Lucas County Board of Elections Director Linda Howe confirmed Aug. 6 that evidence regarding possible forgeries on local GOP documents have been delivered to the Lucas County Prosecutor.

The Lucas County prosecutor’s criminal division has been asked to investigate documents that may contain forgeries of the Lucas County Republican Party treasurer’s signature, and are being provided with a witness to one possible forgery.

In an Aug. 3 meeting at the Lucas County Board of Elections, Executive Director Linda Howe recommended to the board that the members turn the signature investigation over to the prosecutor’s office.

Jon Stainbrook

The vote to send the case to the prosecutor’s office was 4-0.

The signatures on several documents, signed with the name Lucas County Republican Party Treasurer James Damas, were found inconsistent by multiple handwriting experts contacted by Toledo Free Press. The documents were first questioned by Glass City Jungle operator and TFP fact checker Lisa Renee Ward. In a July 30 letter, TFP alerted the Board of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State’s office to the potential discrepancies.

Howe said a BOE staff member had been a witness related to an Oct. 23 campaign finance form that was identified as having a questionable signature.

“We talked to the staff and one staff member did say that the report was not signed when they took it over to fill out paper work and when they came back it was signed by the treasure’s name and the treasurer was not present,” Howe said.

Howe did not name the people who may have been witnessed filling out the form, but the One Government Center security registration sheet from that date does not show Damas’ name; Lucas County Republican Party Chairman Jon Stainbrook and Kelly Bensman, a member of the Lucas County Republican Party executive committee, signed in Oct. 23 at 4:20 p.m.

After Howe turns all the case information to Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates, Bates will determine whether the case constitutes as a felony violation. If the case is not ruled as a felony, the Ohio Elections Commission would investigate, Howe said.

Ohio Revised Code, section 3517.10 states, “The statement of contributions and expenditures shall be signed by the person completing the form.” The statute continues to dictate the means by which electronic transfer of signatures is to be accomplished. Under Ohio law, according to the office of the Ohio Secretary of State, “A fifth-degree felony conviction [of election falsification] may result in a prison sentence of six to 12 months and/or a fine of up to $2,500.”

According to Ohio Secretary of State Press Secretary Jeff Ortega, only a party treasurer or deputy treasurer may sign financial documents. He also said the forms may not be signed by proxy.

Damas did not answer calls to his home or the Lucas County Republican Party headquarters. Stainbrook did not answer calls on his cell phone or the party headquarters. Stainbrook told FOX Toledo July 30 that the concerns raised by the article are “a bunch of baloney.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Community, Politics.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.