A WELL DRILLING/FRACKING FIGHT LOOMING IN MASSILLON?

Councilman Tony Townsend (a staunch political ally of Massillon mayoral candidate [as a Democrat] Kathy Catzaro-Perry and Clerk of Courts Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.) won Round 1 of a fight with lame duck Mayor Frank Cicchnelli on whether or not Massillon Council ("Council") would authorize Massillon entering into a "Non-Developmental Oil & Gas Lease" with Ohio Valley Energy Systems Corporation on some 52.51 acres of land owned by Massillon.  Included in the proposal were three locations:  two at Towne Plaza and one in the 300 block of 2nd Street SW (in Councilman Townsend's ward).

But the July 5 "no vote" apparently is not the end of the matter.

The SCPR has learned that Townsend believes that Cicchinelli is coming back to Council on Monday night (August 15) with a new try to get Council to approve the lease.

Here are excerpts from an e-mail (that is circulating among opponents of fracking) that the SCPR received a copy of on the matter:

Tony Townsend, Massillon councilman, wants all of us to attend the city council meeting this Monday Aug 15 ---- 7:30 pm.

Mayor Cicchinelli  will be there. He is going to chastise city council for turning down the well proposel in downtown Massillon. The mayor claims that Massillon lost 500 jobs. The mayor told city council tonight that there was a company that was going to bring 500 jobs to Massillon but changed their mind because they didn't like that council voted no on fracking in Massillon.  

City council [sic] has never heard about any company wanting to locate itself in Massillon like the mayor is claiming. If he knew there were 500 jobs out there, why didn't he tell council.  According to some council members the mayor is probably going to bring another well proposel to council and is going to make those council members that vote no look bad.

It's a scare tactic the mayor is using. He needs 3 more council members to change their vote to yes for fracking downtown.

There is an election this year. Some members on city council are not sure they will be re-elected and don't want to be singeled [sic] out by the mayor as being the reason Massillon lost jobs.

So now a vote on a new ordinance oil and gas proposal would be tied to an argument that voting against drilling would be a vote to pass on new jobs coming to Massillon?

Quite "a different kettle of fish" from the original ordinance (73 B 2011) which was not tied directly to jobs coming to Massillon with Council's approval.  An Ohio Energy Spokeswoman did talk about 14,000 "indirect" jobs that exist in Ohio as a positive attribute of oil and gas drilling activities.

Hmm?

Councilman Townsend, by the way, is running unopposed.

Who might the councilpersons be who do not want to be on record as opposing the 500 jobs that Cicchinelli is said to be referring to?

Start with Councilwoman Kathy Catazaro-Perry, Townsend's political ally, and her run for mayor.

One wouldn't think she in a heavily Democratic city would face much of a challenge from Republican Lee Brunckhart.  Accordingly, and she is not likely to be worried by a possible call-out by Cicchinelli.  However, these are topsy-turvy political times and it is a long time until November 8th and, perhaps, a number of missteps by her could put Brunckhart in play.

Moving on to council-at-large, the most likely worry-wart in this arena is Councilman David Hersher. 

 

In 2007 and 2009 Hersher came in last among the Democrats running.  So he just might be vulnerable to Republican Milan Chovan's challenge. 

Ward 2.  What a delight it likely would be for the outgoing Frank Cicchinelli to take Gary Anderson with him.  Anderson has been a bitter Cicchinelli foe ever since taking office.  Souces deep inside the Cicchinelli administration tells the SCPR that Republican Nancy Halter has an excellent chance of unseating Anderson.  So one wouldn't think that Anderson would relish a vote no as being tantamount to the equivalent of "a job killing" vote?

Ward 5.  David McCune would be an unhappy consequence of a Cicchinelli initiative to put councilpersons on the spot in terms of voting no in the face of the mayor equating a no vote on drilling to a no vote on new Massillon jobs.  McCune has been supportive of Cicchenlli and therefore an unintended consequence of his ongoing feud with the likes of Catazaro-Perry, Hersher and Anderson.

If Cicchinell is to get to five (5) votes, he will have to add to his Manson and Peters support three more votes.

The Report believes that Councilpersons Slagle and Catazaro-Perry are not viable prospects.

Slagle is likely to be vying with Paul Manson as the highest vote getter in the council-at-large race and therefore unlikely to be under any pressure to switch from supporting Townsend.

There is no way Kathy Catazaro-Perry can be seen as knuckling under to Cicchinelli and moreover she is not about to abandon her political ally Townsend.

Are the remaining councilpersons vulnerable to Cicchinelli arm twisting?

Monday night's council meeting could be interesting indeed!

MEAGAN TODARO KIRCHNER "HAS AN ACE UP HER SLEEVE" WITH WHICH TO DEFEAT DEMOCRATIC KINGPIN JOHNNIE A. MAIER, JR AS MASSILLON CLERK OF COURTS?

 

Any candidate will tell you that the ultimate endorsement is for supporters:  (1) to give money, and (2) go out and do door-to-door campaigning.

While the SCPR does not know that viral YouTube phenom Phil Davison (Republican - Minerva councilman) will be going door-to-door for Meagan Todaro Kirchner in her quest to unseat, perhaps, Stark County's most powerful Democrat (Johnnie A. Maier, Jr), he has graced her with a campaign contribution.

Davison could be the "ace up her sleeve" that Kirchner needs to take out the incumbent Massillon clerk of courts.

Kirchner's main problem in Massillon is name-ID compared to Maier.  A second considerable problem is that she is a committed Republican running in a Democratic town.

In 2005, Maier administered a political smashing to the then Meagan Todaro:

An artfully crafted campaign using Davison as an attention-getter could put her in play (ID-wise) against the former Stark County Democratic Party chairman who has rubbed shoulder with the likes of former Governor Ted Strickland and Preasident Bill Clinton.

On the party ID front she needs to convince defeated incumbent Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr to come out full force for her this race.   Cicchinell's wife - Joy - as a proxy for the mayor - contributed to Todaro-Kirchner's campaign as witness her post-primary campaign finance report:

 

It appears that Cicchinelli and political friends are prepared to put all their eggs in the Todaro-Kirchner/Maier campaign and concede to Kathy Catazaro-Perry the mayoralty over Republican candidate  Lee Brunckner.

Together with his spouse's proxy contribution, Cicchenilli's chief administrator (Safety-Services Director Mike Loudiana) also made a contribution to Todaro-Kirchner.

