(VIDEO: STARK LIBERTARIAN FOUNDER ENGAGES "OCCUPY CANTON" GROUP) CAN A LIBERTARIAN WIN? AFFECT THE OUTCOME OF? 48TH OHIO HOUSE DISTRICT?

Recently, the SCPR did a blog on Democratic candidate Amanda Trump who is running against Republican Kirk Schuring in Ohio's (also Stark County) newly constituted 48th Ohio House District.

Formerly, the 51st Ohio House District (represented alternatively by Republicans Scott Oelslager and Kirk Schuring, the 48th going back to the 1980s), the 48th takes in Jackson Township, a good part of Perry, North Canton and a small part of Plain.

However, The Report did not include the candidate of Libertarian John Deagan in the blog.  Of course, the question becomes:  why not?

The answer to the "why didn't you include Libertarian John Deagan" in your primarily Trump blog is:  that yours truly does not think he will be much of, if any, factor in the outcome of the Trump (Democrat)/Schuring (Republican) match up.

The Report is open to being persuaded that the current analysis is off-the-mark and that Deagan by virtue of his actual campaign will show signs that he is a "real" factor in terms of winning the district or, at least, factoring in as a force in determining who will win between Trump and Schuring.

So far, Deagan is not off to a good start.

In his pre-primary campaign finance report he showed $0 dollars in fund raising during the period.  $0 in the balance forward line item.

Apparently, Candidate Deagan has not learned the first principle of effective campaigning:  "EMILY:  (e)arly (m)oney (i)s (l)ike (y)east."

Especially when one starts way behind.

Perhaps, he is busy reading a book by fellow Libertarian Robert D. Butler, to wit:

From the looks of 18 the steps listed, it seems to be chocked full of advice which could make Deagan a serious candidate if he can parlay implementing the steps into votes.

As the SCPR sees Libertarian candidates (yours truly has a Libertarian nephew), is that many people agree with them "in principle," but see them as "not being pragmatic, perhaps, even politically naive" and to vote for them is like throwing one's vote away.

From the Libertarian website:

The Libertarian way is a logically consistent approach to politics based on the moral principle of self-ownership. Each individual has the right to control his or her own body, action, speech, and property. Government's only role is to help individuals defend themselves from force and fraud.

Who would disagree with that?

But, rightly or wrongly, most voters seem to think that Libertarians are not conciliatory enough with those who disagree with them to be able to be effective in governance.

Stark County does have a recent election in which - in the opinion of the SCPR - an "independent" (did not list himself as a Libertarian) candidate did change the outcome of the election.

The Report believes that, in November 2010, Democrat Thomas Bernabei (former Canton law director, councilman and service director/chief of staff [Healy] defeated Republican James Walters [trustee, Jackson Township) because of the surprising vote that "independent" Stephen Todd garnered.

It appears to The Report that Todd was politically to the right of both Walters and Bernabei (a center, left of center Democrat) and therefore took enough votes from Walters to make Bernabei county commissioner.

Could John Deagan do the same in a Trump/Schuring/Deagan line up?

Perhaps, but not likely in the judgment of the SCPR.

He does have an impressive list of business/community involvements in Jackson:

• owns three successful businesses, 
• a past-President of the Jackson Township Rotary Club and a current member.  
• on the board of the football booster club.  
• a member of a "Citizens Advisory Committee" for Jackson Township.  
• a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and 
• served on the Ambassador Committee for several years.

His political associations are interesting:

• an active TEA-partier
• a member of the 912 Group [Glenn Beck associated]
• also participated in "Occupy Canton"

The SCPR is unsure of the clout that the Stark County Tea Party crowd has in Stark elections.  However, it appears to The Report that to be connected with Glenn Beck inspired group (Beck thought by many to be a right wing radical) will be a negative rather than a positive for Deagan.

"Occupy Canton?"  Hmm?

A way left-of-center group for a clearly right-of-center candidate?

Won't this be very confusing to Tea Partiers and others on the political right who might otherwise be interested in voting for someone on the political right as an alternative to Republican Schuring?

Here is a video of Deagan speaking to the "Occupy Canton" folks at a downtown rally they held in downtown Canton in October, 2011.



Deagan tells The Report that he knows (notwithstanding the $0 pre-primary campaign finance report) he can raise the needed money to fund a winning campaign (probably about $500,000, the SCPR thinks) and attract "an army of volunteers" to his campaign.

He then says something that completely undermines having said what he said about his ability to raise money and attract volunteers, to wit:

"I am admittedly not fully committed, as I do have businesses to run and a family to enjoy my time with."

One does have to make choices in life and running for political office (honest candidates will tell you) does cut into the time one can devote to his employment and, most unfortunately, to one's family.

In saying "I am admittedly not fully committed" in and of itself says to The Report that John Deagan will certainly not be the first state representative elected to the new 48th House District brought into being by the constitutionally required decentennial redistricting.

Moreover, it is unlikely that he can pull a Stephen Todd and be a political spoiler in putting Democrat Amanda Trump in the Statehouse over Republican Kirk Schuring.

Nonetheless, The Report will keep the ear to the ground and if Deagan shows he is being effective in getting would-be Schuring voters going his way, readers can expect future blogs to include Deagan as a material factor in the outcome of the race.

ONCE AGAIN, LOCAL & STATE GOP LINE UP AGAINST AVERAGE GUY? THIS TIME CONSUMER PROTECTION. WILL THE VOTE HELP DEMOCRATIC OPPONENTS IN THE FALL?

The Republican Party is commonly known as the party of the business class whereas the Democratic Party is generally perceived as the political party of "the little guy."

Of course, some say that such stereotyping is just that and that political reality is more of a mix than simply business versus the common man.

That may be, but in the view of the SCPR the Republican caucuses of the Ohio House and Senate in passing House Bill 275 on Tuesday did not help themselves in disabusing stereotypical thinking.

HB 275 is legislation, on its way to Republican Governor John Kasich for his signature, which dramatically tamps down on consumers rights.

On top of Senate Bill 5 (the anti-collective bargaining bill), the passage of HB 275 appears to be more of the same.

The bill according the Legislative Service Commission of the Ohio General Assembly:

• Permits a supplier to offer a consumer a "cure offer" if the consumer files an action against the supplier for an alleged violation of the Consumer Sales Practices Act. 
• Requires a cure offer to contain a supplier's remedy consisting solely of monetary compensation to resolve the alleged violation of the Consumer Sales Practices Act, the amount of attorney's fees to be paid, not to exceed $2,500, court costs, 
• Prohibits a consumer from being awarded treble damages, and court costs and attorney's fees after the cure offer is received, if the consumer does not accept a cure offer and a court or arbitrator awards the consumer actual economic damages that are not greater than the value of the remedy included in the cure offer. 

It is hard to see anything in this legislation which benefits aggrieved consumers.

It will benefit Ohio's court system in likely cutting down on the number of trials.

But it appears to The Report that the bill's structure is primarily designed to save businesses that actually get sued for consumer rights violations the possibility of treble (triple) damages being assessed against them on a liability finding by a court of law.  Moveover, in capping attorney fees at $2,500, it makes consumer cases much less attractive for lawyers to take on.  In this way, it is likely that there will be less suits for violating businesses to cope with.

While local Republican Scott Oelslager (Ohio Senate - 29th) distinguished himself from from the pack in opposing SB 5 (which was soundly rejected [State Issue #2] by Ohio's voters in November, 2011), his SB 5 departure appears to have been an anomaly in the light of his vote for HB 275.

It was no surprise that Stark Republicans Christina Hagan (Marlboro - the 50th) and Kirk Schuring (Jackson - now representing the 51st and running in newly redistricted 48th) followed the party line in joining in on the passage of the bill.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the Democratic opponents to Hagan (Sue Ryan of Alliance) and Schuring (Amanda Trump) in the upcoming fall campaign are able to couple their SB 5 votes with the HB 275 votes and other anti-common-man votes that their opposition research is able to uncover to make Hagan and Schuring wear the stereotypical thinking.

