As expected Congressman John Boccieri (Democrat - Alliance) is at mile 3 in cash-on-hand whereas his likely Republican opponent is former Wadsworth mayor Jim Renacci.
In this blog, the SCPR looks at the names of the "heavy hitter" individual contributors (Stark County only) to both candidates. These contributors are among the folks who will be the "more than equal" citizens who will have priority access to the winner.
For Boccieri:
For Renacci:
Matt Miller is not listed as the SCPR does not consider him a serious candidate as this time.
List put together from data provided by the Federal Elections Commission.
The implication of the email (see graphic above) from Director Jeanette Mullane of the Stark County Board of Elections (BOE) is that:
scanning in campaign finance reports as they are filed ( required by Ohio law this coming Thursday - 10/21) would necessitate purchasing expensive equipment, and
and the expending of intensive, voluminous labor by board employees
Nonsense!
Excellent scanning machines can be purchased for $500 or so. They can be loaded with 50/100 sheets at a time and left unattended while they do their work.
Most sophisticated commercial copy machines (something the BOE would be looking to purchase) have scanning ability included.
Mullane had told yours truly the BOE was looking at getting a new copier before the campaign fiance reports were due. Apparently, the board squelched that idea. No surprise here.
The current system is the ungodly expensive system which wastes the time of citizens wanting the records (to and from the BOE as well as gasoline/wear and tear on vehicles) and consumes enormous amounts of time of board employees making copies.
How much does the board charge citizens for the paper, the toner and the labor to produce copies of desired campaign finance reports? $0.10 per page.
Think the board covers its cost at $0.10 a page? But going electronic could help reduce costs and cope better with the reduced level of the BOE staff.
An assumption of Mullane's email is that the board employees would need to drop everything and go now and scan in all existing campaign finance reports - going back years.
Not at all.
Just start with Thursday's batch and go back during slow time and retrieve older reports.
The Stark BOE doesn't even need to re-invent the wheel. Rick Campbell has put all recorded documents in digitized form (having done so over time) while digitizing current documents as they are filed.
Campbell's office has been able to reduce his staff needs dramatically since he took over as recorder (saving the county and taxpayers oodles of money) and has created the most efficient and user friendly government office in all of Stark County.
The Stark BOE can and must to the same eventually.
Why the foot dragging on saving taxpayer money and having citizens feel some love with accommodating services to boot?
The Stark County commissioners should take note that government services (e.g. the Stark BOE's failure on the rather simply done and inexpensive Internet available campaign finance reports) that are anti-consumer/citizen friendly do not help their cause to retain the sales/use tax they imposed in December, 2008 come the election in two weeks.
With friends like the Stark BOE board members, the commissioners do not need any enemies a la the Stark Citizens for the Right to Vote.
Congratulations to Messers Duff, Resnick and Smith, candidates for the Canton City Schools (CCS) Board of Education.
Each managed to pretty much ignore the the question posed by the Neighborhood Associates Votes Empower (NAVE) moderator on the October 14th candidates night.
Readers can see what the SCPR means in viewing the videos of each included at the end of this blog.
One doesn't expect local school board candidates to do what veteran politicians do: i.e. either ignore an undesired question altogether and just talk banalities (family history, et cetera or make it into a predetermined question of their own making).
Each candidate did the latter on the 14th.
Such is problematical to consumers of Canton City schools education. Will the successful candidate listen to and answer "head-on," the questions of his constituents?
In the judgment of the SCPR, the field of Duff, Resnick and Smith is not a distinguished field of candidates. But Resnick and Duff show some promise. William Smith and his "fresh face" promotion is too much of a risk for Canton voters to take.
Resnick gets high marks for persisting in talking about whet most politicians do not like to talk about: raising taxes.
The SCPR believes that Resnick is correct and courageous in calling for Canton voters to be given the option to solve their $3.8 million deficit (by 2010) with a local levy increase.
