The Ohio Ethics Law and County Elections Boards Recorded Webinar Transcript

[00:05] Hi, everyone. My name is Susan Willeke and I'm with the Ohio Ethics Commission. And it's my pleasure to be able to bring to you this short webinar about the Ohio Ethics Law specifically as it does pertain to all of you in your wonderful jobs all across Ohio. Thank you so much for all that you do. And it's my pleasure to spend just a short time with you to give you a little bit of information about the Ohio Ethics Law, that does regulate all of us in public service. This is a criminal statute in the state of Ohio, and it regulates people in state government, counties, cities, townships, villages, school districts, pretty much, in government, people are subject to the Ohio Ethics Law. While this training is not statutorily mandated, it is a wonderful idea for people to be very familiar with the Ethics Law, because the more we know, the more equipped we are to actually comply with this criminal statute.

[00:55] So I kind of want to give you sort of an overview of the Ethics Commission itself and the Ethics Law. And then we are going to get into a little more into details about something very specific with the boards of elections that we don't talk about in every other webinar and recording that we do, and that's dealing with financial disclosure, since that is something that's part of your world in the boards of elections, that kind of relationship that we have at the Ethics Commission with all the different boards of elections.

[01:18] Just as we go through all these things that we're going to talk about today, I just invite everybody to kind of keep in mind the real foundational reason of the Ethics Law. Certainly, it behooves all of us in public service - hired, elected, appointed, full-time, part-time, management, not, union, not, etc., it behooves all of us to comply with the Ethics Law because I know none of us want to be charged with a crime, but on a more foundational level, the intent, purpose and benefit of this statute is that it protects you and me as fellow Ohioans - people who live here, who pay taxes - you have the right as a citizen and as a taxpayer to expect that governments are going to operate in a certain way. That's really the intent behind this statute.

[02:01] Please understand, too, as I go through all the things we're going to cover today, please understand there is so much more information available on our website that you can find. We have fact sheets and Advisory Opinions and e-courses and recorded webinars, all kinds of things. We've tried to kind of build this toolkit to help people in public service more readily understand the Ethics Law so they are prepared to obey it and make sure their public jobs stay kind of on that straight and narrow during our years of public service.

[02:29] So as we kind of jump into this, I just want to give you just a little bit of information about the Ethics Commission itself. We are a small agency, I grant you, but we do some pretty hefty statutory responsibilities. Now, I recognize we are going to talk about financial disclosure, as I mentioned, sort of toward the end of my presentation as it relates to county boards of elections. So kind of put that on the back burner for now. But looking one right above that, I know everybody is always interested in our investigations and I understand they can be very interesting. It can sometimes be unfortunate to hear of people who made bad decisions as people in public service. But the truth is, as wonderful as our investigators are, they are a wonderful team, wicked smart, they do their jobs well, at the end of the day, I'm guessing most of us would prefer not to spend a lot of time with professional investigators talking about criminal behavior.

[03:21] So I would encourage all of us to kind of focus on the first two bullet points that you see on this screen. I am the manager of the Education, Communication, and Training. My job is to kind of help take more of that, the legal advice, the lawyerly language, and make it very relevant, very, very user friendly and timely, so, the Advisory Attorneys, at that top bullet point there, they are wonderful as well, you can reach out to them. They will give free legal advice. I always think of us, the Advisory Attorneys and the Education folks, kind of as the proactive part of the Ohio Ethics Commission, because our goal would be that if people have the information they need and can react accordingly in accordance with the law, that maybe we will have fewer investigations down the road, anyway. So that's just a little bit about the Ohio Ethics Commission. My guess is some of you have worked with some of our folks in the past, probably primarily our financial disclosure filers, which, as I mentioned, we'll talk about here in a little while.

[04:15] Before we get there, though, these are the primary areas of the Ohio Ethics Law. And here's what I will tell you, there are other areas of the statute as well that we won't have time to get into today. And even of these six parts that we will spend a little bit of time on, it really is the briefest of overviews. I always call these kind of the CliffsNotes of the Ethics Law. It's sort of that real brief, “Here's what you need to know, but here's where you can get more information.” Nothing in this e-course stands as legal advice. It's just sort of dipping our toe into the worlds of information that we have and the advice that we've rendered in the past 50 years on the Ohio Ethics Law.