IN TIME, THE NORTH CANTON BOARD OF EDUCATION TO BE THE BEST IN STARK COUNTY?

One of the most helpful things to happen for North Canton Board of Education (BOE) credibility was the defeat of Jordan Greenwald as an incumbent board member last November.

As a BOE member, Mister Greenwald was, in the view of the SCPR, way over the top in his "UNinquiring mind" demeanor vis-a-vis the Mike Gallina administration of the North Canton City Schools (NCCS).
 
Before Jennifer Creighton Kling's election in November, only Chris Thomas of the North Canton BOE appeared to function as a board member (of any school system) ought to be functioning in the public venue:  aware of  and sensitive to the vital concerns of the system's parents, informed about the system's programs, polices and practices and willing to ask probative questions of the administration and thereby prod the administration to strike a proper balance between educational "best practices" and desires of parents and students.

Board member Chris Goldthorpe is certainly capable of and shows some signs of adopting the Thomas/Kling model, but he does not appear to the SCPR to be there yet.

North Canton historically has one of the very best local school systems in all of Stark County.

Parental interest and involvement is intense.  Every board meeting that the SCPR has attended has been well attended by North Cantonians.

Nonetheless, in recent times, by the tone/attitude/distancing of its board of education members, the school system has seemed to be losing the confidence of a number of its parent constituents that the board/administration hears them.

The North Canton BOE now has an opportunity with the stepping up of one more board member to a higher level of community sensitivity to redeem itself and thereby enable the NCCS to become a truly first-rate system "in a to z" fashion.

The Report first became aware of the growing disaffection between the BOE and certain elements of the parent community about a year ago.  (CLICK HERE to see blog of April 24, 2011).

About one year and one-half year ago or so, the North Canton administration began to put together a plan called the Elementary Service Plan (ESP).

Some parents felt that the plan was being purposely developed largely out of the sight of the public and was top heavy with administrators beholden to the preconceived notions of top tier administrators within the Superintendent Mike Gallina administration.

The administration forged through to get the ESP approved by what was perceived by critics as being an overly compliant BOE that did not seem very interested in public input.

Recently the SCPR was contacted by the parent community to follow up on The Report's blog work of last year on the dissatisfaction with the North Canton BOE.

The complaints this time around seem focused on a continuing lack of communication to those parents who for a variety of reasons are unable to attend BOE meetings, meeting-in and meeting-out.

Specifically, these parents are interested in the website (as a communication) of the North Canton City Schools to be ratcheted up to match "state-of-the-art" systems.  Proponents of an improved website component point to the Green City Schools (nearby but over the county line in Summit County) as a model for North Canton to follow.

Moreover, the same folks are interested in North Canton televising (at least on a tape-delay basis) BOE meetings.

Rightly or wrongly, advocates perceive that a combination of administration and a majority of BOE members do not want that kind of scrutiny and are resisting the televise request.

Up until last Wednesday's meeting, the SCPR understands, the administration and BOE have pointed out the expense of televising the meetings as a reason why televising might night not viable.

North Canton (as one of it many first-rate educational offerings) has a terrific TV production program (TV11) run by its student body and guided by able staff person Tom Wilson.  Parents who cannot, for one reason or another, attend a regular board meeting, cannot understand why the TV11 program could not be used to tape and make available on a ramped up website board proceedings for later viewing.

The SCPR was asked to be at last Wednesday's meeting to record the BOE's discussion of televising board meetings aspect of improved board/parent communications as it was on the agenda for the meeting.

Board member Kling did not disappoint.  For a relatively new board member attending only her third meeting on being elected last November, she thoroughly impresses The Report of her grasp of important constituent issues and her willingness in a respectful way to force a discussion of ways to meet community needs. 

The discussion was following a track of paying some $2,400 a year to have a third party contractor come into videotape the meetings for rebroadcast on the district's website.

Rookie member Kling is the member who turned the discussion in the direction of having North Canton High School students do the taping and thereby save the money for other high need "for the students" educational purposes.

In doing so, she appears to have the administration thinking in a new direction.

Here is a video of that discussion.



Off camera, The Report discussed with Superintendent Gallina both the website recommendation (i.e. look at the Green schools site as a possible model for a North Canton upgrade) and the use of students out of the TV11 program to tape board meetings to be accessed by the public on the website.

He said the concern in not considering TV11 from the get-go was Leader Wilson's concern that the students would not do produce "professional" work.

Moreover, Gallina told yours truly that he would indeed look at the Green Schools website and that (as he stated in the board meeting itself) look into having the TV11 students take on the task of videotaping North Canton BOE meetings.

The SCPR does see signs that the North Canton BOE has improved in its connection with its constituents since last year mostly on account of the Kling's election which adds another voice to that of Chris Thomas.  But clearly, more work needs to be done.

Indeed, Thomas and Kling demonstrate that they "get it."

A question remains as to whether or not BOE members Goldthorpe, Marion and Fulton are "getting it" in terms of being able to respectfully but firmly ask hard questions that might prove to be embarrassing to the administration.

Would any of the three want to be thought of as being an impediment to the North Canton City Schools becoming "the best of the best" in terms of the public feeling confident that the BOE is vetting every aspect of the operations of the Dogwood City's school system?

(VIDEO) CAN "AMANDA" TRUMP "KIRK" SCHURING AS DARKHORSE CANDIDATE IN OHIO'S 48TH HOUSE DISTRICT?

The districts may have changed somewhat with the constitutionally required decentennial redistricting of the Ohio General Assembly, however, on old familiar face remains:  the now 51st (seeking election to pretty much the same district, but now redesignated the 48th) Ohio District state Rep. J. Kirk Schuring.

A former insurance agent who was originally appointed to the 51st by the Stark County Republican Party Central Committee in 1993 to replace fellow Republican David Johnson, Schuring ever since has played a game of "musical chairs" with now state Sen. Scott Oelslager ("musical chairs with a twist" - each player gets a seat; just a different seat) between the 51st and the 29th Ohio Senate District.

Because of term limits (which both voted for as a Republican plan to wrest control of the Ohio General Assembly from the control of Democratic strong arm politician Vern Riffe), Schuring and Oelslager are now required to play "musical chairs with a twist" in order to stay in office.

So they stay within the letter of the law, while violating the spirit of it.

It would be one thing if they were highly productive for Stark County.  But they are not.  Oelslager (e.g. "open records law and votes against the Republican Party position [e.g. SB 5] has been better than Schuring who has produced precious little as a legislator and is much more prone to vote the party line including Senate Bill 5.

Enter Amanda Trump.  Though a lifelong Stark Countian (a graduate of Perry High School, as is Schuring; Trump also is a graduate of The Ohio State University), she is only now beginning to make her mark as a Stark County politician.

As the SCPR sees it, Trump's main hope in unseating Schuring would be to hammer away has his support of Senate Bill 5 (hated by public employees like teachers, policemen and firemen) and that he is an excessively loyal Republican.

Other key issues will be the defunding of local government by the Kasich administration aided and abetted by the likes of Schuring in the General Assembly as indicated by his votes for the Ohio budget which contains severe cuts in the state Local Government Fund (some 50% with projections that it will go even higher with tweaks to the budget), the elimination of the Ohio Estate Tax, the elimination of the tangible property tax without a fully compensating offset as originally promised and cuts in K-12 education funding.

At a gathering of the Stark County Democratic Party's Jefferson - Jackson Club last Thursday Amanda said that by her count the 48th District is 50/50 Republican/Democrat.  Moreover, she did touch on the key issues as set forth above.  However, she did not tie Schuring in specifically to those issues.

Hmm?

By inference he apparently thinks that her count is enough to put her in a "deadheat" political race horse with Schuring.

She ought to try that one on Stark County Democratic Party political director Shane Jackson.  The Report thinks he would be just a tad skeptical of that premise.

The SCPR thinks it will take more than just a partisan divide to unseat Schuring.

Money is said to be the "mother's milk of politics."

