CONLEY PUTS PRESSURE ON FOR STARK BOE "DEMOCRAT" MEMBERS FERRUCCIO AND SHERER, II TO BE RECUSED IN CICCHINELLI (AND BY IMPLICATION) BERNABEI CERTIFICATION DECISION

Next Wednesday, June 17, 2015 could be an interesting scene at the Stark County Board of Elections (BOE).

Normally, BOE post-filing-petitions certification sessions are pretty cut and dried.

Either a candidate obtained the minimum required signatures and the petitions were properly filled out and attested to or they weren't.

If they were, then the candidate goes on the ballot.

If they were not, then the candidate is denied ballot access as in case of Canton Board of Education candidate Eric Resnick in the 2011 election year cycle.

Of course, there is an opportunity to challenge in court a BOE candidacy non-certification finding as North Canton councilman Mark Cerreta successfully did in the 2013 election.

But mostly candidates or others do not challenge BOE certifications.

Accordingly, next Wednesday should be uneventful, unless, of course, Conley shows up and presses BOE Democratic members Ferruccio, Jr. and Sherer, II not to participate in any decision for reasons cited later on in this blog.

For 2015, there is already one challenge to the candidacy and a second expected.

However, the challenge (called a protest) is not on the routine basic matters of enough petition signatures or compliance with legal formalities of the petitions themselves.

Rather, in the case of Stark County Commissioner Thomas Bernabei (a well known, long time Democrat) and his quest to get on the November ballot as an "independent" challenge to incumbent Democrat Canton mayor William J. Healy, II; the question centers on his meeting residency requirements and whether or not he is making the switch from Democrat to "independent" in good faith.

Commissioners Creighton & Bernabei

(Creighton top Stark GOP supporter)

Ditto for former Massillon mayor Frank Cicchinelli.  He like Bernabei is a well known, lifelong Democrat who is attempting to unseat incumbent Democratic mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry who defeated him in the Democratic primary election of 2011 after he had been mayor for 24 years.

While having no residency problem, he is also susceptible to a good faith challenge on his switch over to "independent."

In his case, a formal protest likely will not be lodged until the BOE does its perfunctory thing and certifies him on the formalities next Wednesday.

In both cases, the Democratic members of the Stark BOE are likely to find justification for not certifying "former" Democrats Bernabei and Cicchinelli.

As for the Republicans, how they will vote on protests is unclear.

In Bernabei's case, the SCPR thinks the Republican BOE members are likely to vote to certify even in the face of a protest in view of the fact that the Stark GOP has not fielded a candidate for mayor and it is well known that Democrat Healy is loathed by Stark County Republican officialdom.

Moreover, the tie-breaker; namely, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, and his demonstrated "pro-ballot-access" (reference: the George T. Maier case), is likely to break a tie in favor of Bernabei.

Which determination, if it is in the offing, is likely to be challenged in the Ohio Supreme Court.

To sum up Bernabei's situation, he is likely to do well on the political front (as explained above) but not on the legal issues except that the Ohio Supreme Court is likely to uphold a BOE determination (as in Maier) as long as Husted cites a plausible rationale for have decided to certify.

Husted coming up with a plausible legal rationale could be problematic in the face of of Stark Dems/Ohio Dems' attorney Lee Plakas' excellent protest brief applying the Bernabei facts to Ohio's statutory scheme as interpreted by Ohio case law.

Moreover, there are legal (constitutional) arguments of "freedom of political association" (the "independent" candidacy question) and "freedom of movement" (the "residency" question) that favor Bernabei.

These points certainly will be the mainstay of Bernabei's legal counsel (J. Corey Colombo) of Columbus; one would think.

Those, however, the SCPR believes are beyond the pale of the BOE proceedings and will only prevail at the Ohio Supreme Court level.

In Cicchinelli's case, the SCPR surmises that he loses the political battle within the BOE framework anyway one cuts it.

