Mahoning county clerk of courts Michael Ciccone may have run afoul of Ohio's campaign finance laws, but the board of elections appears unlikely to take any action on the matter.

Ciccone, who has faced calls for his resignation, as well as a citizen-led petition drive to force him out over racist text messages  and other disparaging remarks about employees in his office allegedly sent by Ciccone, did not file any campaign finance report for his run for clerk in 2024.

Under Ohio law, the only scenario where that would be permitted is when the candidate  does not spend any money and does not receive any contributions of value.

Ohio's campaign finance handbook, which is compiled based upon the Ohio Revised Code, states:

"Filing Fee Only Candidate

A candidate paying the filing fee from the candidate's own funds is not considered either a contribution or an expenditure that would require the filing of a Designation of Treasurer form. Thus, a candidate who receives no contributions and makes no expenditures, except for the filing fee paid from their own personal funds, is not required to file the Designation L Treasurer form and create a campaign committee. A candidate who is not required to file a Designation of Treasurer form, because no contributions will be received or expenditures made, is not subject to the reporting requirements.

However, if the candidate has filed a Designation of Treasurer form, payment of a filing fee is an ordinary and legitimate campaign expenditure - that may be paid by campaign committee funds - and reported as a normal expenditure. B.C. 3517.10: OAC 111:2-4-01"

So, did Ciccone meet those requirements by law? That's questionable.

21 News found on Ciccone's campaign Facebook page a post from September 26, 2024, that included a link to a form to sign up for yard signs that included Michael Ciccone for clerk of courts, along with Jennifer Ciccone for Mahoning County Commissioner and Emily Ciccone for 58th District representative. The form did not give any indication who paid for the signs to be printed. 

 

 

That's not the only area where Ciccone may have received a benefit that he did not report.

There were also "slate cards" printed up that read "Republican Vote Ciccone" and featured the names and images of the three Ciccones, Michael, Emily and Jennifer. It's also not clear who may have paid for these cards to be printed or if they were donated, but they were not reported by either Michael or Emily Ciccone.

 

Jennifer Ciccone did file finance reports, which do show miscellaneous advertising materials having been paid for, although it's not clearly indicated whether that would include these signs or slate cards. All expenditures on that report are reflected as loans that were forgiven, essentially making them donations.

While Ohio law does allow for groups of candidates to pool resources, they are all required to file reports.

So how likely is it that Ciccone could face any sort of sanctions over the apparent discrepancy? Probably not very.

Mahoning County Board of Elections chair Tom McCabe said they looked into this matter last year when no finance report was filed, but did not find enough evidence to move forward.

"We looked into it, it was a gray area, but we didn't feel it rose to the level of turning that over to Columbus because there was no money raised or spent," McCabe said.

With regard to the signs and slate cards, McCabe said the three Ciccones were essentially running as a team.

"It's called an in-kind contribution. Going back that year and a half, they were basically running as a slate, the three Ciccones on the ballot, for different offices. And so the yard signs were pretty generic. And so whether the party gave it to them or another candidate, it's considered 'in-kind.' That can be reported, a lot of times it must be reported, but in this case, since there was no committee filed with us and it was all in-kind, with no money spent on his behalf or his wife's behalf, we just didn't feel it rose to the level of pursuing it any further," McCabe said.

McCabe pointed out that when a political party pays for things like slate cards and billboards, it's common practice for those not to be reported by the candidate, although it remains unclear whether the party paid for the Ciccone material.

Jonathan Entin, David L. Brennan Professor Emeritus of Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, agrees that there could be an issue for Ciccone, but that the violation would be considered relatively minor.

"I'm not sure I can give you a definitive or confident answer on this. What I can tell you is that the state law on campaign contribution reports says that you have to file a report if you made a contribution or you made an expenditure. Now, it sounds like the clerk did not actually spend any money. But the question is whether having his name on the signs that were produced by somebody else and included his name, whether that constitutes a contribution. I'm not sure of the answer to that. You could say that he got a benefit because his name is on there, but I'm not sure, honestly, whether that's enough to make that requirement to file a report actually operative," Entin said.

Entin said Ciccone could argue that the signs and slate cards were more like an independent expenditure, such as when an organization or group issues an endorsement without any coordination with the candidate.

In the Ciccone case, then, Entin said it may depend on the level of coordination between the ((remove)) Ciccone and the person who paid for the signs and slate cards.

That said, Entin said Ciccone would have likely been better off filing a financial disclosure form, anyway.

"Whether he's formally required to file a report, the optics of this are messy. The clerk of courts is not a judge, but the clerk of the court is an important official who essentially makes the day-to-day operations of the court proper and efficient. So, whether he was legally required to file a report, maybe, just to avoid questions or awkward appearances, maybe he should have. And maybe the report might have said something like 'I didn't raise any money. I didn't directly spend any money. These signs were out there and, whatever,'" Entin said. 

21 News has made repeated attempts to speak to Ciccone about the issue, both in person and via email, but have not heard back from him.