CONTINUING SERIES (NOVEMBER, 2018): GETTING TO "ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE"

REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE & CURRENT ATTORNEY GENERAL

MIKE DEWINE

DENIED OHIOANS

THE RIGHT TO VOTE ON FAIR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS IN NOVEMBER, 2017

UPDATED:  10:26 AM

It appears that Attorney General Mike DeWine is not much of a small letter "d"emocrat.

The Stark County Political Report thinks he is into foot dragging on an initiative generated early this year allows to speak through the franchise on a fairer way for Ohioans to choose congresspersons after the 2020 U.S. census becomes official.

According to the graphed-above Columbus Dispatch article, on May 4th DeWine:

... rejected it because it didn’t say challenges under the proposed constitutional amendment would be heard directly by the Ohio Supreme Court and because the summary didn’t cite the part of the Ohio Constitution under which the Supreme Court would have that jurisdiction  

Executive Director Catherine Turcer of Common Cause—Ohio, the lead in the effort under a coalition effort known as Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio said that DeWine's objections "seem very minor."

Oh yes, Mike tell us.

Ohio voters are going feel that he in doing his job as attorney general didn't protect us in not holding out for the inclusion of the Ohio Supreme Court language.

Although nearly every Stark County Republican that I talk to (e.g. Commissioner Creighton [regional chair of DeWine for Governor], Treasurer Zumbar [the county chair] and North Canton mayor David Held say that DeWine in a high quality individual on a personal basis, my take on the guy is that he wears his Republicanism on his sleeves and he knows that right now gerrymandered congressional districts favoring Republican candidates is a huge advantage in giving "organized" Republicans a 12 to 4 advantage in the United States House of Representatives.

Ohio in pretty much a 50/50 state in many statewide elections going back quite a few years.

Here and there, one political party or the other will dominate. 

Now is the Republican time. 

Eventually, "the worm will turn" in Ohio and elected legislative Democrats will try to subvert the fairness of our election districts if the Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio does not get on the ballot and pass.

If anyone doubts that "organized" Democrats are just as capable of constructing "in effect" rigged elections take a look at this piece about 2011 Maryland elections in The Atlantic:

Getting back to DeWine, I think he abused his attorney general discretion in favor of a Republican Party interest in dealing in the picayune.

His nitpicking will not prevail.  

But a consequence of DeWine's hyper technical if not constitutionally illegal approach is to delay a statewide vote on the issue until November, 2018 rather than the originally sought November, 2017.

Hopefully, Republicans in the May 8, 2018 primary election will remember DeWine being a ninny on the issue as a factor in whether or not to vote for him.

In 2015, Ohioans/Stark Countians overwhelming passed a similar measure having to do with state legislative races.

The date for correcting ballot language to DeWine's satisfaction and circulated to sign up sufficient numbers of qualifying registered voters so that the initiative could appear on this year's general election ballot was this past Wednesday, July 5th.

More and more voters are eschewing the label Republican/Democrat and donning a "non-partisan" mantle.

Too many "organized" partisans beginning with Elbridge Gerry (July 17, 1812) as Massachusetts governor signed legislation into law a measure that violated the "one person, one vote" principle of the U.S. Constitution.

The contorted district is said to have looked like a salamander and hence the Gerry action came to be known as "gerrymandering."

On July 17th, 2017, the Fair Congressional District for Ohio folks are planning a party celebrating the group's work to undo in Ohio what Gerry and his fellow political partisans started in Massachusetts in 1812.

One of the reasons why Americans are increasingly distaining partisan political alignment is evidenced by what I think is a silly but nonetheless damaging partisanship on the part of the likes of DeWine in helping those who are intent on adulterating our congressional election district configurations into being "unfair" districts.

The Common Cause-led Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio is undeterred by the DeWine set back and in a telephone discussion with initiative supporters (including myself), Director Turcer discussed the details (LINK to a recording of the event) of the process in a session which lasted a little over one hour.

This is what Turcer had to say about the signature on petitions effort to date in an e-mail sent out on Wednesday:

We have been thrilled by the level of enthusiasm we’ve seen in volunteers picking up petitions. We have thousands of volunteers spread across the state, carrying tens of thousands of petitions. A big thank you to all of you who have helped us get this far.  For only being one month into the petition signature gathering, we are way ahead of schedule. That’s a real testament to all the hard work of you, our Fair Districts volunteers.

A consequence of DeWine's delaying tactic, the collection of signatures effort should be complete about September 1st.  It could slip further into the fall if additional signatures are needed once the validation of signatures process gets under way.

In Stark County, it appears that the "organized" Stark County Democratic Party volunteers are doing the heavy lifting in circulating petitions.

In yesterday's telephone conference, Turcer shared with conferees that the 2013 Republican dominated Ohio General Assembly legislatively via Senate Bill 47, (apparently in reaction to a "overwhelmingly successful" initiative petition repealing Senate Bill 5 anti-union law by referendum of 2011) burdened future initiative petition drives with an electronic filing requirement (shortening the time frame in which signatures could be collected) which, of course, makes the process more difficult and time consuming, to wit:  (from Ballotpedia website)

Note:  Stark County Republicans Scott Oelslager (Senate, District 29), Kirk Schuring (House, District 48), and Christina Hagan (District 50) voted for the restrictive on initiative petition Senate Bill 47.

Submitting signatures

When a petition is submitted, an electronic copy must also be filed and the petition must be broken into parts that are all numbered sequentially and labeled by the county in which it was circulated. The petition must also include a summary of the parts of the petition and the signatures on each ... 

An initiative or referendum committee cannot collect additional signatures for a petition after it has been submitted, except for in a ten-day window beginning after the secretary of state notifies the committee that petition, as submitted, was insufficient and provides the required official form for additional signature collection, which must be used when collecting supplemental signatures in the ten-day window allowed. ... 

A petition that has been rejected cannot be resubmitted.  ... 

