DISCUSSION: CAN CITIZEN-ACTIVIST CHRIS BORELLO TRUST U.S. SENATOR SHERROD BROWN TO HELP HER CCLT ON THE UNIONTOWN DUMP?

The Repository Editorial Board (always a huge Ralph Regula supporter) went on a trip down "Nostalgia Lane" in recent days with the retirement of the congressman.

One Stark Countian who probably does not share The Rep's enthusiasm for Regula and probably their bemoaning his departure from the local political scene is former Uniontown (now Plain Township) resident Chris Borello the head of the Concerned Citizens for Lake Township (CCLT).

Regula pretty much blew her off on her quest to have the U.S. and Ohio EPAs clean up the Industrial Excess Landfill.

At one point in his career, Regula had the access to go to Bush #41 and tell him that cleaning up the Uniontown IEL was of the utmost importance to him.

Had he done so, the IEL cleanup would have made it the top of the EPA list and the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) would not be writing this piece.

So the "cocktail set" that man the editorial desks at The Rep may have enjoyed their cozy relationship with Regula. But there are a number of other Stark Countians (including Borello) who did not have the ear of Regula and most likely are glad he is no longer the 16th District's congressman.

The Report does not believe that Regula's replacement John Boccieri will be much help to Borello and her group. But perhaps U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown?

Why not Boccieri? Why Brown?

Boccieri, a reserve major in the United States Air Force, is a conservative Democrat (but not a blue-Dog Democrat - i.e. [from Wikipedia] "choked blue" by those "extreme" Democrats, from the left.) who is not likely to be a champion for the environment.

Boccieri will, (if told by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi), support the Democratic line should Borello and friends be able to get a "liberal" Democrat like Sherrod Brown to get the Democratic Party to take on the IEL cleanup as a priority.

And apparently there is hope that liberal Democrat Brown will get on board with Borello's quest.

Here is the text of an e-mail from Borello to a Brown staffer (sent 01/04/2009):

FYI - Hi Jonathan. [Brown staffer] I have been networking with ... [name of person edited out by The Report] (out in California on our Superfund Sites. I thought you might be interested in this article about his site, El Toro. Seems there are similarities in our cases, though we didn't get any kind of cleanup here at IEL. With the new administration coming in, we are of course hopeful that we finally can obtain some proactive help here at Uniontown. As you know, CCLT has waited several months for a response from your office regarding the letters sent back last July to Senator Brown via the Stark County Commissioners that sought Sherrod's help in vetting out the information possessed by several scientists and key investigators related to IEL. Hopefully things can now move forward toward that goal? Would greatly appreciate hearing back from you.

Regards, Chris Borello/CCLT/ IEL

Also included in the piece is a video The Report took when Brown was in Canal Fulton in October to support Celeste DeHoff in her race against Todd Snitchler.

The point of the video is that Brown is lambasting the Bush Administration for its reactionary policies. One thing the Bushies were not for that Obama and Brown might change is more of a concern about environmental matters.

Is there hope for Chris Borello and the CCLT?

Now the video.