Even if the Democrats are recused, it is hard to see the Republican members of the Board voting to certify him in the face of a protest being filed.

That vote is likely to be 2 - 0, if the Democrats are recused; 4 - 0, if they are not.

But an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court is likely to come out in favor of Cicchinelli both because he has done much more in advance of filing as an independent to disassociate himself from the "organized" Stark County Democratic Party than Bernabei.

Bernabei, on the other hand, was "up-to-his-ears," and "knee-deep" in organized Stark County Democratic Party/candidate activities to within days of filing his independent candidacy on May 4, 2015.

When is "all-is-said-and-done," the SCPR thinks it is likely that both Bernabei and Cicchinelli make it to the November ballot.

So the "fuss-and-feathers" about Democrat members Sam Ferruccio, Jr. and William V. Sherer, II being recused are kind of a political/legal skirmish that the SCPR doesn't think means much, if anything, in the ultimate outcome of these proceedings.

But Cicchinelli attorney Craig T. Conley does get rather creative in dealing with the argument that were Ferruccio and Sherer to be recused, there would be no quorum and therefore the protests could not be heard.



As the SCPR understands Conley's argument, if the two Democrats are recused because:

• they are members of the Stark County Democratic Party executive committee
• which voted to authorize the filing of BOE protests against the Bernabei and Cicchinelli candidacies
• Note:  the SCPR has learned that neither Ferruccio nor Sherer, II were present at that meeting authorizing the filing of protests,

then Secretary Husted could appoint temporary replacements or alternatively Ferruccio and Sherer could participate for quorum purposes but then abstain from participating on the certification determination question.

While in the cases at hand (Bernabei and Cicchinelli), the voting participation of Ferruccio and Sherer is not likely to make a difference in the outcome, Conley's effort is applauded by the SCPR.

For a conflict-in-interest free BOE membership deciding ballot questions is of critical importance in the integrity and the preservation of the "rule of law" over political party loyality considerations are of paramount importance in our American democratic-republican system of government.

BREAKING NEWS!!! CICCHINELLI & BERNABEI "LAWYERED UP" FOR FIGHT TO BE ON NOVEMBER BALLOT AS "INDEPENDENT."

UPDATED:  05/21/2015 at 5:15 p.m.

HEALY PREPARES FOR FIGHT, TOO!

Tom Bernabei retains Allen Schulman to represent him and William J. Healy, II retains Lee Plakas to represent him on the issue of whether or not Bernabei is certifiable as an "independent" candidate for mayor of Canton versus Democrat Healy.

Stark County Board of Elections to meet on June 17, 2015 at 08:30 a.m. to decide the question.


REPUBLICATION:  Originally published Wednesday afternoon at about 5:00 p.m.

UPDATED:  05/21/2015 AT 3:30 p.m.

WHEN IS CATAZARO-PERRY 

GOING TO GET LAWYERED UP?

BOE (MATTHEWS & MULLANE) RESPONSE



CONLEY'S LETTER TO BOARD OF ELECTIONS



The Stark County Political Report spoke former Massillon mayor (24 years) Frank Cicchinelli a couple of days ago about what he has in mind in terms of qualifying for certification on June 17th by the Stark County Board of Elections (SC-BOE) as an "independent" candidate for mayor against the woman (Kathy Catazaro-Perry) who defeated in the Democratic primary election of 2011 then easily defeated Republican Lee Brunckhart in the ensuing November election.

In the 2011 primary election, Cicchinelli did not campaign as he knew he should have.

Catazaro-Perry was then and remains the candidate of the Maier Massillon Political Machine put together by and run by former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. who is currently the Massillon Municipal Court clerk of courts.

Cicchinelli tells the SCPR that if he makes the ballot which he says he is confident he will, in the 2015 general election his primary opponent and her backers will see a much different Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. than they saw in 2011.

