Toledo City Council should draw a line against tolerating corruption, however minor, and vote not to reappoint John Hobbs III to his seat on council.
The Office of Ohio Inspector General Randy Meyer reported in July, 2021, that Mr. Hobbs, a former head coach for the E.L. Bowsher High School girls basketball team, used time he was on the clock as a state barber inspector and his state vehicle for coaching duties and personal dental appointments, costing the state about $600.
This came to light about 10 months after he was appointed to a vacancy created on council because of the bribery indictment that involved the man he replaced, District 1 Councilman Tyrone Riley, and three other councilmen. Since then, Riley has pleaded guilty and resigned from council. Two others have also pleaded guilty. One awaits trial.
Mr. Hobbs had been a cosmetology and barber inspector for the state for about nine years, conducting inspections of salons, barber shops, tanning salons, and related businesses in his 28-county Toledo area region. He later resigned from the job, for which he was paid $55,641, saying his employer said he had to choose between the inspector job and city council. Toledo citizens should expect that someone holding down a state job would see the inappropriateness of moonlighting while on the state clock and using his state-issued vehicle to get him there.
What compounds the error is that Mr. Hobbs said that he stopped multiple times at Bowsher because he considered it a safe place to do his inspector paperwork. Diligent investigators found that Mr. Hobbs’ stops at Bowsher coincided with his team’s practice schedule on 14 of the 44 total stops reviewed.
Mr. Hobbs’ seat on council is up for appointment because he was chosen to fill the vacancy while Riley was on suspension. Now that Riley has officially resigned, the Lucas County Democratic Party is accepting applications for the vacancy, with the appointment to be made by council.
These are trifling amounts cited by the Ohio Inspector General, but rules are rules. Council should start anew with District 1, and make sure that the new representative shows more awareness of ethical boundaries than either of the two previous representatives did.
First Published January 4, 2023, 5:00 a.m.