If Todaro-Kirchner can package her assets effectively (Davison and Cicchinelli et al), she can show why Maier took great offense for her having run against him in 2005.  Yours truly remembers the outrage that Maier burst out into when the topic of his having had opposition came up at a political event post-November 2005 election.

His outburst was a real eye opener to yours truly.  Wow!  The man defeats his opponent by nearly 40 percentage points and he's bitter about having had an opponent?  

The Report has always known that Maier is a power politician.  His political idol is the now deceased (2006)  Vern Riffe who served has Ohio's longest serving Speaker of the House (1975 - 1994).  In a phrase Riffe and his disciple Maier was/is "might makes right" politicos.  

Other than staffing the Massillon clerk of courts office with a number of political friends (e.g. Shane Jackson who is the son of former Stark County commissioner Gayle Jackson and who is paid more than the mayor of Massillon), it appears that Maier runs the clerk of courts in an effective fashion.

With this office operation track record, why should Maier not be returned as clerk of courts?

Answer:  to get some political balance in Massillon government.

Maier and his allies (with the near certain election as protege Kathy Catazao-Perry as mayor of Massillon) are on the cusp of taking over the reins of political power for all of Massillon.

The SCPR thinks this should be a frightening prospect for Massillonians.

Remember his outrage of the temerity of someone running against him and remember what his school of politics (power politics) is.

As The Report sees it, a defeat of Maier would send a message to Maier and those who would mimic his political style that Stark Countians are not into political power.  Over the long haul political power disciples are the ones who -  because they come to believe they are above accountabilty - bring government into disrepute with the electorate.

The defeat of Cicchinelli has left Massillon with out a "check and balance" political force and, in the view of the SCPR, Massillonians would be doing themselves good by electing Meagan Todaro-Kirchner as their next clerk of courts.

The Report believes Massillonians are wise enough to make this best choice for themselves.

However, Todaro-Kirchner will have to show she has the political skills needed to use every asset she has - wringing out every ounce of value - in order to take down Maier.

The clerk of courts function is pretty much pro forma and there should be no reason that Todaro-Kirchner cannot match the operational qualities that the Massillon clerk's office has under Maier.

The "value-added" that she must commit to is to take the political factor (i.e. hiring political connected persons) out of the clerks office.  These positions are paid for by Massillon's taxpayers.  A clerk of courts should endeavor to hire from the citizenry-at-large the best qualified person.  Not some politically connected person who may or may not be able to effectively and efficiently serve the public.

The odds are heavily against Todaro-Kirchner defeating Maier.

But the times for this kind of change seem to be riper in 2011 than any other time that Maier has run for this office.

Are Todaro-Kirchner and her supporters in the Massillon/Stark County Republican Party capable of pulling off what would be a stunning political upset?

CAMPAIGN FINANCE: FRANCIS H. CICCHINELL, JR - TOM RIVERA A CICCHINELLI CONTRIBUTOR; ALSO, WHO DOES CICCINELLI SUPPORT? COUNCIL PRESIDENT CANDIDATE SCOTT GRABER RESPONDS TO THURSDAY NIGHT INCIDENT ALLEGEDLY INVOLVING TOM RIVERA.

One of the surprises of last Thursday's candidates forum put on by Massillon Cable TV at the Lincoln-Lions theater was an incident wherein Cicchinelli supporter (including a financial contribution as evidenced above) Tom Rivera is alleged to have assaulted council president candidate Scott Graber in the May 3rd Democratic Primary.

The SCPR conversed via email with Graber and here is his description of and response to the incident:

 ... I was standing out front of the Lincoln theater having a smoke and talking to Dave Jennings when Mr Rivera came out of the theater with who I assume was his wife,  I said "Hi Tommy"to him and said "Looking good!" and he responded as he was walking away, stopped,  returned and engaged me, while his wife continued walking.  I was actually somewhat surprised and honored that he even recognized me by name.  I had no expectation that he would even stop to talk to me, as he was apparently leaving, and his wife continued walking.

I don't know what it was that I said that angered him, but he did become very angry and insulting, and ended up striking me on the left ear.  Subsequent conversations I have had with people who have known him since High School indicate that he has a history of tending to want to settle his differences with people with physical confrontations, which I was not aware of myself, and that he has engaged other people in a similar fashion regarding this election, also, which I was unaware of.

I was surprised, shocked, stunned, and disappointed that he became angry and lost his temper so completely, as I had always looked up to him. I did not call the police: the sole witness, a Dave Jennings did.  ...

I have no feelings about Mr. Rivera, other than to hope he gets help for his apparent anger management problem, and my best wishes to him in his future endeavors.

Graber, who is running against Massillon City Council (Council) President Glenn Gamber is mostly concerned that the incident not distract voter attention from his campaign.

Obviously, Cicchinelli has to be aghast at the occurrence of the incident.

A few days ago, the SCPR published part one of a two-part blog on the Cicchinelli campaign finance report for the pre-primary period.  In the first publication the focus was on who contributed to him.  In this edition, the focus on who the mayor is supporting.

In prior campaigns Cicchinelli is known to have supported Council candidates who are running against his political enemies.  Yesterday, The Report published a video of opponent Catazaro-Perry telling "the rest of the story" about how after she was elected in 2003 and sent a letter to her constituents not to the liking of the mayor that he became actively engaged in her 2005 opponent's campaign.  And The Report has heard various other stories of Cicchinelli soliciting candidates to run against recalcitrant council members and/or supporting their opponents.

There is once such example in his current finance report, to wit:

 

A $100 donation to "Jackie Carter for Council."  As campaign contributions to council candidates go, $100 is huge.  Wow!  

But not a surprise.  As the SCPR sees it, fourth ward Councilman Tony Townsend is one of Kathy Catazaro-Perry's most loyal supporters on Council (somewhat rivaled by Gary Anderson - Ward 2).

Moreover, Townsend has battled with the Cicchinelli administration over various issues coming before Council most notably and recently a number of votes on the administration's budget proposal for 2011 (he voted for Councilman Larry Slagle's "compromise?" final budget proposal) and Townsend's proposal for the renaming of  Shriver Park for the late T. Roy Roberson.  The latter battle was fought out between Cicchinelli's proxies on Council and the Catazaro-Perry, Anderson and Townsend alliance.

