HAMILTON — A state probe of alleged coercion of campaign contributions in Butler County apparently has expanded — with at least 17 people questioned.

        Since spring, the Ohio Secretary of State's Office has been investigating allegations Board of Elections members Mark Conese and Donald Daiker may have threatened to fire part-time employee Brent Dixon unless he contributed much of his $6,000 salary to the county Democratic Party.

        Mr. Conese has said the allegations against him and Mr. Daiker are false.

        James Lee, spokesman for Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, said Tuesday the investigation was still “very active,” and he didn't know when it would be complete. He wouldn't say why Philip O. Morrical Jr., a part-time board employee who resigned shortly after being questioned under subpoena, was part of the probe.

        Board Director Bob Mosketti said Mr. Morrical's resignation, which takes effect Oct. 13, doesn't say why he quit. However, Mr. Mosketti said Deputy Director Betty McGary described a conversation in which Mr. Morrical cited a medical problem. Mr. Morrical didn't return a phone call seeking comment.

        County records and interviews with county officials suggest the probe has branched into areas outside the original Daiker-Conese-Dixon allegation.

        Col. Richard K. Jones, Butler County sheriff's chief deputy, confirmed up to a half-dozen county officials, including the sheriff, had been asked to provide campaign finance records to the Secretary of State's investigators. “They said we were not under any investigation at all ... but specifically, they wanted anything to do with money orders. They wanted to pay special attention to that,” Col. Jones said.

        In August, Butler County commissioners hired attorney Michael T. Gmoser to represent Board of Elections employees in the probe. According to a bill he submitted to commissioners last month for $3,312, Mr. Gmoser represented 13 unnamed people. Four others — William Coombe and Mr. Daiker, Mr. Conese and Mr. Morrical — were represented by other attorneys.

        Mr. Gmoser had asked commissioners to appoint separate legal counsel for Mr. Coombe and Mr. Morrical.

        “It became immediately apparent to me during the initial interviews that a conflict of interest may arise” pertaining to Mr. Coombe and Mr. Morrical, Mr. Gmoser wrote in an Aug. 15 letter. He noted they were hired after March 1, the date of the alleged coercive statements to Mr. Dixon.

        In a Sept. 5 letter, Mr. Gmoser told commissioners he thought his work on behalf of the 13 clients was finished but said: “This is not to imply that the work of the Secretary of State is concluded.”

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