LISBON - Columbiana County Recorder Craig Brown's claim that politics played a part in the latest accusations against him drew a sharp response from county Commissioner Mike Halleck.
Speaking at Wednesday's commission meeting, Halleck said Brown was trying to deflect criticism from himself by implying Halleck had something to do with the complaints filed by a former recorder's office employee who accused Brown of deliberately mispronouncing her name in an improper way.
"It seems that the persons that bring these remarks to us regarding his (Brown) conduct all of a sudden become the culprit and then the commissioners. The blame is always on someone else instead of taking personal responsibility for one's own personal behavior," Halleck said.
The former employee, whose first name is Regina and pronounced Ruh-jean-uh, filed several complaints with commissioners late last fall accusing Brown of deliberately mispronouncing her name as Ragina, with the second syllable rhyming with a part of the female anatomy. She said this continued even after she asked him to stop.
In a story published Wednesday, Brown admitted calling her Ragina once but said he quit immediately and apologized after Regina told him she was offended. Brown said he has a habit of coming up with nicknames for people, but he never associated the play on her name with anything offensive.
In Wednesday's story, Brown said he believed Regina was encouraged to file the complaints and that politics played a role because he is up for re-election this year and faces opposition by a fellow Democrat in the March 6 primary, as well as Republican opposition in the fall. He also questioned the involvement of Halleck, who is a Republican.
"I want to assure anyone ... that this is certainly not political," Halleck said. "You can certainly check with people on both sides of the aisle and I think they would confirm that."
Other than provide copies of the complaints after they were requested by the Morning Journal under the public records law, commissioners declined to comment for the initial story.
"I can tell you if we were talking about politics, if he were a member of my party I would be the first to call for his resignation," Halleck said.
When contacted for this story, Brown said it is apparent politics is involved on both sides, especially given the fact he has primary opposition. "Unfortunately, I think this will become a political football for one reason or another, but I'm very sorry and hope to be forgiven for my mistake," he said.
Regina, who declined to be interviewed for the initial story, contacted the newspaper on Wednesday to comment, and she denied politics played any role in her decision to file the complaints.
"I was not encouraged. I did this of my own free will. I don't know where (Brown) is coming from," she said, adding that after the first incident she asked another courthouse employee where to go to file a complaint and was referred to the commissioners.
Regina said she decided to speak out because some of the comments posted online in response to Wednesday's story questioned her account since she claimed one of the incidents occurred Nov. 11, 2011, when the county courthouse would have been closed for Veterans Day.
According to her hand-written complaints, the incidents with Brown occurred on Oct. 28, Nov. 4, Nov. 7 and Nov. 11, but Regina said two of the incidents actually happened on Nov. 7 - one in the morning and another after lunch. She wrote out separate complaints for each incident that day, but Regina said she incorrectly dated the morning incident as occurring on Nov. 11 instead of Nov. 7.
Regina also addressed why she declined to go forward with a formal complaint after commissioners created the position of equal opportunity officer to investigate complaints of this sort. She said she was afraid of the possible reaction, especially from people questioning her motives.
"The reason I didn't go forward is because I was afraid of this ... People like to blame the victim," she said.
Regina, who was hired as temporary employee, said she had no intention of resigning before her time was up because she wanted the extra money for Christmas. "Somebody had to stand up to him and say this is wrong ... and he was not going to bully me into quitting," she said.
Brown later asked her to remain on when her time was up but she declined.
Regina also disputed that she and Brown were family friends, saying she only knew him through her daughter's involvement with the Johnny Appleseed Festival queen pageant when Brown served as pageant director. Her daughter was one of the people who defended Brown in 2010 when the mother of a contestant accused him of making improper comments in front of her daughter.
Halleck, who took office in 2011, said others have come to commissioners in the past with complaints about Brown making inappropriate comments. "I can tell you that this has been going on too long and long before, years before I was ever here," he said.
Afterwards, Halleck was asked to elaborate on what he meant. "I think you need to ask Craig Brown why he has not been permitted in the commissioners' office for the past several years. It was told to me when I became commissioner that Mr. Brown was not allowed in the commissioners office," he said, declining to comment further.
"I'm permitted in the commissioners' office," Brown said. "I was just in there talking to John Payne the other day." Payne is the newest commissioner, having taken office on Jan. 1.
Payne, who is a Democrat, and Republican Commissioner Jim Hoppel also addressed the issue briefly, saying they were concerned the controversy would serve to further tarnish the image of government officials.
"We cannot be responsible for the behavior of other people ... As a commission, our first oath of office and effort to the people is to do the best we can and hope other public officials will do that as well," Payne said.
Brown again apologized for what he called a "mistake, a poor choice of words."
"It was a slip of the tongue, it really was, and I think for Mr. Halleck to try to stretch this out and make more of it than what it is is not only harmful to my family, but harmful to Gina and her family," he said.
