Tuesday, July 19, 2016

HOW FAR ARE STARK GOP LEADERS WILLING TO GO IN SUPPORT GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DONALD J. TRUMP?

UPDATED:  2:30 PM

"John F. Kennedy." AZQuotes.com. Wind and Fly LTD, 2016. 19 July 2016. http://www.azquotes.com/quote/560871

Stark County GOP chieftains Janet Creighton (a Stark County commissioner), Alan Harold (Stark County auditor) and Kirk Schuring (state Rep. 48th Ohio House District) likely may or may not be into heeding the admonition of one of America's leading Democrats of all time.

Creighton and Schuring (Governor John Kasich delegates) and Harold (an alternate) are faced with a dilemma come the November election.

As Republican presidential selection delegates assembled in Cleveland this week go through the process of  validating the clear choice of Republicans nationwide that Donald J. Trump be  the Republican standard bearer in the U.S. presidential election this fall, Creighton, Schuring and Harold are being scrutinized on every word they utter and every action they take or fail to take for assessment by political pundits as a tip off of how enthusiastic they are to be for Trump from now through November.

Schuring for one is quoted by area media as having said:  "Our governor is a person of integrity and his convictions prevent him from endorsing Trump."

This in the light of Trump having trashed Kasich on the opening of the convention yesterday, to wit:


Moreover, national media reports are making much of the fact that the Ohio delegation (which of course includes locals Creighton and Schuring) has been situated by the Trump people at the back of the convention floor.

Even before the convention, in conversations with both Creighton and Harold, the SCPR's takeaway is that both are treading very cautiously in embracing the Trump candidacy.

For, if Trump, like some think he will, goes down in political flames in November because he lacks self-control; he may take with him local Republicans as well as incumbent U.S. Senator Rob Portman.

From a March 24, 2015 SCPR blog (LINK):


Inadvertently omitted from the blog were Stark County Republican commissioner candidate Bill Smith (a Canton Township trustee) and Dan McMasters, Republican candidate for the Ohio House, the 49th District.

They too may suffer from Trump dragging down the ticket in Stark County.

To their credit, if one believes in political party loyalty, Creighton, Stark County Republican officeholders and and non-office-holding staunch Republicans are indulging some tortured rationalizations these days in order to gin up reasons on which to stand by and vote for the Republican standard bearer.

Arnold, Shriver and Briggs are likely to lose just because they are running against established incumbents.  (Note:  Louis Giavasis [clerk of courts candidate] in an Democrat appointee and therefore is not an "elector" incumbent,but is well established in Stark County politics having been a Plain Township trustee for years)

Of course, Schuring will survive in the 48th even if Trump does poorly in Stark.

Given the wide disparity in quality of the candidates for Stark County commissioner in the Smith/Slesnick race both in communicative skills and knowledge, understanding and solutions in relation to county issues, Smith in other election years would be a shoo-in to win.

The one chance that Democrat Stephen Slesnick has is that local leadership Republicans will drag their collective feet in the context of Trump being the GOP presidential candidate and thereby create a political crease for Slesnick to slip into office.

There is some comfort for local Republican running this year in a response to the SCPR from Stark Democratic chair Phil Giavasis that the Stark County Democratic Party is not recommending that local Democratic candidates  endeavor to tie their Republican opponents to Trump.

Make no mistake about it.  Foot dragging or lack of enthusiasm on the part of local Republican leaders like Janet Creighton can make a difference.

Tip O'Neill (the late former Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) once said:  "all politics are local:" meaning that tying political to local citizen interests 

The SCPR figures that Republican Larry Dordea lost to Democrat George T. Maier in 2014 because Creighton, who has strong connections to Governor Kasich, failed to take advantage of Kasich's expected and materialized huge win over his Democratic opponent and convince Kasich to focus on creating a coattails effect for Dordea.

Creighton says that the SCPR overstates her effect on local elections.

Nonetheless, The Report stands by the assessment that Creighton could have made Larry Dordea Stark County sheriff.

So the Dordea/Creighton relationship is proof-positive that she in effect took JFK's statement to heart and apparently thought that Maier was significantly more qualified to be sheriff than Democrat Maier.

Who is sheriff of Stark County is vitally important to those of us who live in Stark County (some 380,000 of us, more or less)

Who gets elected president of the USA is just a tad or two more critically important to some 324 million Americans.

So the question is whether or not Creighton, Harold and Schuring can follow Kasich's lead and at least consider putting the welfare of the nation over the immediate fortunes of the National Republican Party?

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