YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Republican Party’s executive committee could meet as early as this week to vote on a resolution demanding the resignation of Republican Michael P. Ciccone, the embattled county clerk of courts, while the county Democratic Party is starting the process to seek his removal through legal action.

Ciccone, who has served less than 10 months in office, refuses to quit.

Mahoning County Democratic Chairman Chris Anderson said, “Mahoning County has literally lost faith in him from those on both sides of the aisle. If he won’t do the right thing, we’ll do it for you. I can’t believe in nine months he’s created dysfunction and chaos that we have these headlines about an office that most people don’t know is partisan or even exists.”

Those who deal with the clerk of courts office have griped for months about Ciccone, as well as Jennifer J. Ciccone, fired Friday as his chief deputy and chief of staff. Things exploded after her firing and her subsequent posting of text messages between the two that put him in a bad light.

The firing came after a falling out between the two political allies, who are not related.

Jennifer J. Ciccone, also a Republican, wrote a series of posts after her firing accusing her former boss of having an “affair” with Meghan Hanni, hired to run the county’s title office in August, stating the two of them went on a “work-related trip after consuming edibles in bed together,” and that his wife found out about the “affair” by reading text messages on his cellphone. She also posted text message exchanges about the “affair” between herself and her former boss and photos of him with his arm around Hanni and other photos of the two of them in bed with Hanni’s aunt – all of them clothed.

Ciccone, who is married, denies having an affair with Hanni.

Hanni said Monday that the statements by Jennifer J. Ciccone “regarding me are completely false and defamatory. I have maintained a strictly professional relationship with Michael Ciccone and have always conducted myself with integrity. The personal accusations being circulated are baseless and deeply distressing.”

In a Monday affidavit, Hanni wrote she has “never had nor sought a romantic or sexual relationship with Michael Ciccone,” she does “not use any illegal drugs,” and was hired by Ciccone based on her education, qualifications and experience.

Hanni said she hired Zachary P. Miller as her attorney and asked him “to pursue all available remedies for defamation and false light, and I will be filing a grievance with the Ohio Supreme Court.”

Miller sent emails addressed to “media agent” to various people, including Anderson and The Vindicator, thanking them for “removing the defamatory allegations made against Ms. Hanni by Ms. Ciccone from your Facebook page as these allegations are entirely false. Therefore I would respectfully request that you do not allow Ms. Ciccone a platform to defame my client. Please be on notice that this is our request.”

The Vindicator did not post any texts or photos to Facebook from Ciccone’s page.

Anderson honored the request Monday by covering all references to Hanni and covering her face in photos with Michael P. Ciccone. The text messages and photos were originally shared by Jennifer P. Ciccone after she was fired Friday. She has removed that post, which also included Michael P. Ciccone saying he wanted to marry Hanni and in referencing his wife, Emily, he wrote: “I’m tired of being treated like a (expletive) (racial epithet).”

As of Monday, the text messages and photos were still on the Facebook page, “Mahoning County – Remove Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Mike Ciccone,” which has received text messages from Jennifer J. Ciccone with her former boss. The page appears to be connected to her.

A group of Republican Party officials and GOP officeholders met Saturday and unanimously voted to “strongly condemn the alleged words and actions of Michael Ciccone and call on him to resign from office immediately.”

Tom McCabe, chairman of the party’s executive committee, said, “Between the disarray with the title department and downtown (clerk of courts’ office) and the allegations with the text messages, something had to be done. It’s a key department. This is your court. This is your judicial system. People need to have faith in that, and he’s lost that confidence. Something needs to be done. What we found out Friday was the last straw. We’ve heard complaints about the office since he started.”

McCabe said an emergency meeting of the party’s executive committee would be held as soon as this week or next week at the latest to get more of its members to back Ciccone’s resignation.

“He should do the right thing and let the commissioners appoint a temporary clerk of courts while he settles these allegations,” McCabe said. “He doesn’t have to resign, but if you care about the judicial system, at least step aside and let the commissioners appoint a temporary clerk. This is going in so many different directions. He needs to do the right thing. The legal community doesn’t have any faith in that office.”

Mahoning Democrats will soon start collecting signatures on petitions to get Ciccone removed from office under Ohio Revised Code Sections 3.07 and 3.08.

The first section states any person holding office “who willfully and flagrantly exercises authority or power not authorized by law, refuses or willfully neglects to enforce the law or to perform any official duty imposed upon him by law, or is guilty of gross neglect of duty, gross immorality, drunkenness, misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance is guilty of misconduct in office.” A person in those situations can be removed from public office.

