(VIDEO): WILL IT BE A COMMONER OR ROYALTY AS MAYOR OF MASSILLON COME NOVEMBER, 2011?

In terms of personage, there could not be a greater contrast between Republican Lee Brunckhart and Democrat Kathy Catazaro Perry as they gear up to run against one another for mayor of Massillon.

He lives in a working class neighborhood, she lives in one of Massillon's posh communities.

He is a union member bus driver for the Stark Area Transit Authority (SARTA); she is a nurse/entrepreneur married to a doctor.

Based on lifestyle and background one would expect Lee Brunckhart to be a Democrat whereas one would expect his opponent in the upcoming November mayoralty election to be a Republican.

But the opposite is the actuality.

She's the Democrat; he's the Republican.

The contrasts do not end with neighborhood associations, vocations and political affiliations.

It appears to the SCPR that their campaign styles will be dramatically different, too.

Brunckhart tells The Report that now that he has beaten his Republican opponent (Andrew Oser of a well known Massillon entrepreneurial - real estate - family), the Stark County Republican Party is taking him seriously.

Initially, he was told by Stark GOP Executive Director Travis Secrest "anyone can run" and - by the way - you will need to raise $60,000 to be competitive.

Undoubtedly, Secrest was discounting Brunckhart ("anyone can run") and in his innermost thoughts must have been saying to himself:  "Huh, Brunckhart - a bus driver and hence an atypical Republican? beating Oser a real estate executive - a typical Republican, no way!"

Wow!

How did he do it!!

As is impressive as Brunckhart's win over Oser was, he will have to ratchet up his "common man" campaign to beat political blueblood Kathy Catazaro-Perry this fall.

Brunckhart is getting moral support from the Stark GOP, but little else.  Catazaro-Perry has professional politicians behind her.

Former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and his attached-at-the-hip political expert? pal Shane Jackson (son of former Stark County commissioner and Strickland administration appointee Gayle Jackson) are the brains behind the Catazaro-Perry campaign.

Cantzaro-Perry herself was very impressive is knocking off long time mayor of Massillon Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr in the Democratic primary.

Of course, she had big time help from the Maier/Jackson Massillon political machine whereas Brunckhart defeated the Republican Party establishment favorite Andrew Oser.

The SCPR has long maintained that Catazaro-Perry is the political captive of the Maier/Jackson axis and that she has taken no political position without coaching from her political handlers.

There is already talk that Maier may be positioning his brother George to become Catazaro-Perry's service director.

It would not surprise the SCPR that a Catazaro-Perry victory in November might bring with it a Jackson family member as part of her leadership team.

The Report expects Catazaro-Perry to win, but Massillon would know exactly who is mayor if Brunckhart were to win.  While Catazaro-Perry would be the de jure mayor were she to win, the SCPR believes that Johnnie A. Maier, Jr would be the de facto mayor.

Brunckhart has a huge hill to climb to become mayor of Massillon.  If he pulls it off, it will have been the second hill he has surmounted.  Nobody expected him to defeat Oser.

The Report believes that his being a working man in a working class town presents him with an advantage as he tramps through Massillon's mostly working class neighborhoods.  While he carries the label Republican, he appears much more the Democrat than does Catazaro-Perry.  He did share with The Report that he has a family history of being a "blue dog" Democrat.

"Blue Dog Democrat?"

Yes, conservative Democrats as contrasted to "Limousine Liberal Democrats" that some might think Catzaro-Perry to be more representative of.

Such a contrast might be effective for Brunckhart to peel away Democratic support from Catazaro-Perry in a predominantly Democratic town.

Moreover, there is the Cicchinelli factor.  While Cicchinelli will not in a flagrant and open way campaign for Brunckhart, you can bet that he is smarting from his ouster from office by the Maier/Jackson/Catazaro alliance and will be privately helping Brunckhart to pull off a political upset of huge proportions come this fall.

The SCPR believes that Brunckhart (and his everyday, common man, working man profile) will appeal to many of the 46% who preferred Cicchinelli over Catazaro-Perry (a darling of the politically polished and sophisticated).

