Special prosecutor Kevin Baxter seems none too pleased that he’s back in court for the infamous Board of Elections trial [“Guilt by Association,” January 31].
When we last left our hero, he was successfully prosecuting two low-level election board employees for allegedly rigging the 2004 presidential recount. There was no question the actions of Jacquie Maiden and Kathy Dreamer were technically illegal. There was also no question that the two women were simply following orders from higher-ups, who’d unknowingly been using the illegal practices for 20 years, and had done so with the approval of Assistant County Prosecutor Reno Orandini.
Still, Baxter conviced the jury that the women were hardened criminals who created an elaborate plan “to avoid a laborious recount.” Judge Peter Corrigan agreed and sentence the women to 18 months in prison.
But on August 6, the Ohio Supreme Court overturned Corrigan’s decision. Turns out he’d previously been represented by Assistant County Prosecutor Charles Hannan, Jr., who helped take down the women. You might say this was a small conflict of interest.
The case was thrown to Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold, who agreed to proceed with a retrial. While Maiden and Dreamers’ camp celebrated, Baxter decided it was time for a bit of tit for tat.
He filed a motion attempting to disqualify Dreamer’s attorney, Roger Synenberg, who served on the board of elections for 15 years.
Though this fact was made infinitely clear before, during, and after the trial, Baxter is now claiming that Synenberg has his own conflict.
Even more revealing is that Baxter now seems to admit he has bigger fish to fry than the sewing circle he originally targeted. A new motion identifies Dreamer as a key witness to crimes committed by her bosses, including assistant chief Gwen Dillingham.
At this rate, expect him to man up and admit it was all an honest mistake by 2019. — Denise Grollmus
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2007.
I would ask Ms. Grollmus what in the world is the function of a recount, if clearly written and obvious regulations for establishing and protecting its integrity can be circumvented with impunity by those who are salaried for no other purpose than carrying out those regulations.
Ms. Grollmus acknowledges that the actions of the board members were illegal, and she asserts that there is “no question” that “higher ups” ordered these actions. But she does not note that Jacquie Maiden and Kathy Dreamer stated to the court that there were no such orders, thus circumventing the public’s right to know the true circumstances of the crime. According to her assertion, these ladies lied to the court to frustrate the law.
Like Ms. Grollmus, there was no question in the minds of the prosecutor or the judge that these ladies, who certainly would have been treated leniently if they had cooperated with the court, were instead contemptuous of the law. This is why they were given such harsh sentences.
One more thing I would ask of Ms. Grollmus is whether, given the result she is hoping for – in which perjury is condoned and malfeasance ignored, elections officials in Ohio and elsewhere will feel compelled to honor the public trust and do their job with diligence.
According to the record of the case, the defendants never took the stand in their own defense. Thus they never could have lied to the court.
The trial is now stayed by order of the 8th District Court of Appeals because Mr Baxter is upset about Judge Saffold stating Bill Mason will have to testify in the case. The buck stops with Bill Mason because he was the legal adviser to the Elections Board and his office advised that the procedures were acceptable.
Let’s get to the real issues behind this case..the fact that Bill Mason and Kevin Baxter have exchanged political cases to undermine the admistration of justice and to the illegally awarding of legal contracts to major donors.
These women are the distraction from the larger issues such as the poor legal work of Bill Mason’s office that forces him to spend taxpayers’ money on outside legal advisors such as Benesch Friedlander et al through unbid contracts.
Follow the money..over $600,000 paid out to Benesch to advise the elections board on among other things the purchase of the Diebold voting machines that failed because Mason’s office can’t do its job of advising county officials. There’s your real crime.
Since a bunch of bugs helped saved the day for the Tribe last week, this Pest to Kevin Baxter Bill Mason and the rest of the less than honorable prosecutors of Ohio suggests Cleveland Scene scoop the Plain Dealer by checking out the docket of Baxter’s election appeal. Seems the 8th District told Baxter to stuff it on 10-2-07 and he’s stuck retrying Kathleen Dreamer and Jacquie Maiden in Judge Saffold’s court. Judge Saffold has already denied Baxter’s Motion to quash a subpoena to Bill Mason, so it looks like the big guy himself is going have to testify.