Sunday, April 28, 2019

STARK CONSTRUCTION (TRADE) UNIONS TO JOE MARTUCCIO:


WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR [US] LATELY?


Updated:  Monday, April 29th at 6:42 a.m.
(Added material on "the Bernabei factor")

When it came to light at the late council president Allen Schulman, Jr. was not well, political jockeying started as to whom was going to succeed him in Canton council government.

Shortly after Schulman's death, the jockeying broke out into a full-blown competition between retired longtime law director Joe Martuccio and one of Stark County's premier unionist in William V. Sherer, II.

Martuccio says that initially, he was promised by prominently placed Stark County Democratic leadership the support of the Canton branch of the Stark County Democratic Party in his quest to be appointed to replace Schulman.

And it would be the duty of the Canton members of the Stark County Central Committee to choose Schulman's successor.

But that promise of support evaporated when Sherer decided he wanted to come out from being the puppeteer of all things union-related re: Canton government, to being the chief puppet of union interests and ensuring that union interests became official policy and the program/pragmatic stance of Canton's government wherever Stark unionists under the cloak of the East Central Ohio Construction Trades Council thinks there is an organized construction labor interest at play.

Sherer's union home base is Local 550, Ironworkers.


Martuccio, being the "class act" he is, bowed out of the Democratic Party process to select a Schulman successor, saying that:
  • he would not be the cause of Democratic Party discord, and, moreover, that
  • he would take his case to registered Canton Democrats in the May 7, 2019 primary election.
Little did he know at the time that Sherer would be playing the "political 'power'" card that unions have with nearly every Stark County political subdivision candidate/officeholder in that the candidates/officeholders as candidates rely heavily on union campaign finance contributions and workers for their respective campaigns.

Sherer started his trek out of the shadows of backroom Stark County Democratic politics on being appointed as one of two Democratic members of the Stark County Democratic Party effective March 1, 2014, a position he held through March 1, 2017.

His dad, popularly known in Democratic circles as being Billy Sherer, was "the union" (said to be a right within the "organized Stark County Democratic Party) member of the Stark County Board of Elections until he was unceremoniously removed at the initiative Dems chair Johnnie A. Maier, Jr who said at the time he was acting on the imperative of then Democrat Ohio secretary of state Jennifer Bruner, who, herself denied Maier's attribution.

So the SCPR thinks that Sherer's political "coming out" started with his selection as the Dems' Board of Elections appointee.

William V. Sherer, II has never been elected to any public office.  Joe Martuccio has won in many elections over the last 20 years or so.

For as long as the SCPR can remember, Stark County unions have been "the tail wagging the dog" of Stark County Democratic Party operating and political candidate aspirations.

And Sherer, the second, the SCPR believes, at least by implication is trying to power his way into being "elected" Canton city council president.

As president, Sherer has very little "official" power.  For instance, the president only gets a vote if the body of council is deadlocked on an issue. 

However, the "union political contribution factor" regarding Democratic candidates makes Sherer as president a much more powerful in a "de facto" 
sense.

Evidence of that power is the recent action of the Stark County Democratic Party leadership under Chairman Sam Ferruccio to pass a party generated resolution (outright endorsement no allowed by current bylaws) supporting the Sherer candidacy.

There is a move afoot within the Stark Dems to change the rule of the party endorsing in local races.  Reminds The Report of then chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr engineering a change of policy of non-endorsement in any race involving Democrat against Democrat when he got the local party to endorse Ted Strickland in his 2006 successful race for governor.  Not only was the Strickland endorsement made, but it was the very first county political party endorsement for him in that race.

This blogger believes that Maier, Jr. and his favored local political associates personally benefited from the 2006 Stark County Democratic Party endorsement of Strickland.

Canton mayor Thomas Bernabei, who became mayor as a political independent, recently returned to the Democratic fold (a disappointment to his blogger).

