YOUNGSTOWN — The election for the Republican 33rd District state central committeeman is today, but the legal issues between the two candidates aren’t over.

Rick Barron of Boardman filed a motion Monday against Dave Johnson of Salem, the incumbent, asking a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court magistrate to dismiss Johnson’s request for a contempt of court ruling.

Johnson filed the contempt motion Friday, claiming Barron violated the terms of Thursday’s settlement of a lawsuit.

The dispute is related to social media posts Barron made announcing his endorsements by the county political action committees of Mahoning, Columbiana and Carroll. Those three counties comprise the 33rd District.

The Ohio Republican PAC, which isn’t affiliated with the state party, created associated PACs in all of the state’s 88 counties in 2014. Those PACs are not affiliated with the county parties and don’t raise or spend money, though the Ohio Republican PAC does.

Johnson, who is the Columbiana County Republican Party chairman and treasurer of the Ohio Republican Party, called the PACs “sham operations, falsely purporting to represent the duly constituted local county Republican organizations.”

Johnson on July 15 sued Barron and the three PACs, claiming they were being deceitful in an effort to confuse voters that the Republican parties in the three counties were backing Barron.

Magistrate Nicole Alexander dismissed the claims Thursday at Johnson’s request, writing, “Barron admits no fault in this matter, but had prior to the beginning of his hearing removed posts or related publications” to the PAC endorsements “and any such posting or publications shall not be further published.”

Johnson said Barron has “failed and refused to take down offending posts” and “has stated publicly that he never agreed to the terms and provision.”

In a Monday response, Barron, who is serving as his own attorney, wrote the post Johnson referred to was shared by the PAC and not him.

Johnson is “delaying the dismissal,” Barron wrote in a “frivolous attempt to keep the case open until after the election.”

Barron said Johnson is making “irrational personal attacks.”

Also Monday, the three PACs filed a claim in Ohio Supreme Court against Alexander and Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio, for whom Alexander works, objecting to the hearing because the PACs claim Mahoning County lacks jurisdiction over the matter.

It was similar to an objection the PACs filed right before Thursday’s hearing stating the Ohio Elections Commission in Columbus has original jurisdiction over election cases such as this, and those legal matters go to Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Alexander’s “order has restricted (the PACs) posting of endorsements in violation of (their) freedom of speech by ordering candidate Barron not to post” the endorsements in the future, the PACs wrote in a Monday joint filing.

The Alexander order “not only is prior restraint and infringement on relators’ political speech, but defames relators’ reputation by treating relators as though they did something unlawful — which relators did not,” the filing reads.

A relator is defined as a private party on whose behalf a filing is made.

dskolnick@vindy.com