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Ohio Constitution, Article II, Section 1g, Ohio Revised Code, Title XXXV, Chapter 3519.06 and Senate Bill 47 (2013) (emphasis added)

Another indication, in the estimate of the SCPR, that these folks are not small letter "d"emocrats.

In making the process more burdensome, Ohio legislators feed the growing disenchantment that many of us have with partisan political parties and their "card-carrying" members, especially the elected officials.

However, political party negativity is offset by civic groups like Common Cause and the coalition of civic partners helping with the redistricting petition initiative.

HE JUST BECAME "CLERK OF COURTS," NOW HE WANTS TO BE MAYOR OF CANTON?

AMENDMENT TO BLOG (4:00 PM)

GIAVASIS & FMR SHERIFF SWANSON RESPOND TO BLOG

First, Louis Giavasis, but with a comment on not receiving my e-mai:

I have several of what I think have been "ignored" requests for information/comments from Louis and his brother.  I do not buy Louis' protestation he had not received my e-mails.

Next, former Sheriff Tim Swanson:

Finally, Canton councilman and majority leader Frank Morris:

[F]rank morris <frank_morris20@yahoo.com>  Today at 6:18 PM

To:  Martin Olson

Hi Martin,

Usually I enjoy your blog however today, not so much. 

I will admit I am one of those people leaning on Louie Giavasis to run for mayor. 

I have never really pulled any punches with you, your readers or anyone involved with government. I'm sure you'll respect my bluntness now. 

I have yet to see anything new from this current administration nor have I heard of any plans for the future. 

All I have seen is an administration moving forward on project started by the previous administration.

I have worked on numerous projects with Lou and yes have battled with Lou. Lou has a vision and a working knowledge of government. 

He will run for mayor because he loves the city, unlike Bernabei who ran because he hated Healy.

I have nothing but respect for you and your opinion however your blog read like a Repository editorial. 

I really wish you the best and would strongly encourage you to find a few new inside sources for the real truth.

Respectfully,

Frank Morris
Majority Leader   
Canton City Council

ORIGINAL BLOG

The underlying graphic (i.e. that beneath the superimposed heart outline and accompanying "self-love' graphic) I am told was posted by Stark County clerk of courts Louis Giavasis on his Facebook (FB) page.  (I am told that the posting was subsequently taken down)

This posting came after Giavasis recently bought a home on 33rd Street NW, Canton, Ohio, to wit:

As if Canton doesn't have enough problems, no?

Louis P. Giavasis as mayor of Canton might even be worse than those eight years that Canton suffered under William J. Healy, II.

Implicit in this Giavasis self-promotion more than two years out from the next Canton mayoralty race is a likely FB follow on, to wit:  "I alone can fix Canton's problems."

Of course, we have heard that phrase before.

It could be that Giavasis is still smarting from being rejected in the early days of the Healy administration, (as I best recall Giavasis' account to me) as a candidate for service director.

That post went to current "independent" mayor Thomas Bernabei.

Hmm?

The only hope that the Healy administration had for turning Canton around from decades of decline was to embrace Bernabei's leadership and stand back in support.

Well, that was never going to happen.

Healy's ego being what it is, after being subjected to lecture after lecture after lecture by Bernabei on effective, efficient and enduring leadership techniques and strategies, could brook no more.

He fired Bernabei after his only being service director and chief of staff for a year.

With the Bernabei firing went any hope that the decades of Canton decline would be reversed under Healy.

Only with Bernabei departing the Stark County Democratic Party in May, 2015 (which gave Cantonians eight years of  Healy) and his becoming a political independent did Canton achieve a modality of a possible recovery on his being elected mayor in November, 2015.

Undoubtedly, Louis, along with brother and Dems' chair Phil, were arm-in-arm in shepherding Stark's "organized" Democratic Party's fight to deprive Bernabei the right to run for mayor and derivatively Cantonians need to have high quality executive leadership.

But make no mistake about it, even with the talented and driven Bernabei at the helm, it is likely that he at age 70, more or less, is unlikely to be able to have enough time to truly get Canton headed in the right direction.

Maybe Bernabei will be mayor one more term.  I think anything more than that is unlikely.

So it is imperative that Canton's leadership be thinking of capable replacement.

To The Stark County Political Report, in Ward 8 councilman Edmond Mack, is a capable person.

Mack on being made a partner in Lee Plakas' law firm initially decided to not seek re-election as councilman.

To their credit; Plakas, council president Allen Schulman and the mayor himself have assessed that it is critically necessary that a new generation of Canton leadership needs to be developed and that Mack, for one, fits the bill.

Note:  The SCPR asked Councilman Mack why he changed his mind about running for re-election. After he volunteered to provide a "thoughtful" and presumably more detailed explanation to The Report's inquiry, he failed to do so until after the publication of this blog (LINK).

Thankfully, Mack, being one of a few Canton city councilpersons with step-up leadership ability, tells me that he has acceded to the political/governance wisdom of Plakas, Schulman and Bernabei and has agreed to stay on council as a "de facto" (my assessment; not his) leader of council in a "check and balance" sort of way in the relationship between Canton council and the Bernabei administration.

At the same time, Mack will in functioning as a liaison sort of way will gain a perspective of the executive function of Canton city government that make him equipped to perhaps be a successor mayor to Thomas Bernabei.

For the sake of competition of ideas, administrative practices, programs and policies, hopefully, between now and the time that Bernabei is unable to continue as mayor; other persons with political/governance experience/maturity will surface.

But Louis P. Giavasis:  no-way!

While the SCPR has written that he was the lead in a pretty effective Plain Township governance model (as one of three trustees) for the period 1992 through 2015, I think I know Louis well enough in the sense of his total capabilities factoring in the highly partisan political profile which I think diminishes him and thereby prompting me to say that he would as a potential mayor be a step down and a return of the Healy days.

My view is that Giavasis became clerk of court through the political machinations of Louis, his brother Phil (chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party) and the party apparatus itself.

