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CUYAHOGA COUNTY---Dr. Elsebeth Baumgartner of Oak Harbor, Ohio, is currently facing 32 criminal charges of intimidation, retaliation, falsification and possession of a criminal tool----a computer---for having the audacity to exercise her right of free speech, freedom of expression, to make public allegations of corruption and even worse, criticize a several judges, in particular, retiring visiting judge Richard Markus who operates a private judicial service while at the same time uses taxpayer resources to conduct his judicial business.
Baumgartner, 50, and Bryan DuBois, 28, had teamed up in mid-2004 to operate ErieVoices.com, a blog which focused on judicial and political corruption in northern Ohio.
The first spate of criminal charges against Baumgartner was obtained by secret indictment in May, 2005 when she and DuBois were charged with allegedly intimidating Markus by sending him emails, essentially asking him to perform his duties fairly and honestly. Markus is the complaining witness against Baumgartner and DuBois but yet continued to adjudicate matters against Baumgartner. It appears that Markus was the sole witness testifying before the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury----if indeed there was a Grand Jury convened in the matter.
The indictment was obtained by Daniel Kasaris whose boss, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason had been the target of the blog's allegations. Dr. Baumgartner has been a long-time critic of Ohioan government, both local and state, alleging massive federal and state grant fraud as well as abuses of power by public officials, particularly Erie County district attorney Kevin Baxter and numerous judges in northern Ohio, particularly Markus and Thomas Moyer, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.
The day after DuBois as editor of Ohio's Erie Voices sent an email to the Cuyahoga County Commissioners in July detailing how Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason and Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter were allegedly exchanging "special prosecutor" appointments on political cases, he was arrested.
Kasaris indicted Baumgartner and DuBois one day after DuBois filed a grievance against Kasaris and retired visiting judge Markus with the Cuyahoga County Bar Association. Kasaris is now prosecuting the Erie Voices writers and Markus is the complainant in the case, alleging that DuBois and Baumgartner intimidated him with an email on the eve of a civil trial last November in which Baumgartner was the defendant.
Bryan DuBois has abandoned the First Amendment in exchange for a deal with the state earlier this year. In exchange for DuBois testifying against his former partner, he will receive no jail time. Part of that deal apparently included the removal of ErieVoices.com from the Internet and much of the information detailing the allegations of corruption including documents known as the Baumgartner Chronology and the Island Express Chronology which details the business transactions of prosecutor Baxter's boating company, the Island Express Boat Lines with the City of Port Clinton.
On Aug. 12, 2004, Erie Voices and Bryan DuBois interviewed Elsebeth Baumgartner and thereafter, DuBois began devoting much of Erie Voices to her case. Baumgartner began investing money into the operation and became a principal, forming the Arbor Group LLC. After working a deal with the state and he and his wife signing an affidavit against Baumgartner claiming they were intimidated by her which resulted in a raid on her house and the seizure of all her computers containing business records and her documentation which supported her corruption allegations, DuBois removed Erie Voices from the Internet.
The site has now mysteriously reappeared with DuBois scheduled to be sentenced on May 10. Baumgartner's trial has been moved ahead again over her objections, this time to July and it appears that the state is reluctant to allow her case to proceed to trial.
Below follows DuBois's initial interview with Baumgartner which appeared on Erie Voices in August, 2004.
"At the present time, Elsebeth Baumgartner is the most feared woman in the State of Ohio. As the pressuring effect of Internet chatter gains momentum on the World Wide Web, an eerie silence falls over the legal and judicial communities in Ohio. Word is being passed of a statewide investigation by Washington D.C.s Public Integrity Unit to crack down on the State of Ohio's financial corruption. So as Ohioans watch and wait for indictments to start flying, Erie Voices takes the opportunity to sit down with Oak Harbor's Elsebeth Baumgartner to talk about the corruption purging she help set into motion. (The indictments have begun with Tom Noe, GOP fundraiser and Gov. Taft appointee, being indicted for conspiracy, federal campaign violations, false statements, public corruption and embezzling more than $1 million from the state)
Baumgartner has doctorate degrees in law and pharmacy and is currently the CEO of a DNA analysis firm in Cleveland, Cleveland Genomics Inc. The daughter of an Austro-Hungarian military officer, she grew up in North Olmsted and developed talents that would later help her attend pharmacy school and law school at the University of Toledo where she would graduate at the top of her class.