It is interesting to look at the relative fundraising efforts of Trump and Schuring, to wit:

While they have raised through the pre-primary campaign finance report nearly identical monies, Schuring has a little better than a two to one lead in "balance on hand."

It seems as if Trump does not have far to go in terms of absolute dollars to catch Schuring, but such is a mirage as Schuring, having some 19 years of shoulder rubbing with the fat cat lobbyists who course through the Ohio General Assembly, has yet to put on his Secretariat-esque funding raising gallop.

And she does appear to have some fundraising expertise of her own.  Otherwise, why would Canton Mayor William J. Healy, II allow her to organize fundraising events for him?

Nevertheless, readers of the SCPR can be sure that if it looks like Trump is a legitimate threat to unseat Schuring, the coffers of the Ohio GOP and Republican favoring lobbyists will be raining money millions of pennies from heaven.

If Trump has a "dark horse" chance of defeating Schuring, it will have to be the vigor of her youth (Schuring turns 60 this year) and issues such as Senate Bill 5 that will be key to her.

Here is a video of Trump speaking to the Jefferson-Jackson Demcrats last Thursday's and The Report's brief post-meeting interview.

LOUIS GIAVASIS: A STARK COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS IN WAITING? HE STEPPED ASIDE IN QUEST FOR FERGUSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER SEAT (NOT SEEKING REELECTION) IN FAVOR OF FELLOW DEMOCRAT BILL SMUCKLER.

UPDATE:  03/23/2012 AT 12:37 PM

Martin,

I read your blog this morning and had to chuckle at your assessment of what you feel is as back room politics.

I appreciate by your your political prognostication and assessment of the outcome of the commissioners race if I had stayed in but, I do not want to be a commissioner.

Bill Smuckler does and he will make a very good one.

If you want to call Bill Smuckler and I meeting on our own and discussing the commissioners race prior to my withdrawl, and the fact it was me on my own volition that called him on the the Monday morning when I did in fact with drawl to tell him I was fully supporting him as our next Commissioner back room politics, I guess it is maybe?

There was absolutely no party political involvement.  This was my decision, nobody was involved in my decision outside of my family.

I know in your line of work where you want to report your supposed dark side of local government you believe exists where you truly believe in all hallways there is always some political conspiracy at works but, when you called me last week and asked me why I had withdrawn from the County Commissioner's race I felt I gave you an honest answer.

You can believe what you wish but if you were going to report what you did  anyway why did you ask me.

I am very happy being a Plain Township Trustee and I could have run for the many various positions over the years even you yourself predicted and reported I would or should.

I am doing what I enjoy, that is representing and working for the community in which I live and, have served now going on 20 years. I have never ran for any other position nor do I  envision running for anything else.

In fact I am going to run again for Plain Township Trustee again next year for a 6th term.

As we ended our conversation last week, if I have any intent or prior knowledge of running for any other position in the near future I would not seek re-election to an office I have held at that point for 20 consecutive years. 

Louis Giavasis

Sent from my iPhone

On March 23, 2012 at 8:59 AM 

ORIGINAL BLOG

Not long ago, the SCPR had a conversation with a Stark County Democratic politico who had his own theory on why Plain Township Trustee Louis P. Giavasis withdrew as a candidate for Stark County commissioner for a post being vacated by Democrat Pete Ferguson.

Commissioner Ferguson announced right before the filing deadline for the recently concluded March 6th primary that he would not seek reelection to a second term.

Earlier this week Cleveland CBS TV outlet WOIO (Channel 19) did an expose type investigative piece revealing that Ferguson has been fined $600 because two unlicensed "to do X-rays" employees were seen doing x-rays by inspectors from the Ohio Chiropractic Board which Ferguson has formerly headed.

It does not appear to the SCPR that this situation had anything to do with Ferguson's decision not to seek reelection.  As indicated above, he decided months ago to step down, as of December 31, 2012, as county commissioner.

"Rumor is," the source suggested "that Nancy Reinbold will retire sometime after being re-elected as Stark County clerk of courts (she stands for reelection in November) and that Louis Giavasis is first in line to succeed her."

Hmm?  Sounds like "backroom politics" in full swing, no?

The Report immediately contacted Giavasis who essentially denied that there was any such plan in mind as a reason he opted out of the commissioner race, but he did say that if the conjecture (which he is highly skeptical of) by The Report's source materializes, he definitely is interested in becoming the top official in the clerk's office.

Interesting enough, Giavasis tells The Report he could have had the clerk of courts post had he wanted it when brother Phil moved on.

As matters stand now, he is Reinbold's right-hand-man and can write his own ticket into the clerkship should the scuttlebutt about Reinbold be true.

While he is somewhat of a maverick on a few issues (e.g. his fight with Giant Eagle on the vacancy at the Plain Township Oakwood Square shopping complex and his alignment with anti-frackers in the on going fight between Chris Borello of the Concerned Citizens of Stark County and the oil and gas industry), the Plain trustee manages to pull off being in good stead with what remains of the Stark County Democratic Party "good ole boy" network.

The Report believes that he is in a strong position to gain a Stark County Democratic Party appointment to the clerk post should it come up for consideration.

Giavasis gives various reasons why he filed and then withdrew as a commissioner candidate.

The preeminent reason seems to be (if one believes him) that after thinking it over and having conversations with his father, wife and others; he concluded that his heart would not be in a race for commissioner.  Ancillary as a reason as given by Giavasis is that he kept coming back to the fact that he is mid-term as Plain trustee and that his constituents in Plain are entitled to have him serve out his full term.

But he says he was never, ever going to run in a primary against former Canton Councilman Bill Smuckler.

Giavasis says (and Smuckler confirms to the SCPR) that the two had agreed after each had filed to run that one would withdraw prior to the final withdrawal date.

Hmm?  Another example of "backroom politics?"

By The Report's assessment, it is highly questionable whether or not (from the interests of the Stark County Democratic Party perspective) the right candidate withdrew?

While highly successful over many years as oft elected official within the political boundaries of Canton, Bill Smuckler has no political base in the rest of Stark County and will have to build countywide support from scratch.

With Smuckler being the Democratic candidate, The Report's analysis is that former Stark County Commissioner and Republican Richard Regula (notwithstanding his own weaknesses as a campaigner) is in a very good position to win and thereby give control of the commissioners' office once again to the Republicans.

Regula's strength is outside of Canton and Massillon, the two Democratic bulwarks in Stark County.

Giavasis, on the other hand, is a Democrat who would have done well in Canton and Massillon and even Alliance in a match up with Regula.  Moreover, Giavasis (a five term trustee in Plain) does have as much of a base out in Stark's townships as any Stark Democrat.

Stark Countians are very familiar with the Giavasis name in that Louis' brother Phil was Stark County clerk of courts for a number of years prior to "willing" the post to Reinbold and moving onto the Canton Municipal Court clerk's office which is more remunerative and a better financial base to build up his retirement account upon.

In the judgment of the SCPR, Giavasis would have been pretty much of a shoe-in to win had he chosen to stay in the race.

So Stark County Dems Chairman Randy Gonzalez (who works for Phil Giavasis in Canton and doubles/triples down as a Jackson Township fiscal officer) appears to be in line to take another political hit in terms of the numbers of Democrats who hold countywide office.

Under former Chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., the Dems had a near stranglehold on countywide offices.

But that all changed on April 1, 2009 when it was revealed that the then Stark County Treasurer Gary Zeigler (a Democrat) had fired his chief deputy Vince Frustaci.  Subsequently, an information was filed by federal prosecutors in U.S. District Court (Northern Ohio) for having stolen several million in Stark County taxpayer monies over an extended period of time.

Though Zeigler was not implicated in the theft, there was a seeming immediate loss of public confidence in the likes of Zeigler who many thought was a quintessential party insider who gained the office back in 1999 as the appointee of the Stark County Democratic Central Committee (SCDCC).

Republican Alex Zumbar, after some twists and turns (in office, out of office, back in again), is now firmly ensconced in the treasurer's office and certainly will be elected, having been placed, ironically, in office via political party appointment by a Gonzalez-led SCDCC on October 31, 2011.

