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January 7, 2009Jon Husted Residency Hearing Transcript

The Montgomery County Board of Elections met in session at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday,January 7, 2009. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Gregory Gantt. Members inattendance were Thomas J. Ritchie, Dennis Lieberman, and James Nathanson.The following is a testimony transcript of a public hearing that was held to investigate theresidency of State Senator Jon Husted.GG The main purpose of our meeting here is this issue that we’ve discussed a couple of timespreviously at our Board meeting and we have Speaker Husted, sorry Senator Hustedpresent. What I thought we would do is if Jon could come up to the table and Vic if youcould swear him since he is going to testify.VW Sure…for the purposes of the record so that we are clear about what we are doing here,this is an administrative investigatory hearing that is being conducted under authority of ORC 3501.11 (j) duties of the Board, duties with regard to investigating irregularitiesunder the code. The Board received two requests to investigate. The first was receivedon October 27

from Progress Ohio. The second was received on October 28

fromsomebody named Regine Elliot requesting that the Board conduct an investigation intothe voting residence of Senator Husted. So this is what it’s all about. Senator Husted hasbeen kind enough to appear here without subpoena, and we appreciate that. I think whatwe’ll do is to allow you to go ahead and make an opening statement and then we’ll openit up to questions by the Board. I think we’ll just travel on up the table in order, if that’sacceptable to everybody. Would you raise your right hand please? Do you solemnlyswear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?JH I Do.VW Would you state your name please?JH Jon HustedVW Thanks Jon.JH Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the Board. I would like to make some openingcomments that I have prepared. I would first say thank you for the opportunity to providethese opening remarks. I believe it will be helpful in resolving the question that you’vebeen asked to explore. As I understand from the letter you sent inviting me to appeartoday, that the question has to do solely with my residency and my ability to vote inKettering. The matter of service in the Ohio Senate was resolved by the voters of the 6

District, certification of election by this Board, and the oath of office administered to mein the Ohio Senate by Chief Justice Evelyn Stratton. I have lived in the Dayton area for24 years, including the last 14 at 148 Sherbrooke Drive in Kettering. It is the only home Iown. It is the place that I pay my taxes, receive my mail, and where I have voted for 14years. Not to mention that this Board has certified my candidacy at this address and myelection at this address five times in the past 10 years. During those 14 years inKettering, I have also worked at the Montgomery County Commissioners, the DaytonArea Chamber of Commerce and later ran for State Representative in 2000. I haveserved in the legislature since 2001. At the support and urging of the legislativedelegation, community leaders, and my own personal desire to achieve greater influence

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in the affairs of the State of Ohio on behalf of the Dayton region, I pursued anappointment to the Finance Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives, whichcontrols all matters related to the State of Ohio, and soon began a campaign to become aleader in the House majority. This was done with the recognition that it would take asubstantial commitment of time and energy applied in Columbus and travel across theState of Ohio. However, I recognize that these were necessities of performing the joband achieving these goals. Along the road of achieving my goals, I served as the Vice-Chairman of the Subcommittee of Primary and Secondary Education and later was theChairman of that committee, a committee which held its meetings in the evening. I laterran for and was elected to the position of Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.This was the first time that someone from Montgomery County had been elected to thisposition in nearly two centuries. It was a responsibility that I have taken very seriously, just as I take my new role as Senator very seriously. Being Speaker is a seven day aweek job and included oversight of over 200 employees, 20 committees, Chairing theRules and Reference Committee, the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, the LegislativeServices Committee, and the review of every piece of legislation that’s referred to thatcommittee and brought to the House floor. These are just to name a few of my duties.After completing a late night Finance Committee meeting in my first term in the OhioHouse, I was driving home to Kettering and fell asleep at the wheel and drove off theroad. Fortunately, I did not crash, I was not injured, and I did not injure anyone else. Iwas lucky and I learned an inexpensive lesson. At that point, I arranged to spend nightsat the home of some family that I had in the Columbus area. This was less than an idealsolution in the short term, so I soon found an apartment for rent and another short termsolution. Over time, I have rented, owned, or stayed with family in at least six differentplaces while carrying out my duties. This has enabled me to do my job, but it is not myhome. My experience is not dissimilar from many current and former legislators fromboth parties. In the past, Congressman Tony Hall and Senator Jeff Jacobson haveexercised their judgment on this issue. Currently, there are a notable number of legislators of both parties who have the same or similar circumstances as I do. In fact,some don’t even own property in their own districts or rent there, yet own a home inColumbus and claim their voting residency in their districts. Having stated all of thesereasons that I am compelled to spend time in Columbus, let me be clear…Columbus isnot my home. I have never abandoned my residency in Kettering and when my publicservice is completed, I intended to return home full-time to Kettering. As a legislator andgiven these facts, I hope you will conclude as I know that under Article II, Section III of the Ohio Constitution and under Section 3503.02 of the Ohio Revised Code that I meetthe standard and the requirements of residency. I appreciate your responsibilities and Iappreciate the opportunity to express my commitment to serving the people of the Daytonarea and how I have done so according to my oath of office and in compliance with theConstitution and the laws of the State of Ohio. Thank you Mr. Chairman and the Boardmembers.VW All right. We’ll throw the meeting open to questions. Mr. Nathanson, do you have anyquestions?JN I have one and I reserve the right to…as I would think Board members would expect toask questions. I just want to be very clear, because I appreciate first of all Senator thatyou appeared here voluntarily. I appreciate your willingness to help us get this matter