After graduating with a pharmacy degree in 1978, Elsebeth married her classmate Joe Baumgartner and moved to his hometown, Oak Harbor, Ohio. Together they acquired two drugstores from local pharmacists in Oak Harbor, consolidated them and built one of the largest and most successful independent pharmacies in Northwest Ohio. They raised two daughters and after selling their business in 1989 in order to spend more time with their children, Joe was elected to the Benton-Carroll- Salem Board of Education. With Joe busy managing the local school system, Elsebeth dedicated herself to revitalizing Oak Harbor's downtown through rehabilitation of buildings and the development of small businesses.
Sandusky Register readers know the Baumgartner name well because of the head on approach Joe and Elsebeth endorsed in order to uncover school board members, judges and lawyers who have exploited their positions to enrich themselves at the public's expense. The Baumgartner's willingness to expose this corruption brought down upon them a mad cabal of entrenched insiders and the Baumgartner name became the target of one of the most heinous character assassinations that Northwest Ohio has ever seen.
The Baumgartner's legal troubles mostly began when Elsebeth blew the whistle on shady financial dealings involving the Benton-Carroll-Salem school system and local banks in Oak Harbor. Elsebeth forced a confrontation, and in true knee jerk fashion, the alleged thieves filed libel suits against her.
With those civil suits still pending, Baumgartner's legal status and reputation were destroyed after she voiced objections about an alleged illegal financial deal between the City of Port Clinton and Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter.
After being tossed into jail for falsification, her situation went from bad to worse. She soon found out that without backing from the media, her cause was lost: her appeals were denied by biased judges who reacted negatively to Dr. Baumgartner's criticism of Ohio's visiting judge system, and the final nail in the coffin was pounded in by the honest professionals in the community who understood the situation yet failed to stand up and demand justice. Another serious blow was dealt to Baumgartner's case when the State Supreme Court granted protection to the status quo in order to preserve political order.
Understanding that no action would be taken by the state for political reasons, Baumgartner skipped town while on a furlough from the Ottawa County Jail in order to file federal cases against the State of Ohio.
Because Baumgartner was portrayed as a nut case by those who wished to silence her, we hope that this interview will shed some light on Baumgartner's current mental state, and explain why she felt it necessary to become civilly disobedient.
So without further ado, we present Erie Voices' interview with Elsebeth Baumgartner:
Editor's Note: The following text is a compilation of interactions between Erie Voices and Baumgartner and is based on email, and telephone conversations. Content has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Erie Voices: Well, let me first say that I'm flattered by your willingness to talk with us.
Baumgartner: Thanks, Bryan. You're doing a heck of a job on your site, and I really enjoy reading it. I'm glad we've been able to talk.
Erie Voices: Thanks Dr. Baumgartner -- coming from a person with your educational background I really appreciate your compliments. Now I don't want to take up too much of your time as I know that you have a pretty busy schedule.
Baumgartner: It's quite all right. Go ahead with your questions.
Erie Voices: Let's start off with some history. As you know, the only thing we really know about you is the treatment you've received from our legal community and our local newspapers - and for some reason you've made a lot of people around here retaliate against you for things you've said. Since the local newspapers mindlessly repeat everything they hear rather than examine the accusations you've made and which I believe is rooted in the fact that it's much easier to write you off as a kook-- I think most people would love to hear your side of the story.
Baumgartner: Well, thank you for such an astute observation. As I will explain there's a little more to it with the newspapers than laziness but we'll get to that. You know, many people read the newspapers and believe every word they read but I can see that you're not like that. I think with Internet organizations uncovering the major media outlets and their biases toward social issues and political ideas in general, people are becoming sensitized to the idea that whoever controls the information ultimately controls the nation. I'm glad to see that your website is written by individuals who can see past the phoniness of the local papers. Remember the saying about human motivations: There's always two reasons people do the things they do. A good reason,and the real reason.
Erie Voices: Ha! The Register never told us about your sense of humor. So how does this media bias affect small town politics?
Baumgartner: Well, first of all, many people don't understand small town politics or if they do and this is really sad, they don't care about changing it. They know on the surface that since they're not insiders the system in stacked against them and they believe - rightly I might add - that they can never win against small town corruption when some individuals in key power positions are in on it. And I'd also like to be clear about this simply because I've been misrepresented by the local newspapers - I'm not saying that everyone is in on it. There are many upstanding men and women in public service but what we're seeing is that these potential whistleblowers aren't going to risk their livelihoods to change the system. They see what happened to me, and they tell themselves that they'll work within the system to change it. This concept is not so hard to understand everyone wants to protect his or her own interests. It's certainly understandable, but everyone knows what's going on. I think one way for us to make the necessary changes is to sensitize people to the reality of politics in small towns today, and get them to understand that it's the people's responsibility to change it because as we've seen, we must help each other stay honest.