With Louis P. Giavasis as mayor, I think it would be "Katie, bar the door" in terms of political patronage returning in full bore at Canton city hall.

So who are these "dozens of people" who think Giavasis should run for mayor of Canton?

I posed that very question to Louis, to wit:

Martin Olson <tramols@att.net>  Jun 30 at 10:26 AM

To:   Lou Giavasis

Louis,

Please identify for the SCPR names of persons 
who you claim are urging you to run for mayor of Canton?

Thank you,

Martin Olson
SCPR
tramols@att.net
330 430 9378

And the answer?

No answer.

Who is surprised by the non-answer?

It is obvious to me that Louis P. Giavasis is a transparent government official if he perceives it to be in his personal political interest to be so.

The whole "dozens of people" self-love assertion by Giavasis is a ego run amok.

Perhaps even:  FAKE NEWS?

Why won't Giavasis supply the names of the "dozens of people" who he says he has asked him to run for mayor of Canton?

What does he have to hide?

Canton had enough of the egotism thing with William J. Healy, II.

The Hall of Fame city does not want to go down that road again with Louis P. Giavasis!

CELEBRATE/HONOR AMERICA'S 241st BIRTHDAY BY BECOMING & RUNNING FOR OFFICE AS A POLITICAL "INDEPENDENT!"

Updated:  July 4th at 06:30 a.m.

VIDEO

MAYOR THOMAS BERNABEI 

4th of July, 2017

Greeting

As we celebrate America's 241st birthday (counting the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 as the starting point), in reflecting on my own political history, the most fulfilling thing I have ever done was to become a political independent.

In 2008, beginning with this blog (March 12, 2008), I declared myself free of identifying with either the Democratic or Republican Political parties nor do any of the minor political parties have any appeal to me.

From 1960 through 1975, I was a registered Republican.

From 1976 through 2008, I was a registered Democrat.

So I can tell you from personal experience that both mainline political parties leave a lot to be desired.

However, even in my partisanship days, I had no hesitation whatsoever to call out "in-the-name-of-partisanship" performing elected officials of my party identity at the time, Republican or Democrat.

For example, I called out Democratic governor Ted Strickland on an issue in a letter-to-the-editor to The Repository about one year into his term.

Let me tell you, the-then Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. was none too happy about that.

And I can understand why.

Johnnie (the first county chairman to have a local party endorse Strickland in the-then competitive race for governor) appears to have been very successful in getting Strickland to appoint several of Maier's "close" political friends to various state positions.

Typically, county parties do not endorse in primary elections.

That may be changing.  Jon Husted claims that 36 Republican Party chairpersons endorse him in his run for governor in the 2018 Republican primary.  Stark County's Jeff Matthews with ties to candidate Jim Renacci reportedly has pledged to remain neutral through the primary.

There might be a distinction between a chairperson endorsement (as claimed by Husted) and a county party endorsement.  We shall see in due course.

The greatest compliment I have had in writing this blog over the nearly past 10 years came from former Local 94, Plumbers and Pipefitters official Dan Fonte (a stanch Democrat) who said of me that I am "an equal opportunity critic" when it comes to blog analysis political parties, elected officials and public figures.

That is not to say that neither the Democratic or Republican political parties do not, here and there, do some community enhancing things in the way of fortifying our democratic-republican system of government.

One example of a "democratic-republican system" enhancing thing is demonstrated in an current effort underway on the part of the Stark County "organized" Democrats to get an initiative on the November, 2018 ballot to get U.S. congressional elections nearer to a "in the spirit of" the U.S. Constitution:  one person, one vote standard.

Take a look at a recent blogs I wrote on the effort of Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio:

• June 25, 2017
• June 12, 2017

Local Democratic officials are doing the right thing for the general public even if their party and some of them individually have potential self-interest benefit to gain out of the party's official action during this 4th of July holiday period.

Here is part of a e-mail sent out by local Democratic Party organizer Connie Rubin:

Might I suggest that the best way to show your patriotism this 4th of July week is not to just display our flag and have a barbecue, but to instead be politically active?

Oppose partisan gerrymandering of Congressional districts by circulating Fair Districts petitions. 

This citizen initiative would allow the same bi-partisan committee of elected officials that will draw statehouse districts in 2022 to draw our Congressional districts. 

It assures that at least 2 members of the party out of power must approve the districts before they become law. Districts as currently drawn are 100% predictable. 

It doesn’t matter if you live in a Democratic or Republican Congressional District; we can predict with 100% accuracy which party will be victorious. 

NO OHIO CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT is currently competitive. The Fair Districts Initiative seeks to remedy that. Here are times we need volunteers to help:

• Tonight, July 3 in Canton at 7:30 p.m. at the McKinley Museum, working the crowd attending Canton’s fireworks display.
• Tonight, July 3 in Massillon at 7:15 p.m., during their Summer Concert at Lincolnway between 1st & 3rd streets
• July 4 at 7 a.m. at the North Canton YMCA before and after its 2-mile/5K running races (2000+ participants)
• July 4 at fireworks displays throughout Stark County in Jackson Twp, N Canton, Alliance, elsewhere. active?

Here is an interesting headline from a ProPublica piece today:

Everyday Democrat, Republican, independent, non-partisan, and minor party registered voters as a matter of basic democratic-republican system enhancement should sign one of the Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio initiative petitions.

Kudos to the Dems for seizing this initiative.

But my overall take on both mainline political parties is that each focuses primarily on the welfare of their political party structure (i.e. perpetuate the institution overarching the public interest) and the interests of those persons who wield power within the parties for their and their supporters' personal interests.

It is true political liberation to have both "organized" Republican and Democratic parties to be mostly upset with the blogs I write.

Nevertheless, I do not want them to cease to exist.

What I would like to see is for more "independent, non-partisan" citizens get politically active and, most importantly, successfully seek political office and thereby put themselves in a political brokering stance as a "political" check and balance on the operations of and the policy goals of the two dominant parties.

Across America, independents and non-partisans far outnumber registered Democrats and Republicans.

