“Several parts” of the Mahoning County Democratic Party’s constitution “are in conflict with state statute” and / or Ohio Democratic Party and Democratic National Committee rules and are unenforceable, according to the ODP secretary.

Secretary Bill DeMora said Friday a message left by a reporter Thursday asking about the county party’s bylaws requiring candidates for party offices to get the signatures of at least five central committee members led him to review the rest of its constitution.

DeMora wrote in a Friday email the signature provision violates state law.

The email was sent to Mahoning Democratic Party Chairwoman Joyce Kale-Pesta; Kenneth Carano, the party’s election chairman; and Christopher Anderson and Mike Ray, the two candidates running to succeed Kale-Pesta.

“There is nothing in the statute that allows a county party to add restrictions / barriers / conditions such as gathering signatures, etc., in order to run for an office of the central committee,” DeMora wrote. “You may NOT impose conditions on individuals seeking to run for central committee officers thus (the requirement is) NULL and VOID and CANNOT be enforced in the upcoming reorganization meeting. All nominations MUST come from the floor and any member of the committee may nominate any other member of the committee to run for any of the offices up for election.”

In response, Carano said: “The situation is anything we do, we do according to the constitution and we send it to the secretary of state to get the OK. We don’t answer to the ODP. We work well with the ODP, but it’s not who we answer to. We follow our rules, and they’ve been in place for a long time.”

But the county party’s constitution states its members must support the ODP’s constitution.

DeMora said: “Every party is a subsidiary of the state party. Regardless of what anyone in Mahoning County thinks, they are bound by the state statutes and by the rules of the DNC and the Ohio Democratic Party.”

DeMora and Carano got into arguments in 2008 when the ODP ordered the Mahoning Democrats to make changes to their bylaws.

Carano said the Mahoning Democratic constitution doesn’t permit nominations for party officers from the floor and Tuesday is the deadline for candidates for those seats to file letters of intent with signatures from at least five central committee members.

The party is meeting June 4 to elect party officers.

Anderson, president of the Ohio Young Democrats, has submitted his letter with central committee members signatures to Carano. Ray, who is a state central committeeman and the local party’s first vice chairman, said he will do the same by the deadline.

The ODP and DNC violations in the Mahoning Democratic Party’s constitution addressed by DeMora in the email include permitting the chair to fill vacancies to the central committee “by decree. Any / all individuals to fill vacancies must receive a majority vote on the committee approving their appointment.”

DeMora also wrote that a county party rule that the chair appoints the executive committee members is invalid.

He wrote: “Any appointment made by the chair to the committee MUST receive a majority vote of the committee to be approved and the chair CANNOT unilaterally remove anyone on a whim. To be removed, a member must have violated statute (voted in another party’s primary, moved out of the precinct which they were elected), been convicted of a felony (thus no longer an elector) or violated the rules of the party, which, if the case, could only be removed by a majority vote of the entire committee after following the rules outlined in the ODP constitution.”

The Mahoning Democratic chair’s ability to appoint and remove members of the executive committee and to fill central committee vacancies are longstanding and among the most powerful roles in maintaining control over the party.

A reporter left a message Thursday with DeMora on the central committee signature issue in Mahoning County because the ODP secretary wrote an email Monday to Trumbull County Democratic Party officials telling them a requirement in their constitution to get at least 25 signatures from central committee members for those seeking the party’s three principal offices was null and void because it violated state law.

DeMora also listed several other state laws, ODP and DNC violations in the letter to the Trumbull Democrats including not electing its treasurer and how central committee members are appointed to the executive committee.

Kathy DiCristofaro, first vice chairwoman of the Trumbull Democrats, said Friday the signature requirement wouldn’t be enforced and the party will seek to elect a treasurer at its June 7 reorganization meeting.

A committee needs to be formed to address the other changes at a later time, she said.

DeMora said Mahoning and Trumbull aren’t alone in having constitutions that violate state law as well as ODP and DNC rules.

“I have issues with a dozen other counties right now since I have 59 county party reorganization meetings that have to occur in the next three weeks,” he said.