Mary “Kay” Rogers was the Butler County Auditor, an elected office, in southwestern Ohio. A Republican, Rogers was outspoken and successful in her position. However, her time in the office did not end well. Rogers resigned in 2008 after pleading guilty to bank and mail fraud and was sentenced to 24 months in prison. She was released in May 2013 and then completed 5 years of supervised release, a particularly long period of supervision post prison. Out of prison and now in private business, she filed papers to run for the 8th Congressional District in Ohio and hopes to change things in Washington DC.
Rogers’ criminal case was unusual. The single mother of 6 children, was allegedly part of a criminal conspiracy involving an Internet fiber ring contract worth millions to an upcoming entrepreneur named Orlando Carter. Carter was found guilty at trial and sentenced to 15 years in prison and was released in April 2022. Rogers was alleged to have helped Carter receive the contract and a loan from the now-defunct National City Bank (assets purchase by PNC Bank). However, National City Bank has stated that Rogers was not responsible for a $4 million loan but that was long after Rogers had emerged from prison.
Rogers, attempting to avoid the possibility of a long prison term and needing to care for some of her younger children, one of whom is Autistic, decided that it was best to plead guilty and take the guarantee of a shorter prison term. Rogers told me in an interview, “My decision to plead guilty was based on my family and the fact that I could not afford a protracted legal case that would have bankrupted me whether I won or lost. Over the years, I have learned that I am not the only one who had to make that tough decision to limit the damage and get out from under heavy legal bills by pleading guilty. There is no doubt that many innocent people go to prison and are labeled felons when there was no crime.”
Rogers will run in the March Republican primary against Congressman Warren Davidson (8th District, R), who was first elected in 2016 to replace former House Speaker John Boehner. Davidson has worked closely with ultra-conservative members of Congress and is a member of the House Freedom Caucus.
The 8th District in Ohio is predominantly Republican but not a conservative as Davidson as the Abortion Rights issue passed in the 8th district and the upcoming primary in March will likely determine who will win in the fall. Rogers believes it is time for a change in leadership and plans to give Davidson a run for the money. “Davidson ran on the platform of term limits of 6 years,” Rogers said, “and here he is running again since being elected in 2016. I think it’s time for a change and you can be assured I’ll be in, make a difference and move on.”
Rogers wants to apply her business, government, and accounting background to bring the Federal Budget back to where we are not increasing our National Debt but paying it down, like most Americans do when they borrow money. She does not want to leave this debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren with higher taxes.
She also wants to work on the illegal crossings at the border and she knows to fix this it is more than just building a wall. “Immigration is something that everyone knows needs to be addressed,” Rogers said, “but nobody has been able to do much in decades and the current situation is not sustainable.”
One issue close to Rogers is going to be criminal justice reform. The First Step Act, supported by both Republicans and Democrats, was signed into law by President Donald Trump in December 2018. “The First Step Act gave an opportunity to prisoners to reform and, at the same time, earn a reduction in their sentence,” Rogers said, “I think that is fair, but many parts of the justice system are just not fair.” One important issue Rogers said involves large restitution orders which are handed out based on potential loss not actual proven losses. Rogers stated, “What you are doing is giving many people a life sentence of restitution for losses that never happened and there was no real victim.”
Rogers missed the birth of her first grandchild when she entered prison in the women’s federal prison camp in Lexington, KY. “Prison was just so foreign to me but after being there I heard the stories of women who were struggling to keep their family together while they were gone,” Rogers said, “it was heartbreaking and many of their cases could have been handled in other ways than the expense and cruelty of prison.”
Republicans have often been at the center of criminal justice reform. Former House of Representative Speaker Newt Gingrich, like then-Senator Joe Biden, adopted a “lock’m up” mentality leading to sweeping legislation in the 1990s that ended parole for federal crimes and mandated strict, lengthy, guideline sentences. Gingrich went on to acknowledge the mistakes and expense of incarcerating so many people. The federal prisons’ population peaked in 2013 at just over 219,000 and since then has gone down to around 150,000. Rogers said of the reduction, “What many people miss is that once the prison term is over, the felony follows people through life. My being elected will be about second chances and meaningful changes.”
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn or Forbes. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
Article originally published on Forbes.com by Walter Pavlo (Jan 12, 2024)