[04:55] So let's kind of hit these one at a time. And then as promised, we'll jump into the specifics of financial disclosure since that is relevant to you in your line of work. So let's talk about this first one, Conflicts of Interest. I always think, I've been doing this a long time, I've always thought this phrase gets a little bit of a bad rap. You know what I mean? It always feels like people assume it has to be illegal for someone to have a conflict of interest. I even think it even has sort of an ominous overtone, right? Conflicts of Interest *DUN - DUN - DAA* Doesn't it feel that way?

[05:26] The honest truth is, conflicts of interest in public service are really normal. They happen a lot in public service. It's simply indicative of the fact that public employees and public officials are real, live people. And we all have our own outside lives. None of us cease to exist at the end of our workday. When that election season is over you don't all kind of climb back into lockers and reemerge again for the next election. We all have these outside interests. Some of us have homes or maybe some of you are landlords or maybe you have family right there in that county where you work, where you help to oversee elections. Perhaps you work part time here or there, or maybe you own your own business. You sell widgets, maybe you serve on the board of that nonprofit, and so on and so forth. We all have these outside interests and people that enrich our lives and give us joy. Those are also the things that can bring about a conflict of interest. So that's what this part of the Ethics Law is about. It is it has never been, in the state of Ohio, illegal for someone in public service, regardless of their position, to have a conflict of interest. What's illegal is if someone were to act on that conflict of interest.

[06:42] So I realize we're talking about county boards of elections today, but just to help us think like citizens here, and taxpayers, for a minute, let me give you this hypothetical. Think about the county where you are, not the county where you work necessarily, the county that you call home, whether that's the same as your job or not. Think about the county that you call home. Now, let's pretend that there is a county employee in the health department, in your home county, and her name is Janet. And Janet's job is to inspect restaurants on behalf of the health department in that county. And lo and behold, Janet's sister wants to open a restaurant in the county. Is that a conflict of interest for Janet? Yes, absolutely. Is that a reason for Janet to panic? No, not at all. Right. As long as that employee, that public official is able to be completely recused. That's the difference there under the Ohio Ethics Law. It is not illegal to have the conflict. It is illegal to act on the conflict.

[07:40] So, in your years of public service, this can take on a number of roles. It does not mean that you cannot give general election or voting information to your Mom or your Dad. If it's information that you're allowed to provide to any citizen in your county, that doesn't mean that you're not allowed to give out general information. But what it does mean is that you're not acting on behalf of something, that you are not the person that is trying to help your outside job, that you work part-time for, you know, help get contracts with your agency. You are not advocating for your private employer in your private job before your agency, you are not advocating for a relative, etc. in your county job.

[08:22] I will say this about the whole issue of recusal. Please note that on this screen it doesn't say, “Oh, it's just the final decision making.” I mean, that certainly would be illegal. If there was something pending before my public entity that had a definite and direct impact on myself, on a member of my family, or someone that I have a business relationship with in my private outside life, by all means, I would have to stay out of the final decision making. But it also means that I'm not going to recommend things for them, advocate behind the scenes, approve, issue, I'm not even going to have a hallway conversation! If, in fact, someone really, truly has a conflict of interest, recusal has to be complete.

[09:00] Like a really common one might be so, let's say that I'm working for the board of elections for the county of Anywhere, Ohio. You've heard of that county, it’s our 89th county, Anywhere County, Ohio, right? So let's say that I work for that county board of elections, and lo and behold, there is a vendor, right? One of the companies that we work with, whether they provide voting machines or whether it's a company we use to fix the roof after a hailstorm on our county building, whatever. That that company has a job posting that I'm interested in. Right? Do you see already where you're thinking, “Well, it's not illegal for someone to think about taking a new job.” What would be illegal is if I were doing those two things simultaneously. X, Y, Z company has a vending contract with my agency and I'm actively involved in that. Oh, and by the way, I am simultaneously negotiating a new salary to go work with them.

