October 19, 2011 at 4:04 PM, a shout of Oh Happy Day was undoubtedly on the minds of those present at the "second" swearing-in of Alliance Republican Alex Zumbar.
This swearing-in could, perhaps, be seen as a sort of absolution of Stark County officialdom and state of Ohio (i.e. the State of Ohio Auditor - "SOA") sins of commission, omission or whatever.
Zumbar had been sworn-in once before on November 24, 2010 on the heels of being elected Stark County treasurer in November, 2010 and things seemed to be settling down.
However, on June 23, 2011 the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Gary D. Zeigler had been removed unconstitutionally by Stark County commissioners (Bosley, Ferguson and Meeks) and Zumbar was bounced from office and Zeigler reinstated.
This decision threw Stark County into turmoil once again (with multiple lawsuits being filed as add ons to existing ones) as had been the case from the time Zeigler revealed (on April 1, 2009) that his employee Vince Frustaci (chief deputy) had stolen funds from the Stark Treasury and that he had fired him.
Frustaci is now serving a ten year sentence in federal prision.
While Zeigler was not implicated in the theft, the SOA and many Stark Countians including Stark County Auditor Alan Harold held the view that Zeigler had not structurally and procedurally secured the treasury so as to have safeguards in place to prevent the Frustaci theft.
Zeigler continued, up until his resignation (in a settlement agreement with county commissioners) on Wednesday, to deny that he had one anything wrong in his administration of the treasury.
Does the swearing-in of Zumbar a second time mean that Stark's troubles are behind her?
Probably not.
On November 8th, Stark Countians will be deciding whether or not to approve a 0.5% sales tax to stave off (so the commissioners and elected county officials say) financial crisis that Stark County has not seen since The Great Depression.
But for the moment sit back and watch as Zumbar is sworn-in and makes a few comments and hum to yourself "Oh Happy Day!"
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