The SCPR did an extensive and far ranging interview with Lee Brunckhart last evening.  Here is the video:

CAMPAIGN FINANCE: KATHY CATAZARO-PERRY - WHO SUPPORTS HER?

In the race for mayor of Massillon an interesting sidelight issue is:  who among the candidates represents the interests of everyday people best?

Actually, it could be Republican Lee Brunckman.  He is a Stark Area Transportation Authority (SARTA) driver who has had to miss a number of campaign events because he doing what?  Out doing his job:  driving a bus over the roadways of Stark County.  Can't get more everyday than that.  But, then, why does he bill himself as a Republican who many people think are anything but working for the financial interests of everyday people?

Democrat Kathy Catazaro-Perry has tried to position herself as the working class candidate.  But when one looks at her pre-primary campaign finance report it is really hard to garner from the list of contributors that everydays are the bulk of her contributors.  Unions have a significant place among her financial supporters and undoubtedly are providing a huge part of her "on-the-ground" door-to-door campaign workers.

The SCPR's impression of Catazaro-Perry (which is substantiated by the identity of many of her contributors - see the list below) is that she is about as well of a politically connected person as one can get in Stark County politics.  Granted, she does espouse union positions (for Project Labor Agreements [PLAs) and is against Senate Bill 5), her campaign finance report suggests that he has at least one foot planted firmly in the camps of the pooh-bahs who control the Stark County establishment.

In this regard, this only thing little about the Catazaro-Perry list is the amount - per contribution - of most of the contributions.  Mostly, they are under the $100 mark with only a few over $100 and $500 being the top contributions.  But one should not be fooled by this phenomenon.  In the opinion of the SCPR, Kathy Catazaro-Perry is a player in the very top strata of Stark political, economic and social stratosphere!

Here is here list of contributors:

(VIDEO) LWV FORUM FEATURING CICCHINELLI, CATAZARO-PERRY (DEMOCRATS) AND BRUNCKHART, OSER (REPUBLICANS)

MASSILLON CITY GOVERNMENT DOES NOT NEED THIS - TWO COUNCILMEN - IN THEIR "NO" VOTES HAVE ABSURD REASONS FOR VOTING NO!

It appears that Massillon government has become the:  "Theater of the Absurd!"

The SCPR thinks there are good reasons to vote "no" on the Mayor Cicchinelli proffered budget (which got defeated 5 to 4 on Monday night).  But three  of them are not:  (quotes in this blog are ones created in a speculative context by The Report in furtherance of the notion of Massillon's government resembling - at least in the drama being played out on getting a Massillon budget passed - a "Theater of the Absurd.")

• "I'm running for mayor and therefore I will vote 'no' on all things Cicchinelli;" likely the thought processes - The Report conjectures - of Kathy Catazaro-Perry.
• "Hmm?  Call me a 'longtime ex-Republican' and I'll get even.  My publicly announced vote for the Mayor's budget is now history because of Cicchinelli's insult.  I'll show him!" Such The Report believes is the train of thought that must have be running through Councilman Anderson's head in casting his "no vote" on the Cicchinelli budget last Monday.
• "Hmm?  (The Report suspects Slagle muses to himself) Anderson announces he's going to vote for the Cicchinelli budget?  Wow!  What a golden opportunity for me.  Given the reality of depressed Massillon's revenues due to the downturn of the national economy, the Mayor really has no choice but do creative budgeting and normally I would square up with that reality and grudgingly vote for it.  But with the Anderson announcement, I can have my cake and eat it too.  The budget passes and I get to do a little grandstanding.  Wonderful!"

The Slagle and Anderson exercise as reported in The Independent (see cite below) has a Abbott & Costello quality to it (the famous "Who's on First" comedic skit).  The difference being, however, that Abbott & Costello knew they were being ridiculous, out-of-sync and therefore funny whereas Massillon Councilmen Slagle and Anderson apparently did not.

