LISBON — Columbiana County Republican Party Chairman David Johnson said Tuesday he filed a grievance with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel against judicial candidate Danielle Menning over alleged false claims of endorsements and qualifications.

Johnson said the filing resulted after he received no response from Menning regarding a letter he sent late last month asking her to stop claiming to be “endorsed by Columbiana County Republicans and Pro-Trump leaders,” which he said is misleading.

Menning, an assistant prosecutor with the county Prosecutor’s Office who resides in the Leetonia area, filed to run for the Republican nomination for the Jan. 1 seat of the county Municipal Court.

Her opponent for the Republican nomination is county Municipal Court Judge Kelly Linger, who filed to retain the seat. She was appointed to the position by Gov. Mike DeWine last summer. Menning was one of three attorneys, along with Linger and county Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Weeda, whose names were sent to the governor by Johnson for consideration for the appointment.

In his letter to the Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of Ohio, Johnson wrote that Menning was publishing via direct mail campaign fliers and on social media “statements that I believe are deliberately false and misleading in violation of, both, the letter and spirit of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct, Rule 4.3, wherein it states that ‘judicial candidates must be scrupulously fair and accurate in all statements made.'”

He explained that Linger is the endorsed candidate of the county Republican Party, not Menning. Both were presented to the party’s elected Central and Executive Committee for endorsement consideration and Linger received 84 percent of the vote while Menning received 16 percent of the vote.

He referred to the mailer that shows President Trump next to Menning and says “endorsed by Columbiana County Republicans and Pro-Trump Leaders” and uses the Republican elephant logo. He said it appears to be a deliberate and misleading statement and noted that a law was enacted that says the name of the county party organization cannot be used without approval from the chairman.

Johnson also took issue with a statement on the Menning For Judge social media account that said Menning has 15 years of legal experience, with Johnson claiming that she only has seven years as a practicing attorney, with two years working for a law firm and five years for the prosecutor’s office. She earned her Juris Doctor law degree in 2010.

He said six years of practicing legal experience is required to run for judge and Linger has more than 18 years experience, plus she’s been serving as the judge since July.

Menning was contacted by phone for a response to the complaint. Columbiana City Councilman Ted Souder responded on behalf of the Menning campaign with the following written statement: “Ms. Linger’s spokesperson, Mr. Johnson, appears to have violated ethics rules by improperly leaking his frivolous complaint. Supreme Court rules require even frivolous complaints like this to be confidential. We call on Ms. Linger to make public all of her emails, texts, and other correspondence about her involvement in this unethical leak. As to Menning campaign communications, all of it is 100% factual, and of course, she’s endorsed by many Columbiana County Republicans, who are listed on her website.”

Linger was contacted by phone and said “I’m aware the party filed a complaint through the chairman. I have not read the complaint. I know there have been a lot of concerns about misleading statements and misconstrued facts, which is concerning for a candidate seeking judicial office.”

When asked what happens next, Johnson said this will be investigated. He didn’t know what, if any, penalty there could be if the complaint is found to have merit. He also acknowledged that it probably won’t be settled before the election, which is just one month away, with early voting already happening.

He said it was important enough to him to have this established for the record so it doesn’t happen again. He also said he’s just doing his job as party chairman to make sure protocols are observed related to endorsements, explaining that he received phone calls from Republicans who had the impression Menning was the endorsed candidate when Linger was the one actually selected by the party.

mgreier@mojonews.com