DISCUSSION: ARE SWANSON & FERRERO OUT TO DIMINISH STARK COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT? REPUBLICAN PARTISAN OHIO AUDITOR MARY TAYLOR TO THE RESCUE?

If a Stark County lawyer goes through a divorce, Stark County judges are not assigned to the case. A visiting judge is brought in. This it the way it should be. Ethical appearances demand such.

Apparently, Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor (Republican - Green; highly political in her own right) knows the political landscape so well she has called the feds (the FBI) in. Obviously, she is leery of the of at least the Swanson/Zeigler (Zeigler ran unopposed in 2008) political relationship. Is she going far enough? And, is she looking herself in the mirror. Her office has been giving Zeigler's office and Frustaci a clean bill of health all along.

It is the position of the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) that neither Sheriff Tim Swanson's office nor Prosecutor John Ferrero's office should be involved in investigating a case involving high profile political activists (e.g. Marlboro Township police chief Ron Devies vigorously supported Swanson opponent Larry Dordea) and political figures (e.g. Mayor William J. Healy, II) when any of these folks have a connection (pro or con) vis-a-vis either Swanson or Ferrero in a political context.

Could Swanson's folks have bungled the investigation because of a overzealousness fueled by politics?

A second reason that should have recused his office from the Devies investigation is the fact that Marlboro trustee Tim Wise (who is one of two of anti-Devies people on the Marlboro board) is the brother of former Ferrero hire, (prosecutor) E.E. Wise, Jr. The Report doesn't believe that EJ (as he is popularly known within Democratic circles) would try to influence the course of the investigation.

The Wise family has been has been heavily involved in Stark Democratic political circles. Even assuming these folks have kept their proper distance from the investigation as the SCPR does, these political interrelationships do not look good to the general public and Ferrero should take on the "public perspective" more than he does.

Does Ferrero (who ran unopposed in 2008) care about the public perception?

Ferrero not too long ago was the chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party. Having been such, should make him particularly sensitive to cases in which politics is deemed to be a factor.

And it is not good enough that Swanson is ONLY keeping his distance from the Stark County treasurer's office. Swanson is an avowed political support of Zeigler. Swanson even wrote a "letter to the editor" to The Repository supporting Zeigler's handling of the treasurer office operations.

The Report remembers Swanson, Ferrero and Zeigler tunning together as "a law enforcement team" for a period of time in 2004. How does Ferrero justify staying in this matter. Shouldn't he be bringing in a outside of Stark County prosecutor?