HOW WILL LOCAL REPUBLICANS FARE AT TRUMP CIVIC CENTER EVENT?

UPDATE

CANTON MAYOR THOMAS M. BERNABEI 
LINK TO WJW TV 8 REPORT

PROTECTS CANTON TAXPAYER $20,000 PLUS?

 IN EXPENSE OF PUTTING ON EVENT
IN INSISTING ON AN "UP FRONT" PAYMENT
FROM
TRUMP CAMPAIGN

(BASE PHOTO PROVIDED BY TRUMP VICTORY CENTER [SMITH & JAKMIDES PHOTOS ADDED])

VIDEO

RALPH CASE
"EARLY ADOPTER" TRUMP SUPPORT

ADDED

COPY OF CONTRACT
AGREED TO BY 
TRUMP 

UPDATE  10:30 AM

Republican Stark County prosecutor candidate Jeff Jakmides has confirmed with the SCPR that he will be attending tonight's Trump campaign event.

It still not definite that local Republican candidates will get a introduction to the 4,500 or so expected to attend the event.

Stark's local Republican leadership is saying that they have been lead to believe that they will be permitted to recognize local candidates.

ORIGINAL BLOG

Republican Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton says that she has been attending Republican presidential campaign appearances since the candidacy of George Herbert Walker Bush (Bush '41) which, of course, takes us back to the 1988 election in which was victorious for Bush.

Creighton also says that one does not know what to expect on how the appearance unfolds.  Each and every presidential candidate in her experience going back to Bush has had a different way of presenting their campaign appearances.

She is getting calls from Stark County 2016 candidates wanting to know whether or not they will be introduced at tonight's appearance by Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump's campaign.

Creighton simply does not know the answer to that question and The Report infers from the generalized discussion with her that local party officials have very little to say about how Trump's appearance will be choreographed.

For herself, Creighton is unsure whether or not she will be able be to attend as she had scheduled another commitment for the same time slot that Trump is scheduled to speak (7:00 p.m.).  She does say that she is trying to rearrange things so that she can make a showing at tonight's once-every-four-years (at best) historical moment.

Republican commissioner candidate (for the seat vacated by Democrat turned political independent Thomas M. Bernabei when he became mayor of Canton on January 1, 2016) Bill Smith (now a Canton Township trustee) is going to be attending the event for sure and he plans on making the most of it in taking grandchildren with him.

He sees Trump's Canton/Stark County appearance as being something awe inspiring not only to himself but also for his extended family.

Smith thinks that an introduction as a candidate for county commissioner enhances his chances of being victorious over Democratic opponent Stephen Slesnick.  Quite a number of Trump supporters are new participants in this election and so they are not likely to be all that familiar with down-ticket Republicans such as Smith.

Once such new participant is Plain Township resident Ralph Case.  In March (see this LINK) Case on his own at his own expense opened a Trump for President storefront in Canton.

Notwithstanding that Case was dumped by from any official involvement in the Trump campaign because he failed to clear speaking to the media with Trump higher ups, he has held steadfast in his support of Trump.

But he repeatedly prefaces any remarks on the Trump candidacy with "I am speaking for myself and NOT for the Trump organization."

He, as an individual doing his own thing, recently met with Creighton in her role as chairperson for Women for Trump in a endeavor to link up his effort with hers, the Stark County GOP, the NRA (Canton office on Whipple) and the Trump Victory Center to make Trump a Stark County winner in less than 60 days.

Creighton and Case are duly impressed with the turnout at an "open house" held at the newly opened NRA-Canton storefront.  Creighton told the SCPR that she and her husband are long time NRA members.

Case is also a big time supporter of Republican prosecutor candidate Jeff Jakmides.  While he knows, likes and is ardently supporting Jakmides, the SCPR doubts he is very familiar if at all with other Republican candidates which sprinkle the Stark County political skyline in the November 8th election.  For those attending tonight's event, it would be a plus for those new participants like Case to able to identify them.

Last week the SCPR interviewed Case.



As reported in multiple northeast Ohio media outlets, Canton mayor Thomas M. Bernabei has held Canton taxpayers harmless on subsidizing the Trump campaign by absorbing added security costs of Trump being in Canton and in not providing a "free of rent" public facility (Canton Civic Center) for the event.

Back in March, 2016 North Canton mayor David Held made a splash in revealing that North Canton had sent a bill to the Romney/Ryan campaign for added costs to North Canton on account of a Ryan appearance at Walsh University during the 2012 presidential campaign.

Romney/Ryan blew off North Canton in 2012.

The point of Held's "early-in-the-presidential-politics-2016" play in the media (SCPR blog LINK) was to put all the candidates on notice that North Canton was not going to allow a repeat in the 2016 presidential campaign sweepstakes.

So far, Held has not been put to the test.  But the SCPR has no doubt that he will stand his ground a insist on an "up front" payment for estimated increased expenses should either the Trump campaign or Clinton campaign wish to bring their respective campaigns to North Canton.

Canton mayor Thomas Bernabei has been put to the test and has come through with flying colors.



And that he defend the interest of Canton's taxpayers is critical in that for 2016 Canton had about a $5.1 million deficit and may be facing an additional deficit in 2017.

Bernabei tells the SCPR that getting the up front $20,000 payment from the Trump campaign for tonight's appearance was not all that difficult.

He credits the ease of getting the Trump campaign to pay upfront to SMG (LINK), a facilities management company which Canton contracts with to operate  the Canton Memorial Civic Center headed up in Canton by Blake Schilling.

Bernabei tells the SCPR that extra costs (including the charges for the rental of the center itself) may make the final billing more than $20,000 as provided for in the contract language:



The mayor is confident that should extra expenses be generated that the Trump campaign will pay up.

He bases that expectation on prior experiences that SMG has had with the Trump campaign.

A SCPR "hats off" to Mayor Held and Bernabei!