One has to think that as his opponents charged at the time, Bernabei's switch from being a lifelong registered Democrat to being a "political independent" was an opportunistic move (not an authentic move of "a pox on both political parties)  so that he could run in the 2015 general election against incumbent Democratic mayor William J. Healy, II who was running for a third term.


The redeeming thing about Bernabei from this blogger's perspective is a belief that when "push comes to shove," his independence of action will spring forth again if unions and or the party ask to do something that he deems not to be in the interest of the bulk of Canton's citizens.

In short, one should not doubt for a nanosecond that Bernabei is a Democrat.  He clearly is and at heart has always been.

But he appears to the SCPR to be an independent-minded Democrat.  And that plus, perhaps, a little backroom political dealing to avoid having a Democrat (Stark County clerk of courts Louis Giavasis) run against him in the November, 2019 general election seem to be the reasons why he has changed his registration back to being a Democrat.

A convincing reason he might have publicly thrown his support to Sherer might be the belief by some that organized labor has a stranglehold on Canton government and if he is going to be successful in pulling Canton out of its current depressed state connecting with the unions is a top priority.

Evidence of union power also shows in collective thousands of dollars contributed to the Sherer side of the campaign by elected Stark County political subdivision Democrats as part of the $60,000 plus of Sherer political war chest as compared to Martuccio's $2,800.  Martuccio tells the SCPR that he did not hold one single fundraiser.

Bernabei was one of the Sherer contributors ($250) and tells the SCPR that it was in effect an announcement that he is supporting Sherer over his (Bernabei's) former Canton law department protege Joe Martuccio, whom Bernabei helped become law director as his successor.

Many if not most of Canton city council members are among the contributors to the Sherer campaign.

For his part, Martuccio says he "understands" the rush of prominent Canton Democrats to financially support Sherer inasmuch as Sherer is the incumbent (by political appointment) council president of council.

This Martuccio "understanding" is generous from the SCPR's point of view.  It would be one thing if Sherer had been elected in a Canton election context to the presidency.  But the fact of the matter is that Sherer is a "politically" appointed president of council.  

On the Republican side of politics and governance, it is the corporations, business interest in general and business supporting organizations (e.g. chambers of commerce) that weigh in pretty much universally for Republican candidates.

It is only when one party or the other gains commanding control of any level of government, does the union/versus/business factor gets abused.

At the state of Ohio level, it is the Republican Party which seems to abuse its political power in favor of corporate/business interests.

Canton, and likely other major Ohio cities, on the other hand under Democratic Party control seem to abuse their power in favor of union interests.

It is a little crazy the Stark County Democratic Party would come out overwhelming for Sherer in the Sherer/Martuccio face off come May 7th.

As law director, Joe Martuccio drafted the ordinance for Canton City Council whereby it became "government policy" to insist that any and all contracts with the public but mainly "private sector" be the subject of what is known as being "Project Labor Agreements" (PLAs).

PLAs are the "sacred cow" of construction trades priorities.

So the difference between Sherer as council president and Martuccio as council president would not be general support of unions as evidenced by PLAs.

What is it, then?

Martuccio would not have nor want to have "the whip of future union 'campaign contributions'" as a cudgel to get any "off-the-reservation" Democrats on any given issue in line with the will of Stark County Democratic Party leadership.

Martuccio, while a solid Democrat who generally supportive of Democratic Party positions, has not been and will not be a "jam this down your throat" elected official, as so many elected legislative Republicans and Democrats are when they have supermajority control.

Joe Martuccio is a "come let us reason together" Democrat.

The SCPR has ties to the Sherers in that:
  • Billy Sherer served as an advisor to the  Martin Olson for state representative candidate (2002, 2004), and
    • who worked to enhance union financial support for the campaign
Philosophically, this blogger likes the contribution of unionists to the common cause the major contribution of which is the historical building up of the middle class.

The decline of unions have been a major factor in the decline of America's middle class since unionism high water mark in the mid to late 1970s.



