Trending
MARIETTA -- Accusations of illegal fundraising activity are marring the Washington County Sheriff's race.
Current Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks sent an email to all employees at the Washington County Sheriff's Office at 3:01 p.m. on Feb. 16. In the email Mincks said he attached a letter he sent to sheriff candidate Greg Nohe concerning a fundraiser he has planned for Feb. 24. He also said he contacted Nohe personally.
In the email Mincks said "as (the fundraiser) is a potential violation of law I do not want any WCSO employees participating in an activity that might have legal implications. Please act accordingly."
Attached to the email was a copy of a letter dated Feb. 16 address to Nohe and signed by Mincks.
"It has been brought to my attention that your campaign fundraising raffle scheduled for Feb. 24 violates the Ohio Revised Code Section 2915.092, a misdemeanor of the first degree," Mincks said in the letter. "The Washington County Prosecuting Attorney concurs."
In the letter, Mincks suggested Nohe review the code section and IRS code sections describing 527 and 501 organizations.
The Ohio Attorney General's website has a section about charitable gaming.
"Raffles are defined in ORC 2915.01 (CC) and their conduct is described in ORC 2915.092," the website said. "Only certain qualifying organizations may conduct raffles in Ohio: a charitable organization, a public school, a chartered nonpublic school, a community school, or a veteran's organization, fraternal organization or sporting organization that is also a 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(7), 501(c)(8), 501(c)(10), or 501(c)(19) tax-exempt organization."
In the letter, Mincks said that the Ohio Attorney General has issued reprimands in the past to campaign committees that conducted raffles and required the return of the funds derived, and that Nohe should contact independent legal counsel for advice concerning proceeds derived from ticket sales for the raffle.
When asked about the letter, Mincks said that he became aware of the raffle and researched it and contacted Nohe about it to give him the opportunity to make necessary changes to the raffle or to seek independent legal counsel about it.
"It appears to be in violation of that (code) section," Mincks said about the raffle.
Mincks confirmed he has requested an opinion from the attorney general about the raffle and that he does not expect an answer for quite some time.
Washington County Prosecutor Nicole Coil confirmed she was asked by the Sheriff's Office about the legality of raffles for non-charitable organizations.
Coil said she did state that in her opinion it is in violation of ORC 2915.092 if the organization having the raffle was either not licensed or not a charitable organization such as a school, federal organization, veteran's organization or sports organization under 501(c).
"I have been contacted by Greg Nohe's counsel and we have talked through the issue," Coil said. "I have not changed my opinion as to the applicability of ORC 2915.092, but I was told that efforts were made to comply with the law. I understand the good faith confusion given the complexity of the laws and different types of laws which are at play in relation to this issue."
Mincks clarified that in the email he sent to Washington County Sheriff's Office employees he meant that if employees were selling tickets for the raffle they might be in violation of the law.
"I'm not prohibiting them from going," Mincks said.
He also said he is not prohibiting them from buying raffle tickets.
When asked about the letter and raffle, Nohe said he received the letter from Mincks on Friday.
Nohe said he checked with the Secretary of State's Office about the auction before he ever received the letter, and they do not prohibit raffles for fundraising for political campaigns. He said the campaign finance handbook did not prohibit raffles either.
"We're not going to do that raffle," Nohe said.
Nohe said after he received the letter from Mincks it was decided that his campaign would not do the raffle and instead will hold an auction. He said a raffle is a scheme of chance, and that is where the unclearness is.
Nohe said the auction will take place at the same place and time at which the raffle was scheduled, and that his campaign is still working on the details of the raffle.
According to Nohe's campaign website -- which still listed a "2nd Amendment Raffle" that included guns, ammo and equipment as raffle items as of Monday afternoon -- the raffle was scheduled for Feb. 24 at the McLeish Auction House at 104 Margaret St., Marietta. The website said doors would open at 6 p.m.
Nohe said at the event there will be food, a band and an auction and that raffle items will include things like baskets, gift certificates, handmade items, a fire kit, etc.
Nohe's campaign is contacting people who bought raffle tickets and refunding their money if they don't want to attend the auction. If they do want to attend the auction then the money they paid for the raffle will count as purchasing a ticket to attend the fundraiser with the auction, according to Nohe.
Sheriff candidate Mark Warden could not be reached for comment in time for publication of this story.