The Report projects that he will win in a landslide come this November.

Another casualty of the Frustaci matter appears to have been Kim Perez, a one-time political pal of Zeigler.  He lost his county auditor post to Republican political neophyte Alan Harold in November, 2010 by a substantial margin.

So if the Dems lose the commissioners' office because their strongest candidate withdrew and if they lose the Stark County sheriff's office (which certainly is doable at the hand of Republican Larry Dordea), Chairman Gonzalez will be sent reeling at the reversal of fortunes since he has taken over the reins of the party.

And that may not be all.

While the SCPR expects Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero to survive in office on the challenge of political newcomer Republican Michael Grady; Ferrero could be vulnerable if Grady is able to cobble together an effective campaign.

As a former Stark Democratic Party chairman (who, in fact, was chairman when Zeigler was appointed county treasurer), Ferrero ought to be just a tad nervous about his November race.

If any (let alone, all) of the foregoing comes to fruition, it is unlikely that Gonzalez will survive as the Stark Dems chairman.

Backroom politics may be at play in the Reinbold, Giavasis and Smuckler interplay.

If so, it appears that only individual politicians' wants and desires are being served and not the interests of the organized Stark County Democratic Party.

Self-interest is the standard fare of backroom politics!

MAYOR HEALY HAS CANTON CITY COUNCIL RIGHT WHERE HE WANTS IT?

UPDATE:  03/22/2012 AT 11:09 A.M.

Martin

While I am an avid reader of your blog, I must say that this review is confusing to me. What is it that council is not doing ? What criticism would you have us direct at the Mayor?

Personally, I believe the Mayor and council are working together to improve the lives of our city residents. Particularly in the area of economic development..Jobs...we are far ahead of other urban areas in seeking out businesses which put our residents back to work.

This has been accomplished against the wholesale attack on cities by the Kasich administration. It's not easy to navigate through the worst economy since the Great Depression.

It is even more difficult when state and federal leaders abandon our urban areas. We are doing more things right than other communities.

If you have specific concerns, I wish you would publish them.

I do listen to what you have to say!

Allen Schulman

From: "Kevin Fisher"

To: "tramols@att.net" <tramols@att.net>

 

You need to get a clue...i vote issue by issue & i take no marching orders. Sometimes the mayor & i agree & sometimes we disagree...i have voted no as about as much as anyone on council this term, and will continue to decide each issue on it's merits...if you want to try to paint me as a rubber stamp, that speaks to your ignorance, not my independence.

Kevin

ORGINAL BLOG

Canton City Council has two faults.

First, all of its members are of one political party (Democratic),

Second, a majority of its members have no political spine who merely fall into line with the wishes of .Mayor William J. Healy, II.
It makes sense that the latter is a consequence of the former.

A godsend to Massillon was the election (November, 2011) of four new Republican members of its city council to join the already-on-council Republican Donnie Peters (re-elected in 2011).

And it appears that Councilwoman Nancy Halter (2nd Ward) is a real force on Massillon's council holding the Republican caucus together.

Consequently, each and every move that the newly elected Democratic Catazaro-Perry administration advances will be thoroughly vetted.

Though Catazaro-Perry in and of herself seems to be a weak mayor in that she appears to be controlled by a power "kitchen cabinet," that controlling force bears close scrutiny for the well being of Massillon.

And Massillon City Council as presently constituted is demonstrating that it will provide that scrutiny.

No such luck for Cantonians.

With former Councilman-at-Large Bill Smuckler having taken himself off council in his run against Healy in May, 2011 Democratic primary, even those remaining on Canton's council who are not shy about differing with the Healy administration appear to be fragmented and unable to make the mayor sweat on any given issue when push comes to shove.

An ally of Smuckler was Councilman Greg Hawk.  He was a major frustration to the Healy administration in his former role of being Finance Committee chairman.  But guess what?  You've got it.  While he remains on the committee, he no longer has the powers inherent in the chairmanship and "the bully pulpit" effect to remain the force he has been in keeping the mayor somewhat in check on financial matters.

How did he come to lose his chairmanship, the SCPR has asked Hawk?

Obviously, Hawk could not say for sure because these matters are the product of back room politics.   However, the SCPR gets the impression that Hawk believes it was a collaboration between Healy and his sycophantic allies on council.

Another amazing turnaround has been Council President Alan Schulman.  While he is not a voting member of council unless there is a tie among the other councilpersons, he is a "behind-the-scenes" powerful factor on council.

It is as a distant memory when Schulman (who was out-of-town at the time), returned to Canton to pillory Mayor Healy for unceremoniously firing Service Director and Chief of Staff Thomas Bernabei early in the first Healy administration.

Bernabei's offense?  Having the audacity (for Healy's own good, and, by the way, and more importantly - Canton's good) to take exception to the mayor.

Schulman faded so much from his confrontations with the mayor, that he could not even bring himself to openly support Bill Smuckler in his drive to unseat Healy.

With there being talk of Healy supporting Councilman Joe Cole to replace Canton City Treasurer Bob Schirack (when he retires - believed to be soon) and possibly offering Patrick Barton (Ward 7) a high paying job as a information technology specialist, it appears that Healy is doing what he does best:  Using the prerogatives/power of office as tools to bring those who might scrutinize/criticize into line.

Yours truly almost fell of his chair at the last attended council meeting when Councilman Griffin (Ward 3) actually asked a question. 

But he is not alone.  It is apparent that Canton has a number of his ilk.  Tailor-made for one like William J. Healy, II.

Mayor Healy is a "my way or the highway" type politician who uses carrot/stick political methodologies to get people on TeamHealy.

Because Canton City Council for the most part (excepting out Cirelli, Hawk, Mack and Morris) is spineless,  Canton's way will be Healy's way unchecked by council and Cantonians will be the worse for it!

STARK GOP CHAIR JEFF MATTHEWS - MIA - IN OHIO GOP FIGHT?

Late yesterday the leaders of Ohio's urban areas sent a letter to Ohio GOP Chairman to step down immediately and not wait 10 months.

DeWine in a small concession to Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich as promised to run for re-election in 10 months as the chairman of Ohio's Republican Party.

Kasich came out months ago saying he wanted DeWine out and someone more to his liking in.

The Ohio Tea Party has taken up Kasich's cause and ran candidates in opposition to perceived DeWine supporters who were running for state central committeeman/woman back on March 6th in the primary election. 

DeWine antagonized the Tea Party by pushing through a rule change at the state party which requires elected central committee persons to have voted Republican in the last two successive GOP primaries in order to be eligible to vote in a party chairman election contest.

However, it is hard to figure out why the Tea Party ran an opponent (Beth A. Williams) to long time Stark GOP stalwart Sarah Brown of Alliance (wife of Stark County Court of Common Please Judge Charles E. Brown, Jr.).
 
Pre-election, Brown told the SCPR that she is wholeheartedly in support of the Governor.

Had Williams won, she would not have been eligible to participate in a chairman election event.  But as predicted by The Report that did not happen.  Brown won by a landslide.

A mystery about the letter sent out yesterday (a copy of which is included below) is why Stark County GOP Chairman Jeff Matthews was not included.  Stark County is Ohio's 8th largest urban area.

The SCPR has attempted to contact Matthews by e-mail and will publish his response via update should he choose to respond.

The letter:

LACK OF FINANCING, COMMUNICATION & TURF WARS KILLING COUNTYWIDE 9-1-1? SHOULD THE EFFORT BE SCRAPPED AND THE REMAINING $2.51 MILLION FOR 9-1-1 PUT INTO THE COUNTY GENERAL FUND?

It is becoming clearer and clearer to the SCPR that Stark County's attempt to rebuild 9-1-1 from being on life support according to a 2008 GenCom report, is now in jeopardy.

The Report attended a meeting of the Stark County Council of Governments [Governing Board] (SCOG) meeting of March 15th and comes away with the impression that rebuild effort is falling apart.

