DISCUSSION: SECREST ISSUES PRESS RELEASE ON CAMPAIGN ECONOMIC PLAN - DOES IT SAY ANYTHING?

Today the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) received a "press release' from the Travis Secrest campaign for county commissioner.

Unlike other media outlets, The Report will publish press releases.

The catch is that The Report will be dissecting the releases and pointing out glaring weaknesses. And, The Report will give the candidate an opportunity to respond to The Report's critique.

So let us start out with the Secrest press release:

Travis Secrest Releases Economic Plan for Stark County

CANTON TOWNSHIP, OHIO– Earlier today, Stark County Republican Nominee for County Commissioner, Travis Secrest released the first point of his campaign platform to help revitalize Stark County entitled, “Stimulating Stark County’s Economy and Protecting our Jobs.”

After releasing the first point of his platform, Secrest said the following:

“Stark County has the potential to be an economic stronghold for the state of Ohio. However, jobs are bleeding. College graduates do not want to stay in the area due to a lack of opportunity. Many peope have been laid off and are struggling to find a good job. These are issues which are important to the county and ones which I will be focusing on during this campaign. Quite simply, we are tired of ‘business as usual’ in Stark County.

As County Commissioner, I will protect the jobs that we already have while attracting new businesses and taking into consideration the new and expanding demands for these businesses. I want to make it easy for a small business owner or a corporation to start their business here in Stark. We can do that by cutting senseless regulation, cutting taxes and by creating economic and cultural districts which will provide a firm foundation for our new economy.”

The Report has been very tough on Democrat Pete Ferguson who is also running for county commissioner for saying during the primary that the Stark County commissioners need to do more tax cutting. Of course, he could not be specific. But The Report will keep after Ferguson to either come up with the specifics or admit that there is no more cutting to be done. This is called "accountability."

No we have Republican Travis Secrest doing the easy political thing making reckless a reckless statement, at least on the tax cutting thing.

The Report has contacted Secrest and asked him to provide specifics.

Question: Is Secrest blowing smoke, or, is there room for tax cutting by the Stark County commissioners?

DISCUSSION: SCHURING "MIS-SPEAKS" FOR HIMSELF?

Candidates: Be careful what you say on the political stump. Those cameras will be rolling this political season including the camera of the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT.

DISCUSSION: WHAT DO OKEY OPPONENTS STAND FOR? REPUBLICAN SUSANY? INDEPENDENT RAY?

Apparently, 61st Ohio House District Mark D. Okey (Democrat) is going to waltz into a second term as state representative.

Okey, who succeeded John Boccieri (now running for Congress) in the 61st.

Most of this district encompasses Carroll County but has a small slice of Mahonning and the eastern most part of Stark County as well as a part of Tuscarawas County.

Okey is a lawyer who worked out of the family law firm located in Canton.

Okey has focused on economic development and fixing the funding of public education financing in Ohio.

He is opposed by Kirk Susany and independent candidate Paul Ray.

About all the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) has been able to learn about Susany is it appears he is a construction company owner Columbiana County and who hails from Canfield.

In the primary electon Okey garnered 16,995 votes and Susany 7,016.

As for independent candiate Paul Ray, The Report found this Google search engine result:

Paul Ray, 2832 Blenheim, Alliance- thanked Council for their hard work and dedication and for celebrating President’s Day. (February 24, 2004)

Question: Is there any reason to believe that Mark Okey will not be returning to Columbus as the 61st District representative?

DISCUSSION; DOES CANTON SCHOOL BOARD REEK OF POLITICS?

Republican and Jackson High School graduate Ron Duff was appointed to take Democrat John Rinaldi's place on the Canton City Schools Board of Education this week.

His chief sponsor was Democrat Jennifer Keaton.

To the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report), it doesn't seem to be a political party thing.

But a least one other application for the position claims "foul ball."

Long term Democratic political activist Eric Resnick in a comment to a Repository story on the appointment points out that sitting board member Jennifer Keaton calls Duff her friend. So much a friend that Duff used Keaton as a reference (information reported in The Rep's story) Resnick also rumors that Duff ran Keaton's campaign when she ran successfully for the board.