However, the SCPR abhors blatant power politics (achieved in a noncompetitive political environment such as Canton's city council and the Ohio General Assembly) and will speak out against its expression wherever it comes from; friend or foe, unions or from the business sector, Democrat or Republican organizations.

The reckless and "power equals right" attitude (a la GOP chairperson and Stark Countian Jane Timken in supporting gerrymandering to take political party competitiveness out of Ohio's elections) does more than anything else to undermine public support for our system of government.

The power mongers are looking out for selfish/organization/political party interests and do not stop to think that a power grab and exercise might not be in and probably is no in the "overall" public interest.

Here and there, the two may be the same.

But we all know from life experience that parochial interests generally come at the expense of the public interest being abused which gives birth to a cynicism that all of government is suspected of being corrupt and, which, secondarily causes many citizens to "opt out" as participative citizens (e.g. voting, citizen activism, and the like) which over the long term puts our system of government at risk.

It is the Joe Martuccios of the world who encourage every day, day-in, day-out citizens to be a part of government processes designed to solve problems of our life together.

The May 7th Democratic primary will be a face-off between a proven oft-elected public official (Martuccio) and an ambitious political neophyte (Sherer) who one has to suspect is primarily interested in enhancing union interests under the cloak of Canton government.

It will be interesting to see which pathway Canton's voting Democrats go down on May 7, 2019.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

HOT OFF THE "SCPR" PRESSES:" A DETAILED INTERVIEW WITH CANTON MAYOR TOM BERNABEI & PLANNING DIRECTOR DON ANGUS ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF CANTON'S "CENTENNIAL PLAZA" PROJECT



What follows is a one hour, 22 minute, 26 seconds interview done by The Stark County Political Report with Canton mayor Thomas M. Bernabei and Direct of Planning Don Angus yesterday, April 24, 2019.

As far as the SCPR is concerned, Mayor Bernabei is "the very best" that Stark County has to offer in leadership style and effectiveness.

Of course, the mayor and this blogger do have different perspectives which shows up in the video.

Mayor Bernabei is one a very few Stark County political subdivision officials who has the maturity to take on challenging questions, endeavoring to answer them "head-on" (i.e. not trying to change the subject as ever so many public officials do to answer the question they want to answer) and, demonstrates his political/governance maturity in not (as many officials do) visiting future inaccessibility to the likes of the SCPR as a message:  "do not ask me tough questions."

Normally, after putting 5 minute or less segment in the body of any given blog, the SCPR does place "the entire video" of any SCPR videotaped interview or event in the blog.  However, "the entire version" is usually placed at the end of any given blog in the appendix section.

However, this particular video is so, so, so important for Cantonians/Stark Countians to view in order to understand the origin, development, the current status and the future of downtown Canton development which could over time tremendously benefit all Stark Countians.

In the appendix of this video is a copy of an April 17, 2019 letter to Canton City Council members which provides a written "thumbnail" sketch of the development of the entire Centennial Plaza project.

Excised from a letter in its separate file is a sheet which details the "broken down" to aspects of the project which is to be viewed as a "cost sheet."

For those readers who absolutely refuse to view the entire version video (or any part thereof), the SCPR which be publishing snippets of video in 45 second segments (the maximum allowable on Twitter.  (Here is a LINK to the first such snippet but without a video attached).

The video.



APPENDIX

Bernabei letter to Canton City Council members



Cost sheet for Centennial Plaza project






Sunday, April 21, 2019

IS STARK COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS LOU GIAVASIS "POLITICAL CRONYISM" PERSONIFIED?

UPDATED 11:27 P.M .

VOLUME 2



Only The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report) has raised much of the fuss about suspicions of what appears to be, in essence, political hirings in much of Stark County political subdivision government.