The problem?

They do not run for office in sufficient numbers.

Accordingly, the potential for registered independents/non-partisans to focus on electing unaffiliated officer seekers is not a real option.

In November, 2015, Stark County and Canton was politically blessed when long time Democrat Bernabei abandoned the Stark County Democratic Party for political "independent status" and rescued the city from four more years of William J. Healy, II as mayor of Canton.

Of course, it takes campaign financing to run for office.

And that is likely why more "independents/non-partisans" do not enter the political frays.

Bernabei has financial resources that many aspiring independent-minded politicians do not have.

Plus, he is highly respected in Stark County by an array of everyday Republicans and and Democrats as well as a smattering of elected Democrats and Republicans that he was able to raise from "caring about the public good over partisanship" citizens enough money to go head-to-head with Healy.

In order for America to mature as a democratic-republic, we, who can stand off from and challenge the Republican/Democratic stranglehold on our system, must push, push, push for the creation of a public system of campaign finance to empower those who care more about the welfare of our communities than parochial political interests.

CAN REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE & SECY OF STATE JON HUSTED BE TRUSTED TO KEEP OUR PRIVATE INFO—"PRIVATE!"

UPDATED AT 09:31 AM

It galls Donald J. Trump to no end that Hillary Clinton beat him by nearly three (3) million votes in the national popular vote total in last November's presidential election.

Trump generated a bit of FAKE NEWS (on Twitter, of course) in claiming that had there not been massive voter fraud to the tune of some three (3) to five (5) million voters.

Every secretary of state in the nation disputed Trump's "trumped up" claim for their respective states; all 50 of them!

But, of course, Donald is never wrong.

So, at taxpayer expense, by executive order on May 11, 2017, he created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (PACEI).

Most of us likely thought that PACEI was a typical Trump "big bravado" that would be quickly forgotten and sink into oblivion.

But no so quick!

On Wednesday this past week PACEI vice chairperson and Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach sent a letter to the 50 state secretaries of state asking for registered voter data including birth dates and the last four digits of each voter's social security number.

From a Politico article:

Technical experts say the voter data that the commission wants to assemble would quickly become a single treasure trove for cyber criminals and foreign intelligence services. Identity thieves could use information such as addresses, birth dates and the last four digits of Social Security numbers for digital impersonations, and foreign spies could use it to fill out dossiers on Americans they hope to blackmail.

For many of us who voted in the November, 2016 election (about 57% of registered voters), the choice between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton was "six of one; a half-a-dozen of the other."

Kind of like the Perez/Healy Canton mayoralty Democratic primary race in 2015, no?

"NONE OF THE ABOVE!"  was a ballot option that should have been available to Canton voters.

As it should have been for presidential election voters in November, 2016.

Thomas Bernabei saved the day for Canton in 2015 by abandoning his Democratic Party ties and going "independent."

It was the Healy/Perez WHBC sponsored debate shortly before the primary election that got Bernabei's goat big-time in that it showed him that neither was up to being mayor of Canton for the next four years.

But there was nobody to rescue the nation from the Trump/Clinton presidential sweepstakes fiasco.

That President Trump is behind an effort to put our highly sensitive private information (i.e. date of birth and last four numbers of our social security number) in one central database as the Politico article above warns is something that should prompt a unanimous (including "core" Trump supporters)"oh, no you don't" (now Mr. President you are getting in my backyard) and our answer is: NIMBY.

It is one thing for the president to mess with the national media, his political opponents and others who take exception to him.

It is quite another for him to support an effort to jeopardize our personal security.

The way for us to send that message individually to give him a 100% disapproval rating in polling on that issue!

Moreover, elected public officials from the national level of government through state governments and even local governments must make it clear to Donald J. Trump that he has gone too far.

He asks:  "What do they have to hide?"

Do we have something to hide and expect public officials to secure information that they have required of us?

You bet!

Our input of sensitive information starts for most of us with the Stark County Board of Elections headed by Stark County GOP chair Jeff Matthews who stood alongside Trump when he campaigned in Stark in September, 2016 as did then-Stark County commissioner candidate and Canton Township trustee Bill Smith, Stark County commissioner Richard Regula and Stark County treasurer Alex Zumbar..

Commissioner Janet Creighton would have been at the campaign event but for a conflict in scheduling.

And who can forget state Representative Christina Hagan showing up with her baby in a grandstanding sort of way who has said that she has "bonded" with Ivanka Trump.

Indeed we are and should be trying our best to hide vital information from the criminals out there that are on a non-stop-mission to phish, hack and otherwise to electronically steal pieces of our personal information to put together to steal from us and do other bad things to us, our personal, family and financial security.

To prevent this president from trampling on our privacy rights and possibly subjecting us all to dire personal consequences in order to satisfy his bruised ego at not having won the popular vote, it will take resolute secretaries of states across the 50 states of the United States of America to draw the line of our structure of federalism "check and balance" and refuse to comply with the PACEI request including Ohio's Jon Husted.

He and local officials who openly supported Trump's election should be publicly calling Trump out for his seeming desire to tamper with the integrity our election system in the sense of by centralizing making a central database an inviting target for hackers in next years congressional elections.

Ohioans should be just a little nervous with Secretary of State Jon Husted who is running for governor of Ohio and owns up to being a "deplorable" for supporting Trump which is an over-the-top name-calling of Trump supporters by Hillary Clinton during the campaign.

For her to engage in name-calling, pretty much puts her in the same boat of Donald J. Trump.

Maybe she doesn't, hasn't done it to the degree that "the Donald" has and continues to do, but she has shown she is quite capable of doing so.

So again, these two fit a billing of being "six of one, half-a-dozen of another" and thereby disgrace their running for the highest office in the land.

Hopefully, Secretary Husted hadn't thought through the implications of his identifying with "deplorable."

On his campaign website he says this through a spokesperson:

“These are the foremost campaign organizers from around the state who helped Donald Trump win Ohio by 8-points and become President, who are now all prepared to work hard to make sure Jon Husted is Ohio’s next Governor.”