Erie Voices: We certainly agree with you on that point. I have my own ideas on this one way is to do exactly what we're doing by using the power of the Internet, as you can see, we're using this website to fill a void, a media type that our community is lacking. We believe that our newspapers have failed us so we're doing this to hold public servants accountable. We think our newspapers are basically telling us what they want us to know and nothing more. Obviously you have a wealth of insider information so can you tell us a little bit about small town corruption?
Baumgartner: You want a specific example?
Erie Voices: Sure.
Baumgartner: Okay, now just for an example, and one that has happened to me on several occasions is this: If you file a complaint with the city or township about a white collar crime -- or some type of fraudulent contract being held between say, the local school board and local banks which is exactly what I was complaining about when my husband served on the BCS School Board, the judge who decides the case automatically sides with the acquaintances he's made during his years of public service. [The person you filed against].
Erie Voices: See, I think people have a hard time believing that. I guess it's naive to think that it doesn't go on, but when we sleep at night we want to rest assured that it's not actually happening.
Baumgartner: I know that hearing this troubles people, but deep down they know it goes on. The fact is, in a small town, the legal and professional community is pretty exclusive most of the lawyers and people in authority don't take kind to outsiders especially outsiders who come in and try to change things. People are generally resistant to change especially people who are already in power and don't want to give it up - even if what they're doing is clearly illegal.
Erie Voices: So the judges have a huge part in it?
Baumgartner: Yes, of course. Everyone wants to believe that the recusal system actually works here in Ohio. As you know, that system is designed to protect the citizens from judicial bias and it mostly operates under an honor system, if you will. We elect the judges because we believe they're basically honest people. We elect them for their sense of fairness and respect for the spirit of the law.
Erie Voices: The spirit of the law?
Baumgartner: Yes, there are basically two types of abuses going on in today's legal and judicial systems. The first type of abuse basically stems from outright technical violations of the law. What I mean by that is that in the Ohio Revised Code the law is written specifically in order to outlaw certain things. When these types of violations occur they are the most dangerous to allow because they set a precedence that other judges and lawyers use to justify further defiance of the law.
Erie Voices: Well give us an example of that from your experience.
Baumgartner: Okay, I don't like to get into specifics, because as soon as you start throwing legal terms at people it kind of turns them off.
Erie Voices: Well explain it in layman's terms.
Baumgartner: Okay, a good example would be what happened while I was trying to defend Krista Harris. I think you'll remember from the affidavit that sometime while her case was being heard, the courtroom recording system was tampered with and the court records were ultimately lost. The judge ruled that that violation wasn't enough to get the whole case thrown out, and after it happened Krista was still convicted and sent to prison.
Erie Voices: That happened under Judge Maschari.
Baumgartner: Yeah, I don't think the public needs much more evidence of her ineptness, but yes, that was a clear technical violation that completely ignored the entire reason why we have court records in the first place. If you ignore that the evidence was tampered with or that the court record was destroyed, what's to stop any lawyer or judge from completely fabricating what happened that day in court? (In a recent survey, Erie County attorneys thought that Judge Maschari was the most disorganized judge in the county).
Erie Voices: Nothing.
Baumgartner: Right. Our entire legal system is based on checks and balances. We have specific measures in place to preserve the integrity of the system but we also depend on judges and lawyers to remain humble and maintain respect for the law by following the ideas and principles that our laws are based on.
Erie Voices: Which I gather has something to do with the spirit of the law you were talking about.
Baumgartner: Yes, the spirit of the law is just as important as respecting the technical side if not more important.
Erie Voices: Example.
Baumgartner: Okay, a good example of that on a national scale, one that I'm sure your readers are familiar with - would be Bill Clinton's deposition in front of Paula Jones' lawyers.
Erie Voices: Yeah, I think we all remember that fiasco.
Baumgartner: Everyone knew he was lying. And I'm sure you noticed how some of his apologists defended him they lauded him as a very talented politician as he tap-danced around the definition of sexual relations, he was actually violating the spirit of the law.
Erie Voices: He was undermining the system by kow-towing around and trying to defend himself by changing the definitions of words.
Baumgartner: Right. But people must understand that while Clinton was able to finagle his way out of taking responsibility for his actions he was still in clear violation of the spirit of the law.
Erie Voices: So you're saying that the spirit of the law goes hand in hand with the actual law.
