FORMER STATE REP. TODD SNITCHLER "TWEETS'" HIS WAY INTO EMBARRASSING HIMSELF AND HIS POLITICAL HOME BASE OF STARK COUNTY

SUBTOPIC

WHAT'S NEXT?  WILL SNITCHLER BE PUSHING THE LEGISLATURE

TO ADOPT ALEC'S "ELECTRICITY FREEDOM ACT" FOR OHIO AND THEREBY UNDERMINE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS?

Former Stark County state Representative Todd Snitchler (R - 50th) like so many celebrities, sport figures and public figures need to stay away from Twitter.

There are untold examples of these folks who have totally humiliated and embarrassed themselves in their use of this particular social media.

Snitchler hit the big time with fellow Republican John Kasich's election to the governorship back in November, 2010.

In that same election, Snitchler was elected over former Stark County Democratic Commissioner Todd Bosley.

He went through the swearing-in, only to announce within weeks that he had more prestigious job.

A number of political analysts (including the SCPR) thought the Bosley/Snitchler match up was going to be a close one.

Apparently Bosley's involvement as commissioner in imposing a 0.5% sales tax on the Stark County public in December, 2008 along with what Snitchler alleged was a totally "over the top" campaign in terms of nastiness by Bosley coalesced to give Snitchler a resounding victory.

It was surprising to The Report that the Ohio Democratic House Caucus put so much money into the Bosley campaign when they had to know through their polls that Bosley was not going to come anywhere close to winning.

As it turns out, Snitchler was less than "as the pure white driven snow" (so The Report believes) in terms of his disingenuousness with the voters of the 50th House District in that he kept hidden that he had other plans should Kasich be elected governor.

One would not expect such of a highly and publicly religious person nor of one who likes to present himself as a principled conservative ideologue.

Throughout his political career has shown clear signs that he sees himself as being a "true believer" who fleshes out his self-perception in right wing - Tea Party politics.

He was at Navarre on June 27, 2010 when local Tea Party activists held a candidates day.  Before that he was a primary speaker at the Canton Tea Party Tax Day rally on April 15, 2009.

So it should not be a surprise that he would get on Twitter and embarrass himself with some statements about global warming (appearing to deny that global warming is a reality) that are disturbing in light of the fact that he is the sitting chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and as such participates in decisions as to whether or not certain solar and other alternative energy projects can go forward.

Recently, he joined at least two other PUCO members (a majority) to rule that American Electric Power's Turning Point Solar project and its 600 jobs (300 of them in manufacturing) would not be permitted to go forward.

Kasich appointed him to the PUCO in late February, 2011.  This side of Todd Snitchler shows that he has streaks of being able to take care of number one notwithstanding his marketing himself as doctrinaire, principled type.

Darrel Roland of the Columbus Dispatch in its Environmental Blog revealed that over the past year or so he has been investigating the Twitter account of Chairman Snitchler.

Snitchler's tweets, he says, have numbered over 1,000.

Among his goodies on Twitter (according to Roland):

• Snitchler finds "interesting" a Communist Party-connected newspaper story that global warming is a myth,
• "clean energy aid racks up losses,"
• “the Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows”; 
• cited the Drudge Report's “complete list of green energy failures,” 
• re-tweeted “electric cars pose environmental threat,”
• “after Sandy no one lined up for wind turbines” and
• “??‘green’ religion is taking over from Christian religion.”

One has to wonder what will come out of the mouth of Todd Snitchler next.

Could it be pushing for Ohio to adopt the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) "Electricity Freedom Act (EFA)?"

The EFA is designed to undermine state action to increase the amount of energy produced in any given state of the 50 from sources alternative to fossil fuels (i.e. "renewable energy sources).

For instance, many Stark Countians were pleased when President George Bush found a place in the White House for Janet Creighton when she lost in her bid for reelection as mayor of Canton.

And whether one has been a Creighton supporter or not in her Stark County-based political career, you have to be impressed with how she handled herself in Washington.

She was a credit to herself and to Stark County as she continues to be as Stark County commissioner.

But one cannot say the same for Snitchler during his tenure as chairman of the PUCO.

With his Twitter caper, he makes himself look like some sort of political loon and as such is an embarrassment to himself and to the folks back home!