Until the 15th, the board had not met for some months.

Rehabbing Stark's emergency call receiving and dispatching system started out being troubled.

The Report believes it continues in that mode and it is appearing more and more that a fully state-of-the-art system that encompasses all of Stark County as originally envisioned will never be realized.

So what are the problems with getting 9-1-1 to where the shakers and movers of Stark County government leadership say they want to take it?

The funding problem.

At great political cost to himself, former Stark County Commissioner Todd Bosley persuaded his fellow commissioners to impose a 0.5% sales tax in December, 2008 which collected the necessary money to get the project underway.  However, Stark voters reacted to having the tax "imposed" by repealing it in November, 2009 which had the effect of limiting the original goal of the 9-1-1 portion of the tax (the remainder being for the county general fund) of providing the service "free" to Stark County's political subdivision.

A lingering problem continues to be?  Yes, you have it funding.

Although some $2.51 million remains set aside by county commissioners to be spent on the capital side putting together countywide 9-1-1, there is not enough of it.

Not enough of it because not all of the political subdivisons which would make up a countywide system have state-of-the-art radios (800 mhz).  So officials are scrambling to get federal grants to supplement some money available from the $2.51 million in order to get everyone equipped with appropriate communications gear.

North Canton has broken ranks with a Stark County's 800 mhz radio plan by signing up with the state of Ohio MARCS system.

Another aspect of funding revolves around the question of maintaining the system.

Since a continuing dedicated sales tax for maintaining 9-1-1 is gone, how will - assuming that a true countywide system is put in place - it be maintained from a continuing financial operations standpoint?

The apparent answer is user fees.

However, it seems that Canton Mayor William J. Healy, II does not believe such is a proper and, perhaps, realistic financial structure for maintaining Stark's 9-1-1 system. And, apparently, he worries that the entity itself (Stark County Council of Governments - SCOG) which would own and operate the system, with 2012-13 severe cuts in state of Ohio local government funding, will have it own financial problems in terms of its own survival.

As things stand now, SCOG is struggling to fund, going into 2013 and beyond, the Stark County crime lab.

The word is that the state of Ohio may totally eliminate local government funding going forward.

The Report uses the terms "seems" and "apparently" in discussing Healy's position because it is unclear to yours truly that financial viability concerns are his "real" concern.

Yours truly is more apt to believe that it is more an issue of ultimate Canton control of countywide 9-1-1 (i.e. a turf problem) for Healy than his suggestions of financial integrity concerns.

Beyond funding concerns, then there is a communications problem between Healy and his safety director Tom Ream (who is president of SCOG) and SCOG governing board Chairman Randy Gonzalez and Project Manager Joe Concatto.

It is really weird that Healy, Ream, Gonzalez and Concatto, who undoubtedly cross one another's paths in multiple forums on a regular basis, just shake their heads in a "I don't know" fashion when asked why they cannot get together and resolve the differences they have and moving forward with rehabbing countywide 9-1-1 with Canton being a key player.

Communications on this topic are so nonexistent that  Gonzalez and Concatto with the apparent acquiescence of the Stark County commissioners (Commissioner Tom Bernabei is the lead commissioner on the 9-1-1 project) no longer talk optimistically that Canton will be part of a countywide system.  Rather that it will be narrowed to include the RED Center (mainly Jackson Township and Massillon) and the Stark County sheriff and a few other political subdivisions.

Even the sheriff's participation is problematical (Sheriff Swanson has been back and forth on the issue) and a "real" answer awaits the outcome of November's election to determine who - among Republican candidate Larry Dordea and Democratic candidate Mike McDonald (currently a chief deputy in charge of the jail division) - will succeed Sheriff Tim Swanson.

Anyone who knows anything about the 9-1-1 consolidation project knows already that Nimishillen Township's CenCom will not be part of a countywide system.

The SCPR has written frequently that The Report believes that Nimishillen opted out for two reasons.

First, Nimishillen Fire Chief Rich Peterson was not chosen to be the project manager for the rehab and his pride and joy CenCom will not be the hub of a countywide system.  Another manifestation of a turf problem?

Second, Nimishillen is so saddled with debt for the fire station that houses CenCom that in order to generate revenue to pay the mortgage, its only choice is to compete with a countywide system.

Today, there is a media report that North Canton is considering joining up with CenCom.  Recently, Lake Township signed on.

Canton, North Canton, Lake et cetera not in a countywide system.   Does it make any sense to proceed with spending the remaining $2.51 million being held by county commissioners on a fragmented (countywide?) 9-1-1 system?

During 2012 county budget considerations, the Stark County Common Pleas Court judges proposed "lending" the $2.51 to 2012 appropriations.

Perhaps the time has come for the commissioners to square up with the realities of:

• financial problems,
• communication problems,
• and turf wars,

that plague the effort to get to a true "state of the art" countywide 9-1-1 system and defund it entirely?

Stark County general fund operations sure could use that $2.51 million, no?

FORMER CICCHINELLI OFFICIAL SAYS MASSILLON SAFETY SERVICE DIRECTOR GEORGE MAIER HASSLED HIM IN DISCHARGING HIS DUTIES AS ROADS AND STREETS SUPERINTENDENT

It was an amazing story to hear.

Former Massillon Mayor Cicchinelli administration official Mike Stevens (Operations/Street Department, also a Lawrence Township trustee) recited chapter and verse to the SCPR in an account of an encounter that he had with the then candidate Kathy Catazaro-Perry and supporter George T. Maier.

Maier (brother of Massillon Clerk of Courts Johnnie A. Maier, Jr,) is now Massillon's  safety service director having been appointed by Catazaro-Perry as one of her very first appointees when she became mayor on January 1st.

Stevens' account of the incident was particularly interesting to The Report in the light of allegations made against Maier in 2008 according to reports in the Columbus Dispatch. (Director quashed inquiry into No. 2 - Public safety chief rejects more action in intimidation case, The Columbus Dispatch, August 28, 2008)

According to The Dispatch account:

When state troopers leveled charges of misconduct against the assistant director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the top boss and top cop began butting heads.

Col. Richard Collins, superintendent of the State Highway Patrol, strongly urged that Ohio's inspector general be brought in to investigate Assistant Public Safety Director George Maier.

However, Public Safety Director Henry Guzman declined to dig into the charges against his No. 2, ruling that there were no grounds to justify either an in-house or outside investigation of Maier.

Some troopers and officers whom Maier once commanded as a captain accused him of threats, intimidation, favoritism and creating a hostile workplace.

As it turns out, Maier was never investigated insofar as The Report can determine even though a former Inspector General and some officials in the Ohio State Patrol thought that an investigation was warranted.

The SCPR can find no media reference to Maier commenting on or responding to the allegations.

The then-Democratic Governor Ted Strickland promised to take a look at whether or not Maier should be investigated on the accusations.  Ultimately, he decided that an investigation was not warranted.

While The Report thinks it is a certainty that Maier's brother Johnnie (then the Chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party and the first party chairman to endorse Strickland in his 2005 run for the Democratic nomination for governor) did not, directly or indirectly, weigh-in on Strickland's consideration of the issue because The Report believes Maier and Strickland are way too politically savvy to have initiated/allowed such a conversation; one does have to wonder whether or not the close political bond between Maier and Strickland was coursing through Strickland's mind in an indistinct, unarticulated, unfocused upon sort of way in his coming to a decision not to investigate.

Strickland may have thought he was doing the best thing for the overall morale of the Ohio State Patrol, but there is a point of view that in not directing an investigation, he left a cloud hanging over the entire matter.  An investigation would have cleared the air one way or the other.  A "no brainer," no?

Yours truly read The Dispatch coverage of the Maier allegations at the time its reports first appeared.  They lingered as a memory as background material until The Report had a telephone conversation with Stevens about a week ago.

In the conversation, Stevens went into some detail about a campaign trail incident that he says occurred at the initiative of George Maier about two days before the general election of November, 2011 which suggests to the SCPR when added on top of the 2008 allegations that Maier may have "a control of his temperament" issue.

