DON'T YOU JUST LOVE IT WHEN PRIVATE ENTERPRISE ADVOCATES FOR THE RIGHT "NOT TO COMPETE?"

DISCLAIMER (something The Repository doesn't do). Yours truly's spouse is an elected member of the Stark County Educational Service Center (SCESC). The following story/opinion has, in part, to do with Larry Morgan who is the superintendent of the SCESC. The opinions expressed in this blog are the sole opinion of yours truly and the SCPR does not speak for nor reflect the views of the spouse. Readers who are interested in the wife's views, need to contact her.

The Blog:

Representative Todd Snitchler (Republican - Lake, the 50th Ohio House district) has nothing on yours truly in terms of free enterprise and the highly beneficial qualities of competition to Stark County, Ohio and America.

Why bring Snitchler up?

Because he is the quintessential local politician in terms of his devotion to area, state and national chambers of commerce, the Ohio (and National) Manufacturers Association, the Ohio Roundtable and the like. He truly believes that "privatizing" in and of itself is the panecea for all that ails the nation.

Where Snitchler and the SCPR part company is his "bromide effect" of private enterprise.

Let's take a look at the "private enterprise" flap that surfaced in The Repository today, Pharmacists say schools' mail-order policy will hurt business, as a case-in-point.

Here you have a bunch of "independent" businesses (pharmacies - one of the most remunerative businesses in all of America) in effect wanting a subsidy from the Stark County taxpaying public by requiring thousands of Stark County teachers to buy locally.

This is competition?

And who is the boogeyman in all this?

None other than SCESC superintendent Larry Morgan.

In the opinion of yours truly, Morgan is an imperial-style superintendent.

Morgan is a very bright and determined individual. He knows how to organize, negotiate and is probably the most efficient school administrator in Stark County and perhaps in all of Ohio.

If one comes unprepared in dealings with Morgan; he will have you for lunch.

Recently, yours truly and Morgan crossed paths on an education multi-institutional issue. The SCPR is convinced that Morgan engineered (which he denied in a person-to-person telephone conversation) a "behind the scenes" move with most if not all the superintendents of Stark County's school districts to dramatically change the structure and operations of the delivery of higher education-esque program originating, for the most part, in local school districtis.

The SCPR sketched out the foregoing just to give readers an idea (other examples exist) of why the SCPR ascribes Morgan as being a imperial-style superintendent.

The SCPR believes that Morgan hurts himself with his "take-it-or-leave-it" public persona and his propensity to work things out "behind closed doors," only then to spring it on unwitting subjects.

This is why you have an iconoclast like Ralph Jentes (VP of the Louisville Education Association) coming out of the woodwork to attack Morgan in The Rep's piece. Jentes, who lives in Lake, seemed to make former Lake superintendent Bill Stetler (now Northwest) a target by attending Lake board meetings to criticize Stetler and writing letters to the editor of the Hartville News as an additional tool to get at Stetler.

Isn't Jentes out-of-step with the OEA? Who is Jentes representing anyway? Local pharmacies?

Note the Ohio Educational Association's Diana Miller quote printed in The Rep's story:

“It seems disingenuous to me that someone is criticizing the schools for sending jobs out of the area and to attempt to bring political pressure on the schools to say we’re sending jobs elsewhere, Our response would be, what we have done saves jobs. We haven’t sent jobs outside Stark County. We’re saving teachers’ jobs. Their (the independent pharmacists’) bottom line is the bottom line.”

Generally, what Morgan does, will stand up "to the light of day." So why is he so secretive?

Beats yours truly.

Morgan needs to reconsider his administrative ways.

Having said the foregoing, it is the opinion of the SCPR that Morgan has done an excellent job with the Stark County Schools Council on Governments (SCSCOG) health care plan.

Morgan has saved Stark County taxpayers untold amounts of money and what we have here with "The Medicine Shoppe" types being non-competitive and in the style of the financial moguls on Wall Street demanding a public institution (Stark schools) "bailout."

Let's see Representative Snitchler and his chamber of commerce friends comment on this.

It wasn't long ago that the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce was combing through the records of the Stark County Educational Service Center's records looking for more ways for the Stark County education to be delivered more efficiently.


The question now for the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce is this. Will the likes of Saunier, Katz and Kaminski step forward and applaud Morgan's efficiency or will they be for the public subsidation of some of its members?

Most likely not.

For the chamber like many unfettered private enterprisers like Representative Snitchler do have hypocrisy in them.

It depends on whose ox is being gored, no?

Indeed the SCPR does stand for "nonselective" competition. Something we do not have, for the most part, in Stark County politics. And when we don't, every Stark County taxpaying citizen gets hurt!