Local dems still owe woman for cruise cancelled by Terry Anderson

With former Democratic Ohio Senate candidate Terry Anderson facing bankruptcy and reporting more than $1.8 million in debts, the wife of a prominent member of the Athens County Democratic Party wants to know if she'll ever be fully repaid for a cruise on Anderson's yacht that she bought at a party auction, but never got to enjoy.

"The Democratic Party owes me $5,000," Ann Lavelle insisted Saturday.

Lenny Eliason, an Athens County commissioner and the party's treasurer, agreed with her. He noted Sunday that the party has accepted liability for the debt to Lavelle and has committed to pay it "“ though he also admitted that this might take quite a while.

"Right now, it's listed as an outstanding party debt, and the party's agreed to pay it back," Eliason said Sunday. "We still owe her $5,000. But it's going to have to come from donations. Right now there's only $1,500 in the party account."

Ann Lavelle is the wife of William Lavelle, a local lawyer, former county probate-juvenile judge and former county and state Democratic Party chair. With various family members, he has long been a stalwart of the county Democratic Party.

Ann Lavelle, however, said she was never deeply involved in the party, and has become even less so since her money dispute.

"I have nothing to do with the local Democratic Party," she said. "I'm disgusted, completely."

She said that when, during a party dinner and fund-raising auction in October 2007, she bid on an all-expenses-paid Caribbean cruise on Anderson's sailboat, she was mainly interested in getting a fun vacation for her and her family members.

The cruise's value was estimated at $14,000. The minimum allowable bid was $6,000, and Lavelle got it with a winning bid of $8,000, payment of which she and her husband split.

Because Lavelle wanted to take along more people than the six designated in the cruise package, she arranged directly with Anderson to pay an additional $3,000.

After she and her family members got to Columbus and were preparing to fly out, however, Anderson contacted her and told her his boat was inoperable.

"He called me at 9 p.m. to cancel the cruise," she recalled.

Not wanting to abort their planned vacation, and holding airline tickets they couldn't cancel, the family members opted to fly to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, anyway, in March 2008. They then rented another boat "“ at a cost of nearly $9,000, Lavelle said.

After filing suit against Anderson, Lavelle managed to collect the $3,000 extra she paid him for the two additional cruise participants, but not the $8,000 she originally paid for the outing.

Later in 2008, William Lavelle made a motion at a county party meeting to have the party accept liability for the debt, and party members voted to do so.

Since then, however, according to Ann Lavelle, she has seen only $3,000 from the party, in four payments between October 2008 and June 2009. Lavelle wants to know why this can't be sped up.

"My concern is, I'm losing (financial) interest," she explained. "I could have had that money invested. How long is it going to take? How many years?"

She also questioned whether, in the end, the debt shouldn't be laid at Anderson's door. "Wouldn't it be Terry's obligation to pay the party?" she asked.

Eliason suggested that this would be nice, but that he's not holding his breath, given that Anderson, in a recent filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, listed over $1.8 million in outstanding debts, and only around $61,000 in assets. With the bankruptcy filing already submitted Nov. 3, he said, the likelihood of the party getting any money out of Anderson at this point is slim to none.

"We're probably too late to get in," he acknowledged.

Eliason added that while some party members have written checks specifically earmarked to pay back Lavelle for her bid on the cruise, "those have been fairly small amounts."

The sailboat whose repair problems started the whole dispute, meanwhile, has been sold to raise money, according to Anderson's bankruptcy filing. He got $160,000 for the vessel, the document states.