He says along with some 19 other secretaries of state across America that he will not comply with the PACEI request.

However, some of his campaign statements are worrisome in terms of his wanting to tap into Trump support.

Republican voters should watch Husted's actions very carefully on his actions in response to PACI and if he does not protect us voters and our highly sensitive information, he should be made to pay the political price in May, 2018 in a resounding defeat.

STARK COUNTIANS ANDREANI, CREIGHTON, HELD & ZUMBAR "EARLY ADOPTERS" ON DeWINE FOR GOV. CAMPAIGN

UPDATED:  10:05 AM

It appears that Stark County is "well-wired" should Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine be elected governor of our Buckeye State come November, 2018.

DeWine is the second of a group of  four prominent Ohio Republicans to announce his candidacy which he did on June 25th at an annual DeWine family ice cream social.

Stark County-connected Jim Renacci (representing the 16th congressional district including north-northeast Stark County and a spur through the middle of the county down to the Timken Company complex into the heart of Canton) announced on March 20th.

Expected to join the race soon are Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor (who resides in the City of Green located in abutting Summit County) and former Ohio secretary of state Jon Husted.

In Renacci and DeWine you have (currently) the lowest polling candidate (Renacci) and the highest polling candidate (DeWine).

On Monday of this week (June 26th), DeWine was in Youngstown campaigning at GLI Pool Products.

And who from Stark County showed up in support of the DeWine candidacy but Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton (the regional chairperson of the campaign), Stark County treasurer Alex Zumbar (chairman of the Stark County branch of the Creighton "responsible for" region, North Canton mayor David Held and Alliance manor Alan Andreani.

The region includes: Columbiana, Carroll, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Mahoning, Stark, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties.  Each county has a county specific chairperson.

Also present in Youngstown on Monday was former North Canton mayor and state representative Dave Johnson who was telling Creighton, Zumbar, Held and Andreani that he is now 80 perhaps suggesting that his days as a firebrand Republican campaigner are over.

But his colleagues at the DeWine event were not buying that line.

Creighton says that her connection to DeWine goes back to 1990 Republican gubernatorial race between George Voinovich and his running mate as lieutenant governor Mike DeWine.

As Creighton tells it, Bob Taft was the darling of the Ohio Republican Party establishment in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Voinovich was clearly the underdog in that race.

Creighton, then as Stark County recorder, herself having to fight the local Republican Party establishment in her quest to get elected recorder, was asked by the Voinovich/DeWine team to join their uphill—turned successful—fight to defeat Taft and his party insider allies.

That campaign, Creighton says, cemented her relationship with DeWine which, of course, continues to this very day.  "Loyalty" is the key for Creighton for agreeing to be a key figure in the DeWine campaign.

Creighton, who I think is the most powerful vote-getting-Republican in all of Stark County, says, she has been coveted (my word, not hers) by the Renacci, Husted and Taylor campaigns.

Consequently,  The Stark County Political Report believes that Stark County could be a Republican Party civil/political war-esque battleground as the ensuing campaigns march toward the May 8, 2018 primary election.

However, it likely will be an "underground" war inasmuch as the primary players, for public consumption, say glowing things about each other.  In the background, a political sophisticate has to believe that if it looks like Renacci has emerged as the main competitor to DeWine by early January, February, 2018, then things will get dicey in a hurry.

But the players will try to play the "let's be nice to each other" in public.

Creighton told me yesterday that she has confidence that Stark GOP chairman Jeff Matthews and Ohio GOP Jane Timken will not use their powerful party positions to advantage Renacci, whom the duo have strong, strong, strong ties to.

The Report expects Renacci's campaign to pick up momentum and be positioned come early next year to be the major challenger to the current DeWine lead.

Why would I have that expectation?

Despite Creighton's (and Zumbar's, too) confidence that the state and local party apparatus/structure will not be tilted to Renacci's advantage, I do not agree.

Again, Matthews and Timken will play a rhetorical game of fairness and impartiality.

And I do think the support will be clandestine and responsive to pressure from "on high."

Renacci undoubtedly will be the favorite of Republican president Donald J. Trump given:

• that Renacci is positioning himself as Trump II,
• that Renacci was provided a spot in the Trump presidential box at the Cleveland sited National Republican Convention last July,

Consequently, "Donald being Donald" it would be naive to think he will not "pull out all the stops" in support of the Renacci candidacy including:

• bringing the resources of the National Republican Committee (NRC) and his own personal intervention to the aid of candidate Renacci,
•  including putting enormous pressure on Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken to tilt Renacci's way even if doing so would violate a pledge Creighton says she has made to remain neutral,
• Always remember this:  Jane Timken would not be the chairperson of the Ohio Republican party BUT FOR the intervention in the party election in January, 2016

Think the president would like to have an all out loyal to Trump governor sitting in Columbus in 2020?

Trump is already thinking about 2020?

It was unprecedented  being less than six months into his first term that, last night (press camera excluded at the last hour) he held a fundraiser specifically to raise funds for his 2020 run.

The Renacci "aces in the hole" is the financial support of the Timken family (and, presumably, Ohio Republican Party chairperson Jane Timken, formerly vice president of the Stark Co. GOP) and likely Stark County GOP chair Jeff Matthews (also director of the Stark County Board of Elections) whose wife Heidi has worked in the congressional office of Renacci for a number of years.

A basic principle of political analysis in terms of whom "really" supports whom for office is "Follow the Money."

Here are the Federal Election Commission (FEC) political contribution listings for:

• Jane Timken going back to 2009/2010 when Renacci first came on the scene as a congressional candidate to challenge incumbent Democrat John Boccieri, and
• for the Timken Company (2016 only)

Other FEC records show "in toto" that numerous immediate to Jane Timken family members have contributed:

• tens of thousands of dollars,  perhaps,
• totaling up to hundreds of thousands of dollars when coupled with Timken corporate contributions going back to 2009/2010, 

to Renacci's congressional campaigns.