What is amazing is that Anderson and Slagle would implicitly admit within the hearing of the press (Plenty of bluster, little accomplished in special City Council session, staff report, The Independent, March 25th) that they were functioning (as councilmen) outside the public interest.  Candid?  Perhaps.  But the consequence is that it is this sort of revelation which makes it difficult for citizens to take local government seriously, and the absurdity of it all has the effect of demeaning/discrediting government in the eyes of the public.

Moreover, Mayor Cicchinelli himself has been playing a key part in the "Theater of the Absurd" in calling Friday's meeting in the first place. 

After Monday's regular council meeting in an ad hoc Finance Committee meeting, Slagle gave a perfectly plausible reason why he had a problem with the Mayor's budget.  He articulated quite persuasively that since the state of Ohio is making cuts to local government funds beginning in July (the significance of which Mayor Cicchinelli downplayed), it was unreal for Cicchinelli to present a budget that did not account for the actual total costs of the safety forces in the hope that somehow, some way, the needed revenues would materialize.

So what happened between Monday and Friday for him to say that he voted no on the premise that Anderson was going to vote yes.  Doesn't the Massillon clerk of council call the roll alphabetically:  A - Anderson, S - Slagle?

Wow!

You have to take the councilman at his word, but Slagle's "I thought Anderson was voting yes therefore I voted no" rationale seems to be out there somewhere, no?

The taxpaying Massillon public should be absolutely revolted by what is going on in Massillon city government!   The dramatic unfoldings have the makings of a tragic-comedy for the residents of Massillon who are apparently facing the possibility of the shutdown of their local government services.

While The Report believes that the Slagle/Anderson vignette is shameful in that it shows priorities other than the well-being of Massillon, such is not surprising coming out of this Council.

The Massillon City Council is rife with personal agendas; apparently - the public interest be damned!

The elephant in the room (or, "the political football") seems to be that the budgetary numbers indicate that Council and Mayor Cicchinelli need to agree on cuts to the safety forces (at least until the revenue picture improves), but no one has the political intestinal fortitude to say so.

Certainly not Catazaro-Perry and her allies on Council.  Certainly not Mayor Cicchinelli and his allies on Council.

Such, The Report thinks, is why Massillonians are seeing the "Theater of the Absurd."

So what is it that  Massillon voters should be looking for in May and November?

To the extent that the availabilities of candidates allow - new set of characters; qualified, however, with the proviso that change for change sake can bring on an even worse scenario.

Voters should not emulate the "knee-jerk" qualities that seem to be in place within Massillon elected officialdom these days.

But rather voters need to exercise rationality and common sense in eliminating the absurd that currently plagues Massillon city government!

CATAZARO-PERRY (THROUGH HER PROXY - JOHNNIE A. MAIER, JR) SEEKS TO BRING OUTSIDERS INTO MASSILLON MAYORALTY RACE? HOW WILL MASSILLONIANS RESPOND?

 

In a rather naked "fear factor" play, the campaign of Kathy Catazaro-Perry, through one of its architects, Johnnie A. Maier, Jr (former Stark County Democratic Party chairman and current Massillon clerk of courts), is endeavoring to bring Tuscarawas Township residents into the Massillon mayoralty race.

Earlier this year Massillon Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. opened the door (perhaps, wisely; perhaps, unwisely) for prospective candidate Kathy Catazaro-Perry (now filed) to bring "foreigners" into the Massillon mayor's contest.

Cichinelli, Jr., one of Stark County's most ardent economic development through annexation advocate and activist, came upon a plan to annex a mobile home development next in Tuscarawas Township which was adjacent to the Tuslaw schools.  The real prize was the Tuslaw schools and the sales of school district employees as a base to apply the Massillon city income tax rate to.

The Mayor earlier in the year authored an annexation to bring in (in a tortured way) the R.G. Drage vocational school complex which is located in Perry Township.  Again, the goal - get those teachers and their salary base added to the Massillon income tax formula.

Catazaro-Perry supported the R.G. Drage annexation move, but not the Tuslaw schools initiative.

Hmm?

Why the disparity.

Enter Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., his acolyte Shane Jackson and maybe even Municipal Court judge Edward Elum (all long time foes of Mayor Cichinelli).

