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Michael D. Pitman reports about Butler County, Ohio, politics, county government, countywide issues and Butler County people just like you for Cox Ohio Publishing (including the Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal and several weekly papers in Butler County). He wants your suggestions and questions for more news stories. Leave a comment for him here or e-mail Michael at Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > October > 15
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Auditor’s race goes to the dogs
Jack Zettler’s two Dobermans, Royce and Viper, have been symbols of his campaign for Butler County auditor. He says he wants to be the Democratic watchdog of this Republican controlled county.
So Roger Reynolds, the incumbent Republican, thought he had something when he heard that the dogs weren’t licensed. He brought it up at a recent meeting where both candidates were seeking endorsement from the JournalNews.
Zettler said his dogs were licensed, just in his daughter’s name.
“The dogs are all properly licensed and there is documentation, however, the interim auditor should already have those records,” he said.
No they’re not, replied Reynolds later that day.
Dogs are licensed through the auditor’s office and, “our folks looked and Jack nor his daughter Suzanne (Zettler) have purchased dog licenses the past two years for his dogs,” he said, adding that the next auditor should lead by example.
Yes they are, replied Zettler the next day. This time he brought in what appeared to be an up-to-date license in his daughter’s married name for two Dobermans. He also brought in one of the dogs with a corresponding number on its tag.
“The interim auditor makes well over $100,000 with benefits, not counting all the vacation time he’s already taken,” he said. “Now all he wants to do is bark about a $14 dog license.”
Zettler did not allow the JournalNews to photocopy the license, however, and asked that his daughter’s name not be released to Reynolds, saying he fears she would be harassed. This made it impossible to verify the license with the auditor’s office.
Reynolds said he has no interest in pursuing the issue further. “If he’s got a dog license, that’s fine,” he said.
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TweetCrank v. Patton
In a now-familiar paradigm, the Democratic challenger, Lana Patton, for Butler County recorder is running on a campaign of change, and the Republican incumbent, Danny Crank, is running on his record.
The Democrat
Patton, 48, of Milford Twp., said she wants to put the office’s records online, possibly charging a small fee to access them.
Crank took the records down three years ago to protect residents’ sensitive information. The records are only available in his office.
Patton also said her 20 years in real estate give her the background needed to run the office, which deals mostly with recording land transactions.
“I deal with title companies day in and day out, this is what I do,” she said.
And she said Butler County government is lacking integrity.
“With all the scandals
and everything that goes on
in Butler County, it’s time to put honesty back in Butler County offices,” she said. “I think it’s time that Butler County needs to be revamped, and I think it will probably happen this year.”
The Republican
Since taking over the office eight years ago, Crank, 62, said he was the first in the state to set up electronic records filing, and has focused on customer service and thrift.
“Basically, I run a fiscally conservative office,” he said. “I don’t waste money, I got a bare-bones staff and we run everything on a very small budget.”
Crank said he renegotiated a contract last year, allowing him to save potentially $365,000 by 2010.
Crank said he’s redacting records to put them online, but it’s a slow process. Instead of paying $185,000 to have it outsourced, he has four employees looking through 2.5 million pages of documents.
In addition to identity theft concerns, Crank said he doesn’t like the idea of offshore companies doing title searches online.
“People in Butler County make a living doing research in the office,” he said. “(With records online) you don’t have to hire people in Butler County anymore. (There are) people in India who will do title searches for you for nearly nothing.”
The Butler County recorder’s office has 17 employees and an annual budget of roughly $1 million.
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