Probable cause found against Pepper

About two hours after it ruled against Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, a 4-0 panel of the Ohio Elections Commission found probable cause today that his Democratic challenger, David Pepper, made false statements in radio and television ads.

A full commission hearing is set for Monday to consider evidence in the dual complaints.

Heimlich's campaign manager, Robert Seddon, complained that Pepper's campaign, knowingly and with reckless disregard of the truth, lied to voters about how many county prisoners have been released early and how $224 million was spent regarding children's services. The ads accused Heimlich of failing to act or misspending money taxpayer money.

The elections commission dismissed a third claim against Pepper involving a statement about tax benefits to East Side homeowners.

Donald Brey, a Columbus attorney representing Heimlich, said the state completed its audit of Job & Family Service spending in late September, and the Pepper ads should have reflected the fact that the county was not blamed for misspent money. "They found no fraud. They found no shell game," Brey said.

Letting people out of jail early and saying Heimlich did it is a false statement, Brey said.

But Daniel McCarthy, a Cincinnati attorney representing Pepper, said the audit of children's services spending is ongoing so no final determination has been made about who is fully to blame. Overcrowding at the county jail and spending problems at children's services both happened on Heimlich's watch, according to McCarthy, so the ads are accurate.

"The Hamilton County commissioners control the purse strings" at the jail, McCarthy said. "They could have prevented this."