Maier, a resident of Tuscarawas Township who is eligible to serve as/run for Massillon clerk of courts because Tuscarawas is part of the Massillon court district,  knows up close and personal of the rivalry between Tuscarawas/Tuslaw and Massillon.  Many of Tuscarawas' residents have exited Massillon, Canton and their like for the "rural" flavor (no zoning laws) Tuscarawas.

So why not use the Tuscarawas residents and their fear of ultimately being absorbed into Massillon proper as a campaign core to tromp through the neighborhoods of Massillon (door-to-door)?

It is getting increasingly difficult to get ground troops to staff door-to-door efforts. 

The SCPR doubts that Catazaro-Perry had the political foresight to see that in opposing the Tuslaw annexation, she would have the opportunity to tap into a Tuscarawas/Tuslaw campaign force.  But either Maier, Jackson or Elum (or a combination thereof, more likely) do and so it seems reasonable that such is the source of Catazaro-Perry playing playing politics with the issue.

What Tuscarawas Township residents need to ponder is this.  Should Catazaro-Perry become mayor, can they depend on this politician to keep her word?

Massillon, like many other local government entities, is under tremendous financial pressure to be able to balance it budget.  In fact, Mayor Cicchinelli has offered what The Report has told him is a "creative" budget.  It has the appearance of being both balanced and unbalanced:  only time will tell.

Beginning in July of this year, Massillon will begin to experience substantial state of Ohio local government funding cuts to continue through 2012 and 2013 with an added take away of Ohio estate tax revenues in 2013.

The pressure will be enormous on whomever is elected in November, 2011 to find additional sources of revenues.

So it could be that the Catazaro-Perry folks are correct, the Tuslaw annexation could be revisited.

Of course the Catzaro-Perry campaign wants Tuscarawas volunteers to "assume" (a_ _ out of 'u' and 'me') that Cicchinelli alone is to be feared on this score.

Not so quick folks.

The SCPR knows politicians well enough to caution that, if political factors dictate such, they - the politicians - can and do find a way to betray their promises, implied or otherwise. 

If elected mayor, Catzaro-Perry's sole obligation is to the residents of Massillon.  There should be no doubt that she will revisit the Tuslaw matter (probably through a proxy arrangement) if it appears that such is the shortest route towards solving Massillon's financial problems; even if in the short term.

In addition to Tuscarawas/Tuslaw residents being set up for ending up having been "politically bamboozled" into supporting a candidate who has no accountability to them, there is the phenomenon of Massillonians having their mayor - indirectly - chosen by non-Massillon factors.

Think about it.  Here you have a Tuscarawas Township resident (Johnnie A. Maier, Jr) playing a lead role along with his "go-fer" chief deputy clerk of court (Shane Jackson - a Perry Township resident) formulating a campaign plan for Catazaro-Perry for mayor to be primarily staffed by Tuscarawas Township residents.

Hmm?

(VIDEO: CICCHINELLI ON CATAZARO-PERRY) INTERESTING - MASSILLON MAYORAL CANDIDATE KATHY CATAZARO-PERRY IN CAMPAIGN LITERATURE WANTS MASSILLON BACK. HMM?

Massillon City Councilwoman (and Massillon mayoral candidate) Kathy Catazaro-Perry is sounding like a Tea Partier these days.

Last week she sent out a campaign fundraiser solicitation letter (to be held March 8, 2011 at the Firehouse Grill) proclaiming "... it really is time to take back our city."  As if anyone has a right to possess a country, state or city?  Catazaro-Perry as a councilperson and therefore a part of officialdom in Massillon has - in a sense - been in partial possession of Massillon for as long as she has been on Council.  So the "it really is time to take back our city" is a play on campaign rhetoric designed to strike an emotional chord with voters that likely came from close campaign advisers (perhaps Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., Shane Jackson and Eddie Elum?) rather than something she thought up.

She (Ward 3) along with Councilpersons Anderson (Ward 2) and Townsend (Ward 4) have been the main body of the opposition to the administration of Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr and, accordingly, have - as a part of officialdom - staked out an agenda.

What is the agenda?

