| ► Toledo Blade – 12/12/01 – Billing complaint filed against Ohio justice |
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Toledo Blade – Dec. 12, 2001 – Billing complaint filed against Ohio justice Jim Provance
Blade Columbus Bureau
Cook says mileage reimbursements were approved
COLUMBUS – Ohio Supreme Court Justice Deborah Cook was accused yesterday of billing taxpayers $2,106 in mileage for which she wasn’t entitled.
Justice Cook, an Akron Republican, said she has done nothing wrong. A probable cause hearing was swiftly set for today at 2 p.m. before Franklin County Municipal Judge James Green.
The allegations, potential misdemeanors, were filed in municipal court by self-described judicial watchd David Palmer, formerly of Maumee.
Justice Cook, early in her second six-year term, has been waiting months for confirmation by the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate of her nomination by President Bush to the Cincinnati-based U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Supreme Court’s travel regulations prohibit justices from being reimbursed for mileage for commutes between their homes and the court.
Justice Cook, the only justice who doesn’t drive a taxpayer-financed state car, said all of the mileage reimbursements for 118-mile trips each way between Columbus and Akron were approved by the Court administrator.
“I recognize I’m in a job subject to public scrutiny,” she said. “I take these matters seriously. Mr. Palmer is trying to create an issue where there isn’t one. I’m reimbursed an average of two times per month from Akron to Columbus. It would appear to be a cost-savings to the court.”
The allegations stem from reimbursements of 28 cents per mile for mileage between November 1999 and May 2000.
Rick Dove, the court’s assistance director for legal and legislative services, said Justice Cook was granted the mileage reimbursements. The rules allow the court’s administrative director to waive the rules if it is considered “economically advantageous to the court.”
“Certainly, mileage on an annual basis, from what I’ve seen for the last year and a half, was far less than the cost of driving a vehicle, when you factor in gasoline, maintenance, the purchase price,” said Mr. Dove.
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