STRUTHERS — In an unusual move, Gov. Mike DeWine selected Jennifer J. Ciccone, the Republican candidate for Struthers Municipal Court judge, to the open seat only a few days after she expressed interest in the appointment.

DeWine’s office announced the Ciccone appointment Friday, only four days after Columbiana County Republican Party Chairman Dave Johnson, who has a great deal of influence in state Republican politics, asked her if she would be interested in it.

The announcement came 10 days after DeWine, a Republican, received a letter from Dominic R. Leone III stating he was resigning as municipal court judge. Leone’s resignation took effect Friday. Ciccone’s appointment takes effect next Friday.

Ciccone said she was asked Monday by Johnson if she’d be interested in DeWine appointing her.

Ciccone said Johnson told her: “We don’t know if the governor would consider it,” and I said, ‘I’d be interested.'”

Letters of recommendation were then sent to DeWine from Johnson, who spoke to the governor about the appointment, and Mahoning County Republican Party Chairman Tom McCabe.

Ciccone of Poland said she had a Wednesday video conference interview with some members of the governor’s screening committee. Ciccone said she was told late Thursday she was going to be appointed and the announcement was made public Friday.

“It was quick,” Ciccone said. “It was not a traditional process.”

Ciccone said she was “very excited,” and acknowledged “most people would be shocked by the trajectory” of how she got appointed.

DeWine had the option to appoint a replacement for Leone to fill out the remainder of his term, which expires Dec. 31. But his office indicated when it received Leone’s resignation letter that making an appointment was highly unlikely.

That’s because of the process DeWine has in place for appointing judges, which includes a deadline for applicants, having a screening committee interview candidates and conduct background checks, and making a recommendation to the governor. That process usually takes months for DeWine to appoint someone to a judicial vacancy.

It was condensed to three days.

Dan Tierney, DeWine’s spokesman, said the governor “felt it was best to fill the seat prior to the election.”

Ciccone was the only candidate screened by the committee as she was the Republican nominee for the judgeship, Tierney said.

“This is one of the swifter appointments that has been done,” he said. “I can’t say it’s the fastest, but this is on the faster side. The filing of this vacancy is consistent with his past practice. I can’t say we’ve had many people resign at this point (in a campaign). There’s probably been a handful of others.”

Ciccone will face Democrat James Melone of Poland in the Nov. 7 general election. Melone, a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court magistrate, beat Leone in the Democratic primary by 14.6 percent.

Melone said of DeWine’s decision: “It’s surprising to me the governor would make an appointment with less than 40 days to go before the election. However, we’ve been working hard every day since before the primary, and this doesn’t change anything. The governor doesn’t get to pick the next judge for Struthers Municipal Court.”

If Melone were to defeat Ciccone, he would pull off the rare feat of beating two incumbents for the same seat in the same election year.

The court’s jurisdiction includes Struthers, Lowellville, New Middletown, Springfield Township and Poland village and township.

McCabe said of Ciccone: “I’m happy for her. There’s a vacancy that needed to be filled. It’s a great head start for her and a good opportunity.”

Ciccone said she was “grateful” to DeWine, Johnson and McCabe “for their unwavering support and recognition of the unique qualities that I can bring to the role of judge for Struthers Municipal Court. With their confidence, I am honored to make history as the first woman to serve as judge for the court.”

Ciccone has more than a decade of experience practicing law as the owner of her own law firm.

Ciccone said she will use the words “retain” and “judge” on her campaign materials and can “put on a robe and say I have judicial experience.”

But Ciccone said her campaign has been “grassroots and pressing the flesh” much more than spending large amounts of money on her election.

Being judge does “not change our campaign strategy,” she said.

Ciccone replaces Leone, the controversial judge whose resignation was effective Friday, but has been absent from the court for the past few months. He was serving his first six-year term as judge after six years as Struthers law director.

Visiting Judge H.F. Inderlied of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on June 5 granted Struthers Mayor Catherine Cercone Miller a two-year civil stalking protection order from Leone. Her petition said Leone harassed her when they went to the same polling location May 2. She said Leone called her names and said he would get “rowdy” with her.

In Inderlied’s decision, he wrote that Leone “engaged in a pattern of conduct that knowingly caused (Cercone Miller) to believe that (Leone) would cause physical harm to (her) and knowing caused (her) mental distress.”

Leone was ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from Miller; the court and the mayor’s office are in the same building.

During a May 18 hearing on Cercone Miller’s request, Cheryl Host, Leone’s bailiff, testified that the judge had been making “very loud, screaming” remarks about the mayor in the Struthers city building that began in January. Leone called the mayor vulgar names if he saw her or if someone mentioned her name, Host testified.