Saturday, March 13, 1999
Travel data request angers county leader
Judge's act called 'temper tantrum'
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — A Butler County commissioner accused a judge Thursday of playing dirty and “throwing a temper tantrum” after she asked for copies of the commissioners' travel-expense reports for the past 19 months.
Domestic Relations Judge Leslie Spillane requested the copies 21/2 weeks after the commissioners withheld approval of $1,034 in expenses toward her May trip to Paris for a one-week course in French civil law.
“She's digging for dirt,” Commissioner Mike Fox said. He said Judge Spillane is retaliating against him because he questioned whether taxpayers' money should be spent toward her trip.
The judge withdrew her request for the trip soon after the commissioners — at Mr. Fox's request — asked for more information about the course.
Mr. Fox said he didn't see how studying French law could help her do a better job in Butler County. Judge Spillane said studying the laws of other countries can give American judges fresh ideas.
“I think the request for our travel-expense reports is mean-spirited,” Mr. Fox said. “She has an insidious purpose. I guess judges aren't used to being told no, and she's throwing a temper tantrum.”
On Monday, Judge Spillane filed a request with the county auditor's office that she be sent copies of the commissioners' travel-expense reports from September 1997 to the present.
Judge Spillane denied Thursday that her request was an act of revenge for the commissioners' failure to approve her Paris trip.
“That absolutely isn't true,” she said.
Asked why she requested the documents, she said, “Just idle curiosity. I was merely curious.”
Mr. Fox said the September 1997 starting point of Judge Spillane's inquiry makes him think she was targeting him. He became a county commissioner the next month.
The judge said there was no special reason for the time period cov ered by her request.
Copies of the commissioners' travel-expense reports from September 1997 to the present obtained by The Enquirer list Mr. Fox as being entitled for reimbursement for three trips totaling $1,338 in expenses.
But Mr. Fox has not been reimbursed for $950 of that money because he hasn't filled out reimbursement forms, said George Gordon, the county's chief deputy auditor.
Mr. Fox said he welcomes the scrutiny of his travel-expense reports.
“I haven't gotten reimbursed for nearly the expenses that I'm entitled to,” Mr. Fox said. “I usually forget to turn them in.”
Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Nadine Allen had planned to attend the same course in Paris this year.
She had asked Hamilton County to pay expenses toward the trip, but commissioners there questioned the relevance of the trip and asked her to reconsider.
Judge Allen withdrew her request last week. She said she agreed with the commissioners' position that it may be inappropriate to spend taxpayers' money on international travel.
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