From a November 8, 2010, SCPR blog this:
During the recent campaign in which Coons Restoration & Sealants ... chief of financial operations ran against Stark County Auditor Kim  Perez, one of the themes of the Harold campaign was that a number of the Perez's employees were political appointees who, when hired, had little or no qualifications other than being registered Democrats who, impliedly, would be primarily about politically servicing Perez in his quest remain auditor.
Singled out in the buzz among Republican partisans were David Maley, Jimmy Babcock, Gary Zeigler II (*) and Kevin Fisher and the like.
* NOTE:  Zeigler remains on the auditor's office payroll under Republican Harold who tells the SCPR that Zeigler has been an exemplary employee. 
Hmm?

Jimmy Babcock (the son of a former Canton mayor [Charles, 1958 to 1961], a long time Canton councilwoman [Mary, 1979 to 2005]) , surfaces again in recently being hired by Stark County Clerk of Courts Louis P. Giavasis in what some Stark Countians think is a repeat of the Perez situation.

By Giavasis' own words, Babcock (who has been a Canton city-councilman-at-large since January 1, 2012)  got a clerk of court office job with the job not having been posted and consequently, the general run of Stark County taxpayers did not have the opportunity to apply for it.


Giavasis and his fellow Democrats might be saying that this blogger is picking on the Dems.

For the SCPR has not only cited the foregoing as possibly getting their jobs because of political connections to Louis Giavasis, The Report has previously blogged about:
  • Kody Gonzalez being first employed by Stark County recorder Rick Campbell and consequently by Canton clerk of courts Phil Giavasis (where Kody holds the job of his father (Jackson Township fiscal officer Randy Gonzalez) all of which occurred without the jobs having been posted to the general public,
    • Note: Randy Gonzalez (a former chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party) denies that he had anything whatsoever to do with his son getting the recorder's office job or the Canton clerk of courts job.
  • the politically connected Lisa Campbell (daughter of former Stark County commissioner Gayle Jackson)
    • the following from the above-cited 2010 blog:
      • The SCPR [was in 2010} critical of the hiring of ... Lisa Jackson Campbell as Plain Township administrator because:
        • The Report is highly skeptical of two phone calls that were made relative to her hiring
          • .One by then Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. to Plain Township trustee Louis Giavasis (according to Lawrence Township trustee Mike Stevens - who was also vying for the job) to ensure that Lisa got "a fair chance" at the vacant Plain Township administrator's job.  Remember from previous blogs how the SCPR has spoken of the "family" atmosphere that exists between Maier and the Jackson (e.g. Shane Jackson is Maier'e chief deputy [Massillon clerk of courts]
          • A second one (the order may be reversed) by Campbell himself to Giavasis (this is a Giavasis account of the conversation)  to ask whether or not it was permissible for ... Lisa to apply for the Plain Township job.
  • Louis Giavasis himself gaining employment at the Stark County clerk of court office under the hand-picked successor to his brother (who had moved on to become Canton Municipal Court clerk of courts when Tom Harmon retired)
For those who propagate the notion that the SCPR is singling out Democrats out as offenders in seeming cronyism to the exclusion of Republicans, take a look at these blogs:
Dan Fonte, the former business manager of Local 94, Pipefitters and Plumbers Union said this about Martin Olson:

"Martin is an equal opportunity critic"

And so it is.

Much work needs to be done on ensuring the Stark County taxpaying public that "public jobs" are just that:  "available to the general "taxpaying" public.

The Stark County commissions have made a move in opening the hiring process to transparency in hiring  Michael Kimble as the county's Human Resources (HR) director on October 14, 2014.


But the move will only be as good as his/the county commissioners' ability to persuade independently elected county officials to use the county hiring resource.

Giavasis says he has used the county's HR services once in his nearly four years as county clerk of courts. That was in the hiring of a collections enforcer in February 2016.

Since he took office on August 1, 2015 (as the appointee of the Stark County Democratic Party on the retirement of Nancy Reinbold) and having been elected in his own right in November 2016, Giavasis has made 29 hires, to wit:


On the surface, it appears that about 1/3rd of Giavasis' hires were not "after being posted" hires.