The politics of his getting certified by the BOE may be the toughest part of his fight according to his attorney Craig T. Conley.

Conley a well known civic activist who gave the MMPM fits in their successful fight to get Johnnie's brother George T. Maier on the November, 2014 general election ballot which in won by a narrow margin against Republican Larry Dordea in what was a banner election year for statewide Republicans even in Stark County.

The SCPR has not seen ticket-splitting of the likes of the 2014 general election for many, many of a moon.

Not only did Maier pull a rabbit out of the hat in what should have been a Dordea victory, but so did Democrat Chryssa Hartnett in defeating Kasich's man (in the sense that Republican governor John Kasich appointed him in the first place in 2013 to replace retired Stark Court of Common Pleas judge V. Lee Sinclair [a Republican himself]) Curtis Werren.

Werren's race was markedly closer than Dordea's.  However, with his direct line to the governor who certainly was willing to and did try to help in Stark County proper, Werren's loss (and maybe Dordea's too) how utterly ineffective the organized Stark County Republican Party under the leadership of Board of Elections director Jeff Matthews is.

It is anybody's guess as how the Republican's BOE members Braden and Cline will vote on the Cicchinelli certification question.

Does anyone think that Dems' members Ferruccio and Sherer, Jr. would dare vote for certifying Cicchinelli if it became obvious to them that doing so would be politically incorrect?

In the contesting of certification of George T. Maier to qualify to be on the November, 2014 general election ballot, the MMPM's mantra was "let the voters decide."

Just call the SCPR cynical about the MMPM, but The Report has this sneaking suspicion that Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. et al will not be encouraging Dem BOE members Ferruccio and Sherer, Jr. to vote for Cicchinelli's certification.

Look for the "let the voters decide" refrain to be missing from lips of the Maier faction of the Stark County Democratic Party on the Cicchinelli certification question.

If the Republicans do vote to certify Cicchinelli, it is near certain that Republican secretary of state Jon Husted will break a tie for certification.

Otherwise, Conley will have to win for Cicchinelli on the legal front.

And he says that Cicchinelli has the case law in his favor.

MAYOR CATAZARO-PERRY HAS MASSILLON IN A TAIL-SPIN AND HEADING TO THE GROUND?

To the SCPR, Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry has Massillon into a tail-spin and heading towards running this one-proud city into the ground.

This seeming dive to the ground has to be excruciatingly painful to her predecessor; namely, Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. who spent 24 years as mayor prior to be deposed in the Democratic Primary of May, 2011.

With the announcement about a week ago that the mayor had asked for and received approval for a State of Ohio Auditor (SOA) audit of Massillon finances which is to begin in June, financial matters could not be more dire for the city.

A consequence of the audit could be a finding that Massillon qualifies as being in:

•  "fiscal emergency," or
•  "fiscal watch" status.

Under the former, Massillon in effect gets taken over by the State of Ohio whereas under the latter the city is placed in a closely monitored financial recovery structure designed to bring the city to solvency.

City Budget Director Ken Koher is projecting that in 2013 a budget deficit of 2.7 million.

Back in December, 2011 Catazaro-Perry (before she actually took office) had asked the SOA to do an audit and was rejected.

Before that she was in discussion with North Canton mayor David Held as to the nuts and bolts of doing an audit at city expense a la what North Canton did a number of years ago.

According to Held, after preliminary discussion on the topic, it simply evaporated.

Hmm?

All of which generates with the SCPR, this question.

Is there a more effective way to put Massillon in a bad light insofar as prospective economic development activities taking hold than to try to gin up a "have the State Ohio" intervene in what is in the opinion of the SCPR a political dispute within Massillon government as to how to solve the financial crisis?

So why is Massillon in such dire straits?

What are the politics of this situation?

The SCPR's assessment is because of the obvious loggerheads that exists between Mayor Catazaro-Perry and city council.

