Stephanie Williams fined $1,000 for misconduct in campaign for municipal court judge
CAMBRIDGE − A candidate for judge of Cambridge Municipal Court has been fined by the Board of Conduct of the Ohio Supreme Court for misrepresenting herself as a judge in the campaign.
A formal complaint was filed Oct. 10 with the Board of Professional Conduct of the Ohio Supreme Court against Stephanie Lynn Williams. She faces Myra Scheurer in the Nov. 7 general election for judge of Cambridge Municipal Court. The complaint was filed by Dino Conrad, Scheurer's stepfather, per court documents.
Williams is the magistrate for the domestic relations division of Muskingum County Common Pleas Court. She is an attorney and previously served as an assistant county prosecutor.
The complaint stated on Jan. 16 and Feb. 28, Williams posted photographs on her Facebook page and campaign website of her in a judicial robe. The pictures did not feature a disclaimer or other language identifying her as a magistrate, according to the complaint.
On April 18, during a meet the candidates event with the Guernsey County Republican Club, Williams was quoted as saying "In the last two years, I've gained experience on the bench or as a judge through my current position."
On July 4, Williams had two radio ads air that stated "Republican Stephanie Williams is the experienced judge for Cambridge and Guernsey County with 20 plus years in the courtroom."
The complaint stated Williams was in violation of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct in two ways. A candidate cannot misrepresent their identity, qualifications, present position or facts of those elements or facts of those elements related to their opponent. Also, one cannot relate information known to be false or with reckless disregard of whether the information is false or not.
Both sides presented their case before a three-person panel on Oct. 24, which issued its findings on Oct. 31. The panel believed Williams did violate the code of conduct as laid out in the complaint.
She was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay cost of proceedings and attorney fees in an amount to be determined by a five-judge commission. The panel's ruling stated the determination was based on applicable aggravating and mitigating factors and case precedents.
"It’s important to remember that I cooperated fully from the beginning to resolve any complaints from my opponent. These issues don’t change the fact that my background as a magistrate, prosecutor and Republican make me the best qualified candidate for judge," Williams said in an email to the Daily Jeffersonian.
A public reprimand was requested in the complaint, but the panel did not feel that was warranted based on case law. The panel also did not issue a requested cease and desist order as the conduct has stopped.
The panel stated Williams acted with a dishonest or selfish motive while promoting herself in a judicial campaign, intentional or not. She also engaged in multiple such offenses, leading to a pattern of misconduct. However, any harm to Scheurer or her campaign was purely speculative and two of the offenses occurred during the primary before Williams was directly opposing Scheurer.
In Williams favor, the panel noted she didn't have any previous code of conduct violations and made timely, good faith efforts to rectify her misconduct. This included adding a disclaimer to the photo on Facebook and having the photo on the website removed once alerted. The radio ad was not aired again. Video of the Meet the Candidates event was removed from Williams' website and elsewhere online.
"Respondent has made a full and free disclosure and displayed a cooperative attitude toward the proceedings. Respondent fully acknowledged that her conduct violated Canon 4 and stipulated to the violations. The panel notes that respondent took responsibility for all actions of her campaign and acknowledged that she was responsible," court documents stated.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Stephanie Williams fined $1,000 for misconduct in judge race