Renacci and the Timkens have a very tight relationship, indeed!

Readers will recall how Renacci threw a snit with those Republicans in charge of redistricting based on the 2010 U.S. census to get the Timken Company complex in the heart of Canton included in the reconstituted 16th congressional district.

To say again, Jane Timken became chairperson of the Ohio GOP because of the intervention President-elect Donald J. Trump as Ohio Republican Party central committee members convened in early January to choose a chairperson going forward.

Readers will recall that current governor John Kasich was during the campaign and ever since has been one of the few Republicans of political/office holding stature not to fall in with Trump.

The breach between Kasich and Trump provided the opening to Jane Timken(a former vice president of the Stark County Republican Party) to challenge Kasich ally and incumbent Ohio GOP chairperson Matt Borges.

Though he is way behind right now, nobody should count Renacci out.

He is one of the richest members of Congress and undoubtedly will have the financial resources to match DeWine's campaign finance warchest said to be in vicinity of $2.5 million as he opens his campaign.

Insofar as I can determine, all the Stark County players in a likely Renacci/DeWine square off as the leaders going into the May, 2018 Republican primary are supporters of the president.

Given the rocky, rocky, rocky start that Trump has had not yet six months a president, some of the players might be distancing themselves from the president as the next ten months unfold.

While DeWine is likely to be supportive of Trump, if the president runs into deeper political trouble if his polling slips significantly (let's say to about 30% of likely voters), The Report can see DeWine as the better position to separate from Trump.

For Renacci, he better hope that Trump heads in a positive polling direction and gets up in the 50% or better range nationally; for if he does not, it is hard to see how a Trump connection helps him overtake Mike DeWine.  If Trump's number continue on a southward trek, the connection could doom Renacci's run for governor.

The SCPR does not see that over the long haul that Jon Husted and Mary Taylor will be viable candidates for the Republican nomination given that she seems to be preoccupied with pressing family problems, to wit:

Husted has taken on the Hillary Clinton designation of being a Trump deplorable.  But it hard to see how he can out-Trump Jim Renacci.

Even 10 months out from the nominating election, it is easy to see that there is likely to be a battle royale between the Stark County Republican Party officialdom supporters of Mike DeWine and Jim Renacci.

One of the things that DeWine supporters will have to be wary of is "complacency" in light of one year out polls which show DeWine with a big lead.

Stark County DeWine for Governor chair Alex Zumbar (also Stark County treasurer) said that North Canton mayor David Held and former North Canton mayor Dave Johnson will be important to bring Stark in on the DeWine column in May, 2018.  However, he would not "at this time" name other DeWine supporters who will be involved in the grassroots aspect of the campaign.

I did check DeWine's Ohio secretary of state 2016 campaign finance reports to get a sense of his Stark County level of support.

Results?

Not very impressive.

One contributor from Canal Fulton, two from North Canton and a half-a-dozen, more or less, from Canton.

Which means that Creighton, Zumbar, Held and Johnson really have their work cut out for them if DeWine is to win in Stark and Creighton's area of responsibility.

If the victor (assuming it will either be DeWine or Renacci) can go on to defeat the Democratic Party nominee, Stark County wins either way the Republican Primary election turns out.

Creighton says "win or lose" she will be supporting whomever the Republican nominee for governor is coming out of the May 8, 2018 Republican Party primary election.

"REPUBLICAN MAYOR DAVID HELD: "STATEHOUSE REPUBLICANS UP TO NO GOOD!"

UPDATED:  10:40 AM

STARK COUNTY'S MOST EXTENSIVE "VIDEO" COVERAGE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

VIDEOS

CITIZEN OSBORNE GETS EJECTED FROM COUNCIL MEETING

.....

"POLLYANA" COUNCILMAN FONTE ON:
 MAKING NORTH CANTON GREAT AGAIN

.....

NORTH CANTON GETS A NEW POLICE CHIEF
THE SWEARING-IN
also

Slide Show of Who Attended

.....

MAYOR HELD CHASTISES OHIO GENERAL ASSEMBLY

There were at last night's North Canton City Council meeting quite a number of items dealt with by council and the Mayor David Held administration.

There was North Canton civic activist Chuck Osborne getting kicked out of council meeting for exercising his First Amendment right of "free speech" in putting up a sign "Silence Law Director Tim Fox" towards the end of the meeting.

Here is a SCPR video of Osborne being "thrown out" via police escort of last night's meeting (1:07 in length).



Let me say this about Osborne.

At last night's meeting he shouted out from the audience several times in disruption of the meeting.

He had had his opportunity to address council and the administration during the "Recognition of Visitors" part of the meeting agenda.

That he chose to demonstrate a lack of self-control in the verbal outbursts is inexcusable.

He may or may not have a point on his First Amendment rights being trampled upon by the meeting's leadership.  I for one hope he does bring a court case on his being expelled from council for the sign he posted on his camera easel.

As much as Tim Fox seems to think he is "judge, jury and executioner" on North Canton questions of law, there are those of us who have not hesitation whatsoever to challenge his take.

On North Canton council appears to buy-in to the Fox perpetuated notion that he is "the Great Lawgiver!"

For me, I trust the courts of Ohio and this nation to get to constitutional determinations; not a law director no matter what the city but especially not North Canton law director Tim Fox.

Moving on.

There was the consideration by council to approve agreements with the North Canton City Schools and North Ridge Place, LLC in settlement of a dispute between the schools, North Ridge and the city on a "thought by some" to have been an illegal 100% abatement of real estate property taxes (70% of which goes to the schools) over 12 years BUT which could not be "once and for all passed" BECAUSE two members of council (Dan Peters, Ward 2, president of council) and Marcia Kiesling (at-large) were absent.  Absences on the part of North Canton council members seem to me to be excessive.

There was a Councilman Dominic Fonte over-the-top laudation of  how (impliedly) North Canton government is "making North Canton great again."