It all pretty much started with the mayor's first revenue enhancement proposal of reducing the city's income tax credit to Massillonians working out-of-town and paying income taxes to the workplace city.  Another part of her proposal included charging Massillonians an assessment for street lighting.

Her proposal has been rejected a number of times by council.  But nonetheless she hangs doggedly onto the proposal.

So much so that she sat on on the sidelines - in quiet opposition - of a council lead effort to increase the city's income tax by .3% (there having been no increases since 1977/78 except for a Parks and Recreation levy in 1995 for .3%).

Catzaro-Perry may be correct in saying that whether or not she was on board with the income tax increase would not have made a difference in the ultimate outcome.

But she may not be.

When Stark County was in a fiscal crisis in 2011, the county commissioners did an impressive thing in getting Stark Countians to approve a 0.5% sales tax increase.

A key difference between the Stark County effort and the Massillon effort is that Stark County's elected officials were all-out for the levy.  And, consequently, it passed by a surprising margin.

Any chance that Massillon had of passing the tax issue was lost when the mayor and her administration set a clear signal to Massillonians that it was okay for them to vote the levy down.

Seemingly, it has been one battle after another between Mayor Catazaro-Perry and council and some outside Massillon officialdom (i.e. Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero, who is from Massillon and remains a powerful force in Massillon politics) from the day she took office.

The conflict is part and parcel of the infighting going on in the city among

• the Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. political machine (Maier is a former Democratic Party chairman and currently Massillon court of courts who the SCPR believes recruited Catazaro-Perry to run against Cicchinelli),
• the Frank Cicchinelli political forces, and
• the John Ferrero political camp,

Also, one must not forget the Republicans who control Massillon City Council.

While the SCPR does not believe that the Republicans oppose the mayor merely because she is a Democrat, it does seem that they do not share her philosophy of government.

And it needs to be pointed out that Democrats on council frequently join with the Republicans in opposition to Catazaro-Perry proposals.  Republican Donnie Peters, Jr. (not seeking re-election) sides with the mayor here and there.  He was one of three votes for the mayor on accepting a proposed deal.

 It appears to the SCPR that Catazaro-Perry and her political handlers (Maier/Shane Jackson [a Maier employee and political director of the Stark County Democratic Party] are adding fuel to the political fires burning in Massillon in what seems to be a two-pronged strategy designed to help her get re-elected in less than two years from now (assuming the Republicans cannot put up a viable candidate), to wit:

• blame her predecessor Frank Cicchinelli for nearly all that ails Massillon nowadays, and
• to the extent that she cannot blame him, attribute her lack of success to an obstinate Massillon City Council

The current manifestation of internal political problems is the Hampton Hotel financing deal.

And there can be no doubt that it was a bad deal from the get-go as was the Cicchinelli administration's promotion of adding nine holes to The Legends golf course/restaurant complex.  Cicchinelli himself admits that the addition was a mistake.

As the SCPR sees it, Massillon stands to lose either $3.4 million (accepting the Hampton Hotel proposed buy-out) or $4.6 million, if not accepted.

Consistent with a seemingly blooming Catazaro-Perry attitude (i.e. "my way or the highway" as demonstrated on her reduced income tax credit proposal), after being rejected on the Hampton Hotel Buyout proposal a week ago in a special council session, she was back at trying to get council to re-consider its rejection as last night's meeting.

This time around Economic Development Director Ted Herncane was the vehicle of her persistence.

Additionally, there is the ongoing squabble between the Massillon city administration (whether Catazaro-Perry or predecessor Frank Cicchinelli) and the Parks and Recreation Board as to who is going to control matters on the board:  the administration (through its three appointees) or is the board to be its own entity making independent decisions?

It is hard to tell which city in Stark County is the most politically polarized between Canton and Massillon.  Whereas the competition on the football field is just a "good old rivalry," the political dysfunction measure is not for the cities themselves and certainly not for Stark County as a whole.