Baumgartner: Right. It has to do with understanding why the law is in place in the first place and the principles behind it and then performing your job as a lawyer or judge in order that those principles are not violated. It's important because if you are a slick lawyer and you find a way around the law, politicians must add new laws to stop people from breaking the old ones and this is what we're seeing our system has become a tangled web of laws that could've been avoided had the lawyers and judges simply respected the spirit of the law in the first place.
Erie Voices: And I'm sure you've seen both of these types of violations in your own cases.
Baumgartner: Of course. I deal with them on a daily basis.
Erie Voices: So getting back to the judges and I want to talk about this specifically because I've been watching Ann Maschari and I've gotten a lot of complaints from others in Erie County about how her inbox is filling up, she's not ruling on cases, her court is basically a big joke.
Baumgartner: Yes, I've personally experienced this, and I'm hoping that people in Erie County will see that she has huge emotional problems and that she's actually not fit for office. See, people must understand that judges play a huge role in maintaining respect for the system. These people are given the responsibility of administering justice. We can't afford to have a dishonorable person or someone who doesn't have respect for the spirit of the law sitting on that bench because there's a whole lot more at stake than most people realize.
Erie Voices: So how are these types of violations affecting your own cases?
Baumgartner: The reality is that here in Ohio judicial accountability and attorney discipline systems are completely dysfunctional. There is little or no enforcement of standards or the standards are being violated by the higher-ups who appoint the judges and the disciplinary panels.
Erie Voices: And this is something you're dealing with right now aren't you?
Baumgartner: Yes. Right now in a few of my civil cases, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer who, as you know is a Sandusky native, has appointed Richard Markus who lives in Fairview Park, to adjudicate my cases. He has a number of conflicts of interest and therefore shouldn't be assigned to my cases. Nevertheless, he remains on all of them. He violates the law quite frequently, and at one point I caught him filing false statements of fact.
Erie Voices: Is this the guy you were telling me about before?
Baumgartner: Yep. Markus is also adjudicating a civil case between a former member of the BCS school board (Kellen Smith) and me. Smith's lawyer, Steven Mosier, who works for a law firm in Toledo, has been harassing me about a deposition he wants me to appear for in Ohio and has already been found by the Appeals court in Toledo to have filed a sham lawsuit against my husband and me. You got those carbon copies of his emails?
Erie Voices: Yes, I've got them. I read through them and I'm starting to see why you dislike lawyers so much! Mosier somehow fabricated the idea that you were threatening him.
Baumgartner: Yeah. It's pretty embarrassing isn't it? And to think, I am a legal scholar myself. Now you understand why I did so much work pro bono. I got into law because it was fascinating to me and I believed I could do some good for society with it. People like Mosier are not driven by ideals like civic responsibility and you can definitely tell through those emails.
Erie Voices: Are you kidding? He was harassing you!
Baumgartner: And I emailed every single one of those to Markus so that he could intervene on my behalf. As you have noticed, Markus did nothing. (But Markus did find time shortly after the trial to charge Baumgartner with 32 counts of contempt for asking the judge to examine a sham bench warrant held in place by Ottawa County Probation officer Jody Royster in order to prevent her from returning to her family] Which given the content written by Mosier, is pretty appalling. And If you thought those emails were troubling, go to Markus' website. The guy is over 70 and should be suspended from acting as a judge and from the looks of his site he's pretty full of himself. But here's the important part: I've filed a recusal motion to stop his decisions from going forward. Markus is clearly in violation but if no one calls him on it, he will continue to break the law in order to feed at the public trough. [It's estimated that Markus makes over $200,000 a year from Ohio taxpayers and is overturned nearly half the time.]
Erie Voices: He's also the guy who doesn't have an oath of office on file at the Supreme Court?
Baumgartner: I'm checking on that, but as far as I know he doesn't which means in practical terms he's actually impersonating a judge. He's retired, but he still serves as a visiting judge appointed by Moyer. Moyer continues to use him even though Markus is over 70 years old [a clear violation of the Ohio Constitution that is subverted by using the word "assigned" instead of "appointed"].
Erie Voices: How in the hell do these people get away with this?
Baumgartner: I know it's frustrating but this is the way the system is operating right now. As I said before, there is virtually no internal checks and balances keeping the judicial system honest. Markus is retired, unaccountable to the people because we did not elect him and he basically rules however he wants because we can't really hurt him [by voting him out of office]. Fundamental questions must be asked about how the system is operating right now.
Erie Voices: But how do they get away with it when it's illegal?!