As an incumbent, Francis Cicchinelli, Jr has a significant advantage over challenger Catazaro-Perry.  He has the duty to hire for the city of Massillon to ensure that Massillon can deliver services to the Massillon taxpaying public.

Many of those folks, of their own will - as required by Ohio law -  want to help Cicchinelli remain mayor.  Campaign finance law requires that such contributors be reported in their own category.  The list follows at the end of this blog.

As the campaign winds down, The Report thinks it is difficult to predict who might win.  And yours truly will not even try.

Suffice it to say, whomever wins will have a herculean task of bringing healing processes to bear on Massillon government.  While there is a Republican opponent for the general election to be held in November, the odds are that the Democratic nominee will be the next mayor of Massillon.

The question is:  will the winner be able to bring the Massillon Democratic Party be able:

1. To bring the party together enough to withstand the Republican challenge, and
2. If she/he can, will the survivor be able to govern?

CATAZARO-PERRY, MAIER AND JACKSON HAVE TO BE "JUMPING FOR JOY." MAYOR CICCHINELLI SHOWING SIGNS OF ELECTION DESPERATION? BUT- IS THERE MORE TO THE STORY?

Massillon Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. has to be bristling at the suggestion that he is not a "real" Democrat.

Matt Rink of The Independent broke a story yesterday about Cicchinelli seeking Republican support in the Democratic primary on May 3rd (Oser files a complaint vs. Cicchinelli's campaign) that seems to validate the claim by some Stark County/Massillon Democrats questioning the Mayor's loyalty to the Stark County Democratic Party.

Andrew Oser (Republican candidate in the Stark County Republican Party primary) charges in a complaint to the Ohio Elections Commission (hearing set for today) that Cicchinelli through Mike Loudiana (a Cicchinelli administration top level official) who works on the Mayor's re-election committee has asked some Massillon Republicans to register "temporarily" as Democrats in order to vote for Cicchinelli over 3rd Ward Councilwoman Kathy Catazaro-Perry in the Stark County Democratic Party primary on May 3rd.

For a number of years, yours truly has heard considerable talk among leadership Democrats (from Massillon, of course) as to whether on not Cicchinelli's heart is with traditional Democratic issue positions.

Organized labor (Stark County's trade unions), in particular, has questioned his loyalty to union causes.  As the politically aware know, unions almost exclusively support Democrat office seekers.  But four years ago, much of Stark County organized labor (again, primarily; the trades) broke with Cicchinelli and supported Tim Bryan and were able to make the race relatively close.

The SCPR believes that the Cicchinelli overture to Republicans is a clear sign that he knows that his continuance in office (38 years covering his time on council and as mayor) may be in great jeopardy.

The Report sees the Cicchinelli Republican appeal as plausible and predictable especially in the light of other developments (both recent and longstanding); a partial list being:

• his recent statement to the SCPR that he was stepping down from the Stark County Democratic Party Executive Committee,
• his acerbic relationship with Clerk of Courts Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. (former Stark Dems chairman), Stark County Democratic Party Political Director Shane Jackson (also, Maier's chief deputy) and the entire retinue of Massillon Democrats who have lined up behind Cicchinelli opponent Catazaro-Perry,
• his prior statements to The Report that he may possibly support this or that Republican running either countywide or in Massillon,
• his being viewed as "pro-business" in the context of his testy relationship with the trades unions as referenced above,
• the expressed perception (to the SCPR) by a number of Massillon Democrats that they see Cicchinelli as being overly comfortable with and supportive of Republicans to the point of providing "behind the scenes" support to Republican candidates for Massillon City Council, and
• the belief by Massillon Democrats that he has recruited and support Democrats to take on incumbent Democrat council members who are more or less supportive of Catazaro-Perry.

The Report hears that Cicchinelli is getting out and about in Massillon in this election cycle to a much greater degree than observers remember his doing so in prior runs for mayor.

On Monday night of this week Massillon City Council adopted the request of the Stark County trade unions to bid out future city contracts in conformance with project labor agreement (PLA) language. PLAs underwritten by public policy are very much prized by trade labor unions as they see them as a key component in helping union shops get public work.

Somewhat surprising, given his historically tense relationship with the Stark County trades, was Cicchinelli being on board with Councilwoman Catazaro-Perry and Councilman Larry Slagle in endorsing Council's action.  Cicchinelli tells The Report he met with the trades last Thursday and where he announced his support for the PLA (project labor agreements) legislation passed by Council Monday night.

For his part, Cicchinelli has always insisted to the SCPR that he does support traditional Democratic Party values.  His quarrel with the likes of Catazaro-Perry, Maier and Jackson, he says, has to do with their desire to take over Massillon government in a pure self-serving political power move. 

The Report needed no convincing by Cicchinelli to buy into the notion that the contest between him and Catazaro-Perry is primarily about who is going to wield political power in Massillon and not really about the well-being of Massillonians.  But the issue cuts both ways.  It seems to The Report that the back and forth between the Cicchinelli and the Maier factions is about competition for political power in and of itself.  Not primarily about serving the best interests of Massillonians.

What is troublesome about Maier and Jackson and their ilk is The Report's take that an unstated but clearly implied condition that all-out support, like that that Kathy Catazaro-Perry receives from them, comes at a price of losing political independence.  No elected official should at the behest of anyone.

At least in Cicchinelli's case, he is obviously his own person.  There is no Wizard of Oz behind the scenes.  But make no mistake about it, he is a power politician very much in the political mold of his adversaries Maier, Jackson et al.

One of the determinations of Massillon voters in considering Catazaro-Perry as an alternative to Cicchinelli is how beholden is she to the direction of Maier, Jackson and their allies in other parts of Massillon city government.

The Report believes she is way too politically tight with Maier et al.  But, of course, that judgment is for the voters of Massillon. 

It could be that Cicchinelli has run his course in Massillon much in the same vein that it became increasingly clear that former Congressman Ralph Regula was losing his grip on the 16th Congressional District.

But you never heard of Ralph Regula sending Democrats letters encouraging them to crossover to become "temporary" Republicans.

And, he was savvy enough to know when to step aside.

A question about Cicchinelli is whether or not he has stayed too long and therefore is now faced with the prospect of leaving office under circumstances that are going to be hard for him to swallow?

But one more set of questions loom large that could have important implications or both sides of the May primary.  And the SCPR is investigating.

