DISCUSSION: 50TH OHIO HOUSE DISTRICT - HAS DEHOFF STIRRED UP A "HORNET'S NEST" OR IS THIS MERELY A "TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT?"

In October, 2006 Tuscarawas Township trustees voted to terminate her husband from his union job with the township and township resident Susan Faber figures that Ohio House - 50th District - candidate and township trustee Celeste DeHoff is primarily to blame.

Ever since, Faber has been on a mission to make sure organized labor's supporters are aware of DeHoff's involvement.

Faber has been trying to get an audience with Governor Ted Strickland to get him to intervene and restore Faber's husband to his job for the township.

Faber contends that her efforts have been blocked by Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., (the husband of township fiscal officer Debbie Maier) and the governor's Regional 9 Director and former Jackson Township trustee Steven Meeks.

A tentative meeting had been previously scheduled but on the condition that Maier and Meeks be present. Faber rejected the proposed terms of the meeting (because she thinks Maier and Meeks are too entrenched as DeHoff political allies) and insisted on a one-on-one with the governor. But the governor's representatives reject a one-on-one.

So what is Faber's response. She is out picketing, when she has access, whenever the governor or his wife appear in Stark County. Several weeks ago, Strickland was scheduled to appear at the Louisville McDonalds with DeHoff but the campaign event fizzled. However, Faber was present with her signs.

This past weekend Faber was again out with her signs ( pictured [similitude] in the graphic to this article). Frances Strickland made two area appearances last weekend. She was at the Louisville Eagles last Saturday at a Celeste DeHoff campaign event and at the United Steel Workers hall (the Golden Lodge) located on Harrison is Canton at a union rally for 16th District Congressional candidate John Boccieri.

Faber tells the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT that she received much support from passing motorists in Louisville and from the union members at the Golden Lodge.

One person who avoided (or you might say snubbed) Faber was party chairman Maier. But maybe he might have been a bit upset by another sobering reality. He was not put on the platform by union organizers of the event. Was this an organized labor comeuppance on Maier? Could this be an outgrowth of his difficulties with labor that go back about a year, when he replaced (some say involuntarily) long term ironworker Billy Sherer as a Democratic representative on the Stark County Board of Elections?

But in any event, the question is: Is Faber's pursuit of DeHoff/Strickland on the campaign trail a "real" political problem for DeHoff or is it merely an annoyance?