And, in one sense (notwithstanding the existence of a police chief), he is Massillon's top cop!

As Stevens tells it, he, as Massillon's Operation/Street  Department supervisor, went out with employees of the department taking down political signs from the public right-of-way (two of which were Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. signs - Maier a candidate for Massillon clerk of courts).

The incident with George Maier occurred, according to Stevens, as he was leaving the Massillon's city garage.

Here is a bullet point account of the allegations that Stevens makes (re: George Maier):

• drives up to Stevens, rolls down the window (has a woman passenger in his white pickup truck) and proceeded to bad mouth him:
• in a m-f tone, up one side and down the other, who do [you] f...... think you are,
• You'd better learn the difference be what's a right of way and not right of way,
• who is your boss,
• tells Stevens he needs to be his own man.
• Stevens (of Maier), he appeared about ready to come out of his skin, he was vulgar and out-of-control.
• Stevens (of Maier), his professional background and training at the very least should have taught him to be under control and to defuse and not accelerate the situation.

In the light of the uninvestigated allegations made of Maier in his role in the Ohio Department of Public Safety in 2008, and in the light of Stevens' allegations, Massillonians ought to know whether or not their safety service director has a temperament issue.

Catazaro-Perry had to know of the 2008 allegations.

Notwithstanding Strickland's cop out, Mayor Kathy should have vetted George thoroughly and completely on the allegations and reported the results to the Massillon public before appointing him director.

Now that Stevens has made his accusation, she owes it to the Massillon public to find out whether or not Stevens' account is accurate and, IF they are, ask George Maier to apologize to Stevens personally and to the citizens of Massillon for having been a "to-be-Massillon public official" disrespecting a man just trying to do what the public expected of him.

Supposedly Maier challenged Stevens "to be his own man."

Interesting.

The SCPR has long criticized Catazaro-Perry because her obviously too close of a relationship with the Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. Massillon political machine.

The Report is told that one of the Maiers or Maier political "gofer" Shane Jackson can be seen tending to Mayor Catazaro-Perry on more or less constant basis at Massillon City Hall.

The question that comes rushing to mind?

When is Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry going to be allowed "to be her own woman" as the chief executive officer of the city of Massillon?

SUNSHINE WEEK 2012 - IN CELEBRATION OF STATE SENATOR SCOTT OELSLAGER'S "LEGACY" LEGISLATION: SB 78 (1999) & HB 9 (2006) - OPEN PUBLIC RECORDS!

December 27, 2006 must have been one of the brightest days in the life of the then state Representative Scott Oelslager (Stark County Republican, the 51st House District).

On that date, Republican Governor Robert Taft signed into law a bill (House Bill 9) sponsored by Stark Countian Scott Oelslager (Judiciary Committee chairman at the time) that was the harbinger of floods of democratic sunshine flowing into the political/governmental life of Ohioans.

With the help of the then Speaker of the Ohio House Jon Husted (now Ohio secretary of state), Oelslager nursed the bill into law.

Because Oelslager took the lead (going back to 1992 to what the SCPR believes was his first public records bill [SB 78] which found its way into law), Stark Countians, indeed, all Ohioans have the opportunity to be better informed about the processes of our democratic republic.

House Bill 9 is a revision and updating of Oelslager's original work of 1999.

Moreover, it does appear from a search of Oelslager's work on open public records that his work actually goes back to 1993 (he was appointed to a state senate seat in 1985).  An article in the Dayton Daily News (Access must improve, lawmakers say, Joanne Huist Smith, June 15, 2004) documents such, to wit:

Oelslager, an advocate for open government, worked with Common Cause of Ohio in 1993 to develop legislation expanding the state's open records law. He wanted to make it easier and less costly for Ohio residents to obtain public records.

The bill neared passage but died in the Senate after interest groups and former Gov. George Voinovich's administration expressed concerns about the cost of the changes and the "undue burden" they could place on state agencies.

"All we can do is keep the efforts up," Oelslager said. "A key to our democracy is the public's right to be informed."

Ohio's original open public records bill was enacted into law in 1963.

This week, which is an emphasis week (March 11 - 17th) for the newspapers of America to promote citizen access to government)  Ohio Auditor of State David Yost revealed the results (in a March 12th press release) of his project to test the effectiveness of Oelslager's legacy legislation.  

Yost's project is described by him, in part, thusly:

The Auditor of State’s office made a request for payroll records of all 247 cities in Ohio in October, as part of an effort to evaluate the format of electronic records and the ease of use and access to payroll records, which typically represent the majority of spending by local governments.

Oelslager (now state Senator Oelslager representing the 29th Ohio Senate District) must be generally pleased as he reads the results of Yost's survey insofar as the responsiveness of Stark County cities are concerned.

Canal Fulton, Massillon and North Canton need to do better.

Alliance, Canton and Louisville distinguished themselves.

Stark Countians and Ohioans owe a debt of gratitude to state Sen. Oelslager for his tireless work on making public records promptly available to Ohio's citizens.

Hopefully, Yost or another state official will test Ohio's cities again next year.

Will Canal Fulton, Massillon and North Canton do better?

Citizens of these respective cities should weigh-in with elected officials of these Stark County cities and insist that their response time dramatically improve.

STARK COUNTY OFFICIALS & FIRST RESPONDERS UNPREPARED FOR POSSIBLE FRACKING DISASTER?

Holding elective office can be an ego fulfilling and a generally heady experience.

But it can also be a nightmare!

Because when a calamity happens, it is to elected officials and their top appointees (e.g. directors, chiefs, et cetera) that the public turn to for swift response and effective action.

And they had better have answers!

None of us will forget the immediate days of post-Katrina (2005) the then-President George W. Bush was on television with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Chief Mike Brown saying:  "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job."

Within ten days it became apparent that "Brownie" was not doing a heckuva job and he was abruptly fired by the politician Bush.

Bush likely was fortunate that Katrina did not happen one year earlier or we might well have been talking in 2005 about President John Kerry.

Right now, from Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich down through Democratic Canton Mayor William J. Healy, II; (the self-proclaimer of Canton being "The Utica Capital") are examples of public officials governing within the Marcellus and Utica Shale fields being ga-ga over the  potential jobs and concomitant tax revenues that may be on their way to all levels of state and local government as the oil and gas industry rushes to get up and running with what is called a "fracking" drilling operation to free natural gas encased in the shale.

Because of "the great recession" that began at the end of the Bush years in 2008 and have continued through the Obama administration, government budgets across American have had shortfall after shortfall after shortfall including, of course, Ohio; perhaps worse than other parts of the country.

It is likely that the political need to escape the "doom and gloom" is causative of Kasich, Healy and their like not focusing much on the environmental disaster or two, or three that surely lurk just over the horizon once fracking hits full bore, if not before.

A DeepWater Horizon oil well exploding in the Gulf of Mexico (April 20, 2010), was a shock to Americans in that the industry could not figure out until September 19, 2010 a way to stop the oil leaking from the damaged well that played havoc with the Gulf ecosystem (and the resort economy) including the shorelines of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

It seems highly unlikely that something of the magnitude of Deep Water Horizon could happen from a fracking accident, but nobody really knows.

Recently, the SCPR spoke with a Stark County fire chief who is alarmed that with the onset of fracking in Stark (which the last that The Report knew consists of three wells so far) that little if any fracking well disaster preparedness has occurred.

One Stark County official (unelected) has been trying.  Stark County Local Emergency Planning Committee Director Don McDonald (a former fire captain from Jackson Township) set up a meeting scheduled for this past Saturday (March 10, 2012) at Stark State College, to wit: 

From: SCLEPC [mailto:sclepc@co.stark.oh.us]

Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 12:14 PM

To: ...

Save the date: March 10, 2012

From: Don McDonald – Program Director Stark County LEPC

A ½ day (morning) Symposium on Natural Resources and Deep Well Development will be conducted on Saturday, March 10 at Stark State College.

