On all levels of government, people get elected to offices they are not prepared to handle.

It’s not a problem exclusive to any political party or to those who hold nonpartisan positions.

We’ve recently had a Republican wave in Mahoning and Trumbull counties that has led to a number of politically inexperienced people getting elected to countywide office.

Just as it was for decades in the two counties when clueless Democrats got elected simply because of their party affiliation, we’re seeing it with Republicans. While some have done well or at least hired the right people, others simply are not up to the task.

Michael P. Ciccone was elected in November 2024 as Mahoning County clerk of courts because he was a Republican, sharing the ticket with President Donald Trump.

Ciccone didn’t raise or spend any money on his election.

He was shunned by his own party. In an atypical move, the county Republican Party’s executive committee endorsed David Shaffer over Ciccone in the March 2024 primary, which the latter won.

Right after the 2023 election, Ciccone sued the county board of elections — where Tom McCabe, the county GOP executive committee chairman serves as director — over unsubstantiated claims that there was mass fraud in the election for Struthers Municipal Court judge. Ciccone filed the lawsuit on behalf of 28 supporters of Republican Jennifer J. Ciccone, a political ally who isn’t related to him, in an election she lost by 10.28%. The lawsuit was dropped a week later.

After Michael P. Ciccone’s narrow victory, one of his first decisions was to hire Jennifer J. Ciccone as his chief deputy and chief of staff.

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 nonelected 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.

It was obvious almost immediately that there were issues at the clerk of courts.

The title department was a disaster and case service notices weren’t being sent in a timely manner. Jennifer J. Ciccone has since admitted she made the 7th District Court of Appeals her last priority at the request of Michael P. Ciccone.

While the two were close friends, they had a nasty falling out with Jennifer J. Ciccone fired Oct. 17.

Two days before the firing, they were arguing so loudly at Oakhill Renaissance Place, a county-owned building where the title office is located, that a sheriff’s deputy first asked them to go into the hallway. When the volume did not decrease, the deputy then told them to leave the building.

Hours after Jennifer J. Ciccone’s firing became public, she filed a series of posts on Facebook accusing her former boss of an “affair” with Meghan Hanni, who works in the title office, and that they had been on a “work-related trip after consuming edibles in bed together.” Jennifer J. Ciccone attached pictures, embarrassing and numerous text messages between her and her former boss, in which the latter used a racial epithet. Later text messages provided by her between the two shows Michael P. Ciccone used that word a number of times.

DENIALS OF AFFAIR

The employee, Meghan Hanni, denies an affair and taking drugs.

Michael P. Ciccone denies an affair even though he used the phrase “the Meghan Hanni affair set her off” in a text to Jennifer J. Ciccone about an argument he had with his wife, Emily A. Ciccone.

He also wrote that Hanni’s father — Judge Mark A. Hanni of the 7th District Court of Appeals — “is a father to me. And I can be the son he never had.”

The issues with Michael P. Ciccone and his wife got so bad that she was arrested Sept. 25 on a charge of domestic violence against him, though the charge was dismissed Oct. 14 over a lack of evidence. After her firing, Jennifer J. Ciccone posted texts from Emily A. Ciccone accusing her husband of abuse and a photo of a heavily bruised left eye she contends happened after her husband punched her.

Emily A. Ciccone was going to argue that she was the victim of domestic violence before the case was dropped, though no charges were ever filed against her husband.

In an interesting twist, I was summoned to be a potential juror in the domestic violence case before it was dismissed.

The firing is very curious. Why would you do that to someone whom you confided in with some really dark and incriminating text messages?

GOP, DEMS RESPOND

After reading the text messages, Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson immediately called for Ciccone’s resignation.

A day later, a number of county Republican Party officials and officeholders voted to “strongly condemn the alleged words and actions of Michael Ciccone and call on him to resign from office immediately.”

The party’s executive committee is waiting to take formal action calling for Ciccone’s resignation because Jennifer J. Ciccone keeps providing text messages and videos that make her former boss look worse and worse.

County Democrats will soon start a process to seek Ciccone’s removal through legal action.

Ciccone refuses to resign.

He hasn’t denied Jennifer J. Ciccone’s accusations except about an affair with Hanni because he “will not engage in litigation through the media or social platforms.”

In a Sunday email, he said he was “surprised and disappointed that both Republican and Democratic Party leaders publicly called for my resignation without ever reaching out to speak with me directly. Let me be clear: I will not tender my resignation.”

Ciccone’s prepared statement ended with: “I understand that public trust is essential. I remain fully committed to leading the clerk’s office with professionalism, transparency and integrity.”

Jennifer J. Ciccone isn’t without her own issues.

She was disqualified earlier this year from being an attorney in county domestic relations court because of her position in the clerk of courts’ office.

The Ohio Supreme Court’s attorney portal last week showed she was “not registered” as a lawyer in the state. Between then and now, her status changed to “active.”

But while she was deputy clerk, she and her law firm were hired last month by the Trumbull County Commissioners at $250 per 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. This was while she claimed to be working about 80 hours a week at her then-job.

She has the time now, but the Trumbull commissioners’ decision to hire her in September certainly raises questions.

David Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.