COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the days before he resigned immediately for medical reasons, Ohio Lottery Commissioner Pat McDonald denied allegations of unwanted behavior, including “text messages expressing inappropriate fondness and innuendo toward two employees” and “unwanted touching of two employees,” according to an administrative review of human resources issues at the commission obtained by News 5.
The commission also provided a series of text messages sent between McDonald and an unnamed lottery commission employee that took place between January and April of this year in which he frequently expressed a strong and unrequited affection for the employee.
McDonald frequently texted “I love you,” and other statements, such as “I still have a major crush on you,” and “You’re a gift from god to me,” in addition to other inappropriate texts and emojis sent at all hours of the day and night.
On Saturday, Jan. 21, McDonald texted: “People love you – do we want to expand on things? I’d be happy to keep you to myself,” followed by the eggplant and heart emojis.
In the texts provided, the employee does not reciprocate or address the affectionate comments.
Starting in March, the employee started to be more direct with McDonald. According to the texts, the employee was upset that their boss had photos of them on their phone.
“You cannot take pictures of me. Bottom line,” one of the employee’s texts reads.
McDonald responded - “I will never do that again but its not illegal.”
The employee later threatened to resign.
A report reviewing the human resources issues at the Ohio Lottery was commissioned by the state’s Department of Administrative Services and prepared by the Cleveland-based law firm Zashin and Rich.
The report, released Friday, states a lottery employee notified human resources of McDonald’s unwanted behavior on April 7. In addition to the texts, the report claims McDonald also engaged in "unwanted touching of two employees’ arms, shoulders, and forehead, an unwanted hug as well as verbal comments about the appearance of two employees."
McDonald attended an in-person meeting with Matthew Donahue, the governor’s Chief Counsel, and Stephanie McCloud, the governor’s Chief of Staff, on April 11, about the allegations, which he explicitly denied. In that meeting, he disclosed “a significant medical condition and that he was considering retirement,” the report states.
News 5 obtained video of McDonald apparently being escorted out of the lottery commission offices by McCloud and Donahue on that date.
McDonald submitted his resignation the following day, and, according to the report, his resignation negated further disciplinary action.
However, documents show that all of this behavior wasn’t going unnoticed - the assistant director knew. The state told us that the individual is being reassigned “to a non-supervisory position at a different agency in a lower classification and pay range.”
The administrative report also recommended mandatory training for all lottery employees regarding appropriate workplace conduct.
We reached out to McDonald for comment, but he did not respond.
The lottery commission refused an interview but did give a statement saying, “We want to assure our customers that the actions of the former director have no impact on the Lottery’s day to day operations or the integrity of our games.”
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