Board member Nadine McIlwain complained that the board missed a chance to appoint a male African-American who she believed to be well qualified for the position and she voted NO on the Duff appointment.

The Report is very familiar with school board politics. It is no surprise to see dissent arise on this selection.

As The Report sees it, personal friendship should not have been a factor at all in choosing Rinaldi's successor. Indeed, if Keaton has the close association as appears, then she should have abstained from the voting - at the very least. And, she should not have been part of the deliberations in which she apparently convinced other board members that her friend should get the job.

Perhaps McIlwain makes the most persuasive point that a predominantly African-American school district that a qualified African-Amercan male would be the logical choice. Even Keaton saw the wisdom of McIlwain position initially.

Only this week Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama chastised African-American fathers for being absent from the home and not affording their children that all important parental role model.

On the surface McIlwain's candidate seems to make more sense for Canton.

What changed Keaton's mind? Is there more to this story?

The Report thinks there is and is not at all convinced, despite Keaton's protestations to the contrary, that "friendship" was not the main criterion used to select Duff.

Was Ron Duff the best selection for the Canton City Schools Board of Education?

DISCUSSION: 52ND DISTRICT - DOES AGE MAKE A DIFFERENCE? EASTERDAY , AGE 69 VERSUS SLESNICK, AGE 30?

John M. Easterday (Republican - Canton) has been in business for 37 years.

Stephen D. Slesnick (Democrat - Canton and the sitting "appointed" successor to William Healy, II) is only 30 years old.

At age 69, Easterday makes the point that he is not likely to be a career politician. Slesnick was a surprise nominee coming out of Democratic primary because he did run against a number of career politicians. Does his youth and early political success suggest that Slesnick is on his way to becoming a career politician himself?

Easterday promotes, as an advantage to his candidacy, that he doesn't have to learn by his mistakes; that he as a business person for decades now, knows what works and what doesn't. In effect, Easterday is trying to use his age as a positive.

Slesnick is from a well-known Canton area scrap metal business who has been provided an avenue into business by his family. By virtue of his youth, it stands to reason that Slesnick has much to learn about the "lessons of life" that Easterday claims he has already mastered.

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) in reviewing the contestants answers to questionnaires constructed by and published by The Repository (link to Easterday and Slesnick), assesses that Slesnick has a better handle on Ohio issues that impact Stark County. In fact, Easterday failed to respond to the question: "What are the Stark County issues that need attention in Columbus?"

In a previous write-up on this race, The Report noted that Slesnick impresses as a sitting "appointed" representative by his virtue of his initiative in communication with constituents and the media on his early work in the Legislature.

Easterday has a huge uphill climb to best Slesnick in November - a task that The Report believes in not doable; provided, of course, that nothing lurks in Slesnick's past or in his conduct through November 4th that dramatically changes the complexion of the 52nd District contest.

The Report believea that this contest's outcome is a safe bet for Slesnick and he will be focusing on helping Celeste DeHoff in the 50th to take away a Republican seat.

It makes sense for Slesnick to do so. If the Democrats gain control of the Ohio House; control will empower Slesnick to make headway on his twin campaign goals of fixing public education financing and Ohio's economical development.

The difference between Slesnick and DeHoff is that The Report looks for Slesnick to be given a leadership role in the Ohio General Assembly whereas DeHoff will not, if she makes it at all.

The questions: Will the Slesnick/Easterday contest devolve into a age issue? Is this a race at all? Will Slesnick be energizing the DeHoff face off with Todd Snitchler?

In today's Repository, executive editor Jeff Gauger attempts to assume the role of gatekeeper in the Boccieri/Schuring race (16th Congressional District).

This is pretty arrogant stuff. And, suspect to boot.

About a year ago Schuring told the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) that he was confident (my words, not Schuring's) of Repository support. Perhaps Schuring knows that the Timken family will lean on Gauger et al or whomever residing in the ivory towers of The Rep, over some cocktail "elite" soiree, to sway Schuring's way.

Such was clearly the case before Gauger (from Rockford, Ill) took over. Maybe things have changed and The Rep Editorial Board will be more thorough and even-handed in vetting candidates in siding with one candidate or another in its endorsement process.