Let me say, that Dominic Fonte as a person seems to be an impeccable individual.

However, his "pollyannish" take on the "overall" working of North Canton government is very self-serving and took on a "Dear Leader" tone of a recent presidential cabinet meeting in which the president was fawned over by adult men and women except for Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Of course, North Canton stand-in president of council Doug Foltz and the rest of council soaked the self-love like they were sponges extraordinaire.

While the SCPR thinks that there are good things happening in North Canton at the city's governors, respect for its critiquing citizens is not one of them.  Note in the following video how Fonte sort of apologizes to his peers for agreeing with North Canton's civic activist in his previous three years as a councilman.  Originally, he was appointed by those he sits alongside of today.

And pick up on Fonte's use of the word "Hell."  Square that up with the Foltz/Fox failure to censure Fonte on the use of a swear word, with Fox's admonition of Citizen Osborne for use of the very same word several weeks ago during a council meeting.

Maybe just a little bit of a double standard?

It is well known that Fox and Osborne do not like one another.

This disparity in treatment, I think,  is one manifestation of quite a number over his nearly five years as law director that evidences what I think amounts to Fox singling Osborne out for "special" treatment.

For council and the mayor not to put an end of what I see as Fox hostility to any North Canton citizen is not an example of "good government" no matter what Dominic Fonte says.

The Fonte video (3:35)



There was council approval of changes in the North Canton charter which does not seem to be "citizen" friendly.

There was the passage of legislation to put a tax issue on a "special" August ballot at an estimated cost of $14,300.  (Source: Stark County's most knowledgeable official at the Stark County Board of Elections):

Travis E. Secrest <tesecrest@starkcountyohio.gov>  Today at 10:18 AM
To:  Martin Olson

The calculated estimate cost to run a Special Election in Stark County is $1,100 per precinct. The City of North Canton has 13 precincts which results in an estimate cost of $14,300. 

Again, this is an estimated cost. Since there is also an election taking place in the Louisville Public Library District some of the costs for administering the election will be split between the two districts resulting in the possibility of a lower total cost for both districts.

Travis

There was the swearing in of new North Canton Chief of Police Lt. John Minock before an overflow crowd of area police and fire officials.

First, a slideshow of who attended and candid shots of key persons:



Next, the video of the "actual" swearing in with comments by Mayor Held, former chiefs Grimes and Weldon and the current fire chief.



But that's not all of it.  (see "Back to meeting," below)

As an aside:

You talk about "fodder of media overload" at a single meeting of a Stark County local government, it was present "in Spades" at last night's meeting.  Unfortunately, much of it will not be printed by The Canton Repository, Stark's "only" countywide newspaper.

A publication people have to pay for.  If I were a subscriber, I'd likely think I was being short-changed.

Time and time again, I am told by Stark Countians that if were not for the SCPR much of the highly significant happenings of Stark County political subdivisions regarding the welfare of everyday Stark Countians would go unnoticed.

Back to the meeting.

Finally, there was the bombshell of a Mayor David Held report on pending action (any day now) of the Ohio General Assembly perhaps doing big harm to city government finances across Ohio.

As far as The Stark County Political Report is concerned, Held's presentation was a sound thrashing issued by Republican mayor David Held of the Ohio General Assembly including area representatives Scott Oelslager (the Senate, the 29th) and Kirk Schuring (the House, the 48th), both Republicans of the supermajority Republican General Assembly for the manner in which it is dealing with as aspect of House Bill 49 (the two year biennium budget bill affecting all of Ohio governance) which Held perceives to be wrought with danger for Ohio's cities.

It is curious that Held neglected to include 50th House District Republican Christina Hagan as a legislator to contact.  Hmmm?

Here is Held in his own words:



About three weeks ago (June 5th), I did a blog (LINK) on the oft-violated by Ohio legislators Ohio constitutional mandate that there be only one subject on any given piece of legislation.

Accordingly, the SCPR couldn't agree more with Held.

So there you have it folks, the most entertaining, inspiring and compelling local government meeting certainly in Stark County and likely all of Ohio if not the nation right here in the Hall of Fame county!

CONTINUING SERIES: REDISTRICTING, "GETTING TO 'ONE PERSON—ONE VOTE'"

UPDATED:  MONDAY, JUNE 26TH

LINK to First in Series of Blogs on Redistricting

June 12, 2017

During the days that I was a registered for voting purposes as a Democrat and highly active (2002 through early 2008) in the Stark County Democratic Party, I was astonished at the factionalism and infighting that I observed within the officialdom of the party.

There were the Maier/Jackson Democrats, the Perez Democrats, the Healy Democrats, the Ferrero Democrats, the union democrats, the Swanson Democrats and on and on the list of political personality centered Democrat went on—seemingly, unending.

Shifting factional alliances have been the order of the day among "organized" Democrats as a way to elect one of their own to public office countywide and in the political subdivisions in Stark County.

Nonetheless, for most of that span the Dems completely dominated non-judicial countywide office.

But it was a different picture at the state and federal level of elective office.

From 2000 on (earlier at the congressional level and Ralph Regula and Frank T. Bow before him), Stark and Ohio "organized" Democrats have fallen on hard times in terms of parity vis-a-vis Republicans in gaining elective office.

Only in 2006 and a nationwide Democratic year and evidenced in "the man from 'Duck Run'," namely; Ted Strickland did the Dems gain pretty much "across the board" statewide elective office.

Although Summit Countian Barbara Sykes eked out fellow Summit Countians Mary Taylor in Stark, Taylor won statewide.

However, despite the statewide Democratic candidate landslide success, Stark "organized" Democrats were unable to take advantage of the Democratic statewide blowout.  (Note:  Regula won district wide)

Although The Stark County Political Report is committed to getting Ohio's legislative districting schemes configured to competitive (meaning, by the district registered voters makeup,  either the GOP or Dems could win depending on the issues and qualities of the candidates), nobody should think that the lack of competition is necessarily only owing to Republican engineered gerrymandering to their advantage.

