State Rep Brinkman Called "the real criminal" by conservative Republican Judge

Muffet — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 07:34:47 -0700

From The Cincinnait Enquirer, not a bastion of liberal tendencies. From a judge, who is a conservative Republican.

Judge: Brinkman the 'real criminal'BY SHARON COOLIDGE | SCOOLIDGE@ENQUIRER.COM

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A judge said two women were wrong to falsify election petitions to earn bonuses, but directed much of his ire at state Rep. Tom Brinkman Jr., who headed up the unsuccessful petition drive last year to repeal Cincinnati’s city’s gay rights ordinance.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman scorched Brinkman from the bench Wednesday, calling him the “real criminal” in the record changing.

The Republican judge said the lawmaker should be charged with complicity to election fraud, acted without ethics and suggested the state House of Representatives should toss him from office.

“It’s terrible,” Ruehlman said during the women’s plea hearing. “It takes away the right to democracy. It takes away the right for people to decide issues when you cheat like that.

“This is an important issue in the city, for a lot of people in the city,” Ruehlman added.

Ruehlman’s harsh rebuke came after Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor David Stevenson told him Brinkman admitted he changed more than 1,000 addresses on the petitions to make them valid.

Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout, was a leader of Equal Rights Not Special Rights.

Brinkman denied Thursday making any changes on the petitions and said Ruehlman is mistaken about what happened. “I personally did not touch a single address or date or signature or name or anything,” he said.

The petitions were an effort to overturn an ordinance passed by Cincinnati City Council in spring 2006 that protected gays and lesbians from discrimination.

The group, chaired by anti-porn activist Phil Burress, collected just two signatures more than the 7,654 needed to put the referendum on the ballot.

Citizens to Restore Fairness, a group born out of Equality Cincinnati, the leading local group working for the rights of gays, lesbians and transgenders, challenged the petitions and filed a complaint with the Hamilton County Board of Elections pointing out hundreds of fake signatures, including those of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Reds owner Bob Castellini.

In several instances, the names and addresses of the signer were crossed out and replaced with the addresses of registered voters in order to make them appear valid.

Burress withdrew the petitions, but the complaint was forwarded to prosecutors.
Prosecutors determined campaigns are allowed to strike out information on a petition, but only if it’s done “under the direction and by the authority of the signer.”

A lawyer wrongly advised Brinkman that the addresses could be altered, Stevenson explained to Ruehlman.

That’s not a good enough excuse, Ruehlman said. He added even his grade school-age granddaughters know not to sign somebody else’s name. “Under the complicity stature it could be complicity,” he said.

“He’s the real criminal,” Ruehlman said. “What he did is terrible, almost defrauding. A layer of foundation of our democracy is voting and free elections. To cheat the voting system… he’s a state rep on top of that…”

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said Brinkman’s conduct fell in a gray area and was “not a clear-cut violation.”

Brinkman’s role in collecting the faulty petitions was presented to the grand jury, which declined to indict him, Deters said.

Out of the same investigation, a Hamilton County Grand Jury indicted Lois Mingo, 48, of St. Barnard, and Precilla Ward, 32, of Winton Place, on charges of altering petitions.

The women worked for Labor Ready, a temporary jobs agency hired by Equal Rights Not Special Rights, and got paid by the hour and the signature. They got bonuses based on the number of signatures collected, Stevenson said.

On Wednesday, Mingo pleaded guilty to election falsification; Ward pleaded guilty to writing a false signatures.

They will be sentenced Aug 20.

Gary Wright, the former president of Equality Cincinnati, who filed the complaint against Brinkman with the Board of Elections, said he agreed with Ruehlman’s assessment.

“The big question is why Tom Brinkman, a state representative, did not know better than to change the addresses of voters in his own district,” Wright said. “He has no compunction, no guilt, no admission of responsibility.”

He praised Ruehlman’s public comments.

“I’m gratified the judge understands there is a bigger issue here that all along was ignored,” Wright said.

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State Rep Brinkman Called "the real criminal" by conservative Republican Judge