DO SOME GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TAKE THEMSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY?

Last week a story broke about now resigned/retired Perry Township Police Chief Tim Escola being caught on camera kissing subordinate officer Janine England during a return trip from Cincinnati transporting a prisoner back to Perry Township.

Early on, The Canton Repository published a story suggesting that Escola/England may have been setup.

A highly reliable source of the SCPR contacted yours truly with information to the effect that the talk was rampant among local government/law enforcement types that if there was a set up, Perry trustee Anna Capaldi was believed to be somehow involved.

Another very good source contacted the SCPR and refined the information from that source's perspective that "yes, he believed based on information he was getting that Calpaldi was a factor in outing the video episode but not in a set up."

What was believed to have happened, according to this source, was that under a regular monthly review by Perry Township police officers (on June 20th) of cruiser videos, the "kissing scene" between Escola and England was discovered.

Moreover, the source continued, the discovering officer(s) believed that Capaldi had enough of a personal interest in the subjects/subject matter of the video to be counted on to bring the matter to an accounting.

When the SCPR first broke with this story on July 3, yours truly received a call from Trustee Capaldi.

One of the points made by Capaldi, which the SCPR now picks up on, is her protestation that she always tells the truth. The clear implication of her self-serving attestation was that all the SCPR needed to do was call her and she would have told all, but that in this case there was nothing to tell.

Yours truly has been doing this blog long enough to know that the implied Capaldi message is utter nonsense from her or any other public official/figure under scrutiny.

The SCPR has been working with one of the sources for this story since March, 2008 which was the beginning of the Stark County Political Report. To date, the source has not been wrong on the essence of the information passed on. Moreover, the second source has been essentially correct on inside information he has passed on.

The SCPR is not generally in the business of calling Capaldi or any other public official or public figure a liar. And yours truly is not about to start with Capaldi.

Amazingly, Trustee Capaldi put the matter of her own veracity in question as virtually the first thing out of her mouth on contacting the SCPR. Yours truly's life experience tells him that when anyone (not just Capaldi) initiates imperative, categorical statements (i.e. I do not lie), then one should think about doubling down and look for provable instances to debunk the self-serving absolutism.

Most human beings understand (regrettably) that all people lie here and there over the course of a life. The SCPR certainly understands this, but tries not to engage is a "gotcha-esque" blogging.

It is never a question of whether or not a person lies sometime in his/her life. The proper question is whether or not a person is generally credible.

What Ms. Capaldi needs to learn is that people do have different perspectives on the same conversations heard and conduct observed. Accordingly, one person's lie is another person's "it's not what you think it is."

As soon as Trustee Capaldi called, yours truly updated the original statement with the core of her response and, indeed, offered her access to the SCPR to make a response "in her own words." But no response.

Clearly, whether or not Trustee Capaldi had a role in the Escola/England episode is a matter of opinion.

In America, citizens are entitled to take information they have, to ruminate on it and form an opinion and to express that opinion.

Public officials/figures are not fond of the public's right, but the exercise of that right is a cornerstone of accountability in our democracy.

The general public, then, can decide whom to believe.

PERRY TRUSTEES HAVE MISHANDLED THE ESCOLA/ENGLAND MATTER. PERRY SHOULD BEGIN REPLACING THEM BEGINNING WITH THE ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 3, 2009.

Tim Escola gets to resign/retire and Janine England gets fired.

And this after the Perry trustees weren't going to do anything at all about England.

Hmmm!

Ever wonder why this "different" treatment?

Think maybe there might be a complication in relationship within the Perry Township government complex while Escola was chief?

As the father of three professional level daughters, yours truly never likes it when stories like these surface where men get treated different than women. As the SCPR has said repeatedly in previous blogs, there is more to this story.

The trustees are desperately wailing about trying to put "the genie back in the bottle."

Again, a SCPR source tells yours truly that Trustee Capaldi was the first to know (among the trustees) about the video that showed Escola and England romantically involved.

When the SCPR first broke the story of Capaldi's proximity to the chain of events, she telephone yours truly trying to play the role of the bully. Obviously, she didn't know who she was talking to. She may be successful and raging at others, but not with the SCPR.

All the Capaldi/SCPR telephone contact as well as source description of her style of management indicated to yours truly, is that she does not have the temperament nor the judgment to be trustee. Perry Township voters should refuse to re-elect her.

But not only Capaldi, Chessler too should go. And when Laubacher comes up in two years, Perry voters should have a long memory and decline to return him to office.

From everything the SCPR is being told by sources, the Perry trustees as a block should have seen all the red flags waiving in a stiff Perry Township wind compelling the conscious to take note that something was amiss in the Escola/England relationship.

Now we have three trustees scrambling to save their political hides. Because they chose to ignore the obvious and because they appear to be trying to "cover up" a bigger mess than we in the public already know about; they should not be re-elected.

Think about it. What is it about township trustees? Marlboro (Devies), Nimishillen (9-1-1) and Perry (Escola/England)?

Why is Stark County coming up with less than able trustees in too many townships in Stark County?

WHAT'S UP IN PERRY? IS THE CHIEF'S RESIGNATION LETTER TO BE TAKEN AT FACE VALUE?

It's hush, hush time in Perry. The SCPR believes that nobody is telling the "real" reason Chief of Police Tim Escola has resigned.

The SCPR hears (from different sources) that Escola resigned in hopes of avoiding an embarrassing public discussion and consideration of a personal relationship situation. It's hard believe he thinks this gambit will work in 2009. But you can't fault the guy for trying.

Perry Township authorities have (according to a Repository report yesterday) launched an investigation of Escola on a basis of an anonymous "tip" received by officials on Thursday.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that, if true, the anonymous allegation has explosive qualities with the potential to impact on the township governing authority. Accordingly, the trustees are right to be out front in responding with an immediate investigation.

Escola denies any wrongdoing. But what does he mean by wrongdoing? If he is denying any "criminal" misconduct, then - according to what the SCPR's sources are saying - he seems to be correct.

Outside the criminal realm, there are different classes of wrongdoing: moral, civil, ethical, sexual, financial, and on and on goes the list.

Whether or not Escola's denial of wrongdoing will hold up is dependent on the outcome of the Township's investigation and the success of consequential action (or there is a determination of no need for action) by Perry officials or, perhaps, by a stakeholder connected to the situation.

In the end, the SCPR doesn't buy Escola's given reason, to wit: (as set out in the referenced Repository piece)

Many goals have been accomplished, and through the efforts of many we had secured future financing through successful levies.

Good try, Chief!