But The Report thinks that Gauger is exercising editorial sleight of hand (thereby tipping his hand that Rep editorial bias hasn't changed), which is designed to mask a pre-determined editorial endorsement in favor of Schuring, which Schuring desperately needs to have any chance at all in winning this election.

The Report's person-to-person impression of Gauger is that he is a cocky guy who does not have a full grip on political realities. Moreover, he lives in a fictional land where he thinks that The Repository is in control of political commentary in Stark County.

The Repository Editorial Board has developed a smug, "view-from-the-penthouse" approach to editorial journalism because of its being the "only newspaper in town" (Canton).

Heavy irony afflicts The Repository's positions on issues and candidates. On the one hand The Rep's movers and shakers proclaim themselves to be the beacons of openness, access and overall democratic processes. On the other, you get self-arrogated roles heralded by Gauger in today's "Editor's Notebook."

The mirage presented by Gauger is that The Rep will somehow keep partisans from using its pages to promote one candidate or the other. What a laugh! Just look how it has historically handled its online comments sections and its letters to the editor section. Moreover, the implication of Gauger's work is that it is open-minded on which candidate between Schuring and Boccieri The Rep's Editorial Board endorses. What Stark Countian of longevity believes that?

No doubt, The Rep gatekeepers will filter out certain letter writers and commenters. But the process will be highly arbitrary and therefore self-deceptive. But discerning readers will figure out the high-handed nature of The Rep's ways and the editorial moralizing will fall on deaf ears.

A final note: The Rep editors are trying to set the 16th District race as being "too close to call." The Report recalls how many including folks like Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., started out trying to make the Strickland/Blackwell out to be a real race.

It never was. The Report from the get-go said in would be a massive Strickland victory. Strickland ended up winning 60% to 40%.

The same goes for the Schuring/Boccieri race here in mid-June; four and one-half months until the election. It will be closer than Strickland/Blackwell. Anywhere from 52% to 48% (Boccieri over Schuring) to 55% to 45%.

This race is, indeed, Boccieri's to lose. Now we can sit back and see if John Boccieri will attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

It will be a Democratic year. Canton proper will go heavily Democratic. The Report does not deal in the fiction that The Rep does. And, The Report will not arrogate itself to the role of gatekeeper.

If Boccieri/Schuring supporters want to advocate for his/her/its candidate on the pages of The Report; please come and comment.

The Report believes that independent minded voters (Republican or Democrat or folks who never take a partisan ballot at a primary election) have the ability to filter through the "spin" and come to a decision of his/her own making.

DISCUSSION: SCHOOL FUNDING PROBLEMS? JACKSON RESIDENTS CAN'T BE HAPPY ABOUT OELSLAGER RUNNING UNOPPOSED

Jackson Township residents (who are paying up to $1,000 per household for their school-aged children to participate in extra-curricular activities) can't be very happy about the fact they cannot register a "no confidence" vote on 51st Ohio House District Representative Scott Oelslager.

Why can't they?

Because he's running unopposed!

Stark County Democratic Party Chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., has a lot of reason to be puffed up about the Democrats' success across Stark County. But he should be ashamed about how under his chairmanship, for many years now, Stark County Republicans have controlled the Ohio General Assembly (OGA) seats for the county.

Jacksonians have to be particularly perturbed because they have no way to impress upon the Republican dominated OGA - let's say by defeating an Oelslager - of the extreme importance that the Republican-led OGA deal with fixing public school education funding.

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) lays "the running unopposed" right at the feet of Democratic Party Chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. It is super-easy for The Report to come up with a Democrat name that would be a strong opponent to Oelslager - let's say a Randy Gonzalez: Jackson Township Fiscal Officer.

Not Randy's political neophyte son Kody (now working for Stark County Recorder Rick Campbell), who Maier put up as a "sacrificial lamb" candidate last time around.

The Report posits that in certain races, Stark Republican and Democrat chairman have "wink and nod" agreements that certain offices will be uncontested (mostly judgeships). These agreements serve the parties well but not the voters.

The question: Do you agree/disagree with The Report - Party chairmen Maier (Democrats) and Matthews (Republicans) have an special obligation of trust to the voting public to make each and every partisan political race in Stark County competitive.