But digging deeper, it further appears that most of the top jobs went to "unposted" (including rehires) positions.

Other than Babcock, the most conspicuous of suspected primarily "political" hires are the chief deputy (Flex) and former Stark County sheriff office employee Tim George title manager.

Flex is a defeated for re-election fiscal officer for Plain Township.

See a letter to the editor of The Canton Repository pre-election.


Al Leno (hired November 19, 2012, a Plain Township trustee who served alongside Giavasis when Giavasis was a township trustee) has the suspected earmarks of a Giavasis involvement.

At least one other name has been suggested to the SCPR as having an inside political connection to getting hired for a position that was posted.

The Stark County Political Report is not satisfied with the number of what appear to be politically connected hirings throughout Stark County elective office hirings.

Giavasis might be okay when it comes to second level positions at the county clerk's office, but to The Report the hirings of Babcock, Flex and George seem to smack of having a political crony aspect to them.

Readers should be putting pressure on all of Stark's countywide elected officials to avail themselves of the services of Stark County commissioners' appointed Michael Kimble NO MATTER WHAT LEVEL THE POSITION.

Finally, by the direct order (err demand) of Stark County Clerk of Courts Louis P. Giavasis (sarcasm folks! sarcasm) two pdf files are attached in the APPENDIX to this blog.

As regular readers know, it is a very rare occurrence that the SCPR does not publish "unredacted" the response(s) of "the other side of the story."

Louis Giavasis nor any other persons dictates to the SCPR the content and timing of this blog.

What Giavasis has not done is to answer the allegations of Claude "Skip" Shriver, his opponent in the 2016 election (see volume one for a Stark Co video of Shriver's allegations).

Giavasis has done what many other politicians do when the SCPR asked him about the Shriver allegations.

He tried to turn the question into an examination of Giavasis allegations of Shriver's conduct as a public official rather than deal directly with the question posed by the SCPR.

The fact of the matter is that Claude "Skip" Shriver is not the Stark County clerk of courts.


APPENDIX


DOCUMENT OF EMAIL EXCHANGES BETWEEN SCPR/GIAVASIS



SUPPLEMENT DOCUMENT SENT BY GIAVASIS


Thursday, April 18, 2019

SCPR ASKS COMMISSIONERS ABOUT HOF REQUEST FOR $500,000 ANNUAL/$15 MILLION OVER 30 YEARS FROM STARK LODGING AND BED TAX


Embedded in video is an excerpt of comments by Allyson Bussey 
of the Stark County Convention & Visitors Bureau to SCPR questions

See complete HOF request letter and entire Bussey comments in the appendix




APPENDIX

BAKER LETTER OF REQUEST



Q&A SCPR/CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU DIRECCTOR ALLYSON BUSSEY






Friday, April 12, 2019

YOUR LIFE COULD DEPEND ON STARK CO. ENHANCING ITS 9-1-1 EMERGENCY SERVICES SYSTEM!


The big surprise in The Stark County Political Report's exclusive "on-camera" interview with Stark County Emergency Management director Tim Warstler was his saying that Stark County could have "enhanced" 9-1-1 emergency (fire, police and EMT [emergency medical technician]) services by December 31, 2019.

The SCPR's video focuses on Warstler's "timeline" statement:



Although Stark's "traditional" system has been effective; " enhanced" 9-1-1 services will likely result in lives being saved of those with critical health issues, persons trapped in a fire/explosion dwelling and victims of crime getting police services which might resolve/mitigate the victimization and/or a more likely apprehension of perpetrators because of:
  • pinpoint location (for cellphone users),
  • accessibility to 9-1-1 dispatchers "real time" pictures of an emergency/disaster scene, and 
  • a likely quicker dispatch of emergency/security personnel with the proper equipment based on more information gained by dispatchers through the use of an "enhanced" 9-1-1 system.
In this SCPR/Warstler video interview segment, Director Warstler defines "enhanced" 9-1-1 and he discusses some of the ramifications of having "enhanced" 9-1-1 that maybe has not been given enough attention.