[09:50] Do you see what I mean there? This is where that concept of recusal comes into play, that if I'm able to step away completely, formally, informally, writing, you know, verbally, whatever, if that kind of recusal is possible, then yes, it is possible for me, let's say, to pursue that job, etc.. The issue on conflicts is a fairly broad one. We have lots of advice that we've issued over the years, so I really want to encourage you, when questions arise about conflicts of interest, “Gee, this doesn't feel right.” Or, “This involves my family directly.” Or, “This is my relative coming in to declare their candidacy and they want, like, for me to walk them through things.” Any time you kind of have that, “Huh? Hmm.” moment, do two things.

[10:31] One, step way back, real quickly. Right? And let somebody know. Disclose that. “Hey, I can't work on that case because it impacts my sister directly,” etc.. And then I would say, check out our website. We have so much on our website that again, has a five decade precedent that can assist you. If you don't find what you’re looking for I'll give you our phone number at the end of this class and you can give us a call and speak with one of our wonderful Advisory Attorneys.

[10:56] Alright, please, I just please want to say this real quick. That quick, quick, quick overview I did on Conflicts of Interest, I could teach a whole semester at a law school just about conflicts of interest. So again, I know this is the most brief of overviews, but I always feel like if we have simply accomplished kind of planting the seed where you go, “Huh. I could call them later,” I feel like that was time well spent together. So pretty, pretty brief overview, but so much more, we can provide you if you need it.

[11:25] But with that we are going to move on to the next brief overview, and that's on the Gift part of the Ohio Ethics Law. Now, I just want to say, quickly, I completely understand that many of you interact with private sector companies that sell this or that, and consult, etc. Very often in the private sector world kind of “wining and dining” clients and taking people to ball games or golf outings, that can be a really normal part of the private sector. The minute public employees or public officials enter that fray, though, all bets are off. People in public service are not allowed to accept these expensive, wonderful outings or gifts, etc.. Now, one of the things that the statute doesn't give us, actually 102.03(E) AND (F), I should have included (F) on this slide, it doesn't give us a specific dollar amount. If the board of elections where you work or serve ever has an internal gift policy with a fairly modest dollar amount, that's completely fine. But I just wanted to let you know, the Ethics Law itself, the actual criminal statute, does not identify a specific dollar amount that says, “Hey, as long as this gift is worth less than this amount of money we’re okay!” It doesn't have that specific dollar amount. What the statute says is that you and I, as people in public service, we are not allowed to solicit or to accept anything that is what you see on this screen, both substantial and improper. So while there is not a statutory definition in 102.03(E) or (F), what I can tell you is based on our advisory precedent from the last 50 years.

[13:00] So let's actually define that second word first - “improper” All that word means is, who is offering me the gift? Who is it that wants to pick up my tab at lunch? Who is it that wants to take me to the OSU football game or to the Guardians game or to the Reds game? Alright? Who wants to, you know, give me this theater ticket for a live performance for a traveling Broadway show through Dayton or Toledo, etc.? Who sent the tin of cookies at the holidays last year? Who is the source of this thing of value? You can see on this screen there's only a few categories that make someone an improper source to your county board of elections. The first two are in that vending world. Current vendors, these are folks that are already selling goods and services to your office, whether it's voting machines or whether it's consulting or whether it's, they did the spring cleaning of your your carpets after the winter last year. So current vendors but now look at that second bullet point - the “wannabe” vendors. These are companies that are really trying to get that, let's say, public contract with your office. So current or wannabe vendors are considered improper sources. Right? And then anybody who’s directly regulated by a public office, I'm not going to worry about that one too much with all of you.

[14:16] That would be more along the lines of if I were talking to like a Department of Natural Resources or the health department that regulates specific companies. I'm going to look with all of you more the vendors, the potential vendors, and sometimes people with a specific or a vested interest in matters before your public office, somebody that would be directly impacted in a unique way by some decision or matter coming out of your office. Please understand, I do not mean to imply here that we assume that all of your vendors, or the people that want to be your vendors, that they must be improper people, or I’m that somehow suggesting, “Oh, we know they all have improper motives.” No, not at all. But what the statute would say is that these folks, your vendors, potential vendors, etc., that they would be improper sources of substantial things of value.