The questions are:  Is Andrew Oser's initiative against the Cicchinelli campaign his and his alone?  Or, are there Massillon Democrats connected to the Catazaro-Perry campaign who prompted and are fueling Oser's move?

Preliminary indications are that the Catazaro-Perry campaign is not involved - behind the scenes or otherwise - in the Oser initiative.

VOTERS HAVE TO BE GROWING MORE & MORE DISINCHANTED WITH ALL SIDES IN MASSILLON CITY GOVERNMENT

Is the recently passed Massillon city budget an example of a "cooking the books" budget that is owned by Mayor Cicchinelli but also by Massillon City Council?

"Cooking the books?"

Yes, in this sense:  the Cicchinelli presented budget as slightly modified by Councilman Larry Slagle still leaves Massillon underfunded in its fire and police operations by about $2.5 million rather than the $2.8 as in the original Cicchinelli budget proposal.

With a Councilman Slagle "sleight-of-hand," mid-last week, Massillon got its budget passed after a long impasse.  However, in voting 8 - 0 (including Cicchinelli mayoral opponent Kathy Catazaro-Perry) for the budget, Council (previously voting 5 to 4 negative)  now owns the "cooking the books-esque" budget along with Mayor Cicchinelli.

"Cooking the books"also  in the sense that the numbers are not real numbers.  They appear contrived to make it look as if Massillon has a balanced budget (as required by Ohio law).  But to the discerning, such is not the case.

The only constructive thing that seems to have come out of the protracted debate over the budget was Councilman Slagle's well founded point that Massillon along with all other Stark County based Ohio political subdivisions will experience dramatic cuts (50% over the 2012/13 biennium) beginning in July of this year.

Mayor Cicchinelli astoundingly poo-pooed Slagle's point saying that the state cuts are a relatively small part of the budget and therefore largely inconsequential.

Inconsequential?

Massillon does not have certification of revenues to match its projected expenditures by about $2.5 million and a 21% (this state of Ohio fiscal year) cut in local government funding is inconsequential?

A number of Cicchinelli's friends on Council have chosen to make apologies for him (i.e. "this is what we have done for the past 5 years, and it has always worked out " et cetera) and thereby justify the irresponsibly "out-of-balance" budget.

That Catazaro-Perry eventually fell into line in voting for the Cicchinelli budget after the cosmetic and face saving Slagle modification, smacks of her playing politics from December through March in order to enhance her "running for mayor" profile. Moreover, the vote suggests that if Massillon's overall revenue numbers do not improve in 2011 - Catazaro-Perry, should she be elected mayor, might replicate the Cicchinelli approach to budgeting.

Or, after she is elected, is she going to find a way to recommend cutting police and fire should Massillon's financial slide continue?  It is sort like the need at the national level to deal with Medicare and Social Security, but that can keeps getting kicked down the road because the politicians of neither party have the strength of leadership to deal with it.

The Report sees nothing in Catazaro-Perry that she has that kind of leadership moxie.

The Report had a discussion with Slagle as he was walking to his car after Monday's (March 28) meeting in which yours truly posed a question:  "What, Larry, will it take to get this budget passed?"  Answer:  "The Mayor needs to offer Plan B."

While the Mayor didn't, Slagle did and consequently Massillon now has a budget despite The Report 's belief that it remains "fiscally irresponsible."

There was a way for Catazaro-Perry to make a legitimate issue of Cicchinelli's budget and to make less believable Cicchinelli's charge that she was obvious lead of the opposition merely because she was running for mayor and not because of "a showing leadership" factor.

Hmm?

How's that?

She could have articulated and consistently advanced the Slagle point.  Additionally, she could have delved into the reality that sooner or later the Massillon revenue shortfall was going to fall squarely into the laps of Massillon's safety forces; like it or not, unless there is a dramatic turnaround in Massillon's finances.

Her unwillingness to articulate such is compelling proof to the SCPR that she has been playing politics with the budget issue all along.

One councilman approached yours truly on the 28th after Council meeting (clearly doing the work of a loyal Cicchinelli foot soldier) with this little ditty:  "Can you believe it, she is running for mayor and she had nothing to say about the budget!"

Answer (from The Report's perspective):  What is there to say when one is stringing a situation out for whatever political benefit can be attained in doing so?

While it's clear to The Report that Cicchinelli is obscuring real Massillon financial problems in the way he is dealing with the budget this year and has done in recent years, there does not seem to be a viable alternative in the offing with a Catazaro-Perry election.

Why would Catazaro-Perry play the game that the $15.8 million operating budget is not okay followed by it is okay depending on how the chairs are arranged on the deck Titanic-Massillon-Financial?

Politics, pure and simple.

Her political advisers are the likes of Massillon Clerk of Courts Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and his sidekick (chief deputy clerk of courts and Stark County Democratic Party political director) Shane Jackson.  The SCPR surmises that they have made the judgment that the drama Catazaro-Perry being against the budget before being for the budget, that is essentially unchanged, is good political press and helpful in her drive to become mayor. 

Catazaro-Perry could do better.  She could offer real change in the way local government does business to Massillonians.  And she could demonstrate before the election that she is willing to embrace making tough decisions in governance.  But it seems that she chosen to do what "primarily" political people do - "test the political winds" and do the politically expedient thing for herself.

It could be that Catazaro-Perry wins the May primary, but what are Massillonians likely to be left with?

More of the same:  "politics as usual!"

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!

(VIDEOS - 3): PETERS, McCUNE & CHICCHINELLI) MASSILLON BUDGET GETS VOTED DOWN A SECOND TIME - COULD IT BE THE McCUNE PARKING TICKET FLAP WAS THE DECIDING FACTOR?

The conventional political wisdom is that the Massillon 2011 budget got rejected last night a second time by the same 5 (Anderson, Catzaro-Perry, Peters, Slagle and Townsend) to 4 (Hersher, Mang, Manson, and McCune) vote that occurred back in December because of mayoralty politics:  Councilwoman Kathy Catazaro-Perry versus Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr.

And undoubtedly, such is a huge part of the reason.

However, it may be that animosities between Councilmen Donnie Peters, Jr. (R-Ward 5) and David McCune (D-Ward 6) over a parking ticket issued to McCune's daughter for parking in a handicap parking spot last year may have caused to vote "no" on the Cicchinelli administration budget.



At a council meeting in late December, 2009 it came to light that McCune had asked Catazaro-Perry (chair of the Rules and Court Committee) to consider legislation to lengthen the time within which to pay fines.

