MAYOR CATAZARO-PERRY IS - LET'S SAY - "INCONSISTENT?" MASSILLONIANS THINK CRONYISM IS OKAY?

Whatever hope that there may have been that newly sworn-in Massillon Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry (C-P) would be her own person appears to have vanished like the warm weather on being pushed out by a strong cold front.

Last week she (err the Parks & Recreation Board) acted in emergency fashion (on the abrupt resignation of former Mayor Frank Cicchinelli supporter Kenn Kaminski) in naming campaign team member and transition arranger Bob Straughn as the Parks & Recreation Department director.

Who likely arranged for the the Straughn appointment?

Apparently, Safety Service Director George T. Maier who was invited into the Parks & Recreation Board executive session midway.

The SCPR does not believe for one New York nanosecond press reports quoting Maier that the Catazaro-Perry administration had a "wait-and-see" posture vis-a-vis Kaminski.  The Internet mouthpiece for the mayor and her political sycophants have been all over Kaminski for some time now. 

Of course, Straughn is just one of quite a number of  C-P political friends who ended up with jobs with Massillon city government since she took office at the beginning of this year.

One hopeful from the Cicchinelli administration thought he was going to have the opportunity to remain with the city, but as it turns out he seems to be the victim of what appears to be a cruel political hoax on the part of the mayor (she had to know better).

Former Roads and Streets Superintendent Michael Stevens tells the SCPR that back in July he received a "surprise"telephone call from Catazaro-Perry.  She was calling him to induce him to buy a ticket to a fundraiser for her campaign against Republican Lee Brunckhart to be held within a matter of days.  He says the tone of the call was as if his association with the Cicchinelli administration was not a problem.

Stevens responded to C-P that once the November election had come and gone, he would surface as a wholehearted supporter.

While he could not attend her fundraiser because of a conflict he had with the need to tend to Lawrence Township business (Stevens is a Lawrence Township trustee), he did send her a check for her campaign.

Then he says two days after the November election (mind you the Catazaro-Perry folks have had the check since July), he received his uncashed check back with no word of explanation in an anonymous-esque mailing package.

In the meantime he had information from mutual acquaintances that C-P was telling them that as far as she was concerned Mike Stevens was an okay guy.

Then the returned, uncashed check?

Stevens was let go by personal notice delivered by George Maier and Bob Straughn on December 27th or 28th.

According to Stevens, Mayor Catazaro-Perry fabricated a tale that she was telling mutual friends that she could not keep Stevens on because of blemishes in his personnel file.

Interesting, no?

Catazaro-Perry's seeming politization of Massillon city government is drawing a lot of attention these days in Tigerland.

The Massillon Independent yesterday put up a poll, to wit:

The Report is receiving word that the political mentors to the mayor have sent out an e-mail to her supporters rallying them to skewer the vote.

Notwithstanding this apparent effort by C-P loyalists to "stack-the-deck," 38% of voters (presumably Massillonians) simply want the very best in governance.

Filtering out the campaigning element, it is likely that the "real" numbers are exactly the opposite those that the poll shows:  60% or more in favor of the "best qualified" and 40% or less for political cronyism.

The tragedy of the hyper intra-partisanship (one Democratic faction against another) with, perhaps, a number of Republicans joining in or the good government side, is that Massillonians are apparently getting less than the best city employee (at the management level) in place to deal with some very serious if not critical problems facing the city of Massillon.

The SCPR no longer believes that a plausible case can be made that Mayor Catazaro-Perry is separate and apart from the political shenanigans being foisted on Massillon government operations.

The Stevens incident has the hand and footprints of Stark County Democratic operative Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. all over it (i.e. - the return of the campaign contribution check and his rejection as a Catzaro-Perry administration member).

While The Report finds it believable that the mayor has no problem with Stevens at a personal level, it is equally believable that decisions like whether or not he should be permitted a place in her administration IS NOT HERS TO MAKE!