Elect Tony Cillo as prosecutor

Even before Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson was charged with intimidation, tampering with evidence and attempted bribery on Tuesday, we had concluded that we could not endorse him for reelection. The 43-year-old Democrat has no one to blame but himself for derailing his once-promising career with poor decisions, especially his choice to date an employee, Jennifer Battistelli. That relationship is at the heart of the criminal case against him, but allegations of criminality aside, Tomlinson should have known better than to date someone who worked for him. We called on him to resign in May after he finally acknowledged the inappropriate relationship. During an endorsement interview Monday, Tomlinson said he recognized that he'd made a "mistake," but asked us to "look at me in the totality." That's hard to do when scandal has come to define Tomlinson's nearly four years in office, obscuring whatever good he did. Not only did Tomlinson date Battistelli, he reached a $100,000 settlement with her last year after Tomlinson's chief of staff, James Burge, punished Battistelli for filing a discrimination complaint against another employee that Burge deemed was unfounded. Yet it wasn't until months after the settlement was finalized last October that Tomlinson admitted even that much. The settlement included a provision largely requiring the two sides to abstain from discussing it, which was wholly inappropriate for a settlement involving public employees and taxpayer funds. Tomlinson also refused to release a draft complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that his office received from Battistelli's attorneys a few days before the settlement was finalized. It included not only allegations that she was improperly disciplined, but accusations that Tomlinson had sexually harassed her and grabbed her during an argument on the day she quit. That encounter, the draft complaint said, left bruises on Battistelli. Battistelli told investigators that she reported her injuries to Burge and even sent him photos, according to an affidavit that one of those investigators filed with a judge, who, on Tuesday, found probable cause to charge Tomlinson and Burge with crimes. Burge allegedly joined in on Tomlinson's attempts to cover up the scandal. Burge was charged with intimidation and tampering with evidence. Tomlinson repeatedly denied striking Battistelli after another lawyer representing her said the prosecutor had struck his client. That allegation came as a series of videos of the couple arguing surfaced this summer. Tomlinson came across as verbally abusive in the videos. He told us they were "embarrassing." All the while Tomlinson fought to keep the draft complaint secret, prompting a lawsuit to force him to make it public. He claimed it contained information that was false and defamatory and therefore wasn't subject to release under public records law. Thankfully, a judge didn't buy his absurd argument, and the draft complaint became public last month. Much of this was unfolding as county Sheriff Phil Stammitti's office, the FBI and Ohio Auditor Keith Faber's office were pursuing an investigation of Tomlinson. Details were sketchy, but it's now clear that at least part of that investigation revolves around Tomlinson's relationship with Battistelli and the settlement. Tomlinson is charged with pressuring Battistelli to change her story, including on a trip to Montana in August. Tomlinson declined to discuss the trip Monday, although he told us that he and Battistelli had been trying to repair their friendship. The details in the affidavit accompanying the charges didn't portray someone who was trying to reconcile with an old friend. Rather, Tomlinson came across as domineering and obsessed with getting Battistelli to recant the damning allegations against him. Tomlinson has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, as is his right, just as it is his right to due process under the law. He told us that the investigation was politically motivated. He said the same of the charges in a brief statement Tuesday. While we are concerned about the timing of the charges, coming as they do just over a month before Election Day, Burge and Tomlinson were allegedly trying to interfere in an active investigation. The charges might have been the only way to get them to stop. We therefore endorse Tony Cillo, Tomlinson's 58-year-old Republican challenger. Cillo spent most of his career as an assistant prosecutor in Lorain County, starting in the office's Juvenile Division. He worked his way up to handling adult felony cases and eventually was named chief of the Criminal Division, where he prosecuted many of the county's most egregious crimes. By the time he left the office a little over a year into Tomlinson's term, he had shifted solely to prosecuting major felony cases. Cillo told us he left in part because he was concerned about how much power Burge wielded in the office, including over criminal cases. (Back when Burge was a judge, he and Cillo frequently clashed.) Cillo then worked for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office before returning to the county to work for Stammitti, a Democrat. Cillo seemed eager to turn the page during a separate endorsement interview last month. For example, he told us he didn't plan to hire former county Prosecutor Dennis Will, whom Tomlinson defeated in the Democratic primary four years ago. Nor, he said, did he intend to revisit the controversial Head Start child molestation case, which Tomlinson wisely dropped in 2022. Cillo, who has a reputation for being prickly and hard-headed, isn't a natural-born politician. At times he's struggled with what Tomlinson called "diplomacy." We haven't always agreed with Cillo, but we do believe he is guided by a sense of justice and ethics. Both are sorely needed to restore the shattered reputation of the Prosecutor's Office under Tomlinson. The public deserved better from Tomlinson, who should have resigned long ago. Voters should send him packing by voting for Cillo.