Baumgartner: Well there are a lot of factors that play into that -- I think a lot of people are under the impression that nothing illegal can be carried out at that level of the system as if some omnipotent force is watching over the judicial system in Ohio. It troubles people because judges are the ones who are supposed to be the arbiter a fair, unbiased judgement, but the fact is when the people become distracted and they don't do their job of keeping public servants honest, this is the type thing that happens. The fault ultimately lies on us.
Erie Voices: Okay, well, it's going to take some time to grasp what you're saying and about the visiting judges you kept mentioning that. What's the deal with visiting judges? [A few months after this interview, a newly elected judge in Erie County admitted that visiting judges aren't accountable to the people they serve)
Baumgartner: Visiting judges, right. Now first you have to understand that a visiting judge should never be brought into another County to rule on issues unless all other judges have been used to rule on the issue first -- and then and only then -- adjacent county sitting judges should be sought. This is another abuse by the judiciary in order to secure a pre-determined outcome. They bring in a visiting judge to rule on hot political issues that local judges don't want to touch in order to maintain their electability.
Erie Voices: I think we saw that with the CPPR deal.
Baumgartner: Exactly. I noticed that you wrote about that. You mentioned that when visiting judge Patton ruled against the folks of CPPR over the river basin property, he ruled in favor of Erie Metroparks without even providing the plaintiff's with a finding of fact. See, that violates both the spirit and the letter of the law. It has become pretty ridiculous - a bunch of rubber stamp decisions that makes a mockery of our judicial system.
Erie Voices: I'm having a hard time understanding how they get away with it! I mean, with the CPPR deal, there were people in the courtroom why wasn't there an outburst?
Baumgartner: They get away with it because either no one knows about it, or no one cares. People don't take exception to it unless it happens to them. Then when it does, they scream bloody murder after the fact. What we need are people who watch the courts and stick up for people who become victimized. You have to remember that our system is based on checks and balances the check and balance that failed here was the lack of support from the public. We need to keep each other honest and that includes lawyers and judges because as I've shown, they simply cannot be trusted to police their own.
Erie Voices: Are you making any headway on exposing this stuff?
Baumgartner: Of course! It's been a few years since I left town, and I'm sure that many people in charge would love to have me silenced, but of course with people like you publicizing what I'm trying to do it certainly helps. And I also have inside information regarding investigations that are currently taking place, but I don't want to comment in depth about it. I will simply say that during my time out of the spotlight I've been sending a lot of information out to the federal government to help us with this problem we have here in this State.
Erie Voices: My readers are probably having a hard time coming to grips with the idea that some of our leaders not all of our leaders mind you but some are so determined to keep us in the dark. [Incidentally, in a recent judgment entry, Visiting Judge Markus made a negative reference to Baumgartner's ability to lead "less informed people" to question the legitimacy of the Ohio judicial system. He also entered an "order" stopping Baumgartner from asking for an appeal in one of her cases)
Baumgartner: Yes, I know it's hard to â€" listen, we can't expect people to understand this stuff right off. It's ironic because when you overhear people talking about the system they always complain that it's corrupt. Here, I was trying to show the people exactly how it was corrupt by providing specific examples and look what they did to me.
Erie Voices: Well if it makes you feel any better, I knew what they were doing to you.
Baumgartner: Thanks, but where were you 4 years ago? [chuckling] You see, the small percentage of corruptors, given the fact that they've operated freely without media scrutiny are getting more and more sloppy. As you know, the local newspapers are so busy reporting on traffic accidents and barking dogs that they completely miss [the significance of] business deals like the one I was trying to uncover between the Erie County prosecutor and the City of Port Clinton. Now remember that my whistle blowing on that case was the catalyst for my first stint in jail. I was charged with falsification but my accusers never managed to prove that what I was saying was actually false.. As you'll remember, when the house of cards actually fell on Baxter after he failed to pay his taxes for his boat businesses - that we have actually proven that he runs out of his County Office did you look at those phone records yet?
Erie Voices: Yes, I've got them.
Baumgartner: You'll notice that and this is a pattern that develops around law breakers - a sacrificial lamb will be given up and in a prior tax scandal it was Darcy Schee.
Erie Voices: Yeah, I remember that.
Baumgartner: But notice that it was basically a slap on the wrist and what Schee did was inescapable. Tampering with evidence among other things, and the thing I was tossed in jail for was basically political speech that threatened the lifestyle of people who are so used to running around the law that they reacted violently to a person who threatened their way of life.
