On June 16th, Hudson City Council voted 6-1 to remove the censure previously issued against Nicole Kowalski for violating executive privilege during her time on council. Skylar Sutton cast the lone “no” vote, while the six Democratic council members voted unanimously in favor.
Rather than pursue prosecution, the prior council had chosen to censure Kowalski for her actions. While still serving on council, Kowalski sued the City of Hudson in an attempt to have the censure overturned. She lost in court—but appears to have successfully persuaded the new Democratic majority to undo it on her behalf.
Council member Patricia Goetz led the effort to remove the censure. During the meeting, Goetz was observed frequently checking her phone, possibly receiving input from others or reviewing prepared remarks. Rather than provide proper public notice and opportunity for citizen input, the Democratic majority voted quickly and unanimously to lift the censure on their friend and campaign supporter. There was no meaningful transparency or public deliberation—the measure was simply rammed through.
Kowalski was recently appointed Stow Clerk of Courts. The Summit County Democratic Party has now placed someone with a documented censure for violating the law into a prestigious court position. With that censure likely to become an issue in her campaign to retain the seat, this action appears to many as a quid pro quo. As political history often demonstrates, however, the cover-up can be viewed as worse than the original offense.
Kowalski appears repeatedly in the campaign finance reports of the current council majority. She contributed time, money, and was listed among expenditures. Now, the council has rewarded their campaign leader by erasing her censure. This development has prompted Clocktower Files to come out of retirement for a deeper look into the situation.
Since Goetz believes breaking the law is okay, even for a Clerk of Court, Clocktower Files checked out the court dockets to investigate her history. One notable case involves Patricia Goetz being sued by the family of a woman she allegedly struck with her vehicle in a parking lot.
The complaint filed by the family (executor) of the woman against Patricia Goetz is attached below for context.
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Goetz, did herself, not follow statue by her introducing a resolution that had not first been introduced as required at a workshop. The resolution she introduced was to rescind her friend Kowalski s past censure. When that resolution was denied because procedure had not been followed Goetz then changed it to a motion. D’Eramo , as always, fell in line and seconded that motion. No hard copies were given to council , of the resolution now a motion, this for council to review prior to a vote taken. The mayor read Roberts Rules of order, and per its language regarding censure procedure, stated that the previous council correctly followed procedure prior to voting to censure Kowalski. Then Weinstein and D’eramo stated their friend just “deserved” better treatment. Vote taken, no written copies of motion available, Goetz verbally editing ” on the fly” the motion, numerous times, but this council voted any way to approve. By doing so paving the way for their pal Kowalski’s future political endeavors giving their pal a clean record. Their is a pattern here of this council disregarding due process and statues.