Athens County Common Pleas Judge Michael Ward told the county board of elections yesterday morning that his treasurer's secretary, Rebecca Holley, was responsible for five forged campaign checks.
During his re-election campaign last fall, Ward and his wife, Barbara, signed five checks drawn from his campaign account, but neither were authorized to do so, said Penny Brooks, deputy director of the Athens County Board of Elections. The judge's treasurer, Mark Snider, was the only one actually qualified to sign checks.
In going through the cancelled checks, Brooks found that some of the serial numbers of the checks did not match properly. Snider said Holley admitted to cutting the signature -and in turn the serial numbers -from signed checks and pasting them onto new checks.
Ward said that in a written statement to the board, Holley admitted to cutting the checks because she saw the couple had signed checks they were not allowed to, and she decided to change the paperwork.
The repeating check numbers were what tipped Brook off.
Snider and Ward both claim they had no knowledge of Holley changing the names on the cancelled checks.
During the hectic last 10 days of the campaign
Barbara and I inadvertently wrote checks to pay legitimate campaign expenses on the Re-elect Judge Michael Ward checking account although we were not signatories on the account Ward said in a written statement.
When questioned by board president Susan Gwinn -who also is chair of the Athens County Democratic Party -Ward admitted to having signed Snider's name to some checks, with his permission. Snider also gave Ward blank checks Snider already had signed.
After being notified by Brooks and Snider of the discrepancies, Ward said he notified the Ohio Supreme Court of the three checks he wrote, because the court determines judicial ethics.
But Gwinn said that when she called the court Friday, she was told that the court only heard from an unidentified judge saying that he signed checks with his own name.
When it came to what course of action should be taken against Ward, Holley and Snider, the board could not agree.
We have no authority to fine people or punish but we have ability to refer people
Gwinn said.
Board member William Lavelle requested the board ask the county prosecutor's office to investigate Holley. The motion failed to pass the four-member board, two to two. Gwinn opposed the motion, saying she did not want to limit the scope of a prosecutor just to the actions of Holley.
Gwinn instead proposed the board request a special counsel, an attorney with more knowledge of criminal matters. This motion also failed, with Gwinn being the only member in support. The board instead decided to wait for the state board of elections to advise it on how to handle the matter. There was no timetable laid out for a recommendation from the state.
Ward said in his statement that he felt no course of action against Holley should be taken because, Rebecca did not change the amount of the checks or to whom the checks were payable
and Rebecca received no personal gain from her action of modifying the signatures on the checks
nor did Mark
Barbara or me.
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Katy Ganz