Councilman Peters alleged that McCune made the request to the chairwoman without telling her about the daughter's ticket and what Peters further alleged to be an effort by McCune to gain additional time, if needed, to avoid having to pay a double fine for untimely payment.

Here's the actual exchange as reported by Matt Rink (The Independent), Parking ticket causes racket amongst council members, December 30, 2010.

“He set you up,” Councilman Donnie Peters told Catazaro-Perry. “He knows if he were here, I would jump his (expletive) about it. It’s just because he has a personal vendetta to settle because he is one of those people who got a ticket.

“If I get picked up for a DUI, I’m not going to go change the DUI law,” Peters said.

Peters said McCune’s “motives are off base” and he wouldn’t agree to change the ordinance. He called Catazaro-Perry a “sacrificial lamb” and said McCune is using his political seat for personal gain.

Take a look at this video in which Peters makes it clear that he believes that a McCune statement (see video below) was the reason that the vote turned against Cicchinelli.  Whose vote did the McCune statement cause to go anti-Cicchinelli?  The Report's belief:  Councilman Donnie Peters, Jr!

And here is the McCune statement:



So what's next?   A city shutdown?

Probably not.  But it is anybody's guess as to how the impasse is going to get resolved as it must by midnight March 31st.

As Councilman Slagle pointed out in post-council meeting conversation (reference:  the coming local government fund cuts from Ohio), it is hard to see how Massillon can get through the rest of 2011 without some cuts.   It appears that Catazaro-Perry and friends want to force Cicchinelli to make the cuts as the price he pays to get his budget passed. If they succeed, then her election becomes more plausible.

A way around Catazaro-Perry et al (Anderson and Townsend), with Slagle marching to his own drumbeat, is for Cicchinelli to broker a "reconciliation" between Peters and McCune, if such is possible.  In addition, Peters - a Republican, may be fronting for Milan Chovan who will be opposing the Catazaro-Perry/Cicchinelli Democratic primary winner.  If that's the case, then there seems to be little prospect of converting Peters.

Should Peters prove impossible, then it is on to Councilman Slagle.

What will it take for Slagle to support the Cicchinelli budget?

"A Cicchinelli 'Plan B,' [apparently accounting for the certain 21% loss in state of Ohio revenues this year] so said Slagle to the SCPR as he made his way through the parking lot to his car.

 Make no mistake about it, Mayor Cicchinelli is incensed that he has been put in the position he is in.  Here is a video of his press conference with yours truly and Matt Rink of The Independent.

ARE ALL THE POLITICAL STARS OF THE STARK COUNTY "ORGANIZED" DEMOCRATIC PARTY LINED UP AGAINST MASSILLON MAYOR FRANCIS H. CICCHINELLI, JR? IF CATAZARO-PERRY GETS ELECTED, DOES HER POLITICAL PATRON - JOHNNIE A. MAIER, JR BECOME THE "DE FACTO" MAYOR OF MASSILLON?

UPDATE:  02/04/2011

Scott Graber denies to the SCPR that he was working in concert with Catazaro-Perry in changes that took place at filing time with the Stark County Board of Elections

ORIGINAL POST

The SCPR believes that Massillon Mayor Frank Cicchinelli, one of Stark County's most successful Democratic elected officials, is about to experience an all out political assault at the hands of the "powers that be" within the "organized" Stark County Democratic Party.

It has been pretty obvious that Kathy Catazaro-Perry has been aiming to take on Cicchinelli for two or three years now, if not longer.

There has been a little bit of political silliness going on between her and Scott Graber in an apparent attempt to dissemble on political observers and play mind games with the Mayor in the past couple of weeks.  Graber took out petitions for mayor and for council president and Catazaro-Perry took them out for her present Ward 3 council seat.

Veteran political observers know that all kinds of jockeying goes on right up to the filing deadline. That Catazaro-Perry would engage in such political tomfoolery makes one wonder if she has the maturity to be Massillon's chief executive.  Undoubtedly, she is listening to her chief political patron and former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. (Massillon clerk of courts). Yours truly knows only too well how much Maier likes to jack people around.

When Jamie Healy announced a week ago Saturday that he was running for re-election, Kathy Catazaro-Perry was in the crowd huddled up with current Chairman Randy Gonzalez (the current Party chair).

Gonzalez told the SCPR that he is neutral in the Smuckler/Healy race (hmm?), and one would think he "officially" has the same thing on the Cicchinelli/Catazaro-Perry face-off.

To the SCPR, neutrality on Smuckler/Healy might actually be true.  Maier never has really liked Healy nor Smuckler, so there may be some wiggle room for Gonzalez.

But neutrality on Cicchinelli/Catazaro-Perry?  No way!  Maier and Gonzalez are about as tight as politicos get and one would have to be totally naive to think that Gonzalez is going to be neutral.  And this will be one race to unite the Stark County unions with the Party bigs.  Mike McElfresh as president of the trades - once a close friend of Cicchinelli - has been anti-Cicchinelli (as have most of the Stark County union movement) for some time now and so look for McElfresh to lead the unions full force for Catzaro-Perry.

Catazaro-Perry and Cicchinelli have had a couple of proxy fights already over Republican mayoral candidate Carl Oser's attempt to get some rezoning done in Ward 3.  Catazaro-Perry has lost twice to the mayor in this context.

If the SCPR had make a prediction today, it would be that Maier, Elum, Shane Jackson and Graber  et al will finally get to Cicchinelli.

The Report believes that it will not be any one thing that does the Mayor in, but rather the alignment of a number of factors against him:  the golf course thing, the parks and recreation board thing, the budget thing, the union thing, the Maier-led Stark Democratic Party thing, the Elum/Cicchinelli feud thing and the "been mayor a long time" thing.

If he can stop the political cuts at 999, maybe Cicchinelli survives.

But if the cuts reach the proverbial 1000, then it is likely that Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr is about to sail off into the political sunset.

And Massillon will be left with Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. (a Tuscarawas Township resident) as the de facto mayor of Massillon.

TWO OF STARK COUNTY'S PRINCIPAL CITIES CANNOT GET THEIR BUDGETS STRAIGHT? ELECTION YEAR "MAYORALTY" POLITICS AT PLAY?

The Texas state bird is the Mockingbird.  A bird that mimics other birds.  Up to 25 to 30 other birds.  However, the listener is unable to distinguish on sound alone that he/she is not hearing the actual bird mimicked. 

