SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio — After handily winning the May primary for Summit County Sheriff, Sheriff’s Deputy Kandy Fatheree, a Democrat, was eyeing the path ahead to face Republican Challenger Shane Barker in the November General Election.
That is, until one of the three men she beat in the primary filed a lawsuit seeking to have her removed from the November ballot.
The plaintiff is Democrat Dale Soltis, who garnered 26 percent of the vote in May, losing by more than 7,000 votes. Soltis has worked for both the Summit County and Stark County jails. He is now a law enforcement and corrections officer.
Soltis’ suit contends Fatheree’s candidacy violates the state’s “little” Hatch Act, which prohibits high-ranking government employees from engaging in political activity.
Fatheree is the only Democratic candidate for sheriff who still works on the force.
She joined the department in 1995, after serving as the first woman officer in the Lakemore Police Department. She is a captain who manages the civil division and oversees the office’s budget.
Soltis’ attorney, Jack Morrison Jr., has asked for a preliminary injunction to have the Summit County Board of Elections (BOE), also named in the suit, remove Fatheree from the ballots. Morrison Jr. could not be reached for comment.
“The lawsuit is completed baseless,” said Fatheree’s Attorney, Kevin Davis. “He’s not going to be able to keep her off the ballot.”
Prior to the primary, current Sheriff Steve Barry, who’s retiring at the end of the year, requested a prosecutors’ opinion on whether Fatheree’ can run for sheriff.
The opinion, by Summit County Prosecuting Attorney Sherri Bevan Walsh, concluded that Fatheree’s candidacy is legal because the Summit County Sheriff’s Supervisor’s Association bargaining agreement for Fatheree’s rank allows its members to run for partisan public office. That agreement supersedes some state and local laws.
Davis called the suit a political maneuver.
“Soltis lost once in the primary and he’s going to lose again,” he said. “But it’s purely a political move to try to throw dirt on Kandy; I don’t even think they care if they win.”
The clearest motivation, Davis said, is “the Republican opponent can’t win in a fair election.”
BOE Board Chair Bill Rich said the complaint against Fatheree’s candidacy has no merit for several reasons.
Among them, the deadline for protesting a candidacy under the Ohio Revised Code was before the primary — in this case January 3.
And, even with no bargaining agreement in place, Rich said Fatheree is still permitted to run for political office, although in that case, running could possibly jeopardize her job.
A Fatheree press release calls Soltis’ filing a “frivolous suit.”
Davis has filed a a memorandum in opposition to the injunction and a motion to dismiss.
