Ohio Supreme Court upholds Secretary of State's rejection to Lorain County Board of Elections

The Ohio Supreme Court rejected Lorain County Democrats' plea to overturn Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose's veto of Sharon Sweda's appointment to the Board of Elections. In a 6-1 decision, with Justice Michael Donnelly the sole dissenter, the high court upheld LaRose's rejection of the former county commissioner's appointment to the elections board Monday. County Democratic Party Chairman Anthony Giardini, who serves on the elections board, said he now plans to submit Inez James's name to LaRose for consideration. While James would be the first Black woman to serve on the board, the change is still bittersweet, Giardini said, as he was disappointed in the Supreme Court's decision against Sweda's appointment. "It tells me that in their view a secretary of state has a very wide latitude in making these decisions," he said. "But as I told the executive committee, I believed that our chances of success were about 50/50. I do believe the effort was worthwhile. I think it's a battle we had to fight. So I'm not sorry we did, but it is what it is." Early last month, LaRose rejected Sweda's appointment after receiving information suggesting Sweda misused county resources to campaign for reelection. He also rejected five other appointments to elections board across the state for other reasons. According to previous reporting, Sweda said she had not originated any of the campaign emails, but instead had replied to messages sent to her county email account. After the the issue came up during the campaign, Sweda received a cease-and-desist letter from Ohio Auditor Keith Faber's office. She also said she took steps to keep her county and campaign emails separate. In its opinion, the Supreme Court denied Democrats' writ of mandamus, writing it failed to prove LaRose abused his discretion when rejecting Sweda's appointment. It also states the committee failed to meet its burden of proof in showing Sweda to be a qualified person for the appointment, arguing she had never been convicted of misusing public funds rather than asserting her qualifications as a businesswoman and previous county commissioner. In his dissenting opinion, Donnelly noted LaRose rejected Sweda's appointment after receiving a packet of "unauthenticated documents sent anonymously" showing she'd purportedly misused her county email for campaigning while in office. Citing other unconfirmed allegations against Sweda, Donnelly called the effort a "smear campaign" that was "apparently enough for the secretary of state." "In my opinion, the reasons advanced by the secretary of state for denying Sweda's appointment utterly fail to withstand factual scrutiny, much less show that she would not be a competent member of the county board," he wrote. Giardini said he stood by previous his statement that he believed LaRose's decision was not based on party affiliation, though it is a decision he still disagrees with. In the meantime, the seat will remain vacant until James' appointment is confirmed. "Matter's closed as far as I am concerned," he said. "Let's move forward and get ready for the next election." Contact Carissa Woytach at 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.