Erie Voices: Okay, since we're talking about Baxter and believe me I don't like to because I've seen what he did to his own family. He seems pretty amoral the cannibal type like he'd eat his own young - So shed some light on the Krista Harris situation. We seem to remember Harris accusing Baxter of coercing a sexual relationship from her.
Baumgartner: Sure. As you know, the Register did report on that and they had to because it was included in a sworn affidavit that was a part of Harris defense after Baxter came after her.
Erie Voices: Ha! Yeah, we were always wondering why Baxter took such a keen interest in prosecuting Harris for what she did [a civil matter that was prosecuted criminally]. He ended up charging her out of the blue.
Baumgartner: Exactly. He was going after her for something else. The whole thing was payback. If your readers don't remember, Harris was a material witness in the Vivian Johnson murder case in 1994. Baxter has admitted that he could've never gotten the convictions on Dewitt McDonald and Shawn Caston without Harris' testimony. Well the troubling thing is that Baxter actually suborned perjury from Harris in order to get the conviction and since Harris was young and scared, she gave in to his pressure.
Erie Voices: And we know this because?
Baumgartner: Because Harris freely admits it! She has said on a number of occasions that Baxter forced her to provide perjured testimony and that Dewitt McDonald is in jail because she perjured herself. Baxter came after her when Shawn Caston was released from prison and her refusal to perjure herself at his second trial. That's why Baxter had to cut a deal with Caston [the admitted shooter] who is out of prison while the others remain incarcerated.
Erie Voices: Woah. And the sex between Baxter and Harris?
Baumgartner: According to Harris' sworn affidavit, which has not been refuted by the Prosecutor's office, the sex began during the grand jury phase of the Mc Donald, Turner and Caston prosecutions. Baxter threatened to charge Krista as an accessory to murder claiming he'd fabricate a witness who would put her in the car too unless she recanted her initial testimony. After he forced her to recant her initial testimony and in effect confess to perjury, he then used the threat of a perjury charge to coerce sex from her throughout the trials and even afterward. I know that people don't want to believe something as outrageous as this, but remember Krista was a 20 year old African American woman being directed by a middle aged white male prosecutor that he'd charge her with murder if she didn't lie. Once he forced her to lie, he then exploited that for his own sexual gratification.
Erie Voices: The Register reported on that, I read it. It was probably the silliest example of Register bias I've ever seen. They ran it on a back page, and asked Baxter to comment on the claims of a sexual relationship.
Baumgartner: Right and keep in mind that under the ORC, Baxter's sexual relationship with Harris meets the legal definition for rape [sex under coercion] and the statute of limitations does not run as long as he remains in office. A reversal of that case would have implications of colossal proportions on every case that Baxter has ever tried, and also his fitness to act as Prosecutor.
Erie Voices: I've got that article right here in front of me. Baxter is quoted as saying, It's just crazy and iit just doesn't make any sense! Of course it's "crazy" Mr. Baxter, but is it true?]
Baumgartner: Of course that's what his response is going to be. What he said is actually a pretty normal reaction to the knowledge of a prosecutor sleeping with a material witness but you'll notice that he chose his words carefully and he never denied the relationship. The average reader doesn't want to believe that Baxter would have a relationship with her in the first place and they certainly wouldn't believe that because after she ended the sexual relationship and refused to lie for him again that that was the real reason he went after her. The whole time he made it sound like he was prosecuting her because he cared for the elderly Aunt. And remember [visiting judge Lawrence] Grey's statement as he sentenced her? I want to send a clear message to those who care for the elderly.
Erie Voices: As if he was playing right along.
Baumgartner: As I said before: There are always two reasons people do the things they do: One is a good reason, and the other is the real reason.
Erie Voices: Yeah, when you said it the first time it was funny but this time it doesn't seem so funny. You know, a lot of people would doubt that Baxter would do something like that.
Baumgartner: That he'd have sex with her?
Erie Voices: Well, they might admit that they could've had sex, but for example, when I spoke with Annette LaCross (managing editor of Sandusky Register) about it, she said that it wasn't illegal for the Prosecutor to have sex with Harris at the time they did.
Baumgartner: Well I hate to rain on LaCross' parade, but witness tampering is a felony, and suborning perjury is a felony too. See, you'll get that type of attitude from people like LaCross because as long as they can rationalize how or why something happened it relieves them of their responsibility of doing something about it. Baxter did not ensure that the defendants had a fair trial in that case, it's that simple.
Erie Voices: Yeah, but rank has its privileges.
