CANTON CITY SCHOOLS BOE MEMBER
ERIC RESNICK
With this blog, the SCPR revives one of the most popular series with readers that being Stark County's "Bottom 10 List" of Political Subdivision Elected Officials.
Rather than have updates to this list and "The Top 10 List" be on a regularly scheduled quarterly calendar basis, The Report will update these list periodically going forward.
Until a current place holder on the lists is replaced or re-situated, readers are to take the last listed person as still occupying the slot.
For example, on August 25, 2105 named Canton councilman Jimmy Babcock as being #6 (LINK) on "The Bottom 10 List." As of this periodical update, the #6 slot will not be re-published. Accordingly, Councilman Babcock can rest of assured that he still occupies the #6 slot.
In this update, Jackson Township trustee James N. Walters loses the #10 slot (LINK) to newly elected Canton City Schools Board of Education (BOE) member Eric Resnick.
But Walters should not be jumping for joy. For The Report has plans to elevate him to worse ranking on "The Bottom 10 List" in his individual capacity as trustee in Jackson Township and as representative of the board in light of the revelation in yesterday's blog that U.S. Equal Opportunity as determined that there is "probable cause" to believe that the Jackson Township Police Department has discriminated against six female employees.
Who knows, he might even replace former and now "unelected" Canton mayor William J. Healy, II listed at #5 last fall?
Now turning The Report's attention to Mister Resnick as the SCPR's latest addition to "The Bottom 10 List!
Congratulations, Eric. Resnick is a former CCS BOE member having been elected in 2009 to fill the unexpired term of John Rinaldi (how ironic is that) who abruptly resigned earlier in the year.
Canton City Schools have had quite a lot of negative publicity over the past year and a good part of the negativity came from Resnick as he seems to the SCPR as having been the lead in opposition to the successful effort by school officials with BOE approval of the merger of Resnick's alma mater Timken High School with McKinley with the McKinley name surviving the consolidation.
If Superintendent Adrian Allison thinks having Resnick as an "outside-the-beltway" opponent was a bad trip; having him working his Machiavellian politics from the inside will likely the outright nightmare for the Super.
The SCPR is prone to be supportive of folks like Resnick because of their willingness "to shake the trees" of establishment political and government circles.
But yours truly finds it hard to abide him for his utter arrogance and vitrolic ways. Undoubtedly, does some good in a Devils' advocate role. But in the end, The Report thinks he does more harm than good in an official capacity.
He seems to like to present himself as the paragon of righteousness in his functioning as a public official. But The Report for one questions whether or not he adequately protected Canton Joint Recreation Board (CJRB) taxpayers during his stint on its board and in particular as the board's president.
The Report has done some blog work re: Resnick when he was a member of the CJRD, the legitimacy of which was brought into question by some when he continued on in that capacity as an appointee of the Canton BOE even after he lost his place on the BOE, but is not done with that matter just yet.
It had to be a huge disappointment to the likes of John Rinaldi (current vice president of the Canton BOE) and the highly regarded Richard Milligan and perhaps relatively new member Will Grimsley (a fellow union member with Rinaldi) to see the results of election night November 3, 2015.
It has been tough enough for the Board in Resnick's absence from BOE officialdom over the past four years, for example (in part):
- Convincing CCS constituents of the viability of implementing the system's Brighter Tomorrow program
- The merger of Timken and McKinley High School (which Resnick opposed in his capacity as a citizen and alumni of Timken),
- Financial uncertainty,
- Substandard (as compared to other Stark County school districts) academic performance,
- The controversy between the CCS treasurer and the Stark County Educational Service Center (of which yours truly is a member) over reimbursement to the SCESC of payments made by the Center to Alison's wife working at the CCS as a SCESC employee, and
- The resignation of board president Ryan Brahler over some controversial remarks directed towards game officials he made at a McKinley girls basketball game,
Resnick's narrow victory in light of his past board member performance had to be troubling going forward.
A mere 27 votes separated Canton having a totally productive board to one in which The Report thinks that there will be acrimony generated by mostly by highly emotional Resnick.
Two years ago, Rinaldi handily defeated Resnick in a knock-down, drag-out political fight (LINK) in which Resnick in the opinion of The Report placed himself in the political gutter.
What a reprieve for the Canton City Schools, no?
Resnick originally as indicated above was elected to the CCS BOE in 2009 but could not get his gathering petition signatures act together in order to qualify for a place on the ballot in 2011.
Resnick, who the SCPR thinks fancies himself as being smarter than everybody else in the room failed to get the required 150 signatures to qualify for the ballot in his quest to be re-elected in the November, 2011 general election.
He submitted 197 signatures, but 50 did not qualify as registered voters.
Amazing, truly amazing! Of his submitted signatures, 26% of them didn't qualify as valid signatures.
A guy who once ran for the United States Congress. Wow!
The SCPR can say for sure from direct experience that getting nearly all if not all of one's signatures to be signed by validly registered voters is a very, very, very simple and an on-the-spot (called "walking-lists") verifiable process.
And he thinks he is the smartest guy in the room? Running for the Board of Education?
In any event, the CCS were spared having him on its board.
The only significant productive thing the SCPR thinks Resnick has done on the CCS BOE is to push for a sorely needed tax issue on the 2011 ballot. And to his credit, he took the pro-levy stance in his campaign to be elected to the board in 2009.
It passed and was critical to CCS staying financially solvent.
Other than that, the SCPR sees Resnick as nothing but trouble and look for him to get ugly with any on the board as presently constituted who have the audacity to differ with him on a controversial matter.
Allison and his fellow board members have to be bracing themselves for what they suspect is about to come.
Some readers might think it is unfair to place Resnick on "The Bottom 10 List" on his having just begun his term.
But this guy in no novice to politics and government.
The Report thinks that enough is known about Resnick from how he has handled himself in the public arena (including his abbreviated two year plus on the board previously) that justifies his #10 ranking coming out of the gate.
Had he been successful in running for the board in 2011 and/or 2013, The Report thinks he would have made a place for himself higher up on the list when it first got rolling and before the November, 2015 election.
For The Stark County Political Report blog, having Resnick in an elected position in a Stark County Political Subdivision is a godsend.
Hopefully, for the sake of the well being of the CCS, he proves The Report wrong in having highly negative expectations for him as a board member going forward.
Regrettably, the SCPR thinks such is not going to be the case.
The person who makes #1 on the list in this periodic update ought to be looking over his/her shoulder because it could be that Eric Resnick will some how manage to challenge for being the SCPR's Stark County absolutely worst elected official sooner than one might think, no?
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