the college's union head said.
A Columbus attorney's lawsuit against Hocking College for destroying public records of presidential search evaluations is a money grab the college's union head said.
The lawsuit accuses Hocking College of illegally destroying evaluation forms of the presidential candidate who eventually got the job. It was filed Friday in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas by Ryan Stubenrauch, who runs a small private law practice.
In April, Cheryl Mansky, president of the Hocking College Education Association, requested access to evaluation forms that employees filled out on each of the three presidential candidates.
Although the college provided her with forms from two of the candidates, they did not produce those of Ron Erickson because his forms had been destroyed by trustee Alan Geiger after he summarized and presented them to Hocking's Board of Trustees.
The suit, which demands $1,000 for each of the at least 75 records that the college admitted destroying, is self-interested, Mansky said.
I'm extremely disappointed that someone with less standing than the union is taking advantage of this situation in what could be called a money grab she said.
Geiger, who retired as the Ohio University president's chief of staff and secretary to the OU Board of Trustees in 2007 after 40 years with the university, admitted to destroying the records but told The Athens News in April that he did not believe he was doing anything wrong at the time. He could not be reached for comment.
Not affiliated with the area, Stubenrauch first saw reports of the destroyed records on the news, he said, adding he is just trying to help enforce the law and will donate at least a portion of any money he recovers to the Ohio Coalition for Open Government.
I'm trying to hold public officials accountable to Ohio law
he said.
Established in 1992 by the Ohio Newspapers Foundation, the Ohio Coalition for Open Government is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of transparency in government.
Judy Sinnott, spokeswoman for Hocking College, said she could not comment on the case because she had not yet seen the complaint.
Erickson replaces former president John Light, who is still under investigation by the state attorney general, state auditor, Ohio Ethics Commission and FBI for fraud
and theft.
Stubenrauch, whose practice is not affiliated with a larger firm, passed the Ohio bar exam in November after graduating from Capital University Law School in May of last year,
he said.
In addition to representing himself in this case, Stubenrauch works for former Republican attorney general candidate Michael Crites, who is suing for access to communication and financial records kept by his opponent Richard Cordray during the 2008 campaign.
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Frank Thomas
