State Dem leader calls on Susan Gwinn to resign as local party chair

A bad week for Athens County Democratic Party Chair Susan Gwinn got even worse Wednesday evening when the leader of the state Democratic Party called on her to resign from her seat.

In an e-mailed press release, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Chris Redfern stated, "I was saddened to hear the latest chapter in what has been a long series of questionable actions on the part of Susan Gwinn during her time as Athens County Democratic Party chairwoman. For the good of the party, I ask that she resign from her position effective immediately."

Gwinn could not be reached for comment, though on Tuesday she released a statement denying that the party had offered to pay people to vote in Tuesday's general election. (For the full story on the controversy, go here.)

"The suggestion that there was a plan to pay voters is unfounded," she said. "To suggest that such illegal activity was planned by either College Democrats or the local Democratic Party is ludicrous."

This latest chapter comes five days after the vice president of the Ohio College Democrats sent an e-mail to student club members urging them to participate in a get-out-the-vote march to the polls for early voting.

No problem there, except that in the e-mail, Kellie Gahan wrote, "If you have not voted yet, please come on out and bring some friends in the same situation... Remember, if you bring a friend from 4th ward they are more than a friend, they're 5 bucks!"

This led to charges aired statewide that the student political club was paying students to vote in the contested Athens City Council Fourth Ward race between Democrat Christine Fahl and Republican Randy Morris.

It turns out that the most the College Democrats were doing was offering to pay student volunteers $5 per head for bringing in likely Fourth Ward voters, though even that's questionable under state law, and is currently under investigation.

Questioned about the get-out-the-vote program, representatives of the College Democrats said they were simply offering to pay volunteers as an incentive to perform regular party activities such as door-to-door canvassing. In any event, they said they never wound up paying anybody anything, and only got 10 students to vote early on Friday.

Under pressure, however, the College Democrats quickly disavowed the program, and blamed it on the Athens County Democratic Party, and by extension, party Chair Gwinn.

This has led to widespread criticism of Gwinn both from Republicans and leaders inside her own state and local parties. At least one local Democratic office-holder, Athens Law Director Pat Lang, has called on Gwinn to resign, both because of the College Democrats' brouhaha, and because she is still facing a six-count local indictment for election finance irregularities.

State Party Chair Redfern jumped into the controversy Tuesday morning, issuing a news release slamming the payment program alluded to in the notorious College Democrats' e-mail as "stupid," and demanding an immediate investigation.

Asked Wednesday whether he thought the campus group was offering to pay students to vote, or rather to pay volunteers a bounty for bringing in students to vote, Redfern's spokesman Seth Bringman suggested that it doesn't really matter which program Gwinn was responsible for.

"Chairman Redfern believes Gwinn's actions are unacceptable, whether there was impropriety or merely the appearance of it," he said. "You are right that there has been confusion, which is why the chairman called for an investigation into any wrongdoing in the case. Whether she offered college students money to vote or if she came up with a program that made it appear as though she was offering college students money to vote, our response would be the same."

Bringman also stressed that the state party is not accusing the College Democrats of any improprieties. "Since Susan Gwinn reportedly offered the money and devised the program herself, responsibility lies with her. In fact, it would be very unfortunate if Susan Gwinn's actions were to reflect poorly on OU College Dems."

An ongoing investigation by the Athens County Prosecutor's office is looking into the legality of offering a bounty for finding prospective voters, though it doesn't appear as if anybody is seriously repeating early charges that the program involved "vote-buying."