COULD IT BE MAY, 1995 ALL OVER AGAIN (WELL, SORT OF) ON COUNTY SALES TAX?

As yours truly recalls, when Republican John P. Dougherty (a former state school board member) ran for and was elected county commissioner in 1994 he was telling voters do not elect me unless you pass the sales tax issue too.

Well, he won - ousting incumbent Democrat Mary Cirelli (now a Canton councilwoman-at-large).  On the day after the election Cirelli said she expected to lose as much as two months out from the election because it was a Republican year (1994:  remember Newt Gingrich and the Republican "Contract with America) and therefore did not put much money into the campaign.  Hmm?

 

But the levy lost.

Interestingly enough, current Commissioner Janet Creighton (a Republican) was on the ballot as an incumbent candidate for county auditor.

So like it or not, Dougherty and fellow commissioners Don Watkins (a Republican) and Gayle Jackson (a Democrat) had to go back to the drawing board for a new try for the May 2, 1995 primary election.

Watkins wanted to put on a full 1% for an indefinite period.  However, Dougherty and Jackson opted to push for a 1/2 cent tax increase for four years with one-half of the tax dedicated to criminal justice. Stark County had voted down 8 sales tax issues for the period 1985 through 1994.

The "deja vu, all over again" Yogi Berra "funnyism" comes into play because the SCPR has gotten indication (last Wednesday) from a Stark County commissioner that the commissioners have under active consideration the placing of a 1/2 cent sales tax issue that (here is the difference from 1995) that may be fully dedicated to Stark criminal justice system (in the main:  the sheriff and the courts).

County officials often repeat that the criminal justice expenses to the general revenue fund are about 70% of Expenditures.

 

All the commissioners will tell you that they want to get back to a fully funded criminal justice system (a la 2009 and 2010 which would bring 41 sheriff deputies back to work).  Seventy percent times $56 million (rounded off to simply this discussion) equals about $39 million needed for a fully funded criminal justice system.

A 1/2 cent sales/use tax raises about $22 million in Stark County.  If the tax were to pass, then the county would have to take about $17 million from the general revenue fund (funded by non-sales-tax revenues of about $34 million) allocated to  to the criminal justice line items leaving about $17 million for other general fund obligations.

At these numbers, the county gets back to some normalcy.

The advantage to the commissioners and other county office holders is that earmarked purposes for voted in taxes seem to work.  One of the reasons that the 2008 imposed tax by Commissioners Bosley, Harmon and Vignos got repealed by voters in November, 2009 was because the revenue was divided between fixing the 9-1-1 emergency system and the county general fund.  Of course, the primary reason was that the commissioners "imposed" the tax.

As the SCPR sees it, a "for the general fund" sales tax has no chance of winning in November.  But a dedicated tax might. 

A key on a criminal justice dedicated sales tax passing could be the term of the tax. The Report believes that five years is a likely term that the commissioners come up with whether or not the tax is dedicated to criminal justice.

The Stark commissioners are busy rebuilding trust at the county level of government.  But Bernabei and Creighton have only been on the job 6 months as of now and it will only be 11 months come November.  Not enough time to restore public confidence.

The Report favors the entire criminal justice system being funded by a sales tax (which would take the better part of a full percent).  However, a one percent sales tax is a non starter in 2011.  In five years?  Perhaps.  Maybe even the overall state and county economy may be significantly better.

WHO IS ON TOP? THE STARK DEMS "POLITICAL SPOILS" LIST

With the election of Republican John Kasich as governor of Ohio (as part of a nationwide Republican sweep) coupled with a local political tsunami fueled by the loss of $2.96 million from the Stark County treasury under the watch of former Stark County Treasurer Gary D. Zeigler (once a powerful "insider" Stark County Democrat), the Stark County Democratic Party is reeling this days.

While law enforcement officials cleared Zeigler of any criminal wrongdoing and laid the blame on former Chief Deputy Vince Frustaci, the SCPR believes that Stark County voters were out to remove any incumbent (elected or appointed) Democrats, whether or not it was fair to do so.  Hence Stark County Auditor Kim Perez (who had kept a number of Republicans on staff when he was first elected) got soundly beaten by neophyte Republican Alan Harold and, moreover, the character impeccable Ken Koher, running as a Democrat (not known to be a highly partisan Democrat) could not hold onto the treasury for Democrats.

Caught up in the Kasich aspect of the turnaround in political fortunes is former Stark County Commissioner Gayle Jackson.  She resigned her commissionership in 2007 to join the newly elected Democratic governor Ted Strickland and his "Turnaround Ohio" themed administration (which, of course, never happened) to become a sales manager with the Ohio Lottery Commission which is not a civil service protected job.

On Thursday she got fired from her "political spoils" job.

Jackson is the political darling of former Stark County Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.  The SCPR has heard Maier frequently opine that Jackson is, perhaps, the greatest Stark County commissioner ever at Stark Democratic Party events.

Jackson and two of her children (Shane is political director of the Stark County Democratic Party and the chief deputy for Maier at the clerk of courts in Massillon whereas Lisa is the top administrator at Plain Township Hall) have done well in securing positions in Stark County political subdivision government.

Now it appears that Jackson herself is in need to have a new political appointment.

And it seems that an opportunity has opened.  All she has to do is to get Stark's organized Democrats to appoint her.

What opportunity?

Coincidently, an announcement emanating from the Stark County Board of Elections (BOE) revealed that Maier has resigned as a board member, effective yesterday.


This BOE seat has caused a turmoil within the Stark County Democratic organization when Maier (in the opinion of the SCPR) forced long time organized labor stalwart Billy Sherer (ironworker) off the BOE at the end of his term.

Maier made it appear that Sherer was all for the change.  While, Sherer being the class guy he is, would not insist on selfishly holding the seat, he undoubtedly agreed with his fellow Stark unionists that because Stark County's unions have always work - pretty much exclusively - to elect Democrats in Stark County, that as a part of "political spoils" the Sherer seat was a union perk and Maier's interloping was not acceptable.

To this day, Stark's organized labor has not forgotten about nor forgiven Maier for ripping away their political perk.

While the board seat does not pay that much (a little under $17,000), it is something and therefore the SCPR believes that there will be some internal Stark County Democratic bickering (especially from the unions) as to whom fills the Maier-created vacancy.

If she wants it, The Report believes it is Jackson's for the asking.  Even though Maier is no longer chairman, he is virtually indistinguishable from current Chairman Randy Gonzales in terms of party leadership and certainly the Jackson fiscal officer would endorse Jackson for the post if asked to do so.

Even Republicans fight over BOE seats.  It was a matter of months ago that former Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos challenged Frank "Curt" Braden in his successful bid to retain his seat.

With long time Gonzalez friend and political confident Steve Meeks being out of a political job, look for him to surface somewhere in Stark County government.  The sames goes for defeated Auditor Kim Perez and one of his chief lieutenants Jimmy Babcock (who has taken out petitions to run for Canton Council - at large).