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resolved. The one thing that I want to be very clear on, because there was a sentence inyour testimony…It is your intention on completion of your term in public service toreturn to your home in Kettering?JH That is correct.JN Thank you. No further questions at this time.VW Mr. Lieberman.DL Before I begin my questions Senator, I just want to make this statement…I have beenaccused of being partisan in this matter of asking that this investigation take place. Iwant to make sure that you’re clear on what my position is. My position is as a Boardmember that I have an obligation under the law to look at the facts and to apply the law tothose facts. If I did anything less than that, I would not be doing my duty. I think that’strue for all of the Board members here. We had a complaint filed, we had twocomplaints. One by Progress Ohio, which arguably could be called partisan and franklydid not impress me. It was only when we received a complaint from one of yourneighbors, that’s a Republican, that we felt that we had to do something under the law. Itis my intention not to be partisan in this matter. It is my intention to marshal the facts, tofigure out what the law is, and to apply the law to those facts and wherever it falls it willfall. I want you to know that. I know there have been recent articles in the newspaper,you’ve done some very good things for our community. This is not a witch hunt. This issimply us doing our job as what we have to do.JH I respect that.DL I don’t think you’d expect any less. As the job you’ve done and Speaker and now asSenator, I know that you want the law to be applied evenly to everybody. That’s whatwe’re going to do. Thank you very much. With that speech, thank you very much forcoming here and answering some questions. What prompted I think the initial inquiry isthat under Section 3503.02 (d), it states that the place where the family of a marriedperson resides shall be considered to be the person’s place of residence, with someexceptions, separation, divorce, that kind of thing. In a newspaper article it was indicatedthat your family resides in Columbus. Is that accurate?JH Does my family reside in Columbus? I would say that for the most part that’s accurate.DL OK. Is there a part that’s not accurate about that statement?JH Well, let me explore the issue since we’re going to have a discussion on what the law is,which is something that you said. The law on the matter related to Section (d) and as Ifurther discovered in e-mails that I have seen pass across the way from politicaloperatives in Columbus that were sent to the Brunner campaign and other members of theBrunner organization and Democratic chairmen that there is the Spangler case as itrelates to Section (d). And I would just say that when you look at the law as it relates tothis, because that’s what I did. As a lawmaker, this is what I do. We look at the laws andany actions that I take I review them thoroughly to make sure that I am in compliancewith those laws. If you look at the remainder of the Code, you’ll see that under Section(a)(b)(c) and (g) and (g) is most notable. Let me please read this…If a person removesfrom this state to engage in the services of the United States government, the personshall not be considered to have lost the person’s residence in this state during the periodof such service, and likewise, should a person enter employment of the state the placewhere such person resided at the time of the person’s removal shall be considered to bethe person’s place of residence. This is also consistent with a similar prevision as it