Both (Commissioner Steven Meeks and Trustee Jamie Walters) appear to the SCPR to have only an outside chance to be elected Stark County commissioner on November 2nd.
So what are the respective back up plans?
At one time, Meeks (according to sources) was looking to replace Gary Zeigler as treasurer. But that was only if Zeigler was to "see the light" and resign. He didn't and the commissioners decided to remove him.
MEEKS
Even though the the treasurer's position is open, it does not appear to be an option for Meeks.
Why?
Beacause:
1. It wouldn't be seemly. After all, Meeks was one of three commissioners (Bosley and Ferguson being the other two) who voted one week ago today to remove Zeigler under the authority of Ohio Revised Code Section 321.38 from office.
2. There is a remote (in the opinion of the SCPR) that the 5th District Court of Appeals could decide to return Zeigler to office. Where would that leave an appointee?
3. The appointee has to run for treasurer this November (not two years from now) which would be too short of time to shift gears, let alone a likely voter adverse reaction (in Meeks' case) at what would appear to be sheer political opportunism.
Though it will mean an even larger fall from the lofty heights of being Governor Strickland's Region 9 "eyes and ears" man, the word is that Meeks is already looking at running for his old post as Jackson Township trustee.
Meeks needs a backup plan, no?
WALTERS
It has been a topsy-turvy political run of it for Jackson Township Trustee Jamie Walters.
When he started out, it was to be a match up with Stark County Commissioner Todd Bosley. And Walters could not wait to get his political hooks into Bosley.
Walters probably figured that with Bosley voting to impose a 0.50 of one percent sales tax increase (along with then Commissioners Vignos and Harmon) in December, 2008 that he had a real chance to defeat a sitting commissioners.
And he was probably correct.
But then the political landscape did a kaleidoscopic-esque change and Walter's former bright political future turned into a bleak one overnight.
First, Bosley pulled out of the commissioners race when Ohio Speaker of the House Armond Budish paid a visit to him in December, 2009 with news from on high. The Democratic House Caucus had done some polling in Stark County to figure out who would be its strongest candidate to go at Republican incumbent Todd Snitchler (the 50th House District).
Lo and behold the political seers had blessed Bosley with their designation as the person who could defeat Snitchler.
Second, with Bosley pulling out, former Canton mayor Janet Creighton who undoubtedly has been itching to get back into Stark County politics (once it gets in your blood, it nearly impossible to get it out) is saying to herself "Hmm," an opportunity.
So why didn't she pull petitions to run against Bosley in the first place? Probably because she knows that Bosley runs mean and ugly campaigns. Not that she was frightened. But she's been there and done that with William J. Healy, II and likely was not wild about getting into the political cesspool again.
Now that is all changed. Steve Meeks, appointed by the Stark County Democratic Central Committee to fill Tom Harmon's unfulfilled term on December 15th, elects to jump from "retaining" the Harmon seat (for two years) to taking over the Bosley vacated four year term.
If Steven M. Meeks is anything, he is a gentleman. Creighton can run a high level campaign and defeat Meeks easily.
But what about Walters?
Well, all that gets handled in the back rooms of 2727 Fulton Ave, NW (the Stark GOP headquarters location).
A plan appears to have been hatched there for Walters to step aside in favor of the Stark County Republican Party's most powerful countywide vote getter (Creighton) and for him to join party newcomer Dean Windham (from Lake) to fight for the right to run against Democratic Party candidate Tom Bernabei.
What a huge political tumble for Walters!
He has to fight for his political life in a primary against a political newbie (Windham) and if he wins (which he did) has to run against a man he has no issues to contend with on and a man who has been elected many times over to various positions in Canton government who has gotten tons of ink over many years in The Repository and the Akron Beacon Journal, not to mention The Massillon Independent and The Alliance Review.
Where Walters stands today is a long way from where he stood on November 07, 2007 when he defeated Steven Meeks' handpicked candidate (his wife, Patty) to try to keep the Jackson trustee seat as a family heirloom.
Can there be any "reasonable" doubt that Jamie Walters needs a back up plan.
THE BACKUP PLAN
STEVEN M. MEEKS VERSUS JAMIE WALTERS, NOVEMBER, 2011.
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