Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther's former executive assistant alleges she was unlawfully forced to do campaign work for Ginther's re-election on the city's dime.
In an unfiled lawsuit given to the city, former city employee Denise Bauer alleges she worked overtime doing campaign work for Ginther. Bauer was paid a $195,000 settlement approved by Columbus City Council this year for unpaid overtime.
The lawsuit was never filed, but did proceed the settlement being reached. Bauer's lawyer sent the suit to the city as a draft, which is why it appeared as a public record.
The story was first reported by the Ohio Capital Journal.
Bauer's filing alleges she regularly fielded extensive inquiries and communications from Ginther's 2023 campaign team asking her to perform work for the campaign. She said she did this work in addition to her regular workload.
Bauer said she raised the inappropriateness of this work on behalf of the campaign multiple times to her supervisors. After Bauer raised these concerns, she says she was then forced to resign in Aug. 2023, effective at the end of the year.
Bauer was first hired in 2017. Her pay rate ranged from just over $30 an hour when she was first hired to just under $41 an hour before she resigned.
Her job duties, according to the lawsuit, included maintaining Ginther's schedule, preparing for events, researching, communicating with city employees and ensuring legislation was properly approved by Ginther. The lawsuit states she started work around 6:30 a.m. most days and often worked into the late evenings, usually between 50 and 60 hours a week, but was not paid for the extra time she worked.
Ginther's Deputy Chief of Staff Jenifer Fening replied to WOSU with a statement about Bauer's allegations.
“It’s the role of the mayor’s scheduler to understand the many requests of the mayor’s time and balance his official and personal responsibilities. Effectively managing his calendar is a core work responsibility and is completely appropriate. The settlement agreement speaks for itself and states that the City specifically denied any responsibility, wrongdoing, or liability to Ms. Bauer for any possible claims asserted against the City regarding her employment," Fening said.
The lawsuit and other records obtained by WOSU are not specific about the work Bauer performed for the campaign.
The settlement with Bauer included a confidentiality agreement and anti-disparagement clause.
Bauer's lawyer Ed Hasite declined to comment.
Joe Motil, who was Ginther's opponent in the 2023 election, said this revelation follows a pattern for Ginther during his years in office. Motil pointed to ethical scandals the mayor has faced including some that he was personally involved with during and after his unsuccessful campaign.
"It's almost endless. It's like it seems as though, you know, these kind of criminal and unethical events have just followed the mayor's political career ever since he was on the school board," Motil said.
Motil referred to the alleged ex parte communication between Ginther and Franklin County Judge Stephanie Mingo regarding a potential closure of the Greyhound bus station. He also pointed to John Raphael's conviction Redflex red light camera bribery scandal in 2016.
Whitehall City Attorney Brad Nicodemus is still investigating the Greyhound case as a special prosecutor to decide whether or not to bring charges against Ginther. Motil is the one who filed the criminal complaint as a citizen.
"I have to think that a lot of people in Columbus are scratching their head and thinking, why on earth did I vote for this man? Because it's just one thing after another. And it's almost as if corruption follows him everywhere and they seem to get away with it," Motil said.
Motil said he thinks all of this being released to the public earlier may have had an impact on the election, but he didn't say whether he thought he would have won.
