Recently, longtime Massillon clerk of council Mary Beth Bailey apparently tiring of the non-stop efforts of the Catazaro-Perry administration to get her non-renewed as clerk, applied for and was selected as North Canton's council clerk.
The SCPR wishes Bailey well but The Report thinks she may well have "jumped from the frying pan into the fire" in that as The Dogwood City's clerk of council she will have to work closely with Law Director Tim Fox.
Fox, since he took office in September, 2012, has generated a huge controversy with the Concerned Citizens of North Canton and others over his "giving citizens 'a tough way to go'" in obtaining public records.
The SCPR thinks that in one way or another he will continue his pitched battle with North Cantonians wanting public records inasmuch as he seems to be in charge of North Canton government; not Mayor David Held; not North Canton City Council.
And, of course, Bailey will be caught in the crossfire.
As she was in Massillon in the ongoing fight over one issue or another between the Catzaro-Perry administration and city council.
Going back to the days when she was Ward 3 councilwoman, Kathy Catzaro-Perry has been keenly interested in who is clerk of Massillon City Council.
As reported by the SCPR in March, 2012; a mere two months after she took office as mayor, Catazaro-Perry was "at it again," trying to get the-then clerk of council Mary Beth Bailey replaced as clerk.
But as stated in the opening paragraph of today's blog, Bailey had been a Catazaro-Perry target going way back to her council's days, to wit:
On February 7, 2011 the SCPR went to Massillon City Council. In setting up to record council actions for the evening, yours truly struck up a conversation with council Clerk Mary Beth Bailey.
Amid the chit-chat, it came out that years before Bailey had worked for Republican Janet Creighton when she was Stark County auditor (Creighton is now Stark County commissioner).
And that was interesting to learn.
But even more interesting was Bailey's account of how the then Councilwoman Kathy Catazaro-Perry had tried to get her non-renewed for being clerk of council.
In hindsight, the SCPR thinks that Bailey ran afoul of a repeated story in Massillon city politics.
If the Johnnie A. Maier, Jr political machine cannot control you, they work to get rid of you and replaced by one of Maier's political loyalists.
As the SCPR has editorialized repeatedly, Catazaro-Perry is owned "mind, body and soul" by the Maier machine.
They (Maier, Jackson, et al) put her in office and she shall never, ever escape, and as the Tennessee Ernie Ford song goes: "[she now] owes her soul to the company store."
Now Massillon is faced with replacing Bailey.
And the SCPR believes that the Maier Political Machine is busy at work conniving to get the Machine's person in as council clerk.
What better way to undermine council (except, of course, for "new" Maier loyalist and Ward 4 councilman Shaddrick Stinson) than to have a mole at work within the inner circles of council to keep Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and Shane Jackson informed about the most closely guarded secrets of various councilpersons who are not "playing ball" with them and their puppet mayor.
The Report has a report that in the waning days of Bailey's time in Massillon, Council President Tony Townsend (another Massillon political figure that the Maiers' seem to have political conspired to place in office) and Stinson appeared at the clerk's office with now interim clerk of council Diane Rolland (who has applied for the permanent position) in tow.
The SCPR thinks the stage is set for more political intrigue in Massillon as Catazaro-Perry, Townsend, Stinson, Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and Shane Jackson put on a concerted drive to make Rolland Massillon's next council clerk.
The Report spoke with Councilman Paul Manson on Monday night (following the regular city council meeting) about the process of selecting a new council clerk.
Applications for clerk had closed with the close of business of Massillon city government earlier in the day of the 21st.
The SCPR believes that Maier opponents have the numbers and will prevail, but the fight will be interesting and will, more importantly, spill over into the ongoing battle between a majority of council and the mayor at least through the Democratic primary of May, 2015.
Manson says that "the choice will be council's choice and 'not anybody else's.'"
Hmm?
Undoubtedly, Johnnie A. Maier, Jr thinks otherwise.
How will the Maier forces pull off getting their person in as clerk of council?
Well, that's an easy one for the SCPR.
Obviously, they will work "to divide and - thereby - conquer" what otherwise would be a majority of council that chooses a clerk loyal to council and not to the Maier Political Machine.
Speaking of the Democratic primary of May, 2015, former mayor Frank Cicchinelli tells the SCPR that he is still considering a run to reclaim the office which he held for 24 years before being pushed aside by the Maier Political Machine in the form of Catazaro-Perry.
Cicchinelli says that if he decides to run, the decision will likely come in November, December of this year.
Of course, if he does decide to run he has a Catazaro-Perry record to run against and you can bet that a rematch will be a nasty and ugly political confrontation the likes of which Massillon has not seen for many, many of a year.
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