Apparently, the following is, at least, a partial list:

• Get Massillon's executive department of government (the mayor's office) out of the business of running the Parks and Recreation Board; de facto or otherwise
• Rid Massillon of its golf course and restaurant complex
• Restore Massillon to fiscal solvency
• Persuading Massillonians to accept lesser services as part of a drive to solvency
• Make "the public interest" a primacy over special interests
• Demonstrate courageous leadership

Here what Catazaro-Perry has to say about her plan for Massillon in the fundraising letter:

As the SCPR sees this race, Catazaro-Perry may be in the best position of anyone in recent times to defeat Mayor Cicchinelli who has been a part of Massillon government for 38 consecutive years. There comes a point in time in which longevity because a liability.  The question for Cicchinelli in 2011 is:  has that time arrived for him?  For if it has, then there is little he can do to stave off defeat in a little over 60 days.

If Catazaro-Perry is to win, she will have to convince Massillonians of two things:  (1)  It is time for Cicchinelli to go so that Massillon can have a fresh and generational change of leadership, and (2) She is her own person.

Some political observers see Catazaro-Perry as being the handmaiden of the Maier, Jackson et al political power base in Massillon.  Maier is clerk of courts (and former de jure head of the Stark County Democratic Party); Jackson is Maier's chief deputy (and political director of the Stark County Democratic Party) and draws a higher income as chief deputy than the mayor of Massillon.  

Naturally, Catazaro-Perry denies that she is controlled by the Maier-Jackson et al political cabal.  But as the SCPR sees it, she, indeed, is beholden to the rival-Cicchinelli Massillon political force for political advice and counsel.  A recent incident in which Councilman David McCune worked her over in a political sense in persuading her to pursue a change (until other councilpersons clued her in) in Massillon's law (to cover what appears to have been a McCune personal interest) indicates that she does not possess overall political astuteness.

To The Report, Catazaro-Perry's gullibility on the McCune matter is a sign that she is not ready for political prime time.  The SCPR is convinced, as mayor, she will be reliant on Maier, Jackson et al for direction.

For many Massillonians the prospect of choosing between Cicchinelli and Catazaro-Perry will truly be a "Morton's fork:"  which is to say - "choices which yield equivalent, often undesirable, results."

Cicchinelli's main economic development tool seems to be annexation which, at best, is a supplemental strategy; not a centerpiece.  Moreover, he has embraced a number of ill-advised projects which have proved to be a drain on Massillon's meager resources.  Finally, his "smoke and mirrors" budgeting more than suggests that Massillon's financial infrastructure in fragile - at best.

Such is what often happens when entrenched political interests war with one another.

It appears to the SCPR that Massillon is in the throes of two political power bases warring with one another with little, if anything, to be gained by the citizens of Massillon.

To get a sense of the history of Cicchinelli/Catazaro-Perry, view this video which the SCPR took of the Mayor in June, 2008.

MASSILLON MAYOR FRANCIS H. CICCHINELLI, JR TO RESIGN FROM STARK CO. DEMOCRATIC PARTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE!

UPDATED 02/06/2011 AT 3:30 P.M.


The Stark County Political Report has learned that Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. of Massillon will be resigning soon from the Stark County Democratic Party Executive Committee.

Cicchinelli, who regards himself as a staunch "everyday" Democrat, says that the very top leadership of the Stark Dems is out of touch with rank and file Democrats and that he will be resigning from the executive committee soon.

Although not given as a reason by Cicchinelli, the SCPR believes that a primary reason is that it appears Cicchinelli that Chairman Randy Gonzalez and the top brass of the Stark "organized" Democratic Party are lining up behind Kathy Catazaro-Perry who filed last week as an opponent of Cicchinelli in the May 3, 2011 Democratic Primary.

The Report noted recently that Catazaro-Perry was huddled up with Chairman Gonzalez at Canton mayor William J. Healy, II's January 22nd formal announcement that he was running for reelection.