A universal emergency services number (now 9-1-1) was first conceived in 1957.  But it was 1968 before an actual system was up and running (Haleyville, AL).  Only 17% of the U.S. population was served by 9-1-1 in 1976.  Stark County first came onboard in 1989.  In 2019 about 96% of the national population is served by some form of 9-1-1.

The SCPR has followed the development of what Warstler names "traditional" 9-1-1 going all the way back to 2009 when local politicos were saying the system was broken, to wit:
But let bygones be bygones in that Stark County now has its "act together" with what Warstler calls a highly effective "traditional" 9-1-1.

The next big move, even with "enhanced" 9-1-1 appears to be in getting texting to work with all systems.

SOURCE:  LINK

There is a state of Ohio endeavor on creating a statewide 9-1-1 which has been underway for about five years.  However, Warstler says, it is anybody's guess as to when, if ever, a statewide system comes into being.


Warstler pointed out that there is a risk that the state will develop a system and mandate that local governments get on board which raises the possibility that Stark will have to scrap a "before the state got into it" system and spend additional money for a state-mandated system.

Ever since NBC broadcast a segment (LINK) on Smart911 (which is under consideration by Stark County) on July 21, 2018, this blogger has been inquiring of Warstler as to when Stark County might implement "smart/enhanced" 9-1-1, to wit:



NBC weighed in again on "enhanced" 9-1-1 on April 11, 2019 with regard to 911Eye (also under consideration by Stark County).  See the segment at this LINK.

In the SCPR/Warstler interview, he had this reaction to what seemed to be the arrival of help within 21 seconds.  No, said Warstler, more like 20 minutes, "if all the ducks are lined up in a row." (paraphrase)

Once again, the SCPR pounced on the NBC 911Eye segment to inquire of Warstler which lead to the interview of Thursday, April 11th which, of course, is the basis of this blog.

There is another system named Carbyne911 which is under consideration.  However, Warstler cautions that the race to market "enhanced" 9-1-1 systems is a dynamic, fast and furious paced competition with new products to be looked at on an almost daily basis.

Whatever is decided upon in terms of a recommendation to the Stark County commissioners when bids put out by the commissioners come back, it will be, Warstler says, a collective recommendation of himself, Deputy Director Woods, 9-1-1 Coordinator Julia Patterson and the chiefs of Stark's seven dispatch centers.

It is obvious that Warstler has a lot of respect for  Stark County dispatch centers' leadership.

So what is the annual cost of "enhanced" 9-1-1 likely to be?

Warstler says it could range as high as $250,000 a year.

Moreover, he says, that Stark County does have the financial resources to finance the enhancement.  The Stark County Emergency Agency has a little over $6 million is "unappropriated" available financial resources.

Stark County's 9-1-1 is financed by a state levied telephone bill excise tax and Stark Countian have agreed to an additional levy as a purely local financial resource.  The local levy is 0.1 mill which produces slightly more than $650,000 annually and which passed in 2017 with a 75% approval rate.

The levy is a terrific value for individual property owners in that the cost at the family home level is about $3 per year for most Stark County property owners.

The SCPR has hit the highlights of the discussion of "enhanced 9-1-1 with Director Warstler.

However, as is the normal course of things with the SCPR, here is the "entire" interview with Warstler, Wood and Patterson.

For Stark Countians who want to be fully informed on the development and implementation of "enhanced" 9-1-1, the following 35-minute SCPR/Stark County Emergency Agency interview is priceless.



Wednesday, April 10, 2019

IS CLERK OF COURTS LOU GIAVASIS "CRONYISM" PERSONIFIED?

Updated April 10th at 4:00 p.m to include Giavasis complaint about this blog & the SCPR's response (see right before the text of today's blog begins).

