NOTE: What you are about to read comes from a source in Republican politics who got the story from another source in Republican politics. While I consider my source and his information to be top-rated (the information I have received from this source has been accurate so far), I have not been informed as to the identity of the original source and cannot confirm the authenticity or reliability factors of that source.Cast
Alex Arshinkoff: Chairman (for now) of the Summit County Republican Party
Scott Sigel: Summit County BOE; Whistleblower
The Story
This is an account of how Alex Arshinkoff and the Summit County Republican machine are conspiring to fire Scott Sigel. He is a 15-year party stalwart and supporter of Arshinkoff who was forced to become a reluctant whistleblower when he faced retaliation for refusing to commit felonies to cover up the party's problematic finance reports. These are finance reports that each county political party must submit to their board of elections, who then processes the reports for the Secretary of State's office. Sigel has been transferred from his post as finance examiner at the board of elections to administrative assistant as a prelude to terminating him in March. This report is compiled from sources close to the situation and is NOT being directed by Scott Sigel.
While there are other ancillary issues involved, the crux of the matter involves three Cognovit notes. Arshinkoff claims that the party owes him over $75,000 combined through the three Cognovit notes. The problem? No credible evidence whatsoever exists that the party loaned Arshinkoff the money and that he was entitled to the "repayment" that he took. What Arshinkoff and his people are trying to pass off as legal documentation are what legal laymen might charitably call "glorified IOUs."
The absence of credible documentation that Arshinkoff pocketed the money legally and honorably lies at the heart of the Sigel controversy. Although Arshinkoff has run the party for three decades, he has only tried to execute such an arrangement since 2005. In July of 2007, Sigel and others at the board of elections became aware of some problems (including the undocumented claims regarding the Cognovit notes) and alerted the elections board. Secretary of State Brunner's office made guidance available, but Arshinkoff did not follow up with her.
As time went by, it became clear that Arshinkoff and the other Republican member of the elections board, Arshinkoff's personal lawyer Jack Morrison, Jr., expected Sigel to unilaterally fix the problem. Sigel, knowing that he had a Democratic counterpart looking over his shoulder and a Secretary of State who had already been alerted to problems with the documentation, knew that he was facing felony charges of malfeasance and misfeasance if he attempted to cover up for his bosses. He repeatedly and unsuccessfully sought a meeting with Arshinkoff, as he later detailed in a letter he sent out to the party's executive committee.
In addition to the very real issues of apparent and alleged fraud regarding the county party's financial relationship with Arshinkoff, there were a host of other problems with the records for which unprofessional lack of detail to attention was the problem. Specifically, no credible evidence was provided for changes on amended finance reports.
But in an even bigger blunder that could itself become a huge crime, the Summit County Republican Party did not enact bylaws in order to be able to operate for the period of 2006-2008. This is from information provided by party executive director Angela McMillan. Without such bylaws, the party could not legally hire staff or perform any basic functions. It was also operating in violation of countless laws governing non-profit organizations and federal taxation.
By November, having been stonewalled for a face-to-face meeting with Arshinkoff, Sigel was beginning to feel the chill winds of a subtle intimidation campaign aimed at trying to get him to stick his neck out and verify the finance reports in the absence of the legally necessary information. Having been in the Arshinkoff machine for 15 years, Sigel was aware of every tactic used against perceived enemies, from the adoption of Amish shunning tactics to whisper campaigns carefully calibrated to have threats filter back to the target. He was now experiencing firsthand what he had seen before.
On December 7, the tensions worked their way to the surface as the board was forced to confront the impasse left by Arshinkoff's refusal and/or inability to conform with the requirements of the law. With Arshinkoff abstaining, the four-member board voted to refer the matter to the Ohio Elections Commission to pursue whatever legal remedies it deemed appropriate. At a December 26 board meeting, Sigel and his Democratic counterpart Rose DeBord laid out in painstaking detail what the party needed to do to get their books in compliance. As of that date, Sigel was being accused by Arshinkoff loyalists of being in cahoots with Arshinkoff rival Kevin Coughlin -- those accusations were noted by reporter Stephanie Warsmith in the December 27 Akron Beacon-Journal. That detail is important, because those accusations served as the final impetus for Sigel to send out the aforementioned letter to the party executive committee -- dated December 27 -- which laid out his side of the story and the smear efforts being directed his way by Arshinkoff's henchmen. In so doing, the letter served as an indictment of Arshinkoff's tenure as party chairman and rightfully questioned his fitness given the dictatorial tactics used against enemies, both real and perceived.
Amusingly, Arshinkoff's mighty machine would now try to play the victim, pretending to cower in the face of a board employee to give cover to their plot against Sigel. Bryan Williams, the Republican director of the elections board and one of Arshinkoff's chief political enforcers, made the aforementioned transfer as a prelude to getting rid of Sigel after the March primary. Williams had the gall to pretend as though Sigel had the upper hand in the situation, telling Warsmith in the Beacon-Journal on January 15, "There was an appearance that he could use his role as auditor of finance reports as part of his crusade to get his boss fired." If proof were yet needed that the fix was in, Arshinkoff, Morrison and Williams violated Sigel's right to due process by denying him a chance to appeal Sigel's reassignment. The shunning campaign by Arshinkoff's functionaries at the board of elections has only grown in force over time, providing not only a hostile work environment for Sigel but a more tax-wasting government as petty behavior threatens the efficient flow of the people's business. Sigel has been given every indication that he will be replaced in his present role by the elections board after the March primary, when they are legally entitled to make appropriate replacements. With a spotless work record, Sigel would have been a shoo-in to have his employment roll over without any questions whatsoever prior to this controversy. Now, due to circumstances he never sought, he is about to become the human face of victimization by Alex Arshinkoff's corrupt machine.
Sigel could yet be saved if the Democratic elections board members refuse to roll over for Arshinkoff's attempt to install rubber-stamp politics at the finance examiner's desk, or if Secretary of State Brunner gets personally involved. She has the statutory power to protect whistleblowers at election board offices and she could end up having the final say if Arshinkoff's revenge campaign hits an unexpected pothole.
Analysis
In my teasing of this story this week, I started by saying that the story involved a prominent Democrat. That Democrat is Jennifer Brunner. In what has got to be a first for this blogger, I have to actually ask if Jennifer Brunner will set aside her partisan persona and actually act in a dignified and responsible manner as an elected official. Brunner is incredibly partisan and I can't imagine which way she would go in this case. While Arshinkoff is a Republican and thereby her sworn enemy, taking action against Arshinkoff would actually strengthen the Summit County Republican Party by dealing him a serious and heavy blow.
I have been waging a crusade against corruption in the Ohio Republican Party since I learned the name of Tom Noe, and Alex Arshinkoff's actions in this case illustrate the kind of character that he possesses. These are serious charges. An innocent man would seek to face them in an open manner, but Arshinkoff seeks to sweep all of this under the rug as quickly as possible. This isn't leadership. It is tyranny. Actions such as these should not be tolerated by the Republican Party at any level.
At the risk of parodying Democrats, I demand an investigation. Answers must be provided on these critical issues and full faith in the system must be restored. It is an outrage that Arshinkoff would even consider seeking the termination of a whistleblower; but sure enough, he has. It is exactly that brand of hubris that must be exorcised from our party's leaderhip before the rot destroys the very fabric of what the Republican Party believes in and stands for...
