Seneca County GOP chairman accused of ‘erratic behavior’ by Dale Depew

UPDATE: Dave Koehl has responded to the accusations made against him by Dale Depew. Click here to read.

TIFFIN, OH — Dave Koehl, the chairman of the Seneca County Republican Party, has been accused of wrongdoings and “erratic behavior” by the editor of a local publication.

Dale Depew, the founder and editor of Seneca News Daily, who is a Republican himself, has accused Koehl of “not acting in the best interests of the Republican Party.” The accusations come after Koehl allegedly orchestrated a petition challenge against a Republican candidate for First Ward Tiffin City Council member.

Recently, the Seneca County Board of Elections received a petition challenging Bridget E. Boyle (R), the sole candidate running for the First Ward seat on Tiffin City Council, from Collin R. Paylor.

You may remember Paylor from the 2018 primaries, when he unsuccessfully attempted to challenge Rachel Crooks in the Democratic primary for State Representative (district 88 seat). It is believed that Paylor, who is an employee of Mr. Koehl’s business, Paper and Ink, was directed by Koehl to not only run in the 2018 primary against Crooks, but also to file this petition challenging Boyle’s candidacy for the 2019 city council elections.

In addition to his chairmanship of the local GOP, Koehl also serves on the Seneca County Board of Elections.

“Koehl’s job as a member of the Board of Elections is, among other things, to rule on challenges to nominating petitions,” Depew said. “At the Board’s meeting on Wednesday, Koehl abstained from approving these petitions while Republican Mike Bridinger and the Board’s two Democratic members, Mary Puffenberger and Chairman Jim Fruth, voted to approve the petitions after Koehl questioned the same two items noted in Paylor’s challenge,” he continued.

Depew says he believes Koehl’s “erratic behavior” is due to the fact that Koehl recently applied for the position of County Treasurer, “explaining to the Republicans that he had earned their endorsement after years of dedicated service,” Depew stated. Koehl was “spurned” by the Republicans, not even making it to the final round of voting for the appointment that ended up going to Paul Harrison.

“I wrap my mind around all of these facts as I try and figure out what is behind Koehl’s erratic behavior,” Depew said.

You can view a PDF of the challenge petition below.

[embeddoc url=”https://go.tiffinohio.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Collin-Paylor-Challenge.pdf” download=”all” text=”Download PDF”]