Five Months after Michael Smith was found in violation of Ohio law by the Ohio Elections Commission, he posted to his Facebook group, “The Nordonia News”, that his case had been “overturned.”
Much like everything else Smith posts, this wasn’t truthful. At the hearing held on August 10th, 2023, the Ohio Elections Commission came to the decision that Smith would be fined $15 per day until he filed the proper PAC paperwork with the county. They were very clear in mentioning that the only chance of the case being “overturned”, was if Smith filed the paperwork, presented his evidence via notarized affidavit, then asked for a reconsideration hearing.
The hearing that Smith talks about in his above post was actually a reconsideration hearing. Even though Smith did not file the PAC paperwork with the county, he was able to secure the reconsideration hearing for February 22nd, by calling the Commission and claiming he wasn’t made aware of the original hearing. His lies were made pretty evident to us, when his close friend Dana DiPenti-Schmauder posted a picture she took while watching the live feed of the first hearing back in August… the one Smith claimed he didn’t know about. How did DiPenti-Schmauder know about it if Smith didn’t?
At the reconsideration hearing held on February 22nd, 2024, it was revealed by the Executive Director/Staff Attorney that Smith left the Ohio Elections Commission a voicemail at 2:30am the night before, saying he would not be able to make it due to “work obligations”.
This left everyone stunned, as Smith was the one who originally chose the date of February 22nd to appear in person, when he spoke to the Commission in early January.
Smith sent in the following statement, where he doubles down on his “First Amendment right” to use his preferred pronoun of “we” (LOL), and tries to tell the Commission how to do their jobs, how the laws work, and what evidence against him is supposedly “REQUIRED”.
Despite the 2:30am phone call and incredibly rude statement, the Commission still had sympathy for Smith’s work situation, and granted one more continuance for Smith to appear in person and plead his case. He was notified of the continuance via e-mail from the Staff Attorney.
Smith was NOT happy with this outcome. He replied to the email, very rudely telling the Staff Attorney again how he wants it handled and what should be required… as if the Staff Attorney doesn’t know the law, or do this for a living. This is just another example of Smith thinking the law does not apply to him.
The Executive Director/Staff Attorney finally had enough of Smith trying to tell him how to do his job and bossing him around after they had given Smith so much grace. He sent back the following e-mail, where he made it clear that Smith DID in fact violate laws and would NOT be given another continuance if he refused to show up in person.
There was no reply from Smith. The original continuance that was scheduled for March 7th, 2024 was cancelled and rescheduled for March 21st, 2024. The Staff Attorney again notified Smith that there would be no further continuances if he did not appear in person.
At the rescheduled continuance on March 21st, 2024, Smith was again a no-show. The Commission declined to hear from the plaintiff again, who had been present for every hearing so far and had already spoken to them twice. It took the Commission only three minutes to unanimously decide that Smith’s original penalty of $15 a day was sufficient and would still stand.
As of press time, Michael Smith owes the Ohio Elections Commission
$4,215
According to Ohio Administrative Rule 3517-1-14 (B)(7)(c), if Smith does not pay up, the matter will be forwarded to the Ohio Attorney General for collection. Ouch!