A representative of Hilliard City Schools said Wednesday that Stephanie Kunze, the 38-year-old elementary school secretary who found herself at the center of a primary-election controversy related to her candidacy for Hilliard City Council, has resigned.

Roy Walker, director of human resources for the school district, said Kunze, a secretary at Norwich Elementary School and classified employee of the school district, has submitted her resignation.
"The board will be acting on her resignation, effective June 8," Walker said.

Walker said Kunze did not give a reason for submitting her resignation.

Kunze issued a statement Wednesday morning saying she would not renew her contract with Hilliard City Schools in an effort to remove any lingering doubts about her candidacy.

"I am excited about the opportunity to serve the citizens of Hilliard," she said. "While I believe my relationship with Hilliard schools will be an asset I bring to the table, I want to be fully focused on my service to the city and our citizens. I don't want anything to distract me or stand in the way of doing the best job I can for the people in our community."

Results of an internal investigation by the Franklin County Republican Party found no reason to question Kunze's eligibility.

The leader of the May 5 Hilliard City Council GOP primary election, Kunze topped a six-candidate field with 828 votes. Incumbent City Council President Brett Sciotto was second with 758 votes followed by Jim Ashenhurst (740), council member Kelly McGivern (707), Heather Keck (653) and Doug Jackson (369).

The top four Republican candidates advance to November's general election, where they will face Democratic challenger Meagan Pandey. Four candidates will be elected to office.

Franklin County Republican Central Committee chairman Brad Sinnott said the party received a complaint after the primary election questioning Kunze's eligibility because of her status as a classified employee of Hilliard City Schools. 

Sections of both the Ohio Revised Code and Ohio Administrative Code (Civil Service law) prohibit classified public employees from participation in partisan primary elections.
The specific reference in Section 123:1-46 of the Ohio Administrative Code states that classified public employees are prohibited from "candidacy for public office in a partisan election" and "candidacy for public office in a non-partisan general election."

Spokespersons for numerous authorities, including the Franklin County Board of Elections, Franklin County prosecutor, Ohio attorney general, Ohio secretary of state and the city of Hilliard, have said they were not responsible for determining if Kunze's candidacy violated Ohio law.

Sinnott said the Republican Party determined Kunze was an eligible candidate.

"The feature of this that is of interest to the Republican Party is ballot access," Sinnott said. "Stephanie filed a proper petition. The board of elections certified her to the ballot. There was a period of time under the law when somebody could have challenged whether Stephanie was properly on the ballot. No challenge was made.

"She stood for election in the Republican primary in Hilliard in May and she was one of the candidates nominated by the Republican voters of Hilliard. My expectation is that she is going to be a Republican candidate for city council this fall. That's really all there is to it," he said. "As far as the ballot access piece of this is concerned, which is the thing we are interested in as a party, those are the facts and all of the facts that matter. At this point, that's all there is and all I expect there to be."

Additional information will be included in the June 11 edition of ThisWeek Hilliard.