Mayor Cicchinelli tells the SCPR that Cody Gonzalez (chief deputy of the Stark recorder's office) and Shane Jackson (political director of the Stark Dems and chief deputy of the Massillon clerk of courts office) were camped out with Catazaro-Perry at the Stark Board of Elections (BOE) at the filing deadline in apparent support of Catazaro-Perry.

Cicchinelli is not buying Gonzalez's stated reason for being at the BOE to get the list of candidates filing for his father (Randy Gonzalez) who was out of the country.

As far as Frank Cicchinelli is concerned, the "real" chairman of the Stark County Democrats is Johnnie A. Maier, Jr who, along Massillon Municipal Court judge Eddie Elum, and Maier's political acolyte Shane Jackson has been a long time avowed political enemy of the Mayor.  He believes that Gonzalez follows Maier's directives.

The intensity of what Cicchinelli believes to be a Maier-led political attack on him has picked up since March, 2010 when an anonymous blog - strictly directed against the Mayor - sprang up.  There is no doubt, Cicchinelli says, that the blog is the brainchild of Maier and that it is most likely written by Shane Jackson.  Moreover, he thinks that Maier and Jackson are the ghost writers for Catazaro-Perry's campaign material and that they are orchestrating her campaign.

The SCPR's take on the anti-Cicchinelli blog (also with a Massillon Board of Education element to it) is that it appears to be a mimic of the now defunct Stark Politics blog which some think was written by an official of the Stark County Republican Party.  Stark Politics was pretty much a cowardly blog (i.e. written anonymously) Republican-esque (i.e. trumpeting certain kinds of Republicans; not all).  It went belly-up about two years ago.

Back to Cicchinelli.

Cicchinelli expects the campaign to be "down and dirty."

An interesting question to ponder is: who will Stark's unions support?  In the May 6, 2007 primary, Tim Bryan was "the" candidate of the trades as a consequence of a tiff between former Cicchinelli friend Mike McElfresh (now president of the trades) over Cicchinelli - according to McElfresh - not being supportive enough of the trades.  The trade unionists held rallies in downtown Massillon is support of Bryan.

The SCPR believes that the Stark trades will support Catazaro-Perry.  Cicchinelli is not ready to concede such to be the case.  He points to work with the trades leadership to get them opportunities for a recent Fresh Mark, Inc project in Massillon.

The battleground?  Whether or not Catazaro-Perry can get a majority vote in Massillon's City Council to mandate that all city contracts are subject to a master Project Labor Agreement (PLA)?

Cicchinelli says that the trades are working through a member of Council to bring a PLA proposal to the floor between now and the May election.

If she can pull it off, it is hard to see how the trades and do anything other than support Catazaro-Perry.

However, she is beset by a union perception that chief supporter Maier is not especially labor friendly. Several years ago, Maier was perceived by many as having forced well-like retired ironworker Billy Sherer, Sr from his post on the Stark Board of Elections.  A post that Stark unions had come to think as being a "labor" position inasmuch as unions almost exclusively support Democratic candidates.

Cicchinelli points out that over his political career (including the Bryan campaign) he has had strong union support from the steelworkers and the American Federation of State, Municipal and County workers (AFSCME).

The SCPR sees that union support issue could be a key on whether or not Catazaro-Perry can get to the majority vote mark in what is likely to be a 4,000 person voter base in the May 3rd election.

While The Report thinks that Catazaro-Perry has a better opportunity to win than Bryan did, Frank Cicchinelli is a political survivor and no one should be surprised if he hangs on to win another term as the mayor of Massillon.

But if he does win, it will have to be with most, if not all the local Democratic Party "powers that be," (openly, in the case of Maier, Elum and Jackson; privately, in the case of Gonzalez et al) in the Catazaro-Perry corner.

WILL THE FACT THAT THE CANTON & MASSILLON AREA IS THE "2ND" MOST DEBT-RIDDEN AREA OF ALL OF THE UNITED STATES FACTOR INTO THE COUNTY OFFICIAL POLLING ON WHETHER OR NOT A NEW COUNTY TAX WILL BE EMBRACED BY STARK COUNTIANS?

