ATHENS, Ohio — An independent candidate running against a longtime Athens County Commissioner believes his campaign has been the target of “harassment,” he said — at the hands of one of the county’s established political parties.
Jon Rose, of Glouster, is running for Athens County Commissioner. Rose, an independent, faces off this November against incumbent Democratic candidate Charlie Adkins, who was first elected in 2012. The four-year term would begin on Jan. 2, 2025.
Over the spring, in between the board’s approval of his petitions May 15 and the protest filing deadline June 14, Rose said at least four people who signed his petitions told him they were contacted by various individuals who asked questions about their signatures.
Individuals may file written protests against the candidacies of people running for office, if the candidacy or their petitions violate state law or secretary of state regulations. After a protest is filed, the board of elections would hold a hearing to determine the validity of the protest.
Petitions are public records, and it is legal to ask signers about the circumstances of their signing. But those who spoke to the Independent about being contacted for information about their signatures on Rose’s petitions said the incidents left them with an unfavorable view of the party.
Donkey Coffee owner Chris Pyle said that while he has volunteered for — and typically supports — the Democratic Party and its causes, looking for faults in Rose’s petition “left a bad taste in my mouth.”
He said some of the people — regular coffee customers — who received phone calls inquiring about their signatures on Rose’s petition expressed discomfort to him about the questions.
According to public records obtained by the Independent, Pyle is one of three members of Rose’s committee — people who would appoint someone to replace him as commissioner, if elected and if something were to happen to him leading him to vacate the office.
The Athens County Board of Elections approved Rose’s bid for office at its regular meeting in May. When it did — in an unusual heads-up — Deputy Director Tony Brooks said that he’d received a call from a “law firm” indicating that it planned to file a protest against Rose’s petition.
However, the deadline passed to file protests; the law firm’s protest never materialized. The Independent unsuccessfully filed a public records request that sought information to determine who or what law firm made the call.
Public records obtained by the Independent show that Athens County Democratic Party Chair Lauren Dikis requested Rose’s petitions on May 16.
“The Athens County Democratic Party did not do anything to contest [Jon Rose’s] petition,” Dikis told the Independent.
People seeking to become a candidate for office must first obtain a certain number of valid signatures via petition, in order for the board of elections to certify their candidacy. According to the secretary of state, independent county office candidates in Ohio must collect signatures “based on the number of votes cast in the county in the last general election for governor.”
In Rose’s case, he needed 191 valid signatures; he collected 308 signatures, of which 209 were valid.
The petition was not a vote for Rose — only an indication of favor in his candidacy for office. “It’s just to get me on the ballot,” he said.
The state has other requirements for petitions. Signatures generally must be in cursive; signatories’ names and addresses must align with their voter registration; the people circulating the petitions cannot sign them themselves, and must witness all signatures; and more.
Rose is a political outsider. He works as a part-time barista at Donkey Coffee and is a small business owner. He is a paramedic who formerly worked for Athens County Emergency Medical Services. He told the Independent he doesn’t “have any political experience … I’m just a concerned citizen who’s lived in Athens County for 20 years that wants to see some things change for the better in the county.”
Rose said he apologized to individuals who were contacted about their signatures on his petitions.
“When people told me, I apologized, like, ‘I’m so sorry,’” Rose said. “Because, I mean, I felt bad. Again, it wasn’t my fault, but people are like, ‘Hey, yeah, I got contacted by so-and-so’ … I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m so sorry … I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m sorry.’”
David Malawista, of the Athens area, told the Independent that an attorney called him — presumably using his contact information provided on Rose’s petitions, which are public records — to investigate what he perceived as the “legitimacy” of Rose’s petition.
“The rule says that somebody must be present with the [petition] and at all times … I think they were hoping that Jon had just left the sheet there at the Donkey and some people were signing it at the counter,” Malawista said.
Malawista said the call “annoyed me because, OK, guys, are you so worried about an independent candidate — and at that time, [who] nobody knew about — that you’re going to try to get [him] booted?” For him, the circumstances reflect “the kind of things about politics I hate.”
Malawista said he signed Rose’s petition in order for him to be able to run for office. Since then, he’s learned more about Rose’s campaign and political values, some of which he favors. “[I] tell people that I think he could be a good candidate, they should seriously entertain him as a viable candidate for commissioner.”
Paul Hilliard, of Athens, said Rose asked him to sign the petition at Donkey Coffee; he described himself as a regular customer. Later, at a social event, he said Dikis approached him to ask if he was present for signing Rose’s petition. Dikis declined to comment further than the statement above.
“That carried on for 15, 20 minutes … I tried to stop the conversation multiple times,” Hilliard said. He added that the interaction “made me feel awful.”
“This is the way we go about encouraging young, new people to be candidates or to run?” Hilliard said. “Often our elections in Athens run uncontested. And finally, we get a young, ambitious man that wants to do good in his home and immediately harass, immediately work to silence his voice and it made me want nothing to do with the Democratic Party.”
Hilliard said “they definitely could have gone about it a different way.”
Rose said he’s running for office because he has “seen the poverty that takes place in the county, and the blind eye that’s turned by the commissioners. I feel like things need to change and things can get better, and need to get better sooner than later.”
Earlier this year, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld an Athens County Board of Elections decision against Chauncey Mayor Amy Renner’s petition, who also sought to run against Adkins. The board unanimously rejected her petition due to a paperwork error.
Athens County Commissioner Lenny Eliason, whom Rose alleged contacted signatories, did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Commissioner Adkins said in an interview that he had nothing to do with the investigation into protesting Rose’s petitions.
“The Democrat, Republican parties, [their chairs and their staff] make sure that the other party petitions, or whatever, is done properly and correctly,” Adkins said. “I didn’t ask for that … [It] wasn’t me doing that … That’s not who I am.”
Election information
Election Day is Nov. 5. Early voting is currently underway. Find more information from the Athens County Board of Elections.
Update: This story has been updated since initial publication to include comments from Adkins.
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