Perhaps the city administrations of Canton and Massillon should adopt the Mockingbird as their official city birds.  Over the past several years, it appears that "smoke and mirrors" are the order of the day when comes to formulating budgets in "pupland" and "tigerland."  And it doesn't hurt to mimic what seems to be a real budget a la the Mockingbird.  For the object seems to be to leave those following the process in a state of confusion.

Both cities are in the midst of an election year and the deception on budget numbers is likely to be running amok.  Both Canton and Massillon could see new mayors come out of the May, 2011 primary.  The lack of specificity and candor on the cost of running the cities, when added to other negatives, could sew enough additional distrust and cynicism among voters to prompt the ousting of both Mayor William J. Healy, II and Mayor Francis H. Cichinelli, Jr.

In Canton the telltale signs of masking over of a deep budgetary crises can be seen in borrowings against capital, diversion of capital and the vetoing of mandatory housing inspection legislation.  We do know that Healy has to come up (by his own word) about $2 million in short order to make the city budget balance come next year.

A similar picture apparently is at play in Massillon.  A main economic development tool in Massillon is annexation.  When Massillon grabbed the R.G. Drage educational complex earlier this year, it was clear that it was a naked grab of income tax money  for city coffers (incurring little or no expense in terms of additional city services) with which to help balance future budgets.  A second annexation ploy was hatched in the high counsels of the city administration (Tuslaw schools), however, the plan came apart when Massillon City Council figured out that the mobile home park in the pathway to Tuslaw would be at a cost that might outweigh the gain in revenues.  Now we see a story about the city administration leaving blank or underfunding salary and overtime general fund budget items to meet a project $1.2 million shortfall on the police and fire aspects of the overall $16 million city budget (Time is running out on Massillon's budget, Matthew Rink, The Independent, December 14, 2010).

Both Healy and Cicchinelli are apparently trying to avoid massive layoffs in 2011 of police and fire.  Neither are talking such in public, but both administrations' budget manipulations seem to The Report to be centered on ways and means to avoid fire and safety force "strength of force" implications in 2011; especially because it is an election year.

If the SCPR's read on the reality behind the "smoke and mirrors" and "mockingbird" qualities of the budgetary discussions is correct, then it is only a matter of time that reality will set in and Healy and Cichinelli will have to face up to the consequences. 

The Report has never understood public officials who refuse to "man-up" to the realities of holding office.  Do they really think that they can avoid the consequences of having failed to keeping city finances sustainable? 

And what could be the consequences for Healy and Cichinelli?

How about ex-mayor status come January 1, 2012?

NEW OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES IN MASSILLON'S POLITICAL WAR?

Matthew Rink of The Massillon Independent wrote an interesting piece last night:  Massillon panel rejects renaming Shriver Park.  In the article he has a number of quotes that, when one knows the full history of the "open" aspect of an internal Democratic Party political fight that has been going on in Massillon for about a half of dozen years (not long after Johnnie A. Mailer, Jr. became Massillon's clerk of courts), indicate that the fight continues unabated while changing its manifestation from time-to-time.

The focus of the fight in the Rink presentation is from the Massillon Parks & Recreation Board which met recently and decided to recommend NO! to Councilman Tony Townsend's desire to rename Shriver Park in honor of Massillon's esteemed T. Roy Roberson who served as Ward 4 councilman (Townsend's ward) from 1982 through 1993.

The SCPR believes that nobody on the Cicchinelli side of the War of Massillon "really" opposes the renaming.  However, they are at loggerheads with the Maier-led "anybody but Cicchinelli" forces.  And, whomever gets caught in the crosshairs of the scope the rifle seeking opposition target in the political battles that erupt is likely to get hurt.  "No harm to third parties intended," but "war is war" and the innocent will get caught up in the fight; the thinking goes.

So The Report thinks Massillonians can take Mayor Cicchinelli at his word when he says he is not against the renaming.  On the other hand, if he can deliver a black eye to his political opponents through the work of others (i.e. the park board members who voted NO! on Townsend's idea), he will do so and then take the high ground claiming that his appointees voted their conscience and not at his directive.

The target is not the memory of T. Roy Roberson,  The target is multiple:  Maier, Elum, Catazaro-Perry, Townsend et al. The folks who have been going after Cichinelli for a number of years now.

It appears to the SCPR believed that the hallowed memory of Roberson was a mask behind which they could hide in effecting a political victory over Cicchinelli and his loyalists.  For public consumption, Townsend's move for Roberson was a magnanimous thing to do.  For inside Massillon politics, his move was a poke in the political eye and message to Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr that "We're coming after you Frank.  Se ya in May, 2011! And, by the way, winning this battle over the park renaming is an indicator of our political strength!"

As Townsend said in the Rink piece, the park board vote is one thing; however, the city council vote may well be another.  However, the vote turns out, no one will admit in public that fight is not about Roberson is worthy of being honored; it is, rather, about political gamesmanship and affording the "Cicchinellis" and the "Maiers" an opportunity to get at one another.

The main question presented by this blog, however, is will this political war in Massillon ever end?

Answer:  only when Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr is no longer mayor of Massillon, Ohio!!!

(VIDEO INCLUDED) MASSILLION MAYOR FRANCIS H. CICCHINELLI, JR IS ONE STEP AHEAD OF HIS POLITICAL OPPONENTS? HE KNOWS THAT IT IS NOT WISE TO TAKE ON HIGHLY MOTIVATED CITIZENS, EVEN ONES NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE IN HIS UPCOMING ELECTION.

It appears that Massillon City Councilwoman Kathy Catazaro-Perry was about to deliver a political blow to Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr.

But not on your "political life," if you are Cicchinelli.

A fixture in Massillon politics since the 1980s, the tigerland mayor has been in many political fights and novices like Catazaro-Perry are at a real disadvantage when it comes to political infighting with Mayor Cicchinelli.

Of course, she does have the politically sophisticated Johnnie A. Maier, Jr (Massillon clerk of courts and former chair of the Stark County Democratic Party) in her corner as well as Massillon Municipal Court Judge Eddie Elum and Stark County Democratic Party Political Director Shane Jackson (Maier's chief deputy).

In the judgment of the Stark County Political Report, none of the three are much of a political match for Cicchinelli.  Sources (including Mayor Cicchinelli himself) tell the SCPR that for years Catazaro-Perry (KCP-Forces), Maier, Elum and Jackson have been working to oust Cicchinelli from being THE political power in Massillon.

