David Pepper Refuses to Denounce Aide’s Unethical Behavior

Release:

The Blue Chip Young Republicans denounce County Commissioner David Pepper for refusing to condemn the unethical behavior committed by a member of his staff. Several months ago the Blue Chip Young Republicans discovered and exposed the campaign finance scheme of failed candidate Scott Gehring and his wife Jen Winkelman Gehring, an Aide to Commissioner Pepper, in which Mr. Gehring raised only $7400 during his brief candidacy and paid most of it to Winkelman for the stated purpose of “private consulting”.

These suspicious payments prompted then-Club President Jeff Capell to file a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission against Gehring and Winkelman for converting campaign cash to personal use. Shortly before the first scheduled hearing, a settlement was reached which forced Winkelman to return the money to their campaign fund, which was then to be dispersed back to their donors and the local Republican Party. Those transactions have now been completed.

In December, Capell sent a letter to Commissioner Pepper asking him to join the club in a bi-partisan condemnation of this unethical behavior. Pepper never responded. Pepper’s refusal to condemn this conduct reeks of hypocrisy when compared to his previous statements.

When local blogger Nate Livingston compared Pepper to Adolph Hitler, Pepper demanded that his then-opponent Mark Mallory condemn Livingston for this behavior, even though Livingston did not work for Mallory or his campaign. Pepper’s campaign stated, “If Mallory is unwilling to rebuke one of his leading advocates for engaging in the worst kind of divisive politics, he’s clearly not a leader who can bring us together and move our City forward.”

“If David Pepper is unwilling to condemn his own employee for her blatantly unethical behavior, clearly he’s not a leader who this County can trust,” said former Club President Jeff Capell. “Pepper should be ashamed of himself for tolerating this conduct from his staff. What kind of political leader allows his employee to behave so poorly?”

The club is deeply disturbed by Commissioner Pepper’s transparent hypocrisy. In 2005 Pepper demanded that Mallory condemn a private citizen for his alleged misdeed. Less than four years later, however, Pepper refuses to condemn his own employee for her misdeed. Hypocrisy thy name is David A. Pepper.

The club is also concerned by the rumors that have Pepper running against Auditor Mary Taylor. How can David Pepper monitor Ohio’s finances when he can’t even monitor the behavior of his two-person staff?

Mary Taylor would CRUSH David Pepper...