For right now, it appears to the SCPR that Massillon may be winning the political/governmental dysfunction inasmuch as Tigerland (as personified by Mayor Catazaro-Perry) seems hellbent on being in a tailspin that just might lead to a crash landing.

And, pray tell, exactly who will benefit from that?

CICCHINELLI'S FINAL ACT: SIGNING LEGISLATION TO HELP CATAZARO-PERRY AS SHE TAKES OVER AS MAYOR. ALSO, LOOK FOR COUNCIL TO BE MORE TURBULENT THAN BEFORE.

Love him or not, a fair-minded person would say unequivocally that Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. truly loves the city of Massillon, Ohio.

It has been a bitter political tussle between the long time mayor and neophyte Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry and her prime promoter Johnnie A. Maier, Jr (Massillon clerk of courts).  Much longer than the formal period when Catazaro-Perry filed to run in the Democratic Primary against Cicchinelli.  But in the end, Cicchinelli exits gracefully and with the best interest of Massillonians in mind.

A last minute glitch that might have tarnished Cicchinelli's transition to civilian life was the thought by some that he might not sign legislation to finalize Ken Koher's appointment by Catazaro-Perry to be her budget director.

In fact, one Massillon politico e-mail the SCPR that Cicchinelli had not signed the legislation as 4:30 p.m. December 30, 2011.

However, a source tells The Report that he (apparently, after agonizing over the decision) did go back to the office on the 31st and sign the ordinance.

So in the end, he did what is best for Massillon.  Tigerland did not need a gap in governance in the context of Koher having to wait a period of time before having official status.

Catazaro-Perry's problems are far from over.

The word is that an ultimatum has been laid down by recently elected Massillon City Council (Council) Republican councilpersons Cunningham (Ward 1), Halter (Ward 2) and Lewis (Ward 6) to Donnie Peters (R - Ward 6) and Republican Milan Chovan (council at large) to sign onto a Massillon Republican Caucus or else.

Or else?

Republican opponents in 2013?

Hmm?

The problem for Peters and Chovan is that both have close associations with Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. and that he undoubtedly is putting pressure on them to support everything Catazaro-Perry.

The Report hears that Peters is set to become majority leader.  The source says that Peters will not be able to maintain control of the Republican side of the isle and, of course, much less the direction of Council.  Peters is painted by the source as being an undisciplined councilperson that has a hard time paying attention for an entire meeting.

A source of the SCPR says this about Peters and Chovan.

First, Peters:

Current Councilman Donnie Peters, who used to be a democrat (sic), shunned the other candidates during the campaign.  He refused to take part in any campaign events with them and boycotted the candidates' group photo used in their ads.

Second, Chovan:

Milan Chovan, who also is a democrat (sic), was selected to run as a republican (sic) for an at large council seat by Johnnie Maier only after he declined an offer by Maier and Elum to back him in a run as a democrat against Cicchinelli in the primary for the mayor's seat.

[Cunningham, Halter and Lewis] have a dilemma with Chovan when it comes to private republican political  caucuses.  They know that whatever is discussed will immediately be reported to Maier and Elum.

While Cunningham, Halter and Lewis will likely support the new mayor's initiatives here and there, do not expect them to be interested in being reliable support in the sense of whatever Mayor Kathy comes up with and the ramifications that such would have for the 2015 mayoral elections.

Democrats Townsend, Scassa and Slagle likely will be.

But Paul Manson?  Not on your life!  He likely to be:  "If Mayor Catazaro-Perry is for it, then I am against it!"

So there will be a real fight within the membership of Massillon City Council on any given piece of controversial legislation that the Catazaro-Perry administration offers.

As the SCPR sees it, on any controversial vote on a Catazaro-Perry proposal, the decision will likely turn on a 5 to 4 vote with a lot of political arm twisting going on in the background.

THE "FINGER-POINTING-GAME" UNDERWAY IN MASSILLON?