[15:01] Remember, the other half that equation, substantial and improper? Now, first off, while this is the equation in the statute, you and I are not allowed to solicit or to accept anything that is substantial and from an improper source. We’ve just defined “improper source.” So now let's talk about “substantial.” Can we first agree that there are plenty of gifts in the world that are not substantial? Right? Have you all ever in your career, have you ever given or accepted some of these trinket-y little things, the promotional tchotchke kind of things, the ball cap, or the pen, or pencil, or the coffee mug, or the real modest little food item? Nominal. De minimis. Not substantial, Not illegal. Frankly, the Ethics Commission isn’t losing any sleep if last year you took a box of donut holes from some vendor. Now, in all fairness, if any of your boards of elections, if your office has more stringent policies in place, that's completely fine. If you say to your employees, “I don't want you taking anything, I don't want you to take a stick of gum from our vendor.” That's completely fine. We wouldn't enforce that. We would only pursue gifts that were given to public employees or public officials that were from improper sources, those vendors, etc. we talked about, and fall into this category of something more substantial.

[16:20] This is not an all encompassing, all inclusive list. This is just a smattering of examples. We have seen everything over the years, from travel, to expensive meals, to expensive alcohol, to furniture, appliances, jewelry, entertainment things, the golf outings, tickets to sporting events, etc.. Those are the kinds of things that once you get past, “Hey, this is a coffee mug filled with Hershey kisses,” just conclude that that's substantial. If any of these things are ever offered to you by, let's say, a vendor to your county board of elections, just say “No.” Right? Just decline. At the end of the day, this is still the evaluation that we have to rely on. Was that thing of value substantial? And was it from an improper source? Motive doesn't matter, intent, whether or not it influenced - now, in fairness, if somebody actually accepts a bribe, well, that's a whole different part of the criminal code. This is not the bribery statute. We do not have to say, “Well, after she took the ticket to that traveling Broadway show, we noticed that she changed the course of action.” That's illegal. That would be a bribe. But that's not the standard of liability that we have to show here.

[17:30] All we would have to show is: “So hang on. Susan, who works at the Anywhere County Board of Elections, accepted a ticket to a traveling Broadway show from a vendor to her agency?” And if the answer is “Yes, that was from an improper source,” and “Yes, that was worth more than one of those trinket-y little tchotchke, donut hole things.” A ticket to a show? Yeah, that was substantial and it was improper. The answer is: “That was illegal.” Whether or not it influenced me is not germane at that point. I wasn't allowed to accept it.

[18:00] So here's what I would say. If ever you have a question on a gift, by all means, check out our website. We'd be thrilled to help you. But I would also say, let the fact that the question is nagging at your brain, let that answer your question. If you have a “Huh...” moment, play it safe and say, “No, thanks, I'm good.” I'm always a little bit saddened and amazed how much people are willing to risk for something so temporary.

[18:26] You know, whatever your thing is, if it would be an OSU football game or a Browns game or a Blue Jackets game, or maybe, you know, the Bengals, whatever, or if it's not even sports, if it would be something else. I have to believe that no matter how enjoyable that event was, that expensive bottle of bourbon, or the Dom Perignon at the holidays, no matter how enjoyable it was, it was still pretty limited in time, I have to believe that's not worth potentially getting charged with a crime. So just say “No” to these things. The work that you all do is far too important and valuable to let it be sidetracked by something as temporary as some sporting event or Broadway show. Pay your own way or stay home and watch it on TV if you can, and you'll just be happier and safer in the long run. Again on our website, lots more information on gifts that you can find, including everything from, like, donations to discounts. Can I buy the ticket to that event, etc.? All kinds of things on our website that go much deeper than just this very general e-course or webinar so far.

[19:29] All right, you guys doing okay? So we're going to move on then to the next area of the Ethics Law that was on that list, “Public contracts.” There is certainly a far more erudite sounding definition to the phrase “public contract” in the Administrative and Revised Codes, but let me keep it really simple. A public contract is any time your county board of elections spends money. That’s really all it is. It can be, it can be money spent for you need to replace, oh, you need to replace someone's mouse for their computer, or it can be something far more significant. You just signed off on a five year contract with this consulting company. Whatever the case may be, public money being spent is a public contract.

