Judge: Columbus Mayor Ginther improperly contacted me in Greyhound terminal case

As the city of Columbus attempts to potentially shutter a new inter-city bus terminal on the West Side, an attorney for one of the bus companies stood in court Friday morning and accused Mayor Andrew J. Ginther of improperly communicating with the presiding judge.

Court records showed that the judge acknowledges that it happened.

"This Greyhound station is a problem for the community," Ginther told Franklin County Environmental Judge Stephanie Mingo, according to the transcript of a hearing she held after the call he made to her cellphone on Oct. 11. "We really need you to do the right thing for the community and shut it down."

Ginther's call showed that the city of Columbus, in its attempts to shutter the new bus terminal that opened last summer, has "unclean hands" by the mayor improperly contacting the judge to get the outcome he wanted, Joseph Miller, attorney for Barons Bus, one of two companies operating the terminal, said in court. Miller also noted that the case had become an election issue.

Assistant City Attorney Steve Dunbar, representing Ginther's zoning department, had no comment when asked about the call during a break in the hearing, in which the city seeks an injunction trying to shutter the terminal, a formerly vacant gas station on North Wilson Road near I-70.

Generally, ex parte communications are prohibited in court cases because they can allow one side of a case to influence the judge without giving the other side a chance to offer a rebuttal.

In the transcript of the hearing Mingo held in October to report the call to the parties, she said she told Ginther that she appreciated his concern for the community, but that it was an open case and "any discussion would be an ethics violation."

Mingo also said she didn't believe any ethical violation had occurred because she quickly ended the call and informed the city and the two bus companies, Greyhound and Barons.

However, it also shows that at first she kept secret who exactly had called, revealing only that it was "an elected official."

Both sides tried to get Mingo to reveal who had called her, the transcript shows.

Dunbar tells Mingo that he has a question, "and I'm afraid of the answer," he said. He noted that he represented a number of city officials in the bus station case, and then asked: "Do I represent this one?"

"You do," Mingo replied.

Another attorney representing Barons then said, given that a number of elected officials had interjected themselves into the case, they would welcome knowing the identity of the caller

But Mingo replied that she had spoken to "disciplinary counsel," and it was her understanding that she was "under no obligation at this point in time to name that official" unless compelled to do so.

Mingo said that Ginther also had left her a voicemail before they talked, but she never listened to it. An aide who did told her it included no information other than the mayor's cellphone number, which she then called and left a message.

Ginther was up for re-election on Nov. 7, just three and a half weeks after the call.

The bus companies filed a motion for reconsideration that Mingo identify the official, and on Nov. 21 — exactly two weeks after the election — Mingo ultimately said in a filing that she "hereby discloses to all parties that city of Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther is the source of the ex parte communication."

Joe Motil, a Democrat who opposed Ginther in November and lost, said Friday that the way the entire incident was kept quiet by all the parties involved for almost two months may have cost him the election.

"Why it wasn't (publicly) disclosed is beyond me," Motil said. "Honestly, I believe it could have made a difference."

Ginther defeated Motil by nearly 60,000 votes, taking 63% of the votes cast in the November contest.

Motil said it is ironic and perhaps not a coincidence that Ginther's campaign began running negative attack ads against him right around the time that Mingo disclosed the ex parte communication to the parties to the case, in mid-October.

"He's the one who was violating the law and the trust of the citizens of Columbus, not me," Motil said. "And here he is, pointing his finger at me" for supposedly being soft on crime."

Motil asked in a written statement who would now conduct a follow-up investigation into Ginther’s "illegal attempt to influence a judge’s decision on a case that city of Columbus is the plaintiff in?"

Mingo couldn't be reached Friday afternoon.

Ginther's office released the following written statement when asked about Ginther's actions calling Mingo: “At the heart of the matter is the fact that the (bus) company continues to operate against the will of the community, and we will continue to do everything we can to keep the neighborhood safe.”

Ginther's spokesperson, Melanie Crabill, added in an email: "We cannot comment on pending litigation," referring all questions to the city attorney's office.

“We’re not going to offer any comment on Greyhound while the Court hearing is ongoing," City Attorney Zach Klein's spokesman said in an email. "Our lawyers will be addressing this and other issues during the course of the proceedings."

The hearing on the city's effort to shutter the bus terminal is expected to last until early next week. Despite documents that appear to show Ginther's administration approved the terminal, neighbors say it has caused disruptions, noise, traffic and crime in the area.

wbush@gannett.com

@ReporterBush

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Mayor Ginther improperly contacted judge in Greyhound case