DISCUSSION: HAGAN VOTES "NO" ON CURBING PAYDAY LENDERS. DOES THIS MAN HAVE A HEART?

DISCUSSION: SHOULD STARK COUNTY OFFICIALS SOLVE STARK COUNTY BUDGET PROBLEMS BY SUPPORTING CASINO GAMBLING IN OHIO?

A no nonsense campaign to bring gambling to Ohio is underway by an group known as MyOhio.com.

The group behind the effort is trying to get Stark County elected officials to support the campaign through endorsement and other campaign activities.

Stark County stands to gain $7 million plus if the constitutional amendment initiative succeeds. The county budget is about $50 million. An infusion of the money would represent a 14% increase in revenues.

This is one of the few ways county officials can grow revenues because it is like pulling teeth to get Stark Countians to support sales tax increases.

Would Stark Countian support their public official campaigning for this initiative?

DISCUSSION: GIAVASIS ANNOINTS REINBOLD "CLERK OF COURTS," IS THIS THE WAY STARK COUNTIANS WANT COUNTY OFFICES FILLED?

Was she born to be Stark County Clerk of Courts. If you ask former Stark County Clerk of Courts (now Canton Municipal Clerk of Courts) Phil Giavasis, she was.

Many Stark County Democrats were surprised when about a year ago Phil Giavasis announced that he was running for Canton Municipal Clerk of Courts (better pay; better retirement benefits) on the retirement of the sitting clerk Tom Harmon (now Stark County Commission - seems sorta like a retire/rehire type situation doesn't it?).

Oh well, getting on with the Giavasis/Reinbold saga, when Lawrence Township Trustee Michael Stevens heard of the apparent vacancy; he went and talked to Giavasis to express an interest in succeeding Phil.

As Stevens tells it, Giavasis became visibly annoyed and upset that Stevens would be interested. Apparently, Phil had let it be known through Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., that he already knew who his successor would be and that person would be Nancy Reinbold (wife of retiring Stark County Court of Common Pleas judge Richard Reinbold). Isn't this getting to be amazing. All these Stark County officials retiring?

So there you have it folks: Giavasis the self-appointed patron saint of Nancy Reinbold. After all, it's her birthright!

Question: Is this the way Stark Countians want their elective offices filled?

DISCUSSION: HAGAN BULLYING HIMSELF RIGHT OUT OF THE STARK COUNTY COMMISSIONER RACE

Yesterday Paul Koystu The Repository's Columbus Bureau Chief reported what yours truly (before the days of the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT) has been saying about John Hagan for years.

Hagan is the Republican candidate for the seat being vacated by Jane Vignos. His opponent is Democrat Peter Ferguson. The election is this November.

In my days of writing comments in the Comment section of The Rep, I repeatedly observed how this guy was not representing the interests of the 50th House District and Stark County, but was a consummate "suck up" to House Speaker Jon Husted.

In the work up to putting together an energy bill Husted and his accolyte Hagan were fronting for First Energy and other big business and in the process attempted to have you and I pay much higher small business and residential electricity bills. Governor Ted Strickland stepped in with the threat of a veto to prevent Husted and Hagan from pummeling the people.

Why, I ask, would a representative for a largely rural district be so hooked into the interests of big business?

DISCUSSION: STARK COUNTY "911" BATTLE - PROXY FIGHT; MASSILLON V. ALLIANCE?

Recently, Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos visited Alliance City Council and Massillon City Council to get a resolution of support for a county wide 911 dispatch center.

Massillon without much discussion endorsed the idea. Alliance, at the urging of former police chief Larry Dordea (who is running to be Stark County Sheriff) tabled the matter.

Not much happens on the football field between Massillon and Alliance these days but it used to be a major Stark County gridiron contest.

As the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT sees it, this difference between the western most Stark County city and the eastern most Stark County city is representative of the differences on this issue; hence, the Massillon/Alliance divide may well be the surface expression of deep divisions on this issue which exists in Stark.

Elsewhere on this blog, Dordea denies that he is against a county wide 911, but the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT believes he is the personification of the resistance to centralized 911 dispatch.

Last evening the Lake Township Trustees lined up behind Dordea and the Alliance City Council.

Stark Countians can expect more governmental posturing and positioning on this issue. The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT believes that EMS forces, local police chiefs and fire chiefs protecting their turf are behind this resistance.

Lake Township went through a similar episode with its EMS service a number of years ago. Lake formed a centralized organization (Lake EMS) to deal with emergency services for the township, however, local fire chiefs torpedoed the effort.

The bottom line. This is really a turf war. Agree or disagree?

AWARD: TO PARTY CHAIRS CURT BRADEN (FORMER) AND JOHNNIE A. MAIER, JR FOR FOSTERING POLITICAL COMPETITION IN STARK COUNTY

DISCUSSION: WILL STARK COUNTY VOTERS HAVE A PROBLEM WITH JUDGE HOFFMAN'S RETIRE/REHIRE PLAN?

Justice Scalia told 60 Minutes today (broadcast on April 27, 2008) that he thought he would retire at age 65 (he's now 72) because monetarily there would be no point in continuing. At age 65 U.S. Supreme Court Justices can retire at full salary.

Thus he is working for the love of his job! Unless, he wants to take a page out of the Hoffman play book and retire and then have the president reappoint him. Of course, that could be risky. Could Scalia get through a confirmation hearing with U.S. Senate Democrats being in charge?

Apparently, Stark County's Judge Hoffman is not working for the mere love of the job.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice, Thomas Moyer, while not naming Hoffman, says judges who get re-elected and retire prior to re-taking office are "working the system."

Retired Stark County Common Pleas Judge Harry Klide opposes the Hoffman plan for well articulated reasons in a Rep column he recent wrote.

It could be that the Ohio Legislature will intervene and upset the Hoffman plan. (Reference:"State legislators should change law on double dipping," Thursday, April 17, 2008, The Repository.)

For right now, the question is: Will Stark Countians and voters throughout the 5th District Court of Appeals give a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" come November?