VIDEOS LINKED IN BODY OF BLOG
DISCLAIMER: The views express in the blog are the exclusive views of Martin Olson, author of The Stark County Political Report and ARE NOT the views of the North Canton Chamber of Commerce, Doug Lane and Randy Smith.
The videos linked to by the SCPR from the North Canton Chamber of Commerce provided online link speak for themselves in terms of the interviewers approach subject, of course, to viewers interpretation of the presentation.
The Stark County Political Report has long maintained that North Canton City Council is the most troubled legislative political subdivision in all of Stark County.
It has been quite a fall for this body from the days that Daryl Revoldt was council president and by force of his experience and his temperament kept council in touch with its constituents.
Clearly, this council as presently constituted with Council president Dan "Jeffrey" Peters (Ward 2) leading the way with the likes of Councilwoman Marcia Kiesling (at-large), Stephanie Werren (Ward 3) and Doug Foltz (Ward 1) [listed in the degree of citizen hostility that The Report thinks each deserves], is "out-of-touch" with the will of North Cantonians and democratic-republican values on/in how it conducts the legislative branch of North Canton government.
The four listed above the graphic have in the opinion of the SCPR used Law Director Tim Fox as their hammer on a handful of citizen activists to beat down their initiatives for a democratic-republican consistent North Canton government structure in terms of accessibility, openness, transparency, communicativeness and accountability.
The remaining incumbents are to be chastised not so much as being aggressively hostile to those who engage council on the public square, but by their "go along, to get along" attitude vis-a-vis Peters, Kiesling, Werren and Foltz.
As we all know, some very bad things can happen in the body politic when the likes of Cerreta (at large), Griffith (at large) and Fonte (Ward 4) standby and do nothing to stop the political abuse.
The Report knows that "abuse" is a pretty strong word. Of course in this context it is 'political' abuse of fundamental democratic-republican system of government principles that yours truly is referencing.
Nonetheless, "political abuse of civic active citizens" in a phrase yours truly chooses to use to describe what Peters, Kiesling, Werren and Foltz are doing to those North Canton citizens who question the substantive decisions of council and do so largely through their handpicked law director Tim Fox (with Peters as personnel committee chairman having been the promoter of) as the articulator of a response in the mode of "the heavy hand of government."
The only remedy, it seems to the SCPR, is for North Canton citizens to replace a number of incumbents in this election season.
The preference for voter removal are, of course, Peters, Kiesling and Werren.
Unfortunately, the longest serving member of council and a person who ought to know better by virtue of how he was handled by Canton government at the executive level when he was a Parks Department employee, namely, Ward 1 Council Doug Foltz has no opponent.
However, he is the weakest link in the change which the SCPR hereby names "the gang of four" and The Report believes that if either Peters, Kiesling or Werren or any combination thereof loses on November 3rd, then Foltz is a possibility to forge a link with newly elected councilpersons to provide Fox with new marching orders.
Any combination of challengers and incumbents that can get to a working majority of four to rein in Law Director Tim Fox who apparently understands that it "Katy bar the door" in terms of his "over-the-top" methods, the SCPR thinks, in managing engaged citizens and their petitions for their perceptions of needed actions, changes, responsiveness in the way North Canton government connect with its citizenry.
The Report believes that a voter retention of Peters, Kiesling and Werren would be an endorsement of the hostility that "the gang of four" and any North Canton voter who voted for them should not be heard to complain when a voter gets the treatment that council generally hands out to disagreeable petitioning citizens.
Unfortunately, voters are largely ignorant of what goes on in the counsels of government which ignorance the likes of Peters, Kiesling and Werren rely on in getting reelected.
While the SCPR preference is for North Canton voters to replace Peters, Kiesling and Werren; the removal of any one of the three will be the beginning of a changed attitude of North Canton City Council vis-a-vis the North Canton civically engaged public.
Now that yours truly as weighed in, The Report herein links readers of this blog with the work of the North Chamber of Commerce (NCCC) and its executive director Doug Lane.
Readers of the SCPR know that yours truly is an opinion blog writer who substantiates opinion with documented/videotaped evidence for readers to agree with or disagree with.
Over the past several years, the SCPR has written numerous blogs on North Canton Council and its various members. All one has to do is "Google" the councilperson's name or in the case of Law Director Tim Fox his name and "Google" will return many links.
But the NCCC/Lane presentation is pretty objective.
Lane's interviews, in particular, show no bias.
However, the SCPR cannot say the same for Randy Smith, a former NCC board member.
But his - to the SCPR - "cloying" to his interviewees is within the bounds of political decency.
While Lane is respectful to each of those he interviews, he does not avoid the overarching issue which anyone who knows North Canton council is well aware of, which is to say, the acerbic relations between various council members (of course, the SCPR focuses on "the gang of four") and the seemingly unchecked law director Tim Fox.
Unfortunately, Councilman Dan "Jeff" Peters and Councilwoman Stephanie Werren get passes on these issues on their respective Randy Smith conducted interviews.
Nevertheless, despite the weakness of the Smith interviews on the salient points, the SCPR repeats it compliment to the North Canton Chamber of Commerce and Executive Director Doug Lane for taking on and completing this project.
Would that Chambers of Commerce throughout Stark County do a similar public service for its citizens.
Today's NCC links are to the Ward candidate interviews.
Tomorrow, The Report will repeat this blog with the only change being to direct readers to the four interviews done of the council at large candidates (three to be elected).
The SCPR encourages readers to spread the word to North Canton voters about the NCC's work to have an informed voter vote on the November 3rd council races.
LINKS
WARD 2 - PIERPONT CHALLENGING PETERS
Holly Davidson Pierpont (Video Link)
Dan "Jeff" Peters (Video Link)
WARD 3 - HOAGLAND & OSBORNE
CHALLENGE WERREN
Linda Hoagland (Video Link)
Chuck Osborne (Video Link)
Stephanie Werren (Video Link)
WARD 4 - SNYDER CHALLENGES FONTE
Kathy Snyder (Video Link)
Dominic Fonte (Video Link)
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