[20:08] It's perfectly normal, happens every business day of the year in government. But when we're talking about public money, you have to conclude that there will be some restrictions. Right? This is the first part of our presentation today where we are talking about a prohibition that carries a fourth-degree felony penalty. So here's how this would play out. Even though I know this looks a lot like the conflict slide. Here's the difference. The woman, the pretend friend of ours, Janet, who was going to inspect her sister's restaurant, if she had done that, that would in fact be a first degree misdemeanor because she used the authority of her public position to secure a thing of value, in this case, a passed inspection for her sister, Janet's restaurant. Illegal conflict violation.

[20:51] However, under this part of the Ethics Law, the, actually, securing or helping to obtain a public contract for myself, my family, or my outside business associate, in that world, it's bumped up to a fourth-degree felony because in this situation I would be using the authority of my public position, no matter what it is, to try to secure public money for myself, a member of my family, a business associate. So let's say, for example, that your office, you need to bring in a plumber. Something went awry with the plumbing system. It needs to be upgraded. And you have a sister who is a licensed plumber and owns her own business in your community. And you think, “I think my sister should go after that plumbing contract.” Now, this part of the law does not prohibit your sister from pursuing it. What it prohibits is you and I, as her family member affiliated with that governmental office, from acting on that in any way. Yes, it does mean, just like we talked about, recusal, earlier, it does mean that I will not make the final decision, I grant you. But it also means I'm not putting in a good word for my sister. I am not hand-delivering her bid spec response. I am not talking her up or talking down the competition. I don't review everything else. I don't make recommendations. Advocate, lobby, sign off on, vote on, if I'm a board member etc.. Nothing, not one action, to help my sister obtain that public contract.

[22:19] If that kind of recusal is possible for me, then my sister potentially could get that contract. If, let's say I'm the fiscal officer, though, and I say I can't recuse myself. Well, in that case, then my sister cannot get that contract. This can only happen when recusal is absolutely possible. Now, that kind of recusal is mandatory and important, especially when it comes to my family members or to people that, again, that I have those business relationships with in my private life. Let's say, in addition to working for the county board of election, I work part-time for some plumbing company out there. Same thing. My boss who owns that company, can she go after that contract? Sure she can. Again, it all comes down to whether or not I can recuse myself.

[22:59] Now, there is one part of the statute where recusal does not solve the problem. We just said recusal is the answer if it's, look at this screen, if it's a family member or if it's an outside business associate. Recusal does not offer the same panacea if, in fact, I am the person, as the public employee or public official, who owns or co-owns that plumbing company. There is a fairly specific prohibition under the Ohio Ethics Law that very explicitly says this, in a nutshell: those of us in public service, I don't care if you've been hired, elected or appointed, it doesn't matter, you cannot be a vendor to your own public entity. In my case, the Ethics Commission, in your case, your county board of elections, county government, etc..

[23:46] You cannot sell your widgets, your consulting services, you can't sell t-shirts, construction work, whatever it is. We cannot have that kind of selling relationship to the very public entity with which we are affiliated. This is one of our two most commonly violated parts of the Ohio Ethics Law, and I am going to encourage you to help me spread the word. This should not be happening in your county government. If somebody in public service in any position, if they own a backhoe, company or service, fine, but they need do that on their own time, with their own equipment, and not selling that service to the very county government that they serve. Right? Outside, you know, customers? Okay. But not to the very public entity where we serve. This is a potential violation under the public contract law and a very good way to make sure the public doesn't trust us. If they see people using their public positions, hired, elected, or appointed, to try to just make sure our personal businesses are enhanced in profits by getting the very public contracts that our agency may need. So this is a really important point. Please do not sell things - goods, services, once in a while, ever, as needed, big amounts of money, tiny amounts of money. It doesn't matter. You should never be a vendor to the very public entity where you serve.

