Nix was thrilled when the Journal-News reached her shortly after the decision was released.
“I’m so happy, this has been so stressful for the office and myself and my family,” Nix told the Journal-News minutes after the order came down. “Wow, what a relief.”
Reynolds maintained the office was rightfully his, despite his previous felony conviction saying Nix is, “usurping, intruding into, or unlawfully holding or exercising a public office” and asked the court to order her to return it to him. The same court exonerated Reynolds of any criminal wrongdoing — when it refused to disturb the appellate court’s not guilty decision.
Nix thanked Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser and his team for taking the matter so seriously and for fighting for her, her office and the taxpayers. As for Reynolds she said “it’s unconscionable, he’s lost his soul.”
“We’re thrilled to put it behind us and move on,” she said. “We always knew the law was on our side and we had faith the Supreme Court justices would see the lack of reason in his arguments.”
The court in a joint opinion wrote this is a “question of first impression” meaning this issue has never arisen before, but that Reynolds wasn’t entitled to regain his position.
“No portion of R.C. 2961.01 states that if a person’s guilty verdict for a felony offense is reversed the person shall be reinstated to the public office the person held when the verdict was rendered,” the opinion reads. “Because Reynolds was unable to take office as the Butler County auditor at the start of the March 2023 term, there was a vacancy in the office, and Nix was appointed ‘to hold office until a successor is elected and qualified,’ R.C. 305.02(A). Upon Nix’s appointment, the vacancy ended. Therefore, Reynolds is not entitled to the relief that he seeks.”
Reynolds was indicted in February 2022 on five counts for bribery and leveraging his public office to further his own interests on charges related to trying to help his family develop land in Liberty and West Chester townships. A third felony was added that July for him allegedly asking Lakota Schools officials to use $750,000 of the unspent fees he routinely returned to taxing bodies each year for a golf academy at Four Bridges Golf Course, where his family lives. The jury in December 2022 found no fault on the development claims but guilty on the Lakota charge.
Reynolds couldn’t serve as auditor with a felony on his record and vacated the office after the guilty verdict. He was fighting to regain the office and fill out the term — it runs until March 7, 2027 — he was elected to in November 2022 while he was under indictment.
His attorney Chad Ziepfel gave the Journal-News this statement on the ruling.
“Yesterday’s ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court was yet another step in the degradation of our democracy. I know it is only the county auditor’s seat, and many people don’t even know what the county auditor does, but I hope voters are paying attention. They should know that when they go to the polls and elect their public officials, their vote can be overruled...,” he wrote and later added. “Mr. Reynolds was investigated by a political rival, and then prosecuted by a political rival. He was wrongfully convicted on a single charge that the court of appeals said was so insufficient, it never should have been brought. His wrongful conviction was reversed, and he was fully cleared of all charges. But Mr. Reynolds lost his elected office anyway. That is a travesty of justice. Not only is it unfair to Mr. Reynolds, but it directly undermines the public’s right to elect its politicians, which is supposed to be the bedrock principle of American democracy.”
In court filings Reynolds cited state statute, which says an elected official who is found guilty of the felony cannot serve “unless the plea, verdict, or finding is reversed or annulled.”
“The General Assembly expressly provided for the possibility that a conviction would be overturned when it adopted R.C. 2961.01. What happens in the event of reversal? The disqualification is removed, with no need for any further act on the part of the wrongfully convicted officeholder,” his attorney wrote.
Gmoser’s office argued Reynolds’s lawyers were misconstruing state law.
“The statute is clear that if such “plea, verdict, or finding” of a felony conviction is reversed or annulled the individual would be competent to hold public office again at that time,” Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Gerrity wrote. “The statute does not contain language restoring an individual to an office of honor, trust, or profit. Nowhere in R.C. 2961.01 is a person granted the right to re-assume an office previously vacated by that individual. No such legislative intent can even be inferred. To accept (Reynolds’) position this Court would have to add words to the statute.”
Justice Michael P. Donnelly was the lone dissent on the court and agreed with Reynolds he is the duly elected auditor now that his conviction was erased.
“Because Reynolds is competent to hold office and because he was democratically elected by the citizens of Butler County to hold the office of Butler County auditor through March 2027,” he wrote. “I would conclude that continued service by the appointed auditor, respondent, Nancy Nix, would contravene the will of Butler County’s voters and that reinstating Reynolds to his elected position would safeguard their interests.”
Gmoser told the Journal-News he was pleased the court majority didn’t buy Reynolds’ fairness argument. “fairness was not an issue in the case, it’s about following the law and that’s what the Supreme Court did.” He added this case has significant importance in the body of election law going forward.
“What the Supreme Court did was render a decision that will have historic implications,” Gmoser said. “That’s why I’m so happy to be part of the decision in this case because it is a decision that will be cited and used and reviewed throughout the course of election law as it continues.”
Had the high court sided with Reynolds it’s conceivable it might have had further implications in Butler County as well. Reynolds’ conviction created a domino effect because when Nix was appointed auditor, she had to vacate her position as county treasurer. The GOP Central Committee appointed former Treasurer’s Office chief deputy Mike McNamara, to fill her spot in March 2023.
However Nix told the Journal-News previously she would never try to oust McNamara, “Oh heavens no, I would never be so cruel.”
McNamara told the Journal-News “I’m ecstatic that it’s over and this question has been answered and I’m looking forward to getting past this distraction.”
“I think that the process has shown that the right thing has happened,” McNamara said. “And I’m not making any judgements about the way Roger ran the office but I know since Nancy’s been there she has updated a lot of things.”
About the Author