Baumgartner: I know you're playing devil's advocate but remember that spirit of the law I was talking about? That's exactly what I'm talking about. Baxter has been using his position for his own enrichment to the detriment of all of our constitutional rights. There's a difference between rank has its privileges and the violations Baxter is guilty of. And I don't think the public needs any more examples of what Baxter is capable of. I mean, this is the same guy who brings family disputes into the public arena completely unembarrassed to use his position as prosecutor to punish his own family members.He charged his brother Edward with 81 felony counts for reporting his crimes to the FBI and the other brother, Shawn, he actually tossed into jail. I'm sure you've heard all the rumors of drug use and trafficking. See, it's common knowledge about what goes on at Kelly's Island, but you're going to get the same attitude from everyone who knows they don't want to rock the political boat. As for LaCross, you can imagine how many of Baxter's friends would come after her if she used her position to investigate or expose what Baxter has been doing in that County, she's understandably scared to death to do anything about it.
Erie Voices: Yes, and I'm keenly aware of the danger I now face publishing this.
Baumgartner: Well the good news is that I'm the one supplying the information to you. So you can't be attacked legally but I'm not saying you won't be attacked. I'm just saying that it won't be legal. Political speech is something that is supposed to be protected in this country. I know that it's gradually being destroyed by unprincipled ideas like campaign finance reform but the bottom line is that you're supposed to be able to talk about this stuff without fear of reprisal.
Erie Voices: Yeah, I think I might have some type of protection from the fact that I know from my web traffic that people are reading this stuff and they're soaking it in.
Baumgartner: You do have that advantage. I wasn't afforded that opportunity because the public wasn't sensitized to my plight and I was immediately written off as a kook. I will warn you that future attacks on you will be transparent, but since you're criticizing the Register don't expect any help from them in the future if you manage to uncover something. You're going to have to rely on your own readership.
Erie Voices: Yeah, we're aware of that.
Baumgartner: Good luck [chuckling].
Erie Voices: Gee, thanks. Now getting back to the Harris case, how did Baxter manage to send Harris to prison after all of this?
Baumgartner: Well just for the record, you're not planning on committing suicide anytime soon are you? Not planning on having an accident?
Erie Voices: [chuckling] No. You're not either I take it?
Baumgartner: No, and to answer your question, I don't want to overload you with information so I'lll keep it simple. This is the pattern that we're seeing, and it happened during Baxter's prosecution of Krista Harris -- Baxter brought in Dean Holman from Medina County to prosecute Harris and through some slick moves, like fabricated evidence and preventing a vigorous defense in the courts they managed to get her tossed into jail for 5 years in Marysville. You should watch that pattern because it's happening more and more. Dean Holman is the go-to-guy for when Baxter wants to recuse himself for obvious reasons. Of course he claims that it's for the honorable reason of conflict of interest but he's actually bringing in Holman because Holman is friendly to Baxter's wishes and does exactly what Baxter wants.
Erie Voices: Fascinating. Holman was brought in to investigate Peggy Mayo too, wasn't he?
Baumgartner: Yes, and you'll see that we're forcing his hand on that matter. After Baxter received my letter [cc'd to the Register] asking whether or not Baxter was going to press charges against his girlfriend, the Register reported that Holman was being brought in to investigate whether or not they would charge Mayo. Which was the reason Mayo fired off that what did you call it? "psychotic rant" [to the Sandusky Register] about what actually happened at her house that day. Hopefully Mayo will be indicted and receive the deserved sentence. See, this type of thing happens all the time in order to understand the desperation of Kevin Baxter you must understand the implications of this thing. Mayo was counting on the fact that since those two have sex and yes she openly admits to that that she wouldn't be charged. I guess it always helps to be friends with the prosecutor in your town.
Erie Voices: I know I wasn't the only Register reader who wondered where that rant came from, now we know. We'll be watching the Mayo case for sure. Now getting back to the Harris case. I'm sure that I wasn't the only one wondering why that prosecution was front page news all of the sudden. And then when they held you in contempt, and ordered you to have that psych eval done they went after you with everything they had. I know it raised more antennas than just mine.
Baumgartner: Oh, everyone knew what they were doing [to me]. And this is a perfect example of the effect that fear has on people. There are plenty of people who want to play by the rules and want to stick up for the right thing but it's simply not possible because you have certain authority figures who are so deeply invested in that MO, [not playing by the rule of law] that it's impossible to expose them. When you become branded as a troublemaker, the people in charge take special joy in watching you fall. They certainly aren't going to let you expose what they're doing wrong, they simply have too much to lose!