[25:15] Now, I did mention that this is one of our two most commonly voted parts of the Ethics Law, so I do a fact sheet on our website that you can read more about this prohibition and how to avoid violating the law. But I will also tell you that the other most common violation of the Ethics Law: selling things to our own public agency, and the next one, these are both public contract violations. And here is the other one. Now, please don't panic. I am not suggesting that if you happen to have two people working for the board that are related to one another by blood or by marriage, that we assume a crime has been committed. Not necessarily. The issue, the actual crime of nepotism, is when one person who is already in public service does not recuse him or herself when a loved one, when a family member is pursuing a public job. It's a little more immediate family, a little more around you, regardless of where they live. If you want more information about nepotism, I would encourage you to go to our website and look at my FAQ on nepotism that answers every question very succinctly - boom, boom, question, answer, question, answer - all the important things you need to know.

[26:24] If in fact a member of your family is looking for a public job, that's marvelous. Marvelous. Wish them well and then step back. You do not hand-deliver their resume. You do not serve as their character reference. You don't sit in on the interviews, you don't recommend them. You don't go have a talk with the supervisor. You don't reach out to HR on their behalf. You don't advocate, lobby, anything. Not one single word, writing or orally, formal, informal, nothing. They have to be able to get that job on their own merits without any input from you at all. Not one word. And if in fact, your loved one is hired, you simply couldn't be their direct supervisor. We need at least one level of management between the two.

[27:05] This again, is one of our two most commonly violated parts of law, and I would argue this is the most effective way to lose the public's trust. Even more than selling stuff to our own agency. I think that's a bad one, but this is one that's sure to make sure, it’s sure to make people in our counties and cities say, “So they're just out for themselves.” Don’t let this happen. Again, the work you do, way too important. If you need more information on nepotism, please go to that FAQ I mentioned. It will give you everything from “What's our definition of family?” to “Are there timelines? What do I need to know? How do I react if a member of my family is in fact applying for a job?” It's all right there in black and white to help you through.

[27:45] All right. There's one last area of the Ethics Law. And then I want to talk about financial disclosure for a little bit. This is the part of the law that you're going to want to be aware of someday when you're departing from your county government. Maybe you're retiring, maybe you take another job to go work for the city, or the state, or maybe you're going to work in the private sector, start your own business, etc.. This is essentially for all of, for you and for me, a one year cooling off period that from the minute you walk out that door, there's a one year clock that starts ticking that would say, I cannot, in that first year, so that one year at the bottom, for that first year after I walk out the door, I can't represent, right? Communicate, on behalf of my new company. In any way. Hearings, briefings, meetings, e-mails, text messages, phone calls, whatever.

[28:30] I can't communicate on their behalf to anybody in government, for one year, if what we would be discussing, in that phone call or meeting or whatever, is something that I had been part of, that I had personally participated in. So in all fairness, if I leave the Anywhere County Board of Elections and I go to work somewhere else and they say, “Hey, could you call so-and-so?” The questions I'm going to ask myself, “Alright, has it been at least a year?” Because if a year is over I don't have to worry about this anymore. If I go “Yeah, it’s been less than a year. So they want me to call somebody in government?” Whether it's the agency I left or another government agency, I’m gonna go, “Okay, yeah, they want me to call somebody in government...and wait, you want me to ask about what? Oh yeah, that's something I was part of, that I participated in, I supervised the staff, I had a recommendation, approval,” whatever. Right?

[29:12] If you can honestly say, “No, my office had some jurisdiction, I never had one single solitary conversation or read an e-mail about that issue.” Well, that's different. This is a prohibition for one year of communicating on behalf of my new employer/whatever about something that I had worked on, and now I’m communicating on their behalf to somebody in government, the agency I left or any other. The idea, if the question that comes to your mind with this one is, “Okay, I get what it is, but why?” The idea of this part of the law is to make sure that people don't leave public service, immediately go somewhere else, well, that's not automatically illegal, but then start using the influence and even former relationships they had to advance things for their boss, for their employer. It has to be fair.