As the transition of political power approaches in Massillon, yours truly is getting the impression that Mayor-elect Kathy Catazaro-Perry is getting more than a tad worried about having the burden of the resurrection of Massillon on her shoulders.

While she is not the real political power in Massillon (the SCPR says it is Clerk of Courts Johnnie A. Maier, Jr et al), Catazaro-Perry will go down in Tigerland infamy as being responsible (as the de jure leader) for the city's final decline into economic oblivion should her administration (ladened with Maier loyalists) not be able to pull Massillon out of its seeming Cicchinelli induced 45 degree economic decent.

Catazaro-Perry indeed is about to inherit a number of ulcerous problems from outgoing Mayor Francis H. Cicchinell, Jr., to wit:

• a financially broke city that cannot pay its bills on a timely basis including a failure to pay Massillon's share of emergency call/dispatch services currently provided by the R.E.D. (Regional Emergency Dispatch) Center,
• a park system falling into disrepair because its infrastructure monies have be diverted to keep a money sucking golf course complex going, and
• making mortgage payments on a senior citizens high rise and a private sector hotel

Rather than act like the adult in the room, it seems to the SCPR that the Catazaro-Perry entourage (as articulated by her "anonymous" apologist [Shane Jackson - Maier chief deputy clerk of courts and Stark County Dems political director - likely being the unidentified chief spokesperson] is bellyaching, moaning, groaning about the legacy left by Cicchinelli and thereby setting themselves up for an excuse if they cannot reverse the inexorable slide that Massillon seems to be in the midst of.

Catazaro-Perry has been on Massillon City Council for eight years and has done precious little to impede/correct the errant Cicchinelli direction that she and her supporters allege and cry about.  Nor has she, on the cusp of assuming office, set out a plan to turn Massillon's fortunes around.  A plan that the voters of Massillon could use as a benchmark for holding her accountable by her own standard as her administration unfolds.

It appears to The Report that the mayor-elect vacillated about running for mayor in the first place.  Having allowed herself to be nudged into running for mayor by backroom Massillon political operatives and now that she has been elected, Catazaro-Perry is now looking for ways to have a win-win situation for herself.

The stratagems?

Lower expectations and publish a "work in progress" list of bogeymen who endeavor to make her an officeholding failure.

Now the list includes Cicchinelli, Gamber, Slagle, McCune, Manson, Hersher, Jayne Ferrero, Stergios and Todaro-Kirchner and Brunckman.

After January 1st, whose names will grace the Maier/Jackson enemies list?

Answer:  anyone who disagrees with the Catazaro-Perry approach, however helter-skelter, chaotic and directionless it may prove to be.

Disagreement of a stripe will be the key to making the list however well-founded particular opposition might be.

It is apparent that the greatest fear of the Maier led cabal is that failure of a Catazaro-Perry adminstration to turnaround Massillon, (not unlike Maier political hero and former Democratic Governor Ted Strickland's failure to turnaround Ohio).  Such appears to the SCPR to be the most likely outcome of the Massillon regime change.

Of course, the ultimate fear is that Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr., being young enough and intentional enough,  will be there waiting in the Democratic primary of 2115 to return the favor of his 2111 defeat.

In the meantime, a  Catazaro-Perry enemies list headed by Cicchinelli will be written, rewritten and rewritten again and likely be accompanied by political smear after political smear and political smear in order to distract Massillonians from the real problems which continue to plague them, the change in leadership notwithstanding.

Such is the nature of power politics.  The only politics that Maier and friends know.

Look for the blame game to continue.

The politicians will thrive as Massillon bottoms out.

A HOUSE CLEANING UNDERWAY IN MASSILLON: "DAVID MALEY" FORMER STARK CO. AUDITOR KIM PEREZ EMPLOYEE & PAL OF JOHNNIE A. MAIER, JR TO BECOME COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR?

