Orange Township trustee twice denied bid to run for office he already holds
An Orange Township trustee’s attempt to run for an office he already holds — and whose term won’t end for another two years — has been denied twice now by Delaware County elections officials.
Ben Grumbles filed earlier this month to run for Orange Township trustee, an office he was elected to in November, 2019 — and will hold through 2023.
The county board of elections voted 4-0 earlier this month to deny Grumbles’ petition to run, but he was entitled to a hearing Wednesday to explain why he should be allowed. At that hearing the board again voted 4-0 against his request.
After the decision, Grumbles indicated that he was not going to give up and that he had given a retainer to his attorney, Derek Clinger.
“We’re going to the (Ohio) Supreme Court,” Grumbles said.
Clinger said he will file a complaint with the court by the end of the week and be put on an expedited court schedule because the election is little more than two months away.
Grumbles aims to run for one of two available seats. The other candidates are current trustee Ryan Rivers, who is running for re-election as his term expires; former trustee Lisa Knapp, whom Grumbles defeated in 2019; and Kristie Ramsey, a Realtor and first-time political candidate
Current Trustee Debbie Taranto is not running for re-election as her term expires.
If elected to one of the open seats, Grumbles has said he would resign his current trustee seat. Soon after, state law dictates that he and the other winning candidate would appoint his successor — giving Grumbles a role in choosing his replacement.
Grumbles said he’s doing it because he’s worried about what an alliance between two of the existing candidates — Rivers and Ramsey — might mean for the township’s future should they both win.
“Since two candidates in this election are very close and both are tied heavily to the political machine in Delaware County, I believe it is critical to give township residents a choice as to who their leaders serve,” he wrote in an email to The Dispatch.
“I disagree strongly with the approach and tactics of Ryan Rivers,” Grumbles said. “I’m concerned that Orange Township will succumb to developer interests and the voice of residents will be lost.”
Rivers, who has had frequent disputes with Grumbles while serving together as trustees, has been a proponent of further economic development, including rezoning parts of Route 23 to create a business-friendly corridor. And Grumbles said he is closely tied to Ramsey.
Both Ramsey and Rivers deny any alliance with each other or anyone else. Grumbles pointed out that the county Republican party is holding a Sept. 9 fundraiser for both candidates.
A politician filing to run for an office they already hold has raised plenty of questions, however, and the county board of elections voted unanimously Aug. 16 to deny Grumbles’ petition to run for the office, essentially saying that there is nothing in state law that permits a candidate to do so.
Townships are creatures of statute, said Ed Helvey, chairman of the Delaware County Board of Elections. If it’s not permissible by state law, you can’t do it, he said.
“You don’t want to open a Pandora’s box,” he said. “You shouldn’t have someone undermining the voters to get what they want ... to take the voters out of the equation.”
But there’s also apparently nothing in state law that prohibits doing so, the elections board found. County officials could recall only one other official who ran for office — county commissioner — that they already held.
Rivers said allowing Grumbles to run early would set a “terrible precedent,” calling it the equivalent of township gerrymandering by removing residents from electing their representatives.
Ramsey said she supports the process of leaving the choice of elected officials entirely to voters.
And Knapp called Grumbles’ tactics “very unusual and surprising,” noting that when he filed his candidacy that there were only two others who had done so and that Grumbles must have “felt strongly that at least one of them should not be elected.” Knapp was the last to file just before the deadline.
In an email exchange with Mark Fowler, an assistant Delaware County prosecutor who advised the elections board on the matter, Grumbles asked why the board voted down his candidacy.
“I have a right to appeal the Board’s decision, but I can’t do that without knowing the basis for it,” he wrote.
Fowler cited attorney-client privilege for why they couldn’t give a reason.
Grumbles acknowledges that running prematurely will give him a choice in his successor. But he said that’s not the sole reason he’s running and challenging the board’s decision.
“If I win and I resign, then there would be an opportunity to choose the next board member. It would take discussion, collaboration and vetting to appoint a third member,” he told The Dispatch.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Clinger told the board that Grumbles’ motivation should be irrelevant in their decision, and he provided an attorney general’s opinion from 1933 as evidence that what his client is doing is permissible.
“In the absence of a prohibition, you’ve got to put him on the ballot,” Clinger said. dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso