IS CURTIS WERREN IN LINE TO LOSE A SECOND JUDICIAL RACE?

In an election year that featured Republican gubernatorial and incumbent candidate John Kasich set to win by a landslide (he won by plus 37, 000 votes in Stark County), it was hard for the SCPR to fathom Democrat Chryssa Hartnett defeating Kasich Stark County Court of Common Pleas appointee (V. Lee Sinclair's replacement) Curt Werren.

But she did.

It was surprising not only in light of the Kasich shellacking of Democrat governor candidate Ed FitzGerald of Cleveland but also in the face of having a hard time raising money.

The number one priority for the Stark County "organized" Democratic Party was getting George T. Maier elected sheriff.

Even though Hartnett is a political ally of Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero (a man who tried to keep George from becoming sheriff), there is no indication that the Maier Massillon Political Machine held her association with Ferrero against her.

However, there is no doubt that the Maier political cabal had their priorities straight and Chryssa was not it.

It was former, of course, Stark County Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr's brother George.

But Chryssa, her mother (Nicholas) and presumably husband Thomas (he is a leading lawyer at Day, Ketterer Law Firm) were able to cobble together the necessary finances to not only give Werren "a run for his money" but, in fact, to defeat him by the scantest of margins (131 votes [after counting provisional ballots and recount; she led by only 29 votes at the end of county on election night).

Though the SCPR was skeptical that she could pull it off, she did and The Report thinks that Stark Countians are better off with a Judge Hartnett than a Judge Werren as a statement by voters that credentials of merit should trump political connections.

Apparently, it was devastating to Werren that he lost.  A highly reliable SCPR source says that after a North Canton City Council meeting Werren spouse Stephanie (Ward 3 councilwoman) was heard to say in a plaintiff manner that "Hartnett has a job (i.e. had she lost inasmuch as she is a lead Stark County prosecutor) but now her husband doesn't."

Isn't that interesting?

So now it appears that hubby Curt is out to rectify his loss to Hartnett in applying for a second appointment from the governor.

Several weeks ago, Canton Municipal Court Judge Stephen Belden abruptly announced he was resigning (which he did on or about November 30th).

It has been revealed that he is under investigation by Ohio Disciplinary Counsel for allegations that he has misused his power as a judge to create a de facto imprisonment for debt which is as a matter of law (i.e. de jure) is outlawed in the nation and, of course, in Ohio.

So the question is whether or not Werren will get "a second bite at the 'appointment' apple."

The SCPR thinks he will.

And here are the reasons why.

First, the SCPR has learned that state Senator Scott Oelslager has told the head of one of Stark County's premier law firms (not Day, Ketterer) that he will not be seeking the appointment.

Oelslager has been in either the Ohio House/Senate for a combined 30 years and is now at the pinnacle of his political power.

So The Report is not surprised that he wouldn't want now to switch careers at about age 63 which means he could only run for reelection one time because of Ohio's limit that once one reaches age 70, one cannot run for judge.

And there is a question that maybe he is not qualified because it does not appear that he has been practicing law for the - by Ohio law - minimum six years.

Yes, he has been a lawyer since 2001, but has he practiced law over the last 13 years?

Second, the only other Republican name mentioned is North Canton law director Tim Fox.

When the SCPR queries local lawyers about him being a possibility in that he is rumored to be interested; all The Report gets are "disbelieving" looks.

Fox's only political success has been as North Canton Ward 3 councilman (which Werren's wife got as an appointee) when Fox stepped aside in less than a year as councilman to take the law director position.

Come to think about it, there must be something in the blood of the Werrens conducive to them getting political appointments, no?

Sounds like to the SCPR that the Werrens despite their high level of financial/economic status might be thought to be of "the entitlement mentality."  That's reserved for welfare recipients, no?

The Report is told that when Stephanie Werren was told that it was rumored that Fox was interested in succeeding Belden, she reportedly was aghast and "not buying."

And she may be right.

In his race against Hartnett, Werren won the Canton Municipal Court District portion of the Stark Countywide vote by a margin of some 1,000 votes.

With Oelslager and Fox out and his proven vote prowess in the Canton Municipal Court District, that leaves Werren as the only viable Republican candidate.  

Accordingly, the SCPR fully expects him to get "a second bite at the apple."

But The Report thinks he may be in for "a second" loss.

And it will not likely come from Earle E. Wise, Jr who the SCPR thinks makes for a very poor candidate by force of his aloof personality.

Here is some SCPR history on Wise:

• E. J. Wise is a highly respected Stark County Democratic political figure (who has pedigreed entree into Stark County Democratic circles through his father, former 5th District Court of Appeals judge Earle E. Wise, Sr.): among the most respected in the entire county. 
• It is well known that he (E.E, Jr.) aspires to be a judge. He, a former prosecutor associated with the Bob Horowitz prosecutorial team, ran against incumbent judge Dixie Park (of the Stark County Probate Court) in 2004 and ran a relatively close race.
• E.J. did try to get Governor Ted Strickland to appoint him to a general jurisdiction Stark County Common Pleas judgship when Sara Lioi was appointed by President Bush to the federal bench (March, 2007). But he was up against the equally "highly respected" Democrat Canton Law Director Joe Martuccio and the properly "politically credentialed" Taryn Heath. Heath ended up with the appointment.

And here is some other third party source material:

All-in-all, the SCPR does not see Wise as a viable political candidate and should he win the Democratic nomination, Werren, the SCPR thinks, will "win in a walk over" over him.

In short, the SCPR sees Wise as a minimal factor in determining which Democrat (assuming Werren is the Kasich appointee) will face Werren in November.

Wise's candidacy might hurt Kristen Guadado with those Stark County voters who are turned off by Walls-Alexander having most of her legal experience in Summit County.  Perhaps some of the votes that might go to Walls-Alexander, but for her extensive Summit County ties, will, instead go to Wise.  However, the SCPR thinks Guardado will get most of the "I prefer a Stark County centered candidate" vote.

There is, of course, the possiblity that the two women will split the vote and Wise will slip in by a few votes.

Turning now more specifically to the two candidates that the SCPR thinks have the best chance to win the May Democratic primary:

• Angela Walls-Alexander, a native of Canton (graduated from McKinley in 1992) and now lives in Plain Township with her husband and criminal defense attorney (Summit County) John Alexander,
• Kristen Guardado, a 1989 graduate of McKinley High School,  also of Plain, who, in addition to being Canton's chief criminal case trial attorney, is a member of the Plain Local Board of Education,

Most of Walls-Alexander's legal experience since graduating from The University of Akron School of Law in 2001 and passing the Ohio Bar examination in the same year has been in Summit County.

But she did work in Masillon for Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero when he was law director in Massillon in 1999.  However, her running for the Belden seat has not involved Ferrero's input. Walls-Alexander says that the decision to run for the Canton Municipal Court opening was entirely  one made by herself in consultation with her husband.

Her work in Summit County has been impressive.

For starters here is an award given to her for her current boss Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, to wit:

Angela Walls-Alexander joined the Prosecutor’s Office seven and one-half years ago.  She is an integral part of our Domestic Violence Unit and helped to create the first felony Domestic Violence Court in Ohio.

Her dedication to helping victims of domestic violence was never more apparent than during the capital murder trial against Dawud Spaulding.  Angela worked with Erica Singleton, the mother of Spaulding’s children, for many years.  When Erica finally left Spaulding, he murdered her and another man and paralyzed another.  It was devastating for everyone who had tried to help Erica, especially Angela.  As difficult as the case was, however, she was able to secure a guilty verdict against Dawud Spaulding.  He is scheduled to be executed next year.    

While most employees in the Prosecutor’s Office are fairly vocal and gregarious, Angela is known for her calm, quiet demeanor.  She works equally hard on every case assigned to her, from low-level felony Domestic Violence charges to cases involving Rape and Murder.

Many people may not know that Angela and I have something in common beyond our passion for ensuring justice for victims.  We are both parents to a child with autism.  Being a working mom is tough.  Being a working mom to a child with special needs is even tougher.  You never know what challenges will present themselves with your child.  Yet, no matter what those challenges are, you must set them aside every day while you’re at work.  Only those with a child with special needs can fully grasp what you’re going through, and even then it is merely a guess as to your particular situation.  So I find it impressive and inspirational that, despite the trials and tribulations in her personal life, Angela is still able to successfully manage a heavy caseload without complaint and treat every victim with dignity, respect and compassion.

It is my pleasure to give this High Point Award to Angela Walls-Alexander.

As impressive as the award is, the details of Walls-Alexander's career and her aspirations for abating if not eliminating "domestic violence" from the American family landscape are compelling as well.

Other credentials include:

• she has worked for the Summit County prosecutor's office for almost 10 years,
• she has about six years experience working in the Summit County Public Defender's office doing criminal defense work and because she was permitted to have a private practice in that position, other experience includes working,
• civil cases,
• juvenile cases,
• domestic relations cases,
• across multiple jurisdiction in northeast Ohio

As far as the political side of running for judge are concerned, Walls-Alexander's plan is to run "a grassroots campaign" staffed by family and many Stark County-based friends she says she has.

She has an undergraduate degree in political science and says consequently she understands the political realities of getting elected.

The SCPR notes that she had an entry on Chryssa Hartnett's campaign Facebook page and asked Walls-Alexander whether or not she had a connection with Hartnett's campaign.

She did not.   However, her husband who has a practice in Summit County and who bills himself as "the peoples' lawyer" represented a person connected to the Bobby Cutts murder case (one of Hartnett's prize achievements as a Stark County prosecutor) and that consequently she met Hartnett on several occasions.  But Walls-Alexander has no personal political connection to Hartnett.

The most impressive thing about Walls-Alexander to the SCPR is her plan for bring a Family Violence Court to Canton should she be elected.

It would be modeled after the one that she has been a key figure in instituting in Summit County.

She (as a public defender) worked in the Akron Municipal Court (which has a 13 year old domestic violence specialized docket) representing clients with domestic violence and mental health issues.  For Walls-Alexander, the specialized docket court has a structure that facilitates resolving these very difficult cases.

She says Canton has about 1,200 domestic violence cases a year.  Her idea is to have a specialized docket handling only domestic violence cases.   Her objectives are to have consistency in outcome and treatment options.  In Akron she says, if an offender completes the treatment program, there is a  possibility that the original charges could be amended or dropped.

Walls-Alexander believes that courts need innovative thinking such as hers and that she has seen how an effective family violence court intervention program can change lives.

Right off the bat, one has to say that Guardado has an advantage in a Democratic primary over Alexander due to the fact that all of her legal practice has been in Stark County since graduating from The University of Akron School of Law.

Guardado (licensed to practice law in Ohio since 1995) tells the SCPR that yesterday - consonant with her pulling petitions from the Stark County Board of Elections - she did sit down and discuss her plan to run for the Belden seat with Stark County Dems' chairman Phil Giavasis and Kody Gonzalez.

• SCPR Note:  Kody is the son of the immediate former chairman Randy Gonzalez who succeeded Randy has Giavasis' "second in command" chief deputy clerk of courts who the SCPR thinks is "the chairman in training."

Guardado says that Giavasis and Gonzalez did not commit to support her candidacy in the May, 2015 Democratic primary election but were encouraging of her running.

An interesting thing about Guardado is that one wonders where she finds the time to do everything that she "has on her plate."

She is:

• Canton chief prosecuting attorney (going back about 20 years as an intern and then a prosecutor),
• she also serves as head of the domestic violence unit,
• working 20 hours a week at that job for the past 16 years,
• has a private practice doing:
• devoting 40 hours a week and having done so for the past 16 years, doing:
• civil work,
• guardian ad litem for children,
• civil litigation,
• personnel injury,
• probate,
• adoption,
• corporate work
• is a Plain Local Board of Education member going back 13 years, and 
• is actively engaged in several civic activities

Add on top of the foregoing, the numerous hours it takes to operate a "state-of-the-art" political campaign; one has to wonder how she could possibly do justice to the effort needed to be competitive when it seems that she faces an uphill challenge, no?

Make no mistake about it.  Again, assuming Curt Werren is going to get a second Kasich appointment, his running well against a very strong candidate in Chryssa Hartnett winning by some 1,000 votes in the Canton Municipal Court District seems very daunting to the SCPR.

And it should not be forgotten that a second chance for Werren is "a do or die effort" in terms of his even having a job.

Think he and his supporters will not "pull out all the stops" on this opportunity to redeem himself?

Nevertheless, the SCPR thinks that whomever among Guardado and Walls-Alexander survives the Democratic primary (note:  the SCPR does not take Wise to be much of a candidate in terms of viability) does present Werren with a highly competitive scenario.

As with Walls-Alexander, Kristen Guardado has strong credentials in dealing wth day-in, day-out problems faced by central Stark County families.

One of her prime interests pretty much parallels Walls-Alexander in what Guardado calls "a diversion program."

• that is to say, Canton Municipal Court's "Discretionary Rehabilitation Program,"
• which can result in an offender having his/her arrest/conviction record expunged

Guardado also is interested in and has talked with court officials about creating a drivers license diversion program to aid participants to maintain driving privileges.

Her focus if elected judge will be to make a person's contact with the Canton Municipal Court be an experience in which lessons were learned with a minimum of consequences.

Guardado says she might apply with the Stark County GOP/Governor John Kasich for the appointment to replace Stephen Belden.

While the SCPR thinks that whomever comes out of the Democratic primary will have a uphill climb to defeat the presumptive Republican nominee Curt Werren, as did Chryssa Hartnett.

As things now stand, one should expect Werren to become Canton's next "new" municipal court judge.

The rallying call for the primary-surviving Democrat ought to be:  "Remember Chryssa Hartnett!"

IS GOVERNOR JOHN KASICH HAVING "DARK THOUGHTS" OF APPOINTING NORTH CANTON LAW DIRECTOR TIM FOX TO REPLACE STEPHEN BELDEN ON THE CANTON MUNICIPAL COURT BENCH?

UPDATE:  11:40 AM

AN "OFF THE RECORD" (FOR ATTRIBUTION PURPOSES) COMMENT:

From: ... .
To: tramols@att.net
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2014 11:26 AM
Subject: OFF THE RECORD

Just read your blog and it would be interesting to see Scott appointed to the Canton Municipal Judge position.  He would be able to up his salary for the next five years, assuming he gets reelected and since the PERS system now looks at the past five years for retirement purposes.  Next, Kirk Schuring could then take Scott's senate seat, and then Curt Werren could be appointed as state representative in a safe district.

ORGINAL BLOG

In appointing president of the Stark County chapter of the American Red Cross (Curtis Werren) to the Stark County Court of Common Pleas bench in June, 2013, Republican governor John Kasich showed how utterly political he is.

Werren had not practiced law for several years.

But that didn't bother Kasich one iota.

He chose the politically connected but "unqualified" (in the opinion of the SCPR) fellow Republican Werren over the eminently qualified but Democrat Stark County chief deputy prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett for the retiring judge V. Lee Sinclair's replacement.

It appears that Stark County's voters have corrected the Werren appointment over Hartnett with the official and certified vote count from November 4th's election showing Hartnett with a 131 vote lead.

The contest is subject to a recount.  But it is highly unlikely that it will precipitate a change.

The primacy of politics over merit is nothing new for Kasich in filling judgeships is nothing new to the governor.

This from a May, 2013 Columbus Dispatch article:

As the Franklin County legal community gathers today for a seminar on attracting qualified candidates for judgeships, a local Democratic leader is questioning the qualifications of the Republican governor’s two latest judicial appointments.

Colleen O’Donnell, appointed to the Franklin County Common Pleas Court, and Amy O’Grady, appointed to the county Court of Appeals, appear to have been chosen because of their names, not their experience, said Greg Haas, county Democratic chairman.

“Other than their names, it’s not immediately obvious why they were selected,” he told The Dispatch.

O’Donnell, 32, is the daughter of Ohio Supreme Court Justice Terence O’Donnell. O’Grady, 38, is the wife of Franklin County Municipal Judge Jim O’Grady and the daughter-in-law of retired Franklin County Judge James J. O’Grady. She is not related to county Commissioner John O’Grady, a Democrat.

Gov. John Kasich appointed Colleen O’Donnell and Amy O’Grady last week from among names submitted by the county Republican Party as recommendations for judicial vacancies. Both must run in 2014 for the right to complete the terms, which run through 2016.

It could be that Kasich will give Werren "a second bite at the apple."

If he does; hopefully, on November 3, 2015, Canton Municipal Court voters will once again reverse the governor.

It could be that he will not give Werren a second chance to be a judge.

The SCPR is hearing that North Canton law director Tim Fox has applied to the governor to be the recently resigned Stephen Belden's replacement.

Belden, reported to be under investigation by Ohio Disciplinary Counsel, has announced his resignation.

The Report is also hearing that State Senator Scott Oeslager (Republican - the 29th Ohio Senate District which includes most of Stark County) has applied.

Oelslager, a graduate of the Capital University Law School in 2002, hasn't practiced very much if any law.  In the fuzzy memory of the SCPR, he reportedly had joined up with the highly Democrat Steve Okey's law firm a number of years ago.  As far as The Report knows the combo did not work out and there is no longer an association.

But not having had much of a practice of law but politically astute or connected seems to be a virtue with Governor Kasich insofar as "leaping to the front of the class" for a Kasich judicial appointment.

One political wag the SCPR has spoken to thinks that should Kasich be dissatisfied with Oelslager as chairman of the powerful Senate finance committee, making him a judge might be a win-win way for Oelslager to land the appointment.

And, as the winner of many of a Stark County election as state representative and state senator since the 1980s playing musical chairs with Kirk Schuring on the Stark County senate seat and the Jackson Township centered Ohio House district (as a way to deal with term limits), it is hard to imagine that any Democrat could defeat him next November.

If Kasich is to make yet another politics based appointment better Oelslager over North Canton law director Tim Fox.

As readers of the SCPR know, The Report has written many blogs detailing the arbitrary and capricious ways in which Fox as operated as law director.

Making him a judge would be like making a documented bully a policeman.

He'd be right up there with, if not worse than:

• Democrat Stark County Court of Common Pleas judge Frank Forchione,
• Republican Stark County Probate Court judge Dixie Park,
• Democrat Massillon Municipal Court judge Eddie Elum, and, of course,
• Republican Canton Municipal Court judge Stephen Belden

as outright imperial autocrats who seem to think they rank right up there with God Almighty in terms of absolute authority.

As an aside, the SCPR asks:  how is that Stark County has developed so many imperial minded judges?

The SCPR hopes it is true that Fox (imperialism personified) has applied for and, according to one source,  is a cinch to get the judgeship.

First, between now and the November, 2015 election a Fox appointment would provide the SCPR with ample material to write blogs on.

Though he does have six years as a practicing attorney with Black, McCuskey which, by the way:

• is the law firm of Randy Snow
• whom is the father of North Canton councilwoman Stephanie Snow Werren
• whom was appointed to replace Tim Fox as Ward 3 council person who had served a mere matter of months as councilman
• whom also is the wife of Curtis Werren 
• whom may get a second chance at a Kasich judicial appointment
• which, ironically, may put an end to the judicial ambitions f Law Director Tim Fox for now anyway

•  SCPR POINT OF INTEREST:  Isn't interesting how "incestuous" the Republican line up for political appointments is? 
• Of course, the Stark County "organized" Democratic Party leadership matches in not exceeds the Republicans on this score.
• That both parties do it should not be any solace to everyday Stark Countians.  "Inside the political family stuff" is "increasingly" turning ordinary Stark Countians against both political parties and thereby puts our cherished democratic-republic's longevity in jeopardy, so the SCPR thinks

Fox is said to have been the firm's collections attorney which might make him the ideal candidate to replace Belden who is said by his critics to have created a virtual "debtors prison" (outlawed "as a matter of law in Ohio for about 200 years) with his alleged misuse of a judge's contempt of court powers.

But work in collections is hardly the background that one would hope for in selecting in judge, no?

Second, a Fox appointment enhances the prospects for a Democrat (Canton senior trial counsel/domestic violence prosecutor prosecutor and Plain Township Board of Education member Kristen Guardado is the name being advanced) to "put egg on the face" of Kasich once again in a selection "by the people" on merit rather than on political considerations.

The Stark County Political Report does not know much about Guardado.  The Report is told by Republican and Democrat lawyers alike that Guardado is first rate and would make an excellent judge.

The Report's preference is number 2 in command at the Canton Law Department Deputy Chief Counsel Kristen Bates-Alyward.  However, the SCPR is told that she is "absolutely" not interested.

A Fox appointment would solve the problem of a group of North Canton citizen activist who have battled with Fox over his interpretation of the law on:

• public records, 
• on heath care and other ordinances,
• the legality of council procedures in force on his advice,
• on North Canton employee comp. time

to name just a few.

On reflection, in that Kasich is not about to appoint a merit candidate (let's say Kristen Guardado), then, maybe, Fox would be the best choice.,

To repeat, a Fox appointment

• rids the Concerned Citizens of North Canton of "the bane of their existence" and
• the chances of Fox and his sketchy legal experience and the baggage of imperial ways, as North Canton's law director make it likely of his being defeated next November, should he get the appointment

Go! John Kasich.

Appoint Tim Fox to be Belden's replacement on the Canton Municipal Court!!!

A Fox appointment will likely ultimately result in a merited person becoming Canton Municipal Court judge and North Canton government settling down, no?

SCPR CONTINUING ELECTION ANALYSIS: WERREN THE MEAL TICKET FOR TWO DEMS TO GET JUDGESHIPS?

BELDEN RESIGNATION 

COULD CREATE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY 

FOR STARK COUNTY VOTERS

TO OVERRIDE A KASICH APPOINTMENT

Of course, Curtis Werren could still win election to the Stark County Court of Common Pleas post he was appointed to by Republican governor John Kasich in June, 2013.

Kasich appointed Werren to replace retiring judge V. Lee Sinclair.

One of the applicants for the appointment was Stark County "top gun" prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett who has a "top notch" reputation among Stark County jurists for her work as a prosecutor.

But she is a Democrat.

Despite the electorate's expectation that any governor - Republican or Democrat -  will appoint the best person when a vacancy occurs, many, including The Stark County Political Report thinks that Kasich let partisan politics rule over merit in appointing Werren over Hartnett.

Too her credit, Hartnett did not take a gubernatorial "no" for an answer, she went over his head to "the people of Stark County.

And she may have pulled off the improbable.

As of the end of the "unofficial" count on November 4th, she holds a 29 vote edge over Werren who had more than a year head start over Hartnett in campaigning for retaining his appointed judgeship.

Some 1175 votes remain to be counted.

Make no mistake about it, every thing that Werren did from taking office in July, 2013 had to be with "one eye" on what this or that move (except for case decisions themselves) had on his chances to retain office.

That Hartnett had any lead at all even at the end of the "unofficial" results over Werren in a year in which Kasich polled almost 24,000 votes more than than fellow Republican Werren, was truly amazing feat.

The SCPR gauge is that Hartnett cut Werren's share of the Stark County Kasich vote margin of victory (acknowledging that not all of the 24,000 votes were Republican) because she was able to convince voters that she was the much better qualified candidate.

Such is refreshing for those of us who look for merit over political connections and other political game playing.

If Hartnett prevails, she will have overcome a seemingly insuperable barrier.

Conversely, despite being a sitting judge for over a year, Werren proved to be an anemic candidate.

All of Stark's Republican "powers that be" weighed in with "purse and advocacy" on behalf of Werren.

This is contrary with what Stark's Republicans did (Commissioner Janet Creighton being the chief among them) with respect to the candidacy of Republican sheriff candidate Larry Dordea.  A highly competent policeman and a man with impeccable character.

Late last week came word in area media reports that Canton Municipal Court judge Stephen Belden is resigning.

The SCPR has to  believe that Belden has indication that the results of a disciplinary complaint pending before the Disciplinary Counsel branch of the Ohio Supreme court are not looking good.

Belden is thought by a number of local attorneys as being somewhat eccentric.

In 2009, he had what he thought was an unruly defendant duct-taped to his chair.

Belden says that he cannot talk about the particulars of the charges because they remain under investigation. 

Speculation that the SCPR has heard from a reliable includes thinking that the investigation could be about alleged abuse of discretion by Judge Belden in his use of his "contempt of court" power.

The Report is told that Belden, in his alleged misuse of a judge's contempt power, is thought by some to have created a virtual "debtors prison" in Stark County.

Being jailed for failure to pay debt has been outlawed for over 200 years in America.

From a NPR report:

Debtors prisons were outlawed in the United States nearly 200 years ago. And more than 30 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear: Judges cannot send people to jail just because they are too poor to pay their court fines.

That decision came in a 1983 case called Bearden v. Georgia, which held that a judge must first consider whether the defendant has the ability to pay but "willfully" refuses.

The Report disagrees with Belden on his inability to talk about the investigation.  But the SCPR understands why he wouldn't want to.

When someone filed a complaint with Disciplinary Counsel on local attorney and civic activist Craig Conley for his "he is grandstanding" comment when Stark County Court of Common Pleas judge Frank Forchione ordered a defendant to make a $5,000 contribution (redirected belonging to the Stark County treasury "fine" money) to a fund for the Sandy Hook Elementary School student shooting victims (December, 2012); Conley "waived" his privacy rights and shared the sum and substance of the complaint with the Stark County public.

The complaint turned out to be bogus in that reviewing authorities found it to be without merit.

Accordingly, despite that he gave other reasons for resigning his judgeship, The Report is not buying Belden's given reasons for resigning.

For purposes of this blog, the SCPR approaches Belden's resignation as being an opportunity for Werren to "get a second bite at the apple" should Hartnett's scant 29 vote margin hold up.

Here is an e-mail that the SCPR received right after the Belden resignation annoucement:

From: ... >
To: tramols@att.net
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 10:27 PM

Subject: Disorder in the Courts

Now that Judge Belden has come out into the open about his retirement, the rumor is that if Judge Werren loses to Chryssa Harnet in the final count that Judge Werren will get the nod for the seat.  While some are also saying that Judge Kubilius wants the appointment to Judge Parks seat if the disciplinary counsel suspends her from the practice of law.

Interesting, no?

Going back to the ethics complaint filed against Massillon Municipal Court judge Eddie Elum and  Conley going after Judge Forchione on the Sandy Hook matter, things have not been going well for Stark judges.

Elum:   (received a "stayed" suspension from practice of law)

Forchione:  (compelled to retract his redirecting of Stark County fine revenue from the county treasury to Sandy Hook student support fund)

Werren (in electoral jeopardy).

Park (apparently the subject of a complaint before Disciplinary Counsel).

Hmm?

Is there something in the water that Stark County judges are drinking?

But anyway, back to Werren and the thinking that if he turns out to be the loser in his race against Chryssa Hartnett he gets "a second bite at the apple."

The intriguing part of Werren getting a second Kasich appointment is the SCPR thinks he could turn out to be "a two-time loser at the polls."

Belden's appointment replacement will have to run in November, 2015 to retain his/her office.

If Werren gets the appointment (assuming, of course, he ends up losing to Hartnett), he will have to run in the Canton Municipal Court voting district which includes: (from the Canton Muny website)

Should he get a second appointment, the SCPR thinks it is likely that his foe come November, 2016 will be the highly able and qualified (more than Werren, despite his one plus year on the bench) Kristen Bales-Aylward.

In her losing effort against Republican Rosemarie Hall for a place on the Stark County Domestic Relations bench in November, 2012; Bales-Aylward (deputy chief counsel of the Canton Law Department) was "highly recommended" by voting members of the Stark County Bar Association.

The best Werren could do was a "recommended" rating.

So that should give SCPR readers a clue that Werren is being carried along by his political and family connections having not been a practicing lawyer for a number of years prior to his appointment to replace Sinclair.

The SCPR thinks that should he lose to Hartnett and gets "a second bite at the 'appointment' apple," he could be the pathway for another female Democratic aspirant to a judgeship in Aylward-Bates to achieve "her heart's desire."

The Report did take a look at the vote between Hartnett and Werren in the Canton Municipal Court election.

The good news for Werren is that he did win over Hartnett by almost 1,000 votes in the Canton Muny district.

Heartening news for a Bates-Aylward candidacy is that in the mix of precincts that make up the Canton Municipal Court jurisdiction, there is plenty of opportunity to overcome Werren's demonstrated plurality.

The dynamics of a Bates-Aylward/Werren face off could make for another "down-to-the-wire" race.

Could we in 2015 be to the end of November before we know who the winner is?

A SCPR ANALYSIS OF THE OUTCOME OF KEY PRIMARY DAY ELECTIONS & OUTLOOK FOR THE GENERAL ELECTION

UPDATE:  9:18 a.m. (Additional commentary on the 5th District COA race)

Yesterday, as we have done biannually since we moved to Stark County 39 years ago, my wife and I got up early and at 6:30 a.m. had ourselves in line to vote in the 2014 primary election.

Until the three daughters were all grown up and out on their own (the last one having "flown the coup" by the 1997 elections), the event was a family one in that they tagged along and we went out to eat breakfast to celebrate the exercise of our democratic privilege.

What was a little bit strange about yesterday was that there were "no other voters" in sight!

Don't think we have ever experienced that before.

So it was no surprise to learn in looking at the election results to see this on the Stark BOE website:

Stark County as a part of the  greatest and longest standing "democracy" in the world turns out 13.85% of its registered voters.

Wow!

And over about 60 slots up for election, only 10 were contested.  Hmm?  17%.  Wow! again.

We Americans really cherish our opportunity to select our leadership, no?

Yesterday, the SCPR wrote that you can write off the Harold/Gruber race as one that will be competitive come November's general election, but - by The Report's calculation - there remain three "key" Stark "countywide" races to be decided this fall.

They are (in order of importance insofar as The Report's assessment):

• Republican Larry Dordea versus Democrat George T. Maier for Stark County sheriff,
• Democrat Chryssa Hartnett versus Curtis Werren for Stark County Court of Common Pleas, and
• Republican Craig Baldwin versus Natalie Haupt District Court of Appeals (which, actually covers 15 Ohio counties of which, of course, Stark County is one),

DORDEA VERSUS GEORGE T. MAIER
STARK COUNTY SHERIFF

For anyone who reads Stark County media, the Dordea/Maier match up is likely to draw the most interest in the county.

Because the November, 2012 elected sheriff Mike McDonald could not take office as scheduled on January 7, 2013 due to an illness which cost him his life on February 22, 2013, we Stark Countians are tasked with selecting his successor in this coming November, 2014.

However, getting to the 2014 general election on this particular matter has been a tortured trek to say the least.

To sum it up (from the SCPR's perspective), the problem came in because one George T. Maier had not taken care to read the fine print (i.e. the precise details on how one becomes qualified to run for sheriff) in Ohio Revised Code Section 311.01 and then, when contested, decided to try "politically" bullying his way into being McDonald's successor.

Along the way, he actually got thrown out of office by the Ohio Supreme Court on November 6, 2013 (ironically enough, the day after the 2013 general election).

In that losing effort, Stark County taxpayers footed the bill at $20,000.

However, Maier, who is not much of a politician himself, through the effort of his brother Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. (who the SCPR thinks is Stark County's most powerful Democratic politician) managed to get George through a second Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee (SCDP-CC) selection process to be reappointed as the SCDP-CC choice to serve as sheriff until the voters weigh-in upon November 4th.

Notwithstanding brother Johnnie's supposed political prowess (he was Stark Dems' chairman 2003 - 2009 and remains as executive vice chairman of the Dems), George barely made it through the initial Mike McDonald succession process (February 5, 2013) with a 92 for Maier vote as opposed to - totally politically unsophisticated - Lou Darrow's 84 votes.

Although the SCPR does think that Johnnie is Stark's most powerful Democratic leader, that may not be saying all that much.

For in the wake of brother George's February win (followed by the second win [101 to 66] on December 11th), Stark County's "organized" Democrats are hugely divided on whether or not George T. Maier ought to be (in terms of ORC 311.01 qualifications) sheriff of Stark County.

For George to win in November, he will have to bring the likes of Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero into his political fold.

The SCPR thinks such is very unlikely given that Ferrero has feuded on and off over the years with what The Report calls the Maier Massillon-based Political Machine for years.

As a longtime former Massillon law director, Ferrero is a force in his own right in Massillon and also at the Stark County level by virtue of having been Johnnie's predecessor as Stark County Dems' chairman.

Just as a case in point as to the degree of political "bad blood" that continues to flow between the Maiers and Ferrero, let's look at the matter of Vivianne Whalen Duffrin.

Duffrin, a lawyer, was a long term human resources person for former Sheriff Tim Swanson (who had given Mike McDonald his blessing to succeed him as sheriff).

She even remained after Maier's appointment by the SCDP-CC on February 5th.

However, a matter that did not get a whole lot of publicity at the time was the fact that she weighed in on the George T. Maier qualification question on the wrong side insofar as her longevity at the sheriff's department.

She was of the opinion that George was not qualified under the provisions of ORC 311.01.

Anyone who knows Johnnie A. Maier, Jr knows that he does not forget things like Duffrin's act.

On October 11, 2013 Duffrin was unceremoniously fired by George from sheriff's position and get this:  "in the middle of negotiations with various 'union represented' grouped-employees within the department."

How that - "in the middle of negotiations - for George T. Maier looking out for the interests of Stark County taxpayers?

Does anybody doubt that her firing was political payback?

Guess who was back on the job November 7, 2013 after George was ousted by the Ohio Supreme Court on November 6th?

Guess who resigned late in the evening of December 11th after George was reappointed by the Stark Dems that same day?

And where did she end up with new employment?

You've got it!

The staff of Stark County prosecutor John D. Ferrero!!!

If that ain't an "in your face" George T. Maier, the SCPR does not know what it is?

The Report went through the foregoing Duffrin series of event to substantiate the SCPR's belief that a major rift still exists among Stark County "organized" Democrats on whether or not George T. Maier ought to be sheriff.

Accordingly, coming full circle, it is absolutely critical to the Maiers that the organized Democrats discontent not filter out into the Stark County Democratic Party electorate. 

For if it does, George T. Maier's last day as Stark County sheriff will be December 31, 2014!

CHRYSSA HARTNETT/CURTIS WERREN
STARK COUNTY CT OF COMMON PLEAS\
 
Until politics kicked in, Curtis Werren was president of the Stark County chapter of the American Red Cross.

But with the retirement of longtime judge (a Republican) V. Lee Sinclair ("the rocket-docket judge" - always a favorite of the SCPR), Werren, who the SCPR views as a pooh-bah type with intimate ties to the Stark County Republican Party establishment (see Alan Harold's campaign finance report from yesterday's blog to get a sampling of "the establishment)  was positioned to be in for a Republican governor John Kasich appointment.

The Report is told that when it was seemingly taking forever for John Kasich to make a decision on who was to replace Sinclair, that Mister Timken got on the telephone with the governor and said:  "Governor, when are going to get off your duff and appoint Curt Werren judge."

Well, on June 13, 2013 the governor did get off his duff and appoint Werren.

But in doing so he likely handed Stark County Democrats and more particularly Chryssa Hartnett a Stark County judgeship.

Hartnett, though a Democrat, applied for the job.

And as far as the SCPR is concerned it was "a no contest" in terms of her being vastly more qualified than the pooh-bah-esque Werren.

But what does a politico like Kasich care about "the merit qualifications" of his appointees?

And he is no different than the likes of Democrat Ted Strickland, when he was governor.

However, it is generally thought and known throughout the Stark County legal community that Hartnett as John Ferrero's "top-gun" criminal defendant prosecutor that she should have "on the merits" gotten the Kasich appointment.

That she didn't likely means, the SCPR thinks, that Werren can cite his 17 months or so on the Stark County Court of Common Pleas bench as a resume builder when he prevails upon one his high-brow Republican benefactors to provide him with employment after November 4, 2014.

Werren for sure (with the Timkens et al on his side) will outspend Hartnett who had to borrow $25,000 from her mother (who is a Cincinnati business woman) to get her campaign up and rolling.

The Report thinks that Stark County Democrats ("organized" and unorganized) will come together and the legal community will communicate Hartnett's more impressive credentials and experience to make her Sinclair's "elected by the people" replacement.

CRAIG BALDWIN VERSUS HAUPT
5TH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

On the Democratic side of things, there was a name game of sorts going on.

The names Wise and Haupt were vying with one another in the Democratic primary as to who was going to be the standard bearer for the Dems in November to go up against Craig Baldwin, another Kasich appointee to an Ohio judgeship.

Other than their last names, the SCPR does not think either Wise nor Haupt were particularly distinguished candidates for the honor of running in November.

Among Stark's primary voting Democrats, the name Wise stood out in yesterday Stark County.

But not over the entire 5th District Court of Appeals county make up.  There it was "Haupt all the way!"

The 5th District Court of Appeals is composed of 15 counties.  Stark County is by far and away the largest of the 15.

Fellow Democrats Haupt and Wise likely decided "to duke it out" because they thought knocking off Republican Baldwin (of Licking County [population 166,492]) though a "retention incumbent" because he has never stood for election in the 5th and his base of Licking County is less than half the size of Stark (375,586), population wise, would be an easy mark.

To the SCPR, such thinking is highly self-serving and so the two waste effort and financial resources running Democrat on Democrat  for what they fallaciously (in The Report's analysis) deem to be an easy "meal ticket" onto the bench.

They and Dems' chairman Randy Gonzalez should have gotten together and figured out which one was the best bet to run against Baldwin and which was better suited to run against Republican Kristin Farmer (also a Kasich appointee replacing the retired Charles Brown) in her first try to be elected in her own right.

In doing so, the three of them would have been looking out for Stark County voters having a choice alternative to Farmer come November.

That the Dems (blame mostly Gonzalez, the SCPR thinks) didn't look out providing voters such a choice; for  that reason alone, the SCPR says,  voters should be reluctant to consider voting for Haupt in November.

As has been pointed out to The Report, since Haupt (magistrate for Judge John Haas, a Democrat) works in the Stark County Common Pleas Court, it would have been awkward to say the least for her to run against Judge Farmer.

So obviously, the thing to have happened was for Wise to run against her and for Haupt to have set up against Baldwin.

Craig Baldwin has impressed Stark County Bar members with his handling of himself while sitting as a Republican governor appointed judge.

With the disparity of 56,773 plus Republican votes in yesterday's primary added to the generally accepted political axiom that Republicans general outvote (in terms of absolute numbers) Democrats in off year elections, look for Craig Baldwin to win easily over Haupt come November.