Facing a tenacious opponent in an election just three weeks away, Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Tracy Winkler came under increased fire today for her office’s practice of prodding employees into helping her political campaign.
State Sen. Cecil Thomas, D-North Avondale, has already asked the county Board of Commissioners to seek an investigation by Hamilton County’s part-time prosecutor, Joe Deters. On Monday, self-styled government watchdog and attorney Tim Mara said he has filed a complaint with the Ohio Ethics Commission.
“I did this because no public employee should be coerced into participating in a political campaign,” Mara said. “A public employee’s only concern should be to do the best he or she can do for the taxpayers.”
Mara and Thomas were joined in the courthouse-steps press conference by Winkler’s Democratic opponent Aftab Pureval. He announced a three-point plan to rid the court clerk’s office of political patronage and place rank-and-file employees under civil service protections similar to those afforded their counterparts in state and federal government.
“These are employees whose job it is to serve taxpayers, not a political party,” Pureval said. “Her own staff is fed up with the coercive tactics.”
CityBeat reported last week that Winkler and chief bailiff Donald Robinson had sent workday emails to employees on Sept. 1, asking them to plant yard signs, wear Winkler T-shirts and attend a parade in support of her re-election bid. The emails were sent from and to personal email accounts, but went out early that Thursday afternoon. CityBeat also reported that Winkler and Robinson frequently post items related to her campaign or the Republican Party on their Facebook pages during work hours. Winkler had 49 such posts in the last three months.
Winkler has not answered CityBeat’s calls or emails and was again unavailable for comment Monday. In a response to WCPO last week, she said no “county resources were used to further my election, and nothing illegal occurred.” To the Cincinnati Enquirer, she said she “expressed displeasure” and “was disappointed” with an employee for having sent “an email.” She did not name the employee or discuss the nature of the email, nor did she address her own act of hitting up employees by email for her campaign.
Thomas, a former member of Cincinnati City Council, said Winkler’s appeals for campaign help raise the question of whether or not refusal would have negative repercussions for the employees. He said he plans to press County Commission to seek an advisory opinion on its legality.
“I’m a state senator. I am not allowed to solicit my staff for campaign contributions, nor am I allowed to solicit them to work for my campaigns,” he said. “That’s all part of state law. For some reason, we’re seeing something totally different here in Hamilton County.”
The court clerk’s office has about 220 employees. All are regarded as “unclassified,” which leaves them unprotected from state laws that shield “classified” workers from partisan politics. Court Clerk Administrator Mark Waters said the employees’ status was based on an opinion by Deters.
Pureval said that if he is elected, he will prohibit accepting campaign contributions from employees and forbid them from engaging in political activity during the workday. Most important, he said, he would designate the “vast majority” of clerk’s office employees as classified.
“This is going to protect them from coercion and intimidation by shielding them from being able to be overtly partisan,” Pureval said. “It’s why in other counties in Ohio, the clerk’s office employees are classified.”
Thomas took particular umbrage at a Facebook post by Robinson shortly before noon on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. The post is that of a confederate flag and an explanation of what it stands for.
“Why would he do that, knowing that that is extremely sensitive information when it relates to African Americans?” said Thomas, who is black. “As a representative of the courts, of our system of justice, to post the confederate flag, such a hurtful and offensive image, while you’re on the taxpayers’ time is totally unacceptable.”
This article appears in Oct 12-19, 2016.