BUTLER COUNTY: Updates and Breaking Stories

Updating on a story from early in the week in which we learned that current Commissioner Cindy Carpenter may have improperly paid some employees from an State of Ohio account.  I have learned that by 2010, Cindy's entire executive team was charged 100% to the Title Fund.  However, 6 of the 10 employees in question have been charging 100% to Title for most, if not all, their time in her office.

Look, I applaud creative solutions to budget problems.  Particularly when our beloved Sheriff Spotlight continues to cry to the media and anybody else with a camera and/or microphone that his budget shall not be slashed and that there is no waste in his operation.  But the good people of Butler County deserve to know the truth about their public servants and what they have been doing to try to make ends meet.  If it turns out that what Ms. Carpenter has done here was unethical and/or illegal, she ought to face the consequences of her actions.  If the state comes looking for their money, it will be the taxpayer who will foot the bill...again...for the financial shenanigans.

We need genuine leadership...

MAYOR RON

I am pretty sure that the last time Fairfield mayor Ron D'Epifanio made it to the pages was when he endorsed my opponent for Central Committee.  But enough about me...  Now he wants to run for State Representative to replace the term-limited Corky Combs.  As usual he has the support of Corky and Sheriff Spotlight.

None of the above is why I think it is a bad idea...

The Republican Party needs to get younger.  Mayor Ron is 69 years old.  If he were elected, re-elected and then won his final term, he'd be 75...

Just putting it out there...

Of course, if the mayor is the best we can muster, I'm all for it...

MIKE FOX PLEADS GUILTY

A few things about this story from Michael Pitman...

Cindy Carpenter:

“We want Butler County to be portrayed in good light and we are disappointed to see a colleague fall so far from grace,” she said.

“It stands as an example that public officials are held to a higher standard, and deserve to be represented by honest and ethical officeholders,” she added, offering sympathy to Fox’s family, friends and supporters.

Is it just me, or is Cindy actually aware of how silly this stuff sounds coming from Mike Fox: The Next Generation?  I mean, it hits all the right notes, but it still sounds funny...

And now a word from our Democrat friends:

After learning of Fox’s guilty plea, Butler County Democratic Party Chairwoman Jocelyn Bucaro issued a statement deriding Republican officeholders not taking any action “to recover the ill-gotten gains of the guilty or to recover the millions of dollars lost to fraud, waste and abuse.”

Bucaro also questioned whether commissioners will strip Fox of his pension, saying that taxpayers should not have to pay “a public servant who stole from them.”

Hey, Joey, a Republican office holder CALLED THE FBI...I'd say something was done about it.

Joey does make an interesting point about the Mike's pension though...not sure what the possibility is of revoking that is; but if it can be done, it certainly has my blessing.