Erie Voices: Wow. I have to admit that this stuff scares me. Do you ever fear for your life?
Baumgartner: Yeah, sometimes. But as a Christian I can't afford to stop fighting. God gave me the intellect and the will to fight this battle, and if I give up, what does that say about me?
Erie Voices: As a Marine and God-fearing American, I have deep respect for you...
Baumgartner: Thank you, Bryan.
Erie Voices: Okay, let's not get all sappy. [laughing]
Baumgartner: Okay.
Erie Voices: So, just to recap: You'resaying that this all the stifling of your accusations, the subsequent character assassination and the cover up of what actually happened all stemmed from a few instances of small town corruption?
Baumgartner: Well I wish it were that easy. If it were that easy, we could have my cases heard by an honest judge to deal with the few individuals who are perpetrating this problem but as you've noticed, I've accused a much higher echelon of government of covering it all up and while we understand why they're doing it they're protecting their political interests see, nobody in the state government wants to be in charge when something like this goes down for obvious reasons so they do their best to delay it, or squash it altogether. Again, we know why they're doing it, and we know how they're getting away with it and the important thing is that people like you and me must stop it.
Erie Voices: But this stuff has been going on since the beginning of time. Do you really think we have the power to stop it?
Baumgartner: Of course we've got the power to stop it. One man with the law makes a majority!
Erie Voices: Tell us more about small town corruption. What is your experience with it?
Baumgartner: I don't want to bore you with particulars, because the stories tend to get a little tedious, perhaps we can discuss them at a later date.
Erie Voices: Well then, at least can you expound on how you think these people get away with it?
Baumgartner: Sure. See, the elements of small town corruption all have to be in place for the corruption to become prevalent. Also, this problem is cyclical meaning that after a community's legal and judicial infrastructures solidify and becomes comfortable with authority they start to take little bites out of certain targets. These bites seem harmless to the community, and of course it's must easier to ignore them, but they are still violations of the law. And what we're seeing is a lot of these little bites add up over time and they create a destructive atmosphere where tyranny becomes more and more prevalent every day. We're talking about a tyranny friendly atmosphere brought about by gradualism. We're at the purging stage right now which will probably be followed by a period of honesty in public service because of the energizing effect that a massive overhaul of the system usually brings. We need honest people working together on keeping each other honest. It's like Abraham Lincoln said, befriend honest men and part ways when they cease being honest.
Erie Voices: Okay, just wrapping up now, what are some conditions, some ways that small town corruption can grow?
Baumgartner: That's a good question. I'll try to explain it to you as best I can. During one of my early conversations with the FBI, after my initial strings of accusations one of the agents described to me the elements of small town corruption. He explained that in a small town, where the judicial, legal, media, banking and professional communities are closely knit and exclusive, a virulent strain of corruption could grow. You must understand that since a small town's political structure is very delicate, rocking the boat can heave the entire system into chaos â€" because, you know, birds of a feather. The honest people are kept in check because they know that if they blew the whistle an all out war would be declared against an enemy that doesn't follow the rules. It's kind of like trying to fight a war against an enemy who doesn't have respect for any type of discourse. These people willingly give up sacrificial lambs in order to protect their lifestyles, and they just want to be left alone they will do anything they can to protect the scam from being uncovered.
Erie Voices: Okay, I don't want to interrupt you because I really enjoy listening to you - I'm really impressed with your perspective on the law, but I just want to say a few things real quick.
Baumgartner: Okay.
Erie Voices: I know you've got two kids, and I know they suffered because of this whole thing. So for everyone who thinks you're reckless for not putting them first - what would you say to people like that?
Baumgartner: This is our country. This is a representative government and our job as citizens is to keep our public servants honest. I know that my children are proud of what I've done. I will not apologize for my positions because I'm doing what's right, and part of the reason I fight the good fight is based in my desire to give to my children what was given to me and that's a legacy of freedom that can only be preserved if we stop being afraid of people who would destroy our security through tyranny - and that's it. If we suffer for doing what's right, we suffer together. Everyone in our family understands what's going on and we'll get through it together. We're fighting for something larger than ourselves, and my husband and I have raised my kids to believe that.
Erie Voices: So, let the chips fall?
Baumgartner: My responsibility as an American isn't to second-guess the results of doing the right thing. This is part of trusting in God and knowing that He's watching every battle I fight alongside my family.
Erie Voices: Let the chips fall.
Baumgartner: Yep. Damn the chips, let 'em fall where they may. 4-27-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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