A crucial, and probably the last political battle for Cicchinelli, will be fought between the mayor and the KCP Forces next May in the Democratic Party primary.  Mayor Cicchinelli is running for re-election and political observers speculate the either Catazaro-Perry or Judge Elum will be his opponent.

One of the ways that Massillon has been surviving economically/financially in these times is through a Cicchinelli-led drive of aggressive annexation.

In announcing his bid for re-election back in June, Mayor Cicchinelli cited unfinished business in the realm of annexation as a prime motivator for his running again.

Recently, he has caused an outcry from nearby townships (Perry and Tusarawas) for his annexation of the R.G. Drage educational facility in Perry and the Poets Glen development in Tuscarawas Township.

Massillon Council supported the Drage and Poets Glen annexations, but all of a sudden things changed when it came to the current effort to annex Bit-o-Eden mobile home park and the adjoining Tuslaw schools.

It's not Bit-o-Eden that has many Tuscarawas Township residents in a rage.  It was the attempt to annex the schools.

The Cicchinelli annexation attack of their schools got activist township residents  in a "we are mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore" modality.

And have they gotten organized!

So much so that the SCPR believe that the KCP-Forces saw an opportunity to gain allies in their effort to remove Cicchinelli as mayor of Massillon next May.

Obviously, Tuscarawas Township residents do not vote in the Massillon mayor's race, but nothing keeps them from campaigning for Catazaro-Perry, Elum or any other person who should decide to challenge Cicchinelli in next year's Democratic primary.

This is where Frank Cicchinelli's political wisdom comes into play.

In backing down from his plan to annex the Tuslaw schools (see The Independent Matt Rink's terrific piece: Massillon mayor drops plan to annex Tuslaw property, September 24, 2010), Cicchinelli demonstrates once again that he is one step ahead of the KCP-Forces.

It is one thing to run against another political power machine much like his own, but to have to run against highly motivated citizens (even non-Massillonians) is quite another.  This has to be his thinking in this political day and age when motivated citizens are showing more and more that they can organize and be quite politically effective.

The SCPR believes that Thursday's move by Cicchinelli was a stroke of political genius by the mayor.

In dropping the Tuslaw annextion he took a lot of the wind out the KCP Forces effort.  However, he is still in for the fight of his political life next May.

But - Mayor Cicchinelli is a political survivor.

Here is a video of Mayor Cicchinelli that the SCPR took on September 7, 2010 (the Stark County Democratic Party selection of a candidate for county treasurer event) in which he talks about the Tuslaw annexation issue.

SHOWDOWN TIME: CATAZARO-PERRY VERSUS CICCHINELLI OVER TUSLAW SCHOOLS ANNEXATION?

There appear to be three votes (Catazaro-Perry, Peters and McCune) to stop Massillon Mayor Francis H. Ciccinelli, Jr. from making another raid on a Stark County school district for the income tax revenue the certified and uncertified staff would bring to the City of Massillon treasury.

But are there two more?

Perhaps.

Councilman-at-Large Larry Slagle appears to the SCPR to be poised to side with the trio listed above because he sees nothing positive of the Bit O' eden part of the process.

Even if he votes with Catazaro-Perry et al, a fourth is still needed.

Where in world will he find that person?

Likely from Townsend and/or Anderson.  Both are aligned with the Maier/Elum/Jackson wing of the Massillon Democratic Party and the SCPR who, of course, will be prime supporters of Catazaro-Perry when she takes on Cicchinelli in the May, 2011 Democratic primary.

"When she takes on?"

Yes, yes and yes.  She hasn't announced, but who doubts that she will run.

The Report had a conversation with a source who is relatively close to Elum and to the question of:  who is going to run against Cicchinelli: Catazaro-Perry or Elum?   The answer:  "Kathy Catazaro-Perry without a doubt."

While it may be pretty clear that Catazaro-Perry is going to take on Cicchinelli, the Tuslaw annexation issue may or may not be a pre-election skirmish.

Her words to Matt Rink of The Independent (Massillon mayor details plan to annex Tuslaw schools) on Monday indicate to the SCPR that she is moving very cautiously on the matter, to wit:

“It looks like a money grab to me,” said Councilwoman Kathy Catazaro-Perry, who asked the mayor to show council the cost of the annexation versus the revenue it would produce.

She knows that Massillon sorely needs new sources of revenue.  And if she is successful in defeating Cicchinelli next year, it will fall to her to have to balance the Massillon budget.  If the Tuslaw annexation fails because she leads the fight against it, will she live to regret the decision come budget balancing time in 2012?

So The Report believes that Catazaro-Perry, though anxious to take Cicchinelli on at every opportunity, may think about it several times before choosing the Tuslaw annexation as being in her interest to do so.

Should she decide to makeTuslaw a pitched political battle, she may well win it.  Councilpersons who are back and forth in the Catazaro-Perry/Cicchinelli sparring (the swing group) have reason (the "Bit O' eden factor) to opt to side with her.

These are the folks who will decide the question, if it materializes.

Which direction Catazaro-Perry goes on the Tuslaw annexation matter could say a lot about the tone and scope of what appears to be a an inevitable Catazaro-Perry/Cicchinelli match up.

VIDEO: "ANNEXATION" - BIG IN CICCHINELLI'S RE-ELECTION BID; BIG ISSUE IN THE 50TH OHIO HOUSE RACE, "THE PROXY EFFECT?" WILL CICCHINELLI "PRIVATELY" SUPPORT CREIGHTON OVER MEEKS?

One of, if not the prime reason, major reason that Francis H. Cicchinelli is running for re-election for a seventh term as mayor of Massillon is "unfinished business" in bringing Massillon back to full economic viability by the use of what he says is the economic tool of annexation.

Annexation Director Sam Sliman of Canton (the self-described "Darth Vatder to the Townships) has the same quest for Canton.

Though one is a Democrat (Cicchinelli) and the other is a Republican (Sliman) they couldn't agree more on the importance of annexation used to the hilt to help rehabilitate city economies.

On the other hand, there are township-oriented folks like Stark County Commissioner Todd Bosley and state Representative Todd Snitchler that see the matter as more a "preserving the townships" principle that they agree that the annexation law needs to be modified to enhance township preservation.