Scheduled presenters include representatives from The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Educational Program (OOGEEP), The Ohio Dept of Natural Resources (ODNR), The Ohio EPA, the Battelle
Corp. and others.  Our intended audience will include elected officials from the county, cities, villages, and townships as well as the fire and police chiefs serving those communities.

This is not a 1st responder training event.  The symposium is intended to provide unbiased information on the issue of hydraulic fracturing to all of these officials so that they may have accurate information to provide to their constituents and to use in policy making decisions that may be impacted by this issue.

More information will be provided in the very near future.  Attendance to this symposium will be by invitation only.  Please save this date as this symposium will be both timely and informative to you and your staff.

Thank you for your time,

Don McDonald, Contact person for the Symposium Planning Committee

Office: 330-451-3907

Good effort, Don McDonald.

But the planned March 10th event never happened.

Why not?

It appears to the SCPR for three reasons.

First, it seems that a number of Stark County elected officials took offense (led, in the opinion of The Report by Plain Township trustee Louis Giavasis) as what they deemed to have been an overreach by McDonald and the "symposium committee" consisting of:

• McDonald, (program director of SCLEPC)
• Representative Christina Hagan, (Republican - 50th House District)
• Fred Bertram, (Dean at Stark State College [SSC], teaches hazardous materials course)
• Ted Heck, (former Jackson fire chief, teaches at SSC)
• Art Murdoch, (chairman of SCLEPC)
• Lance Wilcox,  (VP - Mr Rapid - emergency cleanup services)
• Bart Ray, (Special Investigator / On-scene Coordinator, Ohio EPA)
• Barb Stoll, (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Ohio)
• Jack Liberator, (Canton Township Fire Dept., - deputy chief)

Second, some interested parties (most Stark County environmentalists) did not think the make up of the presenters of the planned symposium was "unbiased" as advertised, to wit:

Scheduled presenters include representatives from The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Educational Program (OOGEEP), The Ohio Dept of Natural Resources (ODNR), The Ohio EPA, the Battelle
Corp. and others.

The symposium is intended to provide unbiased information on the issue of hydraulic fracturing to all of these officials so that they may have accurate information to provide to their constituents and to use in policy making decisions that may be impacted by this issue. (emphasis added)

Third, the symposium notice contained "This is not a 1st responder training event."  Really?  Isn't preparing/supporting first responders the first and perhaps only mission of SCLEPC?

In any event, McDonald tells the SCPR that no replacement of the March 10th cancellation will be generated by SCLEPC.  He says that the only thing planned by his organization is to develop opportunities for first responders to have emergency preparedness specific to a fracking accident.

He declined to answer the SCPR's question as to whether or not he had been pressured by Stark County elected officials and their chief appointed fire, police and EMS to call the event off.

The SCPR is convinced that this is exactly what happened.

And that is all well and good, but what do these same officials have in mind in order to get Stark County's first responders to handle a catatrophic-esque fracking event when it happens.

Stark County Engineer Keith Bennett is an example of a local government official who has anticipated the taxing impact that the heavy trucks used in fracking operations will have on Stark County roads.

A week or so ago Engineer Bennett told the SCPR in an interview that there have been instances where these trucks have damaged county roads.  However, do to his anticipation that such would be the case, he has put together an agreement consistent with state of Ohio standards that he requires fracking operators to sign off on before putting their trucks on county roads.

Only oil and gas industry folks and overly optimistic public officials fixed on the financial cure that fracking MIGHT bring to Stark's local governments (the State of Ohio, in the case of Governor Kasich) believe that thousands upon thousands of wells can be drilled without a major, major problem erupting.

The SCPR believes the Stark County fire chief who is concerned about the utter lack of training for first responders to be prepared for and equipped to deal with a disaster when it comes.   The chief agrees with The Report that it is not IF but WHEN.  Moreover, he is concerned as to whether or not the frackers are going to try to stick the tax paying public with the expense of dealing with malfunctioning wells.

The fire chief and Engineer Bennett are examples of local government officials who are doing their respective jobs the way all public officials should be be doing them:  anticipating that there will be problems, identify as precisely as possible as to what they may be, prepare for them and insist that other levels of government facilitate and empower them to deal with the expected problems in an effective manner.

The Report is told by Trustee Giavasis that when an accident occurs, neither first responders nor SCLEPC will be allowed by drillers/well lessees onto the site of the problem initially.

Only when first responders are invited to deal with the calamity by the lessees, can they do anything but deal with off well site problems that threaten residents in those areas.

Many Stark Countians, including yours truly, are reconciled to the reality that fracking is going to happen.

But what we are not comfortable with include:

• the state of Ohio not empowering local emergency forces and local hazardous materials organizations (i.e. LEPCs) to have immediate access to a disaster site,
• the state of Ohio not setting aside funding for forums/hands-on-training-exercises to be utilized by first responders so that they can develop techniques and strategies for coping with a real event,
• the state of Ohio making lessees, operators, drillers and other participants in fracking operations Responsible Parties in terms of indemnification to local governments  which initially bear the cost of calamity remediation,
• the state of Ohio requiring Responsible Parties to carry insurances and bonding at levels that will provide for the indemnification of local governments for the injury to public resources (e.g. potable water, et cetera) and also for individual property owners who sustain injury and damage,
• the Stark County Local Emergency Planning Committee being behind in developing resources and training opportunities for first responders so that they can prepared for a serious fracking mishaps as they occur.

It has come to light that injection wells used to dispose of chemical ladened fracking well waste water was responsible for a series of earthquake tremors that afflicted the Youngstown area recently.

We all remember how the first suggestions of such were laughed off by oil and gas industry principals and their cheerleaders.

But they aren't laughing anymore.

Nor will oil and gas industry officials nor unresponsive public officials be laughing when a fracking disaster strikes and they have to face an outraged public demanding to know why local governments and their first responders were not empowered, prepared, trained and equipped to deal immediately and effectively with an environmental calamity.

"Woe is me!" will be the cry of a public official who is shown to have not put "oil in the lamp" of his/her community in preparation for the inevitable fracking problems which will buffeting our communities in the years to come.

(VIDEO) IS THE STARK COUNTY DOG POUND ADOPTING OUT DOGS THAT MAY POSE A DANGER TO THE PUBLIC? VIDEO FEATURES STARK CITIZEN JOSEPH BUCHANAN EXPRESSING HIS CONCERNS OF THE SAFETY OF "JOCK" - AN AMERICAN TERRIER PITBULL - BEING ADOPTED OUT.

UPDATE:  03/15/2012 AT 3:10 PM

Joe Buchanan tells the SCPR that it is erroneous to attribute dog adoption sponsorship to the Stark County Dog Pound as originally written by The Report.

Here is Buchanan's e-mail which set forth the basis for being a sponsor, to wit:

Martin,

I did notice one thing with your article, the stark county dog pound is not the dogs sponsor, what a sponsored dog means is that a person or rescue has paid part of the dogs adoption fee. So if you or i wanted to "sponsor" a dog, we would go in and pay a set amount of money (I believe $50 but please don't quote that) and then the person that finally adopted that dog would have to pay the balance, so if it is $50 this dog would only cost the general public $36 dollars to take home instead of $86

On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 1:02 PM, Joseph Buchanan

ORIGINAL BLOG

A dog put up for adoption, but now the being "up for adoption" is "on hold?"

And not just any dog, but an American Terrier Pit Bull that was used in dog fighting training and which is being held at the Stark County Dog Pound the sponsor putting the dog up for adoption in the first place.

Really?

Why was the adoption "put on hold?"

Because its sponsor, the Stark County Dog Pound placed "dog on hold" on the ad after a Stark County citizen, a Mr. Joseph Buchanan, complained to County Administrator Mike Hanke on Tuesday about the advisability of adopting Jock out given the text describing him as set forth in bold type which appears below.

(The text provided in this blog has been withdrawn by the county after Buchanan's complaint but before the SCPR could get to the URL listing the dog.  However, Buchanan had recorded the text and provided it to The Report, to wit: (format may vary from original post)

Release date 3/9.