One problem The Report has with Resnick being on the board is his having filed (2005) and completed (2008) a bankruptcy. (Canton Repository, October 10, 2009, Finances a concern in Canton Board of Education race, Denise Sautters)
People can have "unplanned" events (the 60% pay drop) happen to them, but the question the SCPR has is: why didn't Resnick have a sufficient "rainy day fund" to weather the financial foul weather?
Here you have Resnick calling for a increase in revenue for a school system that has not managed its finances well. Add to that a board member who has demonstrated a lack of personal foresight. Is this a good combination?
While Resnick appears to have a better grasp of key issues facing the Canton City Schools (hence the SCPR recommendation among a field of weak candidates), Duff may, end up in the mind of a majority of Canton voters as being the better choice, perhaps, because Resnick did not go far enough in his personal financial troubles explanation.
Why is the Resnick follow-on missing?
Likely because the lack of foresight was a failure in judgment by Resnick and there is no explanation.
If there were, Resnick certainly would have shared it. His bringing the Chapter 13 filing up on his own, shows a person of some political skill trying to get out in front of a problem and putting the best "spin" on a negative situation.
Will he have learned from his personal experience, if elected? He says yes.
That is one of the judgments Canton voters will have to make on Resnick.
The SCPR is impressed with the citizen activism as described by incumbent Ron Duff in his answer to The Rep's candidate questionnaire. His persistence with Ohio Schools Facility Commission to stop the closing of Souers is impressive.
Such is a "grassroots" demonstration of collecting citizens into an effective political action force. Tough times lie ahead for the Canton City Schools and having a Ron Duff on the board could be a terrific asset to the CCS in being able to connect with the day-in, day-out citizens of Canton.
Frequently, the SCPR is told: "Everyone in Stark County needs to come to the Stark County Political Report to find out what is really happening in the backrooms of Stark County government and politics."
Growth in the SCPR readership has grown dramatically since March, 2008 when the Stark County Political Report launched.
And steady, weekly growth continues.
The SCPR growth so far is totally the product of readers who encourage their Stark County friends and family to visit The Report. The SCPR does no advertising.
The Stark County Political Report is content for Stark County citizens to learn over time the value added of the SCPR's incisive political analysis to citizen knowledge of our local government and the officials who staff it.
Yours truly thanks SCPR readers for their work in bringing new readers.
In time, the SCPR will become "the source of choice" for anyone who wants an independent minded look at Stark County government and politics.
Pat DeLuca of DeLuca in the Morning (Q92/WDJQ-FM in Alliance) recently contacted me to inquire whether or not the SCPR was interested in going "live" on the radio.
Obviously, the answer was "yes" and so this Wednesday at 9:05 A.M. yours truly will make a debut on Q92.
The SCPR thanks Q92 for this opportunity to reach a wider audience.
On October 6, the SCPR went to county commissioners meeting.
At the meeting Chevron officials were there to present the outlines of a proposal to work a partnership with the Stark County commissioners to devise an energy recycling system to take "yard" waste and convert it into heat for the Stark County jail in the hope that such a system will save Stark Countians $500,000 on the county's energy bill.
Many questions need to be asked of Chevron and county officials about the details of this plan. This is where the SCPR comes in.
Yours truly has already begun asking questions of commissioners, solid waste district personnel and and Chevron officials.
At first blush the plan seems to be too simple, straightforward and productive of a "windfall" to Stark County, to be true.
But it may be.
As with all other matters, the SCPR will ask the hard questions of the participants in the formulation of this plan.
What follows is a video that provides an overview of the project.
The political battle lines are drawn in Canal Fulton.
It is the "establishment" versus "agents of change in the November 3rd elections for seats on Canal Fulton City Council.
On September 14th, the Canal Fulton Friends of the Library held a "get to know the candidates" night at The Chapel, a long term care facility located north and east of the canal boat city.