These annexation differences could factor into the political campaigns underway this year (Bosley v. Snitchler, 50th Ohio House District) and next year for Cicchinelli in his bid for a seventh straight term as mayor.  Also, it could factor into the Creighton (Republican) versus Meeks (Democrat) county commissioner race this year.

Readers will see on the accompanying video that Mayor Cicchinelli is very displeased that former Jackson Township trustee and now Commissioner Steven Meeks voted with Commissioner Todd Bosley to deny the Poets Glen annexation.

While he denies that he will support Creighton,  he qualifies the denial by saying: "in a public way."  Hmm.  Privately?

The Report does not view Meeks as a out and out supporter of the "township" view of annexation as Commissioner Bosley seems to be, even with his Poets Glen vote.  Remember, his close political ally Randy Gonzalez (Jackson Township fiscal officer among a number of other public roles) brokered the annexation agreement between Canton and Jackson Township.

So why did he vote to deny Poets Glen?  The SCPR believes he got caught up in the passion of the moment and got steamrollered by Bosley.

Back to the annexation issue in and of itself.

The SCPR's view?

Annexation is not an "enduring" economic tool.  It is quick fix at best.  And, it by its operation - within Stark County and Ohio - it is designed to take from one entity to add to another.

However, townships should not be content to be as townships have always been.  We are in the 21st century and townships need to be just as much economically engaged as are Ohio's villages and cities.

The Report gets the take that all too many township officials have a idyllic sense of the township form of existence and are not fully engaging nearby cities for the mutual benefits of both types of government.

There probably does not need to be any change in annexation law.

What is needed is township, village, and city officials working in a corroborative and sensitive fashion that is a win-win for both the townships and corporate entities.

The Report has taken videos in the SCPR library and edited into this single video a representation of the importance and significance that Cicchinelli, Sliman, Bosley and Snitchler attach to the annexation issue.

MASSILLON MAYOR FRANCIS H. CICHINELLI, JR., TO ANNOUCE 2011 MAYORALTY RACE PLANS ON FRIDAY.

Running the City of Massillon has gotten more and more difficult for Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr.  By the end of next year he will have been mayor of Massillon for 23 years.  And, he will have been in Massillon government for 37 years.

So the question is:  Does he have four more years in him?

We shall find out this coming Friday as he has scheduled a press conference to make his plans known.  It will be held at the mayor's office at 1:30 p.m.

Whatever decision Cicchinelli makes Friday, he must have been doing something right for the citizens of Massillon to keep returning him to office election after election.

Should he decide to run, the SCPR tags the race to be the toughest election of his political life.

Councilwoman Kathy Catazaro-Perry appears poised to make a run.  But it is interesting to note that a Massillon politically-connected person did suggest to The Report about a month ago that Judge Eddie Elum of the Massillon Municipal Court may be taking a look at running for mayor.  If the report is accurate, do not look for both Catazaro-Perry and Elum to be in the Democratic primary in May, 2011.

The SCPR believes Cicchinelli when he says that Catazaro-Perry is being backed by the likes of former Stark County Democratic Party Chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr (currently Massillon clerk of courts) and that will not deter him from running again.

If he decides not to run, The Report thinks that there will be someone from the Cicchinelli wing of the Massillon Democratic Party to meet a challenge from the Catazaro-Perry, Maier and Eddie Elum (Massillon Municipal Court judge) camp.

Any way one looks at the 2011 Massillon mayor's race, it is a fight as to which Massillon Democrats will control Massillon City Hall from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2015.

OHIOANS & STARK COUNTIANS HAVE AN AWFUL CHOICE TO MAKE THIS FALL. STRICKLAND OR KASICH? FOLKS, IT DOESN'T GET MUCH WORSE THAN THIS!

About the only folks who are "bananas" for Governor Ted Strickland these days are the likes of former Stark County Democratic chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.  And who on God's green acre in Ohio could be enthusiastic about his Republican challenger John Kasich?

This race is sort of like when Republican Bob Taft ran for re-election against Democrat Tim Hagan (how a Cuyahoga County commissioner).  The choice clearly is a Hobson's Choice (a free choice in which only one option is offered):  a twiddly dee,  twiddly dum (ho-hum) one, if ever there was one.  Maybe ever worse than "ho-hum."  Either could accentuate Ohio's downward spiral.  To the SCPR, "twiddly dee or dum" would be a better choice.  At least, they are not live human beings and therefore can "do no harm."

Strickland is trying to be folksy again.  Remember, last time out in 2006, he ran as "the man from Duck Run."

This time he wants to appear to be "the man who is in touch with Main Street, Ohio."  Another ruse in the making, no?

But it certainly does not appear that he is a "main-streeter."  Get this.

Man alive!   Strickland apparently was on his way to Main Street, Massillon, Ohio (Cicchinelli-de-ville) but ended up at 900 Path Ridge NE which is Catazaro-Perry-de-ville (home of Kathy Catazaro-Perry, a likely Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. foe in 2011 - if he decides to run)..

Downtown Massillon is a neat looking community.  Mayor Cicchinelli's administration has done a great job keeping Main Street, Massillon looking spiffy.

But it ain't no Mill Ridge Path!

It is interesting that Strickland could not find his way to Main Street.  To The Report, his misdirection is indicative of how much he has lost the affection of Main Street Ohioans and Stark Countians.

By his own definition, he is a failed governor.  He said that if he failed to fix public education funding problem, he would own up to being a failed governor.  Now, like most politicians, it is one excuse after another, after another, after another as to why he hasn't.

Strickland will likely win in November because the Republicans have made a major mistake in selecting Congressman John Kasich to run against him.

Kasich is spending a lot of time these days explaining how he came to be associated with the discredited Lehman investment banking house that went belly up during the recent banking aspect of the end of the Bush administration financial crisis.  Apparently, Kasich made big money with Lehman, while scores of investors (presumably including Ohioans and Stark Countians) lost their investment dollars.

One has to wonder whether Ohio has an chance at all to dig itself out of the economic/financial doldrums with the likes of Strickland and Kasich leading the way.

Doesn't look like it, either way.

Indeed, Ohioans and Stark Countians DO have an awful choice to make this fall.

And its probably one on which, in reality, there is only one choice.  Whether the choice is Strickland or Kasich,  the result is likely to be more heartache and failure that hits the folks on Main Street the hardest.

The folks on Mill Ridge Path, NE?  Oh, they will do just fine.  They always do!