The Dayton Daily News requested records showing when and where Baker’s job was posted, records submitted by anyone applying for the job and records that showed the job’s description and salary.
Montgomery County Recorder Lori Kennedy, a fellow Republican, took office in January after unseating Democratic incumbent Stacey Benson-Taylor.
Baker was hired to fill a programs coordinator position that came open when another recorder’s office employee switched roles after Kennedy took office, according to recorder’s office officials.
Baker submitted an application and resume for the position on Jan. 7, according to records. She was hired the same day.
The recorder’s office could provide no record of a job posting for the position, nor any other applications filed for the role. The salary for the position is $60,000.
The Montgomery County Recorder’s Office oversees a $1.2 million annual budget and maintains property records and other documents. The recorder’s office also offers an outreach program that consists of the Fraud Alert Notification (FAN) System — which alerts property owners to documents filed for their properties — and the Veteran ID Program. These outreach efforts are the core of the programs coordinator’s function, according to a job description for the role.
Baker’s resume includes her role as Huber Heights councilwoman, a job as an analyst in the healthcare sector and two finance careers.
Baker declined to comment for this story.
Recorder’s office officials told the Dayton Daily News that Baker’s role in the programs coordinator position was the “best fit” for the office.
“My goal is to retain and hire the best and brightest employees for the recorder’s office,” Kennedy said.
Government jobs
The Dayton Daily News previously reported that former Democratic officeholders Benson-Taylor and Debbie Lieberman — a former county commissioner also voted out of office in November — quickly landed jobs in local government after losing their elections.
Records requests by this news outlet showed that both Benson-Taylor and Lieberman were offered jobs in December — with Dayton Public Schools and the Montgomery County Clerk of Court’s Office, respectively — that were not publicly advertised.
The Ohio Ethics Commission does not have jurisdiction over rules related to human resources procedures like job postings, but ethics law does have rules surrounding public contracts — like jobs, said Susan Willeke, education and communications manager for the state ethics commission.
A public official or employee cannot use his or her authority to secure a public contract where the official, his or her family member, or his or her business associate has an interest. Friends and colleagues are not necessarily covered under this portion of law, Willeke said.
If the public official or employee directly uses a public position to authorize or influence a public contract in favor of a family member or outside business associate, that is prohibited behavior, according to the Ohio Ethics Commission.
“This doesn’t always happen maliciously,” said Willeke. “And the truth is, the mere act of being friends in this statute does not trigger anything under public contract rules.”
Willeke said the Ohio Ethics Commission sometimes receives complaints related to political influence and job hiring, and these complaints are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
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