[29:55] That's why this is only an issue if, in fact, I would be communicating on behalf of my new job to someone in government, not like a private client. If any of you are thinking of heading out in this next year, we do have some post-employment resources on our website that can be very helpful. If you're in HR, it's not mandatory, but it's a really nice gesture to include in any exit packets for an outgoing employee some of our factsheets on post-employment. You guys did well, I know we went fast, but I do want to spend a little bit of time on Financial Disclosure.

[30:26] Just real quickly, if you're not real familiar with it, Financial disclosure is an annual form that between ten and 11,000 people in public service fill out. And it's just a way to help them recognize any potential conflicts of interest in their private life, kind of identify them, so they can avoid acting on them, even inadvertently, it kind of helps them. And it does give the public a level of additional transparency for people of higher levels of public trust. It's just a way that the public can kind of say “So now that Susan Willeke is the mayor of the city of Anywhere, Ohio, I’m gonna check her financial disclosure form to see, are all of our street cleaning contracts going to the street cleaning company that she owns in her private life?” It adds that kind of a transparency so that people can trust that what their government is doing is for the better good of the community, not just the person in that public office, for example. Right? So that's kind of the “Why?”

[31:15] Here's the “Who?” Not every state employee by any means, not every county, city, etc., There are certain people in these these these parts of government that have to file. State filers make up a pretty good bunch, in terms of the variety of kind of jobs. I'm not going to read all these to you. I fully believe in your ability to read these lists. But you get the idea. Like the five statewide elected office holders, and those candidates and again, people with higher-up positions, the department heads, chiefs of divisions. Kind of those people, again, with that higher level of public trust. They’re a little higher up on the TO. These are the folks that, at the state level, are in fact required to do this annual form with the Ethics Commission.

[31:57] At the more local level, counties and cities, there you have the elected officers and candidates for those elected offices. It's worth noting that villages and townships do not fall into this category. So it's people at the county and the city level, any elected officeholders or people pursuing those elected offices. Now when we get to schools and ESC it’s a little bit different here. So look at the first three bullet points. These folks, school board members or ESC board members or candidates for either of those boards, they only have to file with the Ethics Commission if the district that they represent or they will be working with or serving has at least 12,000 students or more. Those are the only folks at that level that have to file with the Ethics Commission.

[32:44] But now look at the bottom three bullet points are your superintendents, your treasurers and your business managers. It doesn't matter the size of the school district, those three categories of people file faithfully with the Ethics Commission every year without fail, no matter how large or small that district is. Now, I'll just put this one in really quickly here. There are some other folks that file that don't come through the Ohio Ethics Commission. So, for example, people like judges, magistrates, their immediate staff, they file with the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct. And people, Senators, excuse me, Ohio Senators and Ohio Representatives or the candidates for those offices file with what’s, we call it JLEC - the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee. So there's kind of different ones. But we by far have the vast majority of filers that file at the Ethics Commission.

[33:32] In most years it is May 15th. When that can change, that, that date does fall, just like for, I'm sure is normal, in many agencies, if there's something that falls on a weekend. So if the 15th were on a Sunday, the filing date would be Monday the 16th. But most years it is in fact May 15th, about a month after tax day. Now, here's where you guys start to come in. When people could potentially be, “Hey, I'm going to be a new filer.” Right? “I'm going to run this public office.” Etc.. There is a statutory requirement, remember there’s some statutory requirements. There are some statutory requirements that we need to know about. Candidates and those appointed to elective office, so this person didn't finish the term, this person is going to be appointed into that filing position.

[34:14] The mayor won the $1 billion in the lottery and has moved to an island in the South Pacific somewhere and the city appoints this person to that filing position. There does have to be some notification. So here's what does statutorily fall upon the county boards of elections. You are required if there is a new candidate coming in. Right? I'm here to declare my candidacy because I want to run for the city council, etc., that it is required by statute that the board of, the county board of elections notifies them of their requirement to file financial disclosure statements with the Ethics Commission, and you are required to provide them with a financial disclosure statement. That does not have to be hard copy.