ORC Section 3.08 requires the valid signatures of at least 15% of those voting in the last gubernatorial election – 86,859 voted in Mahoning County in 2022, so 13,029 are needed – to qualify for removal. Under state law, the petitions would have to initially be submitted to the clerk of courts – Ciccone holds that office – then go to the board of elections to determine if enough valid signatures were collected and then go to trial. It’s highly likely that if it got to this stage, the common pleas court judges would recuse themselves and a visiting judge would be appointed by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy.

A judge would handle the removal proceedings unless a jury trial is demanded by the official facing the charges, according to state law. After the complaint is filed, a hearing must be held within 30 days and the court may suspend the official pending the hearing, according to state law.

Those behind the Facebook page, “Mahoning County – Remove Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Mike Ciccone,” are also seeking to collect signatures for such a proceeding.

Anderson said it would probably take a month to collect signatures if enough people participate in the effort.

“It’s a high bar to clear,” he said. “We’re not the only group to work on this. There’s plenty of opportunity for bipartisan collaboration.”

In a Sunday statement, Michael P. Ciccone said he was “surprised and disappointed that both Republican and Democratic Party leaders publicly called for my resignation without ever reaching out to speak to me directly. Let me be clear: I will not tender my resignation. I remain committed to the responsibilities I was elected to carry out by the people of Mahoning County.”

Ciccone said his former chief deputy “made a number of serious allegations and shared private communications – some of which were reportedly recorded without consent. She has also indicated an intent to pursue legal action.”

In Ohio, it is legal for one party to record a conversation without the knowledge of the other person.

Ciccone didn’t deny using the racial slur or profanities about his wife and others in his statement.

“I will not engage in litigation through the media or social platforms,” he said.

Ciccone said: “I do, however, find it necessary to address one specific public claim: the allegation that I engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a current employee is categorically false. I have been faithfully married to my wife, Emily, for seven years, and at no time have I engaged in an extramarital relationship.”

Emily A. Ciccone was arrested Sept. 25 on a domestic violence charge over an alleged incident involving her husband following an argument at their South Edgehill Avenue home in Austintown.

The misdemeanor charge was dismissed Oct. 14 when the prosecutor in the case cited a lack of evidence.

She was initially charged after her husband told police he was sitting on the toilet when his wife threw numerous objects at him, including a coffee mug and a Stanley drinking cup, and one of them struck him on the right leg causing him to bleed, according to the police report. He was treated for injuries to his leg at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Ciccone told police he would need stitches for his injuries and that he wanted to press criminal charges against his wife.

He told police he called Jennifer J. Ciccone to pick him up at his home to “alleviate the current argument,” with his wife becoming “irate” when she heard the conversation, according to the police report.

Emily A. Ciccone filed for divorce Oct. 7, but the court docket shows an interim agreement was reached Thursday.

The two were seen arguing inside the Mahoning County courthouse Thursday.

Before the charges against Emily A. Ciccone were dismissed, her attorney said she was going to argue she was the victim of domestic violence on and before the day of her arrest.

Jennifer J. Ciccone on Friday posted a Sept. 4 text exchange with Emily A. Ciccone in which the latter contended her husband punched her in the face and sent a picture of herself with a heavily bruised left eye.

Michael P. Ciccone hired Jennifer J. Ciccone after his unlikely win in the November 2024 election for clerk of courts in which he reported raising and spending no money.

Her starting salary at the clerk of courts was $120,000 until she received a pay raise April 20 to $156,000, making her one of the highest paid non-elected employees in Mahoning County after less than four months on the job.

In comparison, her predecessor, Kathi McNabb Welsh, who served as chief deputy for 29 years, made $89,045 right before she left the job.

Jennifer J. Ciccone was also disqualified earlier this year from being an attorney in county domestic relations court because of her position and failed to get certified as a Poland Township trustee candidate by the board of elections because she incorrectly identified her township on one of her petitions.

The Ohio Supreme Court’s attorney portal on Friday shows Jennifer J. Ciccone is “not registered” as a lawyer in the state. It isn’t known when that occurred.

She and her law firm were hired last month by the Trumbull County Commissioners at $250 an hour to represent the Trumbull County Clerk of Courts office in the appeal of two cases because of a conflict of interest with the county prosecutor’s office.