Earlier this month, John Mitchel, former Republican candidate for Ohio’s Seventh Congressional District, filed suit (Case No: 2011-CV-0114) in Greene County Common Pleas Court to remove County Prosecutor Stephen K. Haller. Mitchel alleges Haller practiced “gross misconduct” in the manner in which he defended himself and other Greene County Republican Executive Committee members in a public records request action filed in May 2009. Mitchel also claims that Haller conspired with an assistant prosecutor to withhold public records related to the 2003 BRAC Initiative Agreement contract between Greene County and the Dayton Development Coalition.
In response to filing the lawsuit, Mitchel commented, “It is well past the time that we demand our elected officials are held accountable to the same laws that apply to ‘we the people.’ As long as we allow law enforcement officials and the courts to tolerate cronyism and pay-to-play politics, we get exactly what we deserve…..self-interested politicians who hold themselves above the law. As this scandal and others unwind, it’s my sense that the cover-up to conceal fraud, waste, abuse and corruption in Greene County extends to the top of the GOP chain of command here in Ohio. However, in the meantime Mr. Haller has rights, and as it should be, he will have the opportunity to defend himself before a jury of his peers if he chooses to do so.”