DISCUSSION: UGLY IS, AS UGLY DOES?

There is a saying: "pretty is, as pretty does." Naturally, the flip-side of this truism is "ugly is, as ugly does."

John Hagan (Republican - Marlboro) is the personification of "ugly is, as ugly does."

Unless a person is a partisan supporter or someone he can latch onto for political benefit as a leech latches on to its host as a matter of life and death, John Hagan is unlikely to give you the time of day.

In the Ohio General Assembly, Hagan attached himself to Larry Householder and Jon Husted (a former and current Speaker of the Ohio House) in the most sychophantic way. Moreover, he has been in the hip-pocket of Ohio's big energy companies (as chair of Public Utilities) as the Legislature considered whether or not to proceed with the deregulation of electric utilities. Because of his campaign contribution relationship with the electricity producing behemoths, Stark Countians are going to be paying dramatically higher electric bills over the next three years.

Hagan as a matter of course blows off "everyday" citizens who ask for his assistance in his role of state representative. Again, to have much of a likelihood of getting attention from Hagan, you must be a partisan-Hagan/Republican) or sympathic, or a campaign contribution supporting person/entity.

A number of years ago, Stark Countians connected to the Ohio Education Association (OEA) went to Columbus to talk to legislators about fixing public education financing. One such person decided to visit Hagan. Short into the conversation, Hagan told the OEA person that he was not interested in hearing their case because they (the OEA) had endorsed his opponent (yours truly).

As readers of the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) know, The Report has been highly critical of Democrat Pete Ferguson (John Hagan's opponent in a race for a Stark County Board of County Commissioners seat) for his non-specificity on areas where the Stark County commissioners could make further spending cuts and changes he says need to made in county government.

John Hagan won't tell The Report what his issues are in his campaign against Ferguson (saying that he doesn't like The Report's take on his legislative work and his conduct as legislator). The Report suspects the truth of the matter is that he has no issues. He is merely looking for another political job since he is term-limited out of the Ohio House.

At least one can say that Ferguson is generally recognized as a friendly guy who will engage anyone that approaches him.

This race is one of the most unfortunate for Stark County voters. Both candidates are seriously lacking.

The Report did a piece posing the question as to who was the least lazy between Ferguson and Hagan (as candidates). The article drew a lot of chuckles, one was a knowing chuckle from a leading Stark County Republican.

Question: Are Stark Countians about to have to choose between nasty uncommunicative person and a nice guy "short on the specifics" for our next county commissioner?