VOLUME 1 IN A SERIES

AMENDED TO SHARE GIAVASIS COMPLAINT BOUT THIS BLOG

SCPR response to Giavasis' complaining e-mail.  (immediately followed by the complaining e-mail)

Martin Olson <tramols@att.net>
To:  Louis Giavasis Apr 10 at 3:50 PM

The SCPR plans to publish your email response in its entirety. Today's blog was the first of a series. So you are incorrect in surmising that Giavasis email response is not in the SCPR's publishing plan.

Today's blog will be amended to include (not the material of your vacation in Mexico)  the core of today's Giavasis complaining e-mail being responded to today's by this SCPR response.   Of course, it is pointed out herein that you are incorrect in presuming there is no plan to publish your email response to my email questions.  

As The Report recalls, you were asked on camera after the LWV candidates' forum event of September, 2016 for a response to Shriver's allegations.  For whatever reason, you declined. 

Since you seem to know so much about Mr. Shriver and others' hiring practices,  perhaps, you will provide me with the specifics of your allegations.

As you should know by now, nobody tells the SCPR how to structure The Report's blogs and the timing of the publication of particular parts of the material.  Such is in the sole decretion of this blogger.

I am interested in all the hiring practices of Stark County political subdivisions which, of course, includes the clerk of courts office.

On April 24th I have an appointment to interview, "on camera," Director Kimble of the Stark County Human Resources office.

You should be embarrassed as a Stark County elected public official in assuming that your email response to SCPR questions on the clerk of courts hiring practices is not planned to be published as a part of the series.

Should The Report say that it is no surprise that Stark County Clerk of Courts Louis Giavasis would jump to unwarranted conclusions?

Perhaps, in the future, you should ask about the timing of publication plans of matter like your full email response to the questions posed.

Martin Olson/SCPR

Giavasis' email

Louis Giavasis <LPGiavasis@starkcountyohio.gov>
To: Martin Olson Apr 10 at 1:25 PM

Martin, ...

I cannot say I am surprised by your blog this morning.

 You asked me for I formation and that is what you post?  

You told me that you would publish my entire email, I can only assume that you did not because the facts of my hiring practices do not have with your predetermined opinions. 

Maybe you should go back and look at Mr. Shrivers past hires as a trustee. Vince Marion Twp. Administrator and former executive director of the Stark GOP, Richard Kuhn law director and down the line. 

I sent you all the public postings of my hires and political affiliations of those hires and you post that and exalt Claude Shriver? I am laughing all the way from ... . 

Publish my email. 

Louis P. Giavasis

ORIGINAL BLOG

If the lead question in the title of this block were asked of Claude "Skip" Shriver (a former Plain Township trustee/fiscal officer), the answer?

YES, YES & YES some more.

Here is Shriver at the Canton League of Women Voters candidates forum on September 27, 2016 in his own words.  (2 min, 59 sec)



Shriver is hardly a political pop-off.  He is one of Canton/Stark County's most respected citizens.

The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report) has never seen a Shriver-esque "public" statement going back to 1974 in the annals of Stark County politics.

Despite his efforts to defeat Giavasis in November, 2016 and implement his promise to end political cronyism in the Stark County clerk of courts office, he was unsuccessful.


Had he been successful, he could have "bet his bottom dollar" on SCPR scrutiny of his hiring practices.

This blog has a rich history in examining whether or not Stark County elected officials are into hiring based on personal/political connections and thereby cutting the taxpaying general public out of the opportunity of seeking to be hired.


And, add Stark County Probate Court judge Dixie Park to the parade of subjects of prior blogs pointing out what clearly seemed to be political-based hirings.

Why anyone (even a personally, politically connected person) would want to work for Park is a mystery.