Stark County Democratic Party chairman Randy Gonzalez (also fiscal officer in Jackson, also an employee in the Canton clerk of courts office) likes to brag about Canton and Jackson Township (after their economic merger via annexation) being the largest financial/economic unit in all of Stark County.

Add to that unit the city of Massillon, you really do have the largest slice of Stark County.

However, improperly managed bigness is not good.

And Canton's and Massillon's city governments is poorly managed to say the least.

Canton is borrowing from capital funds to meet payroll, is shifting capital to operating funds to finance some of Canton's day-to-day operations, missed out on about $400,000 in a federal grand and is understating the cost of certain safety services (fill in the blank later) in order to make it appear the city has a balanced budget.

For several years now, local media have been screaming out headlines about projected deficits in the millions for Canton.  Of course, Mayor William J. Healy, II likes to blame Canton's financial/economic maladies on everything but his own leadership ineptitude (i.e. the overall economy, the predecessor Creighton administration, Canton City Council - on and on and on goes Healy's list).

Much of the same can be said for Massillon and Stark County government (missed out on $10 million in stimulus money because it did not have a "shovel ready" list ready).

Massillon:  a city which has a golf course that is eating away at its financial viability (a $5.9 million debt tagged to it) as an example of one among a number of financial/economic models employed by the city administration which are simply unsustainable.

So when an SCPR reader passed on an online article from the MainStreet blog showing Canton/Massillon as being the second most debt-ridden area in all of America, it got The Report to thinking:  "which comes first, the chicken or the egg."

Translated into political/governmental terms, is the horrible political/governmental leadership reflective of who the pool of people from which leadership comes or, is it leadership not leading by sustainable fiscal example?

But the fact of the matter is that both Canton and Massillon political/governmental (and, The Report believes North Canton and Stark County political/governmental) leadership is absolutely bankrupt in terms of providing a healthy example of fiscal/financial responsibility.

What is even worse for Canton, Massillon and North Canton is that there does not appear to be any leadership remedy on the horizon.  Smuckler is not an answer for Canton.  Time will tell as to whether or not either of the Republican candidates for mayor and any of the alternative council candidates can offer an any hope of leadership capable of pulling Canton out of its financial/economic morass.

Ditto for Massillon and the Democratic challenger (Catazaro-Perry) there.

It appears to the SCPR that the Catazaro-Perry challenge is mostly about political power combat between the Maier/Jackson/Elum forces and the Cicchinelli political cabal and does not offer any hope to Massillonians whatsoever that Catazaro-Perry has any exemplar leadership-esque qualities which presages better days for Massillon were she to be elected mayor.  Do the Republican candidates (both at the mayor and council levels) possess leadership qualities that the Democrats have been unable to provide?

Canton Council President Allen Schulman said it best a few weeks back when he said that Canton's financial model was akin to being on a death spiral.  Glenn Gamber (his equivalent in Massillon) could just as well say the same thing about Massillon as could North Canton Council President Daryl Revoldt about the North Canton track on finances.

North Canton is faced (because of allegations of mismanagement) with the possibility of having to pay back $3 million in Jobs Ready Sites grants to the state of Ohio and lose out on $2 million yet to be spent.  What kind of leadership is that?

An answer could be "we are what we are:"  Our leadership comes out a pool of people who rank 2nd in the nation in terms of irresponsibility.

If that is the answer, then there is truly no hope for Canton, Massillon, and, perhaps, for all of Stark County.

As the SCPR walks through Stark County's councils of political/government power, the despair is overwhelming.

There may be a twinkle of light coming with the introduction of former Canton mayor Janet Creighton and former Canton city official Tom Bernabei into Stark County government.

But will they have the courage to call a spade a spade with their political/governmental fellows?

Do they have the guts to look people with whom they have long term relationships with in the eye and tell them:  "you know, what you have been doing is not working; we need to adopt a new way of leading."

Will they call out the Stark-based political/government leadership misfeasance they see, or will they simply bury it because they do not have the stomach for facing down their long-term friends?"

Will they they look their constituents in the eye and say to them:  "you too must become responsible partners in our self-government?"

These are critical times for Stark County leadership.

Are there any who are up to the challenge?