About the story
The Dayton Daily News surveyed all 31 Montgomery County elected officials about whether any of their family members work for the county. The story grew out of reporting the newspaper did on Sheriff Phil Plummer, whose sister worked as a sheriff’s sale property appraiser for his office.
Daily News reporter Lynn Hulsey in January revealed that Plummer’s sister, Kimberly Solomon, earned $273,183 in 2008 and 2009 for her work as an appraiser, a job awarded on a no-bid basis to non-employees.
Plummer said he thought he could continue to use Solomon because she was originally hired by his predecessor, Dave Vore. After the newspaper raised questions about her employment, Plummer fired Solomon and apologized to the community. The Ohio Ethics Commission is reviewing the matter.
DAYTON — Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer employs his brother, nephew, niece and, until recently, used his sister for sheriff’s sale appraisals.
Montgomery County Juvenile Court Judge Anthony Capizzi’s wife is his court reporter, and her daughter works in Capizzi’s drug court.
Montgomery County Probate Judge Alice O. McCollum hired her son as a file clerk.
Nearly 42 percent of Montgomery County’s elected officials have relatives working for the county and at least one of those officials — McCollum — appears to have violated Ohio’s nepotism law.
McCollum acknowledged hiring her son for a summer job in 2004 but said she didn’t know Ohio’s ethics law prohibits it. All other officials said the hiring of their relatives met the requirements of Ohio’s law, which extends to close relatives but not in-laws, nieces, nephews or cousins unless they live with the official.
RELATED: Officials taxed with ethical, perception issues when relatives work for county
Even when no laws are broken, elected officials risk the appearance of impropriety when their relatives work for the same public agency, according to public employment experts.
“You are leaving yourself wide open for criticism inside and outside,” said Dean McFarlin, chairman of the University of Dayton management and marketing department. “The natural inclination that people are going to have is that you are somehow bypassing the process because you happen to know somebody.”
Thirteen of all 31 elected Montgomery County officials told the Dayton Daily News they have relatives working for the county. Six officials said they have relatives working in the same office as them.
Capizzi hired his future wife, Leigh Ann Jones, as court reporter when he took office in 2005, then married her three years later. She continues to work with Capizzi in his court.
“I think she should transfer to another department,” said Kristine E. Kwong, a Los Angeles-based employment lawyer. “It doesn’t hurt them to transfer the court reporter to another judge’s department. It just looks better.”
Capizzi said he and his wife are professionals with high standards for integrity. She is supervised by Juvenile Court Administrative Judge Nick Kuntz, who said he also doesn’t believe there is a problem.
“No lawyer has ever questioned her working here,” Capizzi said. “None of the judges have.”
Plummer said his predecessor, Dave Vore, hired each of Plummer’s relatives and appointed his sister as appraiser. With the exception of Plummer’s sister, who was not an employee, all are in unions and cannot be terminated without cause, Plummer said.
“I will not and I did not hire family members,” Plummer said. “It’s unethical, it’s illegal.”
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