Folks (not necessarily political based hires) who have been worked over by Judge Parks in an employment context have come to

Anyone who regularly reads the SCPR will recall the numerous blogs written about what appeared to The Report to be examples of Lou Giavasis and brother Phil Giavasis cronyism going back years within the 11 years that this blog has been published.

A few links:
Of course, the use of political patronage in Stark County government/politics is nothing new.

On April 3, 2009, two days after the revelation that there was a theft by an employee in the Stark County treasurer's office. the SCPR wrote this blog:


This blogger believes that the employee (Vince Frustaci) was politically connected to Zeigler or the greater Stark County Democratic Party when he got a job with the treasury in the early 2000s.

Zeigler denied that Frustaci got the job as a recipient of political patronage ii saying that all he knew about Vince Frustaci that "he was just a guy out on the golf course."

Even if Zeigler's explanation for hiring Frustaci is true, what does that say for the hiring processes within a Stark County government unit?

In this series, the SCPR will be delving into the hiring practices not only the Stark County clerk of court but also of Stark County political subdivision entities across the county.

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

SEE SCPR TWEETS ON TWITTER

REPUBLISHED 04/09/2019

https://twitter.com/tramo
Stark County Politics/Gov't Tidbits
 Tweeted Daily


Thursday, April 4, 2019

LORI LIGHTFOOT FORMERLY OF MASSILLON (MAYOR-ELECT OF CHICAGO) & CONGRESSMAN RALPH REGULA'S OFFICE

UPDATE April 10, 2019

Lightfoot was not the only Lesbian elected as mayor earlier this month (LINK)

SEE SCPR VIDEO
COMMISSIONER RICHARD REGULA
REFLECTS UPON LORI LIGHTFOOT'S
REGULA CONNECTION

 2

Upon graduating from Massillon Washington High School in 1980, Lori Lightfoot set out on an adventure that led to her being elected as the mayor of Chicago.

Chicago, indeed, a city of nearly 3 million residents and America's 3rd largest city with loads of problems.

What a smashing victory for Lightfoot.


Lightfoot's personal story is uplifting in that she has overcome much adversity in life much of it as the child of financially struggling parents.

Unfortunately for Stark County and Massillon in terms of her obvious leadership skills, Lightfoot left Massillon (having excelled as a student there) for the University of Michigan from which she graduated in 1984 with a degree in political science.

From there, it was off to Washington, D.C. where she was to connect with longtime Congressman Ralph Regula.

This particular blog is focused on her stint with Regula's D.C. office.

Here is Stark County Commissioner Richard Regula and his recollection of Lori.

Other Stark Countians who have weighed with The Stark County Political Report has been former Regula staffer Daryl Revoldt (currently a councilman-at-large in North Canton; also a former mayor) and Nancy Halter (a former Massillon councilperson who is currently running for council at large).



Other than Revoldt Stark Countians who were on the Regula staff at the time that Lightfoot includes Rob Mullen (currently vice president for the Aultman Foundation) and Lori Rowley nee Groves who hails from the Louisville area.


Rowley is currently the director of the Global Food Security and Aid Effectiveness.

Given the foregoing, one would have to say that Ralph Regula had "one hell of a staff" with sterling achievements ahead of them.

Lightfoot is a Democrat.

The SCPR asked Revoldt how was it that a Democrat could land in Regula's office.

Answer:  "Ralph Regula was never interested in nor checked the political affiliation of persons who wanted to serve on his staff."

Nancy Halter's says her son "Marty" graduated from Massillon Washington High School the same class that Lightfoot was a member of.

Moreover, Halter says the Lightfoot family was an outstanding family which emphasized education and community activism (Ann Lightfoot, who served on the Massillon School Board) and says that Lightfoot served as class president of the Class of 2000.

No doubt Stark Countians and Massillonians, in particular, are pleased to have been a part of Lori Lightfoot's life.

Lightfoot does have a daunting task in dealing with Chicago's massive, mostly social factors, problems.

It appears to the SCPR that no-one is better prepared for the task that in Lori Lightfoot.