As current Safety-Service Director Mike Loudiana tells it, the incoming Catazaro-Perry and his successor-designate George Maier (brother of Massillon Clerk of Courts Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. who the SCPR sees as "the power behind the throne") were not interested in taking him up on an offer to sit down with them work out a smooth transition from the Cicchinelli administration to Catazaro-Perry's.

The SCPR finds the Loudiana reported brush off interesting in light of Saturday's editorial in The Massillon Independent which seems to blame the abrasive relationship between Cicchinelli and Catazaro-Perry totally on the mayor, to wit:

However, the mayor’s refusal to make the administrative transition to the mayor-elect as smooth as possible, and his implication that there are deep, dark secrets surrounding her team only  will serve to sully his legacy in the city to which he has devoted his professional life for more than three decades.  (emphasis added)

Unless The Inde's words:

[c]oincidentally, or possibly not, Mayor Frank Cicchinelli complemented an Inde reporter at city hall Friday for “beginning to connect the dots,” clearly referring to the story about George Maier.   

can somehow be tortured into "the mayor's refusal to make the administrative transition to the mayor-elect as smooth as possible,"  it is unclear from the four corners of the editorial how the editor(s) can make the leap they do in the editorial.

There is no doubt that Mayor Cicchinelli is smarting from the Catazaro-Perry defeat.

From what the SCPR can see, on the Catazaro-Perry side of things, her supporters seem to be rubbing it in.

Take George Maier's statement given to Inde reporter Matt Rink:

Kathy’s got one shot here.  She won the election almost by a landslide, 65 percent. That was a message from the voters to fix things, change things, take our city back.

 Hmm?

Again, the language:  "... [B]y a landslide, 65 percent. ... "  "take our city back."
Reeks of arrogance, no?  Suggests, a housecleaning, no?  

So the truth of the matter likely is that neither side has any use for the other and will be holding their respective noses  when anywhere near the other.

Work together "to make a transition as smooth as possible?"  You've got to be kidding! 

Meanwhile, Cantazaro-Perry continues on in a housecleaning vein.

The SCPR hears that David Maley (husband of Johnnie A. Maier, Jr employee Tammy Maley) is set to replace Aane Aaby as Community Development Director.
Maley is the one-time chief operative of Kim Perez when Perez was Stark County auditor who was swept out of office by Republican Alan Harold in the wake of a Stark County voter reaction to what local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley termed as "Zeiglergate." (click on this LINK for background material)

No surprise here, The Report expects quite a number of Maier political comrades to surface in a Catazaro-Perry administration.

Reportedly Ken Koher (a former Stark County treasurer in the stream of successions of Gary Zeigler as county treasurer) will become Catazaro-Perry's part-time budget director not finance director as reported in area media.  The Report understands that elected Massillon Auditor Jayne Ferrero handles Massillon's finance duties.


It appears that no Cicchinelli administration leadership types will make it into the Catazaro-Perry administration.  


Of course that is the mayor-elect's right.  But is it a wise thing to do in order to effect a smooth transition for the benefit of the citizens of Massillon?

In another interesting development at last night's Massillon City Council meeting it appears that Catazaro-Perry (as a councilperson) attempted to ramrod (in the view of some) an income tax credit through council.  (City council nixes tax-credit proposal, Matt Rink, The Independent, 11/21/2011).

Catzaro-Perry denies that there was any attempt to ramrod the credit through council but when you have your to be chief administrator George Maier chortling about a 65% win and "tak[ing] our city back," it is not much of a stretch to believe ramrodding was in fact what Catazaro-Perry along with her allies Anderson and Townsend were up to.

Knowing the likes of Catazaro-Perry's chief supporters (i.e. Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and Shane Jackson) as the SCPR does, Monday night's move had to be the work product of this pair getting into the ear of the mayor-elect.

Massillonians should get used to loyalist and power politics as standard fare as such appears to be what the powers/political operatives behind Kathy Catazaro-Perry are all about.

