

Dodge and Harsman said the commissioner played no role in Jordan’s hiring and that she was highly qualified for the work.

The relatives identified in the Dayton Daily News review were praised by the office-holders and in the evaluations included in their personnel files.

“I’m very proud to have her as an assistant prosecutor. And I’m proud of her as a relative,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr. said of Julie Bruns, his second cousin and juvenile division chief.

Heck hired Bruns in 1994 and she worked her way through the ranks to her current position, he said. There is no rule against hiring second cousins.

Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Greg Brush’s father-in-law, Jerry Kincer, was already working in the office when Brush became clerk in 2007. The law doesn’t prohibit in-laws and Brush said he holds Kincer to the same standards as all employees.

“The law doesn’t say that a public official’s family member can’t work for a public agency,” Hardin said. “It just says no public official shall authorize or use their position to secure authorization of a family member’s hire.”

That doesn’t mean an official has to fire a relative who works in the same office, she said, but ideally they will not supervise the employee. They also cannot promote the relative or otherwise give special treatment, she said.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Tony Capizzi married his court reporter three years after he hired her, and during the period they were dating the court hired her daughter, Shannon Jones. Leigh Ann Capizzi remains her husband’s court reporter and Jones works directly with him as probation supervisor for his drug court.

If the Capizzis were under the jurisdiction of the Montgomery County Commission, they would not be able to work together. County policy calls for co-workers who marry to be separated at work.

“Changes have to be made,” Feldman said.

Capizzi said he didn’t know his future wife when he hired her on the recommendation of other judges, and he had nothing to do with the hiring of her daughter. Both had worked in other county offices at the time he hired them. Capizzi said he talked about the issue of his marriage with Juvenile Court Administrative Judge Nick Kuntz and Court Administrator Jim Cole. The two said they didn’t think it would be a problem for the two to continue working together, Capizzi said.

Kuntz, whose bailiff is the wife of his second cousin, admits that normally he wouldn’t have allowed two employees to remain in such close contact after they were married. He said he made an exception in this case but would trade court reporters with Capizzi if it became an issue.

Anthony and Leigh Ann Capizzi defended their integrity.

“My honesty is above board and my wife’s honesty is above board,” Judge Capizzi said.

Leigh Ann Capizzi said she hopes there is no issue with appearances. “I’ve never had any of my transcripts questioned, the accuracy of them. I’ve never had any complaints from lawyers about my work,” she said.

Experts say nepotism raises ethical problems, including abuse of power by an elected official, and practical ones, such as other employees believing the elected official’s relative gets special treatment.

“A public employer I don’t think should ever hire a relative of the elected official,” said Kristine E. Kwong, an employment attorney and partner in Musick, Peeler and Garrett in Los Angeles.

Hardin said the law applies to public employees at all levels, not just those at the top.

“So if I’m second in command or third in command in an office and I go to my boss and say, ‘It will really help me out if you hire my family member,’ that’s an issue,” she said.

Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer was chief deputy or the major in charge of personnel when then-Sheriff Dave Vore hired four of Plummer’s relatives — three as sheriff’s employees and a fourth as a sheriff’s sale appraiser.

Plummer, who said he played no role in the hirings, has more relatives working for him than any other elected county official.

Plummer said he was not involved in the hiring of his relatives, who passed stringent requirements including tests, interviews and background checks. Vore also said Plummer did not influence him.

“I don’t know that I would take credit for helping out his family,” said Vore, who now lives out of state. “My intention was to make sure that we had the best people to do the job.”

Plummer was appointed sheriff in July 2008 and elected the following November. In January he fired his sister, Kimberly Solomon, from her job as an appraiser after the Dayton Daily News raised questions about her work for his office. Solomon, who was not an employee, was paid $141,763 in 2009 under a no-bid arrangement. The Ohio Ethics Commission is investigating.

Hardin refused to comment on the case but said Ohio law specifically prohibits public employees from authorizing “a contract in which a family member has an interest.”

Plummer’s brother Christopher was hired away from the Dayton Police Department in 2005, and made detective in 2009 after Plummer became sheriff. Plummer signed off on the detective assignment but said he left the decision to a major.

Plummer’s nephew, Joe Solomon, listed Plummer as a reference on his application when he was hired in 2004 as a corrections officer. Plummer, who said he doesn’t remember being interviewed at the time about his nephew, signed the county form required to put Solomon on the payroll. Plummer was Vore’s second-in-command when Solomon was promoted to deputy in 2006.

In 2007 Plummer’s niece, Nichole Hildebrand, was hired as a corrections officer. Hildebrand and Joe Solomon are the adult children of the former appraiser, Kimberly Solomon.

Plummer said he does not think his family’s employment creates a perception of favoritism.

“How am I held accountable for family members that worked there before I was sheriff?” Plummer said.

But perceptions matter, particularly in a bad economy when a lot of people are out of work, said Dean McFarlin, chairman of the management and marketing department at the University of Dayton.

“In political life perception is reality,” McFarlin said. “Anything that appears to create an image of unfairness in hiring or promotion, boy, you do that at your peril.”

Ohio’s restrictions on nepotism

Public officials or employees may not hire a family member for any position, including temporary or part-time work.

Public officials or employees cannot use their position to influence or secure employment for a family member.

A public official's relative may work for the same public agency as long as the official did not secure the job or benefits or directly or indirectly authorize the relative's hire.

Defines "public official" and "public employee" as any person, paid or unpaid, who is elected to, appointed to or employed by a public agency.

Defines "family member" as spouse, children, siblings, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, stepchildren, stepparents and any person related by blood or marriage who resides in the household of the public official or employee.

The restrictions apply to family members wanting to contract or do business with the public official or the official's public agency.

Violation of the law is a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison and/or a maximum fine of $5,000.

For more information: Visit www.ethics.ohio.gov and search for "nepotism."

Source: Ohio Ethics Commission