I think that lackluster party leadership, internal bickering and factionalism, pedestrian candidates and the like may well be determinative of the Dems poor performance in Stark-connected legislative races than perhaps districting gerrymandering favor the Republican candidate.

On  June 25th, the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland.com) which has been doing superlative coverage of a new redistricting effort aimed at Ohio's congressional districts assesses that even if  (according to an Associated Press analysis), an initiative by civic effort Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio, is approved by voters in November, 2018, Ohio will not over the long haul of implementing the legislation achieve parity, more or less,  between Republican/Democratic legislator representation in Washington and Columbus, to wit:

An interesting finding in light of an April 17th article which suggested that gerrymandering was the overarching reason that today Republicans control 12 of 16 congressional seats and a supermajority in the Ohio House and Senate.

The SCPR sees evidence supporting the notion that in Stark County it is not only gerrymandering being a factor in being causative for the competitive imbalance between Rs and Ds in D.C. and at the statehouse.

Additional reasons include the political ineptness of  (see the graphic above on how "to be non competitive" the Stark Dems have been in legislative races in recent years) and a self-serving nature of the leadership of the Stark County Democratic Party.

I think that one of the best opportunities that Stark Dems had a pretty decent chance of wrestling away of the Republican-held 50th Ohio House seat (since 2000) would have been had then Plain Township trustee since 1992 had Giavasis decided to take on political neophyte and Republican Christina Hagan running to be "retained" as state representative (originally appointed by the Republican House Caucus on March 2, 2011).

Parts of Plain Township in the wake of 2010 U.S. Census reapportionment were placed in the resulting new configuration of Ohio's 50th House District.

Plain is Stark County's largest township with a strong Democratic Party registration.

As pointed out above, Giavasis had been at that time trustee for many years.

Giavasis was not a wallflower trustee as so many of trustees are.

He over his years as trustee had engaged a number of high profile issues like:

• a 2008 fight over a projected AEP/Ohio Power rate increase,
• the Oakwood Square viability issue and the lease-going-forward-stranglehold that grocery chain Giant Eagle had on Oakwood in keeping a successor/competitive grocery story out of the Plain Township mall, and 
• being the lead public official not only in Stark County but all of Ohio in trying to affect the way fracking (also denying fracking on township property) in Plain Township.

Both issues brought him plenty of media ink including numerous blogs by the SCPR.

A truism in politics uttered by many of a politician is something along the lines:  "I don't care what you write (positive or negative), just spell my name right."

Although I had and continue to have a lot of reservations about Giavasis as a quality public official, in the interest of political balance in the Ohio Legislature, I encouraged him to take on incumbent Christina Hagan in the 2012 election.

"You know, I know, and everybody knows" that the first time out for elective office is the time to try to defeat an incumbent politician.

Apparently, Louis Giavasis didn't know.

Or, he knew:

• that ultimately, when Nancy Reinbold retired as Stark County clerk of courts (a position I think she "inherited for safekeeping" from Louis' brother Phil [now Stark County Democratic Party chairman]), he had a "sure fire" position awaiting him as a Reinbold successor clerk of courts because of his brother's influence as party chairman and so, 
• to borrow from two chairmen ago Stark Dems chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr (the real power in the party, to this day), "Why would I do that," that is say:  
• exchange a chancy thing (e.g. running for the Ohio House against an incumbent) 
• for a sure thing (being in line for appointment as clerk of courts)

Giavasis was also floated out as a potential candidate for Stark County commissioner in the 2010 elections on the heels of what Stark County civic activist Craig T. Conley has termed as being "Zeiglergate."

Perhaps both of the foregoing considerations amount to what a well known national politician would characterize as being "fake news" done to dissemble on Louis' real objective.

One could think on the basis of the AEP/Ohio Power, the Oakwood square activism and his "first out-the-box" elected public official to flirt with being anti-fracking that Louis might want be "the first" to go up against gerrymandering as a public service in the interest of giving some reality to the basic democratic-republican value of:  one person, one vote.

In hindsight, I think Louis Giavasis is just as self-serving political as brother Phil, Johnnie, Kim, Jamie (Healy),  John and Tim; notwithstanding his flirtations with being a civic minded politician as spelled heretofore in this blog.

Stark County does has its own "political" swamp in emulation of Washington, D.C., which, of course, hasn't change one iota with the election of a Republican president.

While this particular blog focuses on the Democrats, you can bet your bottom dollar that Stark's "organized" Republicans who hold elective office are equally adept at looking a political party interests and personal political interests above the public interest(s).

I think that Louis' flirtations were just that and not to be taken seriously.

Interestingly enough,  the "sure thing" turned out to be not so sure.

In November, 2015 Ohioans passed an amendment to the Ohio Constitution which sets up a new process by which Ohio's legislative districts  (i.e. the Ohio House/Senate) will be configured.

However, there will be no new districts at the very earliest until the 2022 election for the Ohio legislative.

The Democrats current romance with the Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio is grounded in hope against hope that they can use whatever reapportionment formula might come henceforth if Ohioans approve the Fair Congressional District for Ohio measure to recover majority political status across America.

Who thinks that "organized" Democrats down deep in their beings care one bit about being fair in politics?

"I know, you know, and everybody knows" that a sizable number of Americans apparently do not.

Slowly but surely more and more Americans are opting out of participating in our democratic-republican processes as evidenced by the fact that 45% of registered Americans did not vote in the 2016 presidential election.

If our democratic-republic eventually fails, it will be of  death by "a thousand (millions of?) cuts" a large part of which are administered by disingenuous local politicians.

It will not be the politicos who reverse the public skepticism and cynicism.

Reversal and recovery, if it comes, will be at the hand of groups like the Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio!

It appears that for the most party "organized" political parties and many of their candidates (elected and unsuccessful) do not have a "civic" bone in their structure/bodies.

The only "pathway to 'political' salvation" will be with those organizations and citizens who fight for the public interest over the parochial interests.