Three-judge panel hears Giovanna Scaletta-Bremke, Dan Petticord testify about judicial complaint

A three-judge panel of the Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Professional Conduct on Monday heard arguments in a complaint filed by judicial candidate Giovanna Scaletta-Bremke against her opponent, Dan Petticord, for allegedly making false claims against her in a campaign mailer. The Board of Professional Conduct accused Petticord of violating Rule 4.3 of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct, which states that judicial candidates may not "knowingly or with reckless disregard" publish campaign materials "knowing the information to be false or with a reckless disregard of whether or not it was false." Petticord has denied the allegation, a denial he repeated at Monday's hearing. Both he and Scaletta-Bremke are candidates for Lorain County Common Pleas judge, to replace Judge James Miraldi, who can't run again due to age limits. The burden of proof is on Scaletta-Bremke to prove that Petticord committed a violation of judicial canons, or rules, by "clear and convincing evidence." Both Scaletta-Bremke and Petticord declined to comment following Monday's hearing, which was held via Zoom. They cited an agreement they made that neither one would comment on the matter before polls close today. Teri Daniel, a Lake County attorney who chaired the three-member commission, said the case was being taken under advisement. No time line was given for a decision, but a ruling is not expected before the polls close today. The other two commissioners on the panel were Lori Herf, an attorney from Franklin County, and 1st District Court of Appeals Judge Candace Crouse, whose jurisdiction is Hamilton County. The race is nonpartisan, but Petticord ran in the Democratic primary and Scaletta-Bremke in the Republican primary. An attorney in private practice, Scaletta-Bremke frequently does appellate work for criminal defendants before the 9th District Court of Appeals in Akron, which has jurisdiction over appeals filed in Lorain County courts. The head of county Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson's Civil Division, Petticord is legal counsel to the Lorain County Board of Commissioners among his other responsibilities. Neither Petticord nor Scaletta-Bremke has a disciplinary record with the Ohio Supreme Court. Both testified under oath at Monday's hearing. Scaletta-Bremke testifies "It's fair to say I take ethics very seriously," said Scaletta-Bremke under direct examination by her attorney, Stephanie Landgraf. She testified she knew of the rules or canons governing judicial campaigns from working on Common Pleas Judge Melissa Kobasher's successful 2022 election campaign, and from sitting on the Ethics and Grievance Committee of the Lorain County Bar Association — of which she is the immediate past president. To say that the 9th District Court of Appeals "repeatedly criticized her for misleading the court" in two appeals cases she handled — as a "chaser" mailer sent out by the Petticord campaign in early October alleged — is false, Scaletta-Bremke testified. A "chaser" mailer is one sent out to a list of potential voters who have requested mail-in absentee ballots and whose address can be obtained from the Lorain County Board of Elections. It was the only mailer the Petticord campaign sent out, Petticord testified. Landgraf sent Petticord a "cease-and-desist" letter when her client learned of the mailer. "I have not been criticized for misleading the court," Scaletta-Bremke testified. For anyone to think otherwise could cause concern among potential voters and future clients of her private law practice, she said. Nowhere in multiple volumes totaling thousands of pages of appeals court documents did 9th District appeals judges say Scaletta-Bremke "misled," "deceived," or was "dishonest," she testified. In more than 130 cases she's had in front of the 9th District Court of Appeals, "I've never even had a client file a grievance," she testified. She called it "a dangerous precedent" that defense attorneys could be criticized for advocating for their clients, especially her many indigent clients convicted of serious crimes and unable to afford their own appeals. Scaletta-Bremke is seeking a $1,000 fine, $3,040 in attorney fees, and a public reprimand of Petticord, she told the panel. Cross-examined by Petticord's attorney, George Jonson, Scaletta-Bremke said that the appeals court did state that one client's appeal took a police officer's testimony "out of context" while another "cherry-picked" or "strategically rearranged" testimony in that case. "I believe it's false that I misled the court," Scaletta-Bremke testified. Petticord's mailer didn't quote the decisions or give a citation but did name the cases as State v. Yatson and State v. Newcomb. Petticord "identified them, and it's my position the average voter would not know how to locate those cases," Scaletta-Bremke testified. Petticord testifies The assistant prosecutor testified that he still believes the statements in the mailer were accurate. He said the critical statements by the 9th District Court of Appeals in the cases Scaletta-Bremke worked on were brought to his attention by other lawyers in his office. A lawyer for 31 years to Scaletta-Bremke's 10, "it's difficult for me to characterize that in any other way than 'misleading,'" Petticord said of the appeals court's language in the two cases. The statements were part of an ethics complaint that Petticord said was being prepared against Scaletta-Bremke by employees in his office. It never was filed, he testified. Scaletta-Bremke "swapped races" earlier in the year to run for James Miraldi's seat when she had originally filed to run for his cousin, John Miraldi's seat on the Common Pleas Bench. John Miraldi did not seek another term, and will be succeeded by either Donna Freeman or Richard Ramsey. The purpose of the mailer "was to get truthful information out for people in a judicial campaign," Petticord testified. "My belief is that the language used by both panels (of the 9th District Court of Appeals) in both decisions is accurate." He said the size of the mailer made it "impossible" to present further context about either case to voters. Petticord was asked if he found Scaletta-Bremke "trustworthy and truthful" in her legal work. "I would say it would be mixed," he told the panel. "You need to check very carefully, in my limited experience, with representations that she would make." Petticord testified he didn't bring those up during candidate's nights the two attended because he didn't think it was relevant to the race. Scaletta-Bremke "frequently spoke about me" and criticized both Petticord's legal representation of the Prosecutor's Office and the Board of Commissioners — despite some of those issues being handled by outside legal counsel, he testified. "I spoke only about my qualifications" at candidate's nights, Petticord testified. Records request denied By email Monday, The Chronicle-Telegram made a public records request to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office for the completed ethics complaint referenced by Petticord as being created by attorneys in his office, and any documents related to it. In response, Chief of Staff James Burge called a reporter on the phone and denied the request, saying such disciplinary or ethics complaints are secret. Unless a complaint makes it through the process like Scaletta-Bremke's did, that complaint is secret, Burge said. "You cannot reveal it to anyone," he said — though Petticord was allowed to acknowledge its existence in a hearing said Burge, a former judge who has been through the disciplinary process himself. "Imagine for a moment we had a grievance, we would not be able to share it with the press," Burge said. Instead, the local bar association or Board of Professional Conduct would investigate and if there was cause, start the disciplinary process. If his office made such a record public, "we would be disciplined for making it public," Burge said. "Whoever sent it to Dave O'Brien is going to have a big problem in Columbus." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.