The expedited docket is necessary because Nix is the only candidate on the Nov. 5 ballot for the auditor’s office. Reynolds did not file as a write-in candidate.
“With all of the State’s appellate rights now exhausted, Mr. Reynolds has been fully exonerated, statutorily restored to competency, and is entitled to serve the remaining two-and-a-half years of his 2023 term,” his attorney wrote. “If this matter is not resolved before the November 5 election, the Butler County Board of Elections will allow for Ms. Nix to be improperly elected, creating confusion as to who is entitled to serve the remainder of Mr. Reynolds’ 2023 Term as Butler County Auditor.”
In his complaint Reynolds said the office is rightfully his, despite his previous felony conviction for unlawful interest in a public contract, saying Nix is, “usurping, intruding into, or unlawfully holding or exercising a public office” and asked the court to order her to return it to him. The same court exonerated Reynolds of any criminal wrongdoing three weeks ago — when it refused to disturb the appellate court’s not guilty decision.
“Having been fully vindicated and statutorily restored to competency, Mr. Reynolds is overjoyed to be able to honorably serve his duly-elected term in the Butler County Auditor’s office. However, when he contacted Ms. Nix (and other local Butler County officials) about resuming his duties, it became clear that the office would not be voluntarily returned to him,” his attorney wrote.
Nix told the Journal-News with the expedited review the matter should be settled within a few weeks. She said she doesn’t know anyone who wants Reynolds returned to office and “you can’t unring that bell.”
“I don’t know anyone in favor of it,” she said. “Anyone I speak with thinks it’s completely...ridiculous. It just doesn’t happen, there are laws and procedures that we follow and this goes against everything the law says. I don’t know what his attorneys are telling him but I can’t see it happening.”
Reynolds’ attorney Chad Ziepfel said they had no comment on the court’s decision.
As is standard procedure, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Gerrity filed a response Sept. 5, addressing each point outlined in the complaint denying several key statements. There were emails and texts exchanged between Reynolds and now retired Chief Assistant Prosecutor Dan Ferguson after the guilty verdict in December 2022.
The complaint stated, “Mr. Ferguson correctly stated that Mr. Reynolds competency would be restored upon reversal. And Mr. Ferguson used the phase ‘in the meantime’ because he understood that once Mr. Reynolds was restored to competency he would be entitled to serve the remainder of his unexpired term.”
Gerrity denied that statement in its entirety as well as the assertion that a 2013 opinion by Gov. Mike DeWine — when he was the state attorney general — stating a “a replacement official for a suspended clerk of the court of common pleas shall not perform the duties of the clerk’s office once the clerk’s suspension is lifted,” is persuasive in this case.
Gerrity also denied the statement when the GOP Central Committee appointed Nix in February 2023 the “appointment was limited to the period of (Reynolds) incompetency.”
Reynolds was indicted in February 2022 on five counts for bribery and leveraging his public office to further his own interests on charges related to trying to help his family develop land in Liberty and West Chester townships. A third felony was added in July for him allegedly asking Lakota Schools officials to use $750,000 of the unspent fees he routinely returned to taxing bodies each year for a golf academy at Four Bridges Golf Course, where his family lives. The jury in December 2022 found no fault on the development claims but guilty on the Lakota charge.
Reynolds won reelection handily while he was under indictment in November 2022. He beat Democratic challenger Mike Dalesandro by 64.4%. He would have started his new term in March 2023 but was forced out of office because he could not serve as a public official after a felony conviction.
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