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Michael D. Pitman reports about Butler County, Ohio, politics, county government, countywide issues and Butler County people just like you for Cox Ohio Publishing (including the Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal and several weekly papers in Butler County). He wants your suggestions and questions for more news stories. Leave a comment for him here or e-mail Michael at Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2011 > March > 15
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Dispute goes to the county’s GOP members
The disagreement Butler County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter and Clerk of Courts Mary Swain have had over how Carpenter ran her office for 14 years has been taken to the Republican executive and central committees.
Swain wrote a letter defending her actions, which Carpenter received a copy of that letter. Then Carpenter issued a counter-letter calling Swain’s statements “attacks” and are motivated by politics.
Swain defended her actions to changes she’s made in the clerk of courts office to county Republican Party members in her letter sent Friday. She said changes made include “correcting” the budget that Swain says incorrectly paid 10 employees from the title fund rather than the general fund, and those fixes resulted in five being fired.
Carpenter said in the letter to fellow Republicans that she hoped to keep the issue within the proverbial Republican locker room, but Swain had taken “defensive action to strike out in the press with false statements.”
Carpenter did not wish to comment beyond her letter. In her letter she said since 2002 all payroll allocations have been evenly split between title and general funds — which is counter to what Swain and Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds have claimed.
But all sides say no money is missing. It’s just the Swain-Reyonlds camp believe Carpenter violated the Ohio Revised Code, not using the title fund correctly. Carpenter says if that’s so, then why didn’t the state auditor say anything. They contend a random sampling of a job audit can potentially miss this alleged accounting issue.
Carpenter said Swain has “failed to comprehend that her public political attacks only served to illuminate her shortcomings.”
Carpenter wrote: “She failed to comprehend the proper courtesy of discussing her concerns with me. She failed to comprehend the statutory fiscal oversight of her new office. She failed to comprehend that the operation of her nine departments and two divisions is required by law to be funded and cannot be materially harmed. Further, she failed to interview existing employees for promotion, instead choosing the political hires of school system employees and a judge’s wife.”
Swain did not want to comment on Carpenter’s letter, but restated her efforts “fix the budget problems at hand.”
“Since my appointment as clerk, my focus has been on proper record keeping and a reasonable budget and open accountability to the public,” she said. “I intend to work with the state auditor to minimize any damage form the misallocation of funds which I inherited and limit any findings to one year instead of over the past 10 years.”
Butler County Republican Party executive chair Dave Kern and central committee chair Judy Shelton could not be reached for comment.
Thoughts?
Permalink | Comments (26) | Post your comment | Categories: Butler County, Clerk of Courts, County Commission, GOP, Republican Party
TweetHigh school students invited to compete in 2011 Congressional art competition
This is from Congressman John Boehner’s office:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., on Tuesday, March 15, invited 8th Congressional District high school students to participate in “An Artistic Discovery,” the 2011 congressional art competition. In a web video inviting students to submit their art, Congressman Boehner praised the contest: “This competition provides a unique opportunity for 8th District high school students to share their artistic talents not only with our community, but with the entire country.”
All artwork must be submitted to either Congressman Boehner’s West Chester or Troy District Office by 5 p.m. April 8. An awards ceremony will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on April 16 at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center to honor all artists, and their families.
Two first place winners will be chosen — one from the photography entries and the other from all other permissible media. From these two pieces of art, the judges will choose the Grand Prize piece, which will hang in the Capitol for one year, and the First Place piece, which will hang in the Office of the Speaker of the House for one year.
Grand Prize: Artwork will hang in the U.S. Capitol, along with student pieces from around the country, for one year. The Grand Prize Winner will also be awarded two airplane tickets to Washington D.C. for the national reception in mid-June and be eligible for a scholarship to an arts academy.
First Place: Artwork will hang in the Office of the Speaker of the House for one year.
Runners-Up: Artwork will be displayed in Congressman Boehner’s West Chester Twp. or Troy District Office.
In addition, all artwork will be displayed at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center in Troy from April 13 to April 26.
For competition guidelines and information visit Boehner’s at www.johnboehner.house.gov.
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Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: John Boehner, Speaker of the House
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