Jock has not had a good life.

He came from the HS [Humane Society], and we are trying to find him a happy home, something he has never known.

Jock is thought to have been used as a bait dog for fighting. His teeth have been filed down, so he couldn't injure the dog being trained.

It makes us sick and angry, to think of what this poor dog has endured, there are scars over his entire body.

A volunteer from the HS told us Jock came in very frightened, and wanted to be right next to someone, very clingy.

Saturday at the pound, he did so much better. He was enjoying all the attention he was receiving, and was behaving wonderfully.

Jock would love to be a lap dog, but he's a little large for that! It's amazing how forgiving animals can be, Jock has no reason to trust a soul, but he is.

Jock was made to fight, he was doing what his owner asked of him.

If only the owners of this dog could be found and prosecuted.

It is unfortunate, but there are so many stories like Jock's, even worse.

If you ever suspect someone is fighting dogs, please report this to the proper authorities.

Buchanan says he is concerned that a dog with Jock's history will fall into the wrong hands (in the sense of the adopter having the capability of dealing with such a dog) and that there could be dire consequences for an unwary/unprepared new owner.  He asked commissioners to review their adoption policies, procedures and practices and adjust them to minimize the possibility that an adoption will lead to unwanted (by anyone) consequences.

Buchanan says it is an open question as to whether or not the commissioners will deal satisfactorily with his complaint.

He said that the response from Hanke on Tuesday was not satisfactory and so he brought the matter before commissioners at yesterday's meeting in the Public Speaks portion of the commissioners meeting agenda.

Here is a video of Buchanan, who has impressive credentials in his knowledge of dogs such as the American Terrier Pit Bull - which he spells out in the video, addressing the commissioners, their response and portions of a post-meeting press conference with him. 

(VIDEO) WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK IT? STARK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BERNABEI & CREIGHTON ABOUT TO HUGELY BENEFIT CANTON MAYOR WILLIAM J. HEALY, II IN HIS DRIVE FOR POLITICAL STARDOM?

Readers of the SCPR know that yours truly believes that Canton Mayor William J. Healy, II has grandiose plans for himself in terms of making his mark in the political realm as one of Canton's most distinguished and accomplished sons ever.


CLICK HERE to review the Stark County Political Report blog of December 5, 2011 which tracks Canton native son Healy's return to the Hall of Fame City from New York City where he achieved an MBA from the New York Stern School of Business with a mission to lift Canton out of her hard times of recent decades into her rightful place of being one of Ohio's, perhaps even the nation's, great cities.  A city which produced President William McKinley over 100 years ago.

Try as he may, it has been a struggle for Healy, now into his second term as mayor, to make much headway on his mission.

But it could be that he got a major boost on that path yesterday.  Stark County commissioners in a work session directed Stark County Prosecutor (Civil Division) Assistant Chief Deborah Dawson to draft an appropriate resolution for the commissioners pass as a first step to bring to Stark County a quasi government/non-profit land bank corporation as provided for by Ohio statutory law.

In that two of the commissioners, namely; Republican Janet Creighton (whom Healy defeated in her quest to be re-elected mayor in November, 2007) and Democrat Thomas Bernabei (whom he fired early on in his first administration from his post as service director and chief-of-staff), it is truly ironic that they comprise two-thirds of the vote that will be voting to form Stark's land bank.

To appreciate the significance of the formation of the Stark Land Bank Corporation (formally, Stark County Land Reutilization Corporation), the SCPR points to the website of the Cuyahoga County Land Bank which is the foremost national exemplary model of land banks, according Program Director Robin Darden Thomas of the Western Reserve Conservancy Thriving Communities Institute who was in attendance at the commissioners' work session.

Noteworthy from the site is a listing of the commission of the land bank, to wit:

• strategically acquire blighted properties
• return them to productive use through
•   rehabilitation
•   sale to new private owners
•   demolition
•   preparation for traditional economic development
•   creative reuse such as gardening, green space, storm  water management
• or other innovative and ecological purposes
• increase property values through these efforts
• support community goals through collaborations with Cuyahoga's individual communities, governments, lenders, and individual property owners;
• and improve the quality of life for Cuyahoga County's residents through its efforts

As The Report sees it, the main (but not the only) beneficiary of the land bank being spearheaded by Stark County Treasurer Alex Zumbar will be the city of Canton and its 5,000 or so abandoned/dilapidated/vacant properties.

Mayor Healy has in the works (as a work-in-progress) a program for revitalizing Canton on the basis of rebuilding what he calls the city's four pillars:  safety, education, neighborhoods and jobs.

The mayor recited on March 1st in his 5th State of the City address his accomplishments on each of the pillars.

It appears that Canton is making significant progress in improving safety, education and jobs but is lagging (due to lack of adequate funding) in neighborhood revitalization.

He is rightfully proud of this effort on the neighborhood pillar during his four plus years in office whereby his administration has razed some 500 or so such properties.

But the pace is way too slow and it appears that a Stark County Lank Bank could be just what the doctor ordered for Mayor Healy to accelerate restoration of Canton's once thriving neighborhoods.

Families living in vibrant neighborhoods is an essential pillar in Canton's revitalization.

Joel Owens, director of the Stark County based Community Based Partnership told The Report in a post commissioners' work session meeting press conference that data show that neighborhoods with a vacant/abandoned property cause the remaining neighborhood properties to lose up to 40% of their value and if there are more than one such property, the remaining properties plummet to having virtually no resale value.

So if Healy can create a public perception that his leadership is bringing Canton back from the abyss and the "bringing back" includes elimination of "blighted" properties in the neighborhoods, then he has a real chance to achieve his high level political aspirations.

Director Thomas said yesterday that if the commissioners act within the next week or so, the Stark County Land Bank can be up and running in two to three months.

Canton (as did Massillon) did have a representative (Law Director Joe Martuccio) at yesterday's meeting.  And he indicated that Canton does have a high degree of interest in participating in the land bank.

Ohio law mandates that a county's largest city have a seat on the governing board of a land bank organization.  Canton, being Stark County's county seat and largest city, will be a significant player in the Stark County Land Bank.  Under the enabling law, municipalities get first dibs on land bank appropriated property. 

Mayor Healy is known among public officials as insisting that anything that Canton participates in that is nominated as being a Stark Countywide venture be controlled and dominated by Canton.  However, at best, in the context of the membership of the land bank board of directors (i.e. a five to nine member board), Canton will have a 20% to slightly over 10% say in the decisions of the board.

Should Canton's role be less than what Healy wants, too bad.  As said before, municipalities have certain rights and a voice, but not a veto power.

Of course, Canton, while Healy is mayor, could be the reluctant partner somewhat like it role it has as Stark County oriented officials try to put together a 9-1-1 emergency call receiving/dispatch system.  But under such a scenario, Canton would not get the maximum lift in solving its multiple blighted neighborhoods problem and thereby Healy would not achieve the drive to political stardom that he consummately seeks.

So it will be interesting to see whether or not Healy can accept a non-dominant role he is almost certain to insist on.

The answer will be determined on the mayor's assessment of whether or not he can achieve being the savior of "the Utica capital" (his name for Canton as a oil and gas fracking hub -  a description of  his key economic development piece), largely on his own.

It is a credit to Commissioners Bernabei and Creighton that they are supportive and indeed enthusiastic about a Stark County Land Bank given their personal negative history with Canton Mayor William J. Healy, II.

If Healy achieves politically higher office because of his success in leading Canton back from the brink of ruin because he has Bernabei and Creighton to thank for providing a crucial element for that success, all one can say is:

"Who would have thunk it!"  Ironic, to say the very least!

Here is a video of the highlights of yesterday's work session featuring Stark County Treasurer Alex Zumbar, the Stark County commissioners, Western Reserve Land Conservancy Thriving Community Institute Program Director Robin Darden Thomas and Director Joel Owens of the Community Building Partnership of Stark County, Inc. and Canton Law Director Joseph Martuccio.