Prosecutor reviewing new filing in Vermilion mayoral race

The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office is reviewing election filings by former Vermilion mayoral candidate Jean Anderson as she seeks to appoint her own successor candidate to the November ballot. After dropping out of the race, Anderson recently filed paperwork with the Lorain County Board of Elections asking permission to have a committee of five people she selected choose her replacement on the ballot. Though there is a provision for this to happen when a candidate first files to run in a race, questions remain about whether Anderson's filing is legally valid. County Prosecutor Tony Cillo on Friday said his office was reviewing the matter and would render a legal opinion to the board "whether there's any merit to it." The Board of Elections on Thursday also removed eight candidates and two issues from the November ballot. Seven of the eight candidates and both issues, which were Sunday alcohol sales issues, were removed due to their petitions not having enough valid signatures. Vermilion mayor's race Anderson, who was mayor from 2006 to 2010, filed in February to run for a second, nonconsecutive four-year term in office. Incumbent Mayor Jim Forthofer is not running for reelection. Anderson later dropped out of the race. That left businessman and political newcomer Russell "Rusty" Owens as the lone candidate remaining in the nonpartisan race in November. Board of Elections Director Paul Adams said the Vermilion city charter doesn't say how you would fill a vacancy on the ballot in this circumstance, leaving it up to state law to decide. The Ohio Revised Code says, "No alterations, corrections, or additions may be made to a petition after it is filed in a public office" and "All separate petition papers shall be filed at the same time, as one instrument." Adams said Anderson filed her petition on Feb. 5. At the time she had the option on her petition to name a committee of up to five people who would be able to name her replacement should she come off the ballot under certain circumstances, he said. Anderson didn't do that, and the Board of Elections certified her petition on Feb. 13. Nearly six months later, on Aug. 6, Anderson and Avon Lake attorney Gerald Phillips went to the Board of Elections and withdrew her candidacy. They filed a memorandum and a new, blank petition naming a committee of five people to choose Anderson's replacement. That committee then chose Beth Deck, herself a former candidate for Vermilion City Council, to replace Anderson on the ballot, Adams said. "All of this information has been sent to the prosecutor's office for review because we have never dealt with a situation where someone is trying to create a committee of five that never existed on the petition in the first place," Adams said Friday. "Had (Anderson) had a committee of five when she filed back in February and certified (it), there wouldn't have been a question. "We've never seen anything like this before, where someone is trying to file a petition and create a committee when there was no committee on the petition when that was filed," Adams said. "I've never seen it." A former candidate for an at-large seat on Avon Lake City Council, Phillips also withdrew his candidacy for that seat for November. Adams said Phillips also argued he was eligible to choose his successor on the nonpartisan ballot in that race. However, Phillips' situation is "moot because he did not name a replacement for himself on the ballot." Phillips "never named anybody" to pick his replacement, Adams said. "So from our standpoint ... that's over." Messages seeking comment were left for Anderson and Phillips on Friday. November ballot changes Seven candidates who did not have enough valid signatures to make it on the November ballot were disqualified from their nonpartisan races on Thursday, Adams said: - Jay Ferguson and Charmaine Williams were two of six candidates who filed for three openings on the Lorain City Schools Board of Education. Both needed 150 valid signatures to make it on the ballot. Ferguson filed 167 signatures, but only 132 were valid. Williams filed 157, but only 109 of those were valid, Adams said. - Christopher Homoelle and Amy Schmitz were two of four candidates for four seats on LaGrange Village Council and each needed 50 signatures. Homoelle filed 57, with only 44 found to be valid, and Schmitz filed 51, with only 44 valid. - Scott Bringman was one of four candidates for two seats on the Columbia Township Board of Trustees and needed 25 signatures. He filed 27, but only 23 were valid, according to the Board of Elections. - Kimberly Sue Neubauer was one of three candidates for the Ward 1 seat on Grafton Village Council. She needed 25 signatures and filed 27, but only 19 were valid. Neubauer also put "village council" on her petitions but didn't specify whether she was running for a ward or at-large council seat, Adams said. - Dan Strait was one of four candidates running for three open seats on the Wellington Board of Education and needed 25 valid signatures to make it on the ballot. He filed 31 signatures on June 5, but only 21 were valid. The eighth candidate to be disqualified from the ballot on Thursday was Mohammad Ebeid, one of four people running for two seats on the Wellington Board of Education. Ebeid checked both the "full" and "unexpired" term boxes on his petition. Ebeid was disqualified because there are both unexpired and full terms on the ballot in that race, Adams said, but "people signing a petition deserve to know what you're running for." The two Sunday alcohol sales issues that were rejected were for Nirvana Grocers in Elyria City Ward 2, precinct D, and Captain's Club in Amherst Ward 3, precinct B. Nirvana Grocers needed 50 signatures to get its Sunday alcohol sales question on the ballot. It filed 112 signatures, but only 19 were valid, according to the Board of Elections. Fifty-seven of the signatures filed were not of registered voters, which is a requirement. Thirty-four signatures were from people living outside the precinct and two people who signed the petitions were not registered at the address the Board of Elections had on file for them. Captain's Club's petition was rejected because it didn't comply with state law that requires all petition forms to include a list of the liquor permit holders in the precinct. "A part petition paper circulated at any time without the list of affected permit holders and liquor agency stores attached to it is invalid," according to state law. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.