[35:01] You are welcome to provide them a link to the form that is already on our website and you are required to get their signature saying, “Yes, I did in fact receive the link to that financial disclosure statement.” It certainly can be the candidate. But if a designee like, for example, it’s real common, I realize, that a candidate like, their treasurer might come in to declare. It just has to be either the candidate or their designee. If you want, you are welcome to use our form for that whole acknowledging “Yes, I got a copy of it,” etc.. You don't have to use this form, but you're welcome to, if you don't want to reinvent the wheel. You can find this on our website and you are more than welcome to use this to save on your workload.

[35:43] Now, real quickly here, we mentioned that you have to notify, by law, new candidates. If this person is filing to run for X, Y, Z, city or county office, you are required to let them know about the filing requirements. This is the other one, though. We, you are going to have to let us know if a candidate drops out of that race. If they notify you, you then notify us so we're not send them late things, etc.. Okay? It is sort of important that we kind of stay in touch with each other. And those are two of the areas where you do want to reach out to the Ethics Commission.

[36:20] Just real quickly here, I know you probably know all of these, but this is information that we do provide to people, it’s on our website, we have all kinds of fact sheets that do talk about those deadlines for candidates. Now, this is what I referenced earlier. If, in fact, Susan Willeke was the mayor of the city of Anywhere, Ohio, I won the $1 billion in the Ohio Lottery, which would be interesting since I've never bought a ticket, but let's pretend, right? And I decide I'm moving on up and I’m moving to Fiji somewhere. I'm going to spend my life in the surf and the sand. And they are going to now appoint this person to finish, to fill my term. And that is a filing position. Right? I've left. I'm not filing anymore after that next year. And now this person that comes in, you do have to notify them again of their requirement.

[37:07] Interim office holders don’t have to, but if somebody is actually appointed to complete that term, that unexpired term, you are required to let that newbie know about that. I completely get, by the way, that sometimes the cities might forget to let you know. I understand that. So I would say I get that why it's so important, that communication of you guys being able to touch base with those liaisons at the city, the county, because I understand they may neglect to let you know. But, having said that, the minute they do let you know, you're then required to let us know. And here is another form. Again, feel free to pull it off our web site. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. It already exists. Once that has taken place, the rest is kind of on us, of making sure that they’ve, you know, actually completed the statement. You're not required to make sure they complete the statement or submit it to us. You just have to let them know about their requirement to file and we kind of take over from there.

[38:07] Okay? The one last thing that our two wonderful financial disclosure experts here at the Ethics Commission did ask me to kindly include here, respectfully to all of you: if, in fact, our office reaches out to your county and says, “Hey, we need a list of those who have already filed.” We totally get that you have a busy workload. We understand that. And we also understand when people say “It's on the website already!” Please understand, we are juggling 88 counties and very often the lists on the website are not updated as often as they need to be. And we are working under statutory deadlines. We have to obey the law as well.

[38:48] So if one of our folks calls you and says, “Could you please send me that list?” Please understand that we're juggling 88 counties. So every candidate you guys are working with, we have that times 88. So please send that to them. Please understand these are wonderful, hardworking people that are trying to oversee the filing of almost 11,000 filers with two staff members. So they're wonderful people, and we're deeply grateful for all of your help in that area.

[39:14] Okay. So with that, I very likely have raised more questions than I've answered, haven’t I? That's normal with a training. So here's the information I want to give you. A lot of you probably already have our website, our phone number. You've reached out to our Financial Disclosure experts. But there's, you can find more information, we have a whole huge financial disclosure section of our website. If you can't find what you’re looking for, give us a call. And I think you're going to find that our FDS folks are just amazing to work with. But in the meantime, if you have questions besides that, if you just want to know, “Hey, I have an ethics issue! I work for this county board of elections and I have this issue, What do I do?” Reach out to our Advisory Attorneys.

[39:52] If you ever want in-person training at a staff development day, give me a call. In a nutshell, it is really our desire to work in a partnership with you all. So with that, I just want to say thank you for participating in this very quick course with me. I realize that you have a lot to do. But I also just want to thank you for all that you do for the State of Ohio. I’m really proud to live in Ohio, to live in a country where fair and safe elections are still always our goal. Thank you for all that you do to make that possible. So with that, thank you so much everybody, have a marvelous rest of your day, and don't be strangers everybody. Take care. Bye-bye.