When polls close in Athens Tuesday, there could be a new sheriff in town.
Athens County voters will either re-elect Sheriff Pat Kelly or give the job to Steve Kane, the Republican challenger who lost to Kelly in the 2008 election.
After months of campaigning filled with allegations of dirty politics, the race will come down to ethical standards, Kane said.
Kane said he spent most of Monday and will spend Tuesday passing out fliers to students and residents on Court Street and at Baker University Center as part of a final campaign strategy.
“My biggest worry is with Ohio University students, and if they understand what’s been happening the past few months,” he said. “If I get beat, I’ll be disappointed. If we win, it will be well deserved.”
In late September, Kelly allegedly assaulted an Albany man at a fundraiser. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office is investigating the incident.
Kelly said the allegations are politically motivated, but Kane denied any involvement.
In mid-October, an audit from Ohio Auditor Dave Yost’s office suggested Kelly misused about $14,000 of taxpayers’ money from a “Furtherance of Justice” checking account.
The audit said the expenses should have been funded through the sheriff’s general fund, but Kelly said that —“right or wrong” — the practice of using the money from the Furtherance of Justice account and then reimbursing it is a standard practice for the office.
Kelly said he had returned most of the money at the time.
“This is an auditor telling a sheriff what is appropriate to spend on law enforcement,” Kelly said in a previous Post article. “That’s like a seamstress telling a surgeon which tools to use in surgery.”
Most recently, Kelly was recorded while confronting Glouster Police Chief Lucas Mace, who had a sign for Kane in his front lawn.
Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said Kelly didn’t commit a crime by confronting Mace.
Kelly declined to comment before Election Day.
In the wake of the accusations leveled at Kelly, Kane said he thinks he’ll earn a few thousand votes that were cast for Kelly in 2008, though he also said he expects a close race.
“A lot of people have come up to me and said they voted straight Democratic except for (me),” Kane said. “Hopefully there’s a new sheriff in town after (Tuesday).”
jj360410@ohiou.edu