MASSILLON'S CITY COUNCIL TURNED REPUBLICAN ON TUESDAY. A SUB PLOT IN THE ON GOING BATTLE BETWEEN MAYOR CICCHINELLI & THE MAIER/JACKSON FACTIONS OF THE MASSILLON DEMOCRATIC PARTY? WHEN WILL CATAZARO-PERRY AND THE REPUBICANS FIRST CLASH?

Updated at 9:00 AM

Admittedly, the evidence is thin, but the SCPR believes that outgoing Massillon Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. (defeated in the May Democratic Primary by Mayor-elect [as of Tuesday] Kathy Catazaro-Perry] had a lot of "behind the scenes things going to help the Massillon Republicans take control of Massillon City Council (Council).

It keeps ringing in the ears of yours truly having heard Johnnie A. Maier, Jr in his days of being Stark County Democratic Party chairman of how - in his opinion - Mayor Cicchinelli was a nominal Democrat and in reality a de facto Republican. 

Maier and Cicchinelli's relationship goes way back.  As far as the SCPR knows, it goes back at least to the days when both were students at Kent State Stark.

The Report's impression is that though - on the face of it political allies - the reality is that they have always been more or less competitive.

However, in recent years the competition has turned politically deadly for Mayor Cicchinelli.

And the battle ground of the political fight?  The consummately ambitious Kathy Catazaro-Perry.

Both were intoxicated by her effervescence, elan and energy and could see that she was bound to become political asset extraordinaire.

With Catazaro-Perry's entrance into the Massillon political scene in the early 2000s, a "below the radar" battle ensued between the two old friends to bring Catazaro-Perry under his sway.

The result was in early.  Maier won the battle and Catazaro-Perry joined his political entourage in naming "all things Cicchinelli" as being evil.

It was no surprise that Catazaro-Perry decided to take Cicchinelli on in May of 2011.

Cicchinelli has tried to keep a "stiff upper lip" about it all, after all; "anything goes in politics!"

But The Report believes that he is deeply hurt by what he seems to deem as having been political betrayal at hand at old friend Maier.

Hence, it only stands to reason, that he might want to make it difficult for the newly elected Catazaro-Perry to govern.

However, he likely loves Massillon more than anything else in life other than God and his immediate family, and any desire "to get even" must not hamper the future of his beloved Massillon.


Sub rosa supporting of the emergence of a Republican-controlled Massillon City Council fits perfectly with "pay back" and having in place a check and balance of the Catazaro/Maier/Jackson political axis, no?

That's The Report's take and accordingly the SCPR can see the hand of Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. in the outcome of Tuesday's Council races.

What does the Republican takeover of Council portend for Catazaro-Perry?

There will be a honeymoon period in which the Catazaro-Perry administration and the Republican-controlled Council bend over backwards to work with one another.

But in time politics will assume center stage.

Likley to be a rubbing point early-on would be a Catazaro-Perrry appointment of George Maier (brother of Johnnie Maier), if it materializes.

If it does, Repubicans will have an early sign that Catazaro-Perry is, in fact, beholden to her political mentor.

A conclusion:   in the end, despite the talk of working together, politics will never be far from her mind given the likelihood that Johnnie Maier will be whispering instructions in her ear on a day-to-day basis.

While they are undoubtedly content with control of Council for now, the Republicans will be looking to build a base over the next four years for a more Republican-like mayoral candidate (as opposed to the "common-man" Lee Brunckhart) come 2015.

Catazaro-Perry is highly indebted to organized labor for her meteoric rise in Massillon politics and she must deliver for them if she is to maintain its undying support.

Looking out for organized labor interests has never been a priority with Republicans and when it appears to the Council Repubicans that the Catazaro-Perry administration is playing to union interest, you can bet there will be a parting of the ways.

Over the next four years, Massillon city government and politics is likely to be one of the most interesting viewing and listening posts in all of Stark County.