To fully understand the charges, the reactions and countercharges that are made by several of the candidates in the video which readers can see below, CLICK HERE to see the list of ten deficiencies in Canal Fulton government as generated by "the slate of four" who are running to effect change.
Although the SCPR believes that the "agents of change" are - separate and apart from their agenda - more talented in terms of the cognitive abilities than the incumbents running for re-election; if readers like how Canal Fulton has been governed, then the incumbents as a group are the candidates to vote for.
The only viable wild card in this race is Susan Mayberry. She worked in administration (non-elected) for a number of years and clearly knows the mechanics of governance. But she is a wild card.
How se?
At The Chapel, Mayberry talked and talked and talked about integrity. Integrity as a general quality that an officeholder should have and as a specific characteristic for those who sit on Canal Fulton City Council.
Who can argue with that? It would be like coming out against God, mother and country.
Mayberry might turn out to be a high quality legislator, but, then again, she may never get "enough facts" to be productive as a councilperson. Such was her excuse for have no specific agenda if she were to be elected.
Anyone voting for this woman would be taking a chance. She is vivacious and appears reasonably intelligent, but what is the "real" reason she has no thought-out legislative agenda?
Another candidate that makes the SCPR nervous is Ken Gabbard.
Gabbard is only one of two candidates (the other being Cihon) that got no film footage in the video that accompanies this blog.
The reason?
He had nothing at all to say about the substantive issues facing Canal Fulton. He told personal tales indicating that he is a "stable" person. Wow!
By his self-description, he made it clear that he doesn't have the capacity to say in 3 minutes what one can take 30 minutes to do. Obviously, a bright guy who has demonstrated in business that he is an accomplished person following the direction of others. He does not appear to have his own perspective.
In the judgment of the SCPR, on Council, he will likely follow the lead of either Bagocious, Buwala or Mouse. Gabbard is clearly the "weak link" on the "slate of four."
Like Ken Gabbard, Nellie Cihon got no video time.
Why?
Because all she wanted to talk about was a trip she had made with a group that included the moderator of the candidates night, her granddaughter winning her volleyball match the day of the candidates night and other similar material.
She did obliquely make it clear she was offended the list of 10 Canal Fulton deficiencies put together by Eric Buwala, but she didn't grab anyone item off the list and respond like City Councilwoman Linda Zahirsky did.
The SCPR will not ask readers to take their precious time to what film that is not responsive/relevant to the discussion being held.
The Stark County Political Report does believe that Canal Fulton needs to take a fresh look at local governance and therefore recommends the "slate of four" with the exception that voters might want to replace Gabbard with Mayberry.
She could serve as a "swing" vote, if she can ever get her facts together. The SCPR suspects she is "really" a better replacement for one of the incumbents because of her years connecting with them as a non-elected city administrator.
A concern that voters might have with the "slate of four" is whether or not they will fall into fighting among themselves.
Bagoucis, Buwala and Mouse are strong individual personalities. Can they really work together to bring well-thought out and positive change to Canal Fulton.
The SCPR thinks so, but recognizes that it if The Report is wrong; then turbulence will be the order of things in Canal Fulton.
Canal Fulton stands at the crossroads of its future. Citizens need to pay very close attention to these candidates and diligently attempt to "rightly divide" in coming to a conclusion as who to vote for.
Here is the SCPR edited video (the actual presentation of which went way too long to put the entire session on this blog) to help Canal Fulton voters make a wise choice.
B.A. - Political Science
J.D.
AN INDEPENDENT MINDED POLITICAL COMMENTATOR
Until 1976 I was a Republican. Since then I have considered myself a Democrat. So after long term stints of being a Republican, then a Democrat, I have come to the political position I feel most comfortable with - being an INDEPENDENT MINDED ANALYST who demands effectiveness of our politicians - Republican, Democrat or whatever.
I have changed my political affiliation to "non-partisan" by not voting in either political party primary election.
