HE JUST BECAME "CLERK OF COURTS," NOW HE WANTS TO BE MAYOR OF CANTON?

AMENDMENT TO BLOG (4:00 PM)

GIAVASIS & FMR SHERIFF SWANSON RESPOND TO BLOG

First, Louis Giavasis, but with a comment on not receiving my e-mai:

I have several of what I think have been "ignored" requests for information/comments from Louis and his brother.  I do not buy Louis' protestation he had not received my e-mails.

Next, former Sheriff Tim Swanson:

Finally, Canton councilman and majority leader Frank Morris:

[F]rank morris <frank_morris20@yahoo.com>  Today at 6:18 PM

To:  Martin Olson

Hi Martin,

Usually I enjoy your blog however today, not so much. 

I will admit I am one of those people leaning on Louie Giavasis to run for mayor. 

I have never really pulled any punches with you, your readers or anyone involved with government. I'm sure you'll respect my bluntness now. 

I have yet to see anything new from this current administration nor have I heard of any plans for the future. 

All I have seen is an administration moving forward on project started by the previous administration.

I have worked on numerous projects with Lou and yes have battled with Lou. Lou has a vision and a working knowledge of government. 

He will run for mayor because he loves the city, unlike Bernabei who ran because he hated Healy.

I have nothing but respect for you and your opinion however your blog read like a Repository editorial. 

I really wish you the best and would strongly encourage you to find a few new inside sources for the real truth.

Respectfully,

Frank Morris
Majority Leader   
Canton City Council

ORIGINAL BLOG

The underlying graphic (i.e. that beneath the superimposed heart outline and accompanying "self-love' graphic) I am told was posted by Stark County clerk of courts Louis Giavasis on his Facebook (FB) page.  (I am told that the posting was subsequently taken down)

This posting came after Giavasis recently bought a home on 33rd Street NW, Canton, Ohio, to wit:

As if Canton doesn't have enough problems, no?

Louis P. Giavasis as mayor of Canton might even be worse than those eight years that Canton suffered under William J. Healy, II.

Implicit in this Giavasis self-promotion more than two years out from the next Canton mayoralty race is a likely FB follow on, to wit:  "I alone can fix Canton's problems."

Of course, we have heard that phrase before.

It could be that Giavasis is still smarting from being rejected in the early days of the Healy administration, (as I best recall Giavasis' account to me) as a candidate for service director.

That post went to current "independent" mayor Thomas Bernabei.

Hmm?

The only hope that the Healy administration had for turning Canton around from decades of decline was to embrace Bernabei's leadership and stand back in support.

Well, that was never going to happen.

Healy's ego being what it is, after being subjected to lecture after lecture after lecture by Bernabei on effective, efficient and enduring leadership techniques and strategies, could brook no more.

He fired Bernabei after his only being service director and chief of staff for a year.

With the Bernabei firing went any hope that the decades of Canton decline would be reversed under Healy.

Only with Bernabei departing the Stark County Democratic Party in May, 2015 (which gave Cantonians eight years of  Healy) and his becoming a political independent did Canton achieve a modality of a possible recovery on his being elected mayor in November, 2015.

Undoubtedly, Louis, along with brother and Dems' chair Phil, were arm-in-arm in shepherding Stark's "organized" Democratic Party's fight to deprive Bernabei the right to run for mayor and derivatively Cantonians need to have high quality executive leadership.

But make no mistake about it, even with the talented and driven Bernabei at the helm, it is likely that he at age 70, more or less, is unlikely to be able to have enough time to truly get Canton headed in the right direction.

Maybe Bernabei will be mayor one more term.  I think anything more than that is unlikely.

So it is imperative that Canton's leadership be thinking of capable replacement.

To The Stark County Political Report, in Ward 8 councilman Edmond Mack, is a capable person.

Mack on being made a partner in Lee Plakas' law firm initially decided to not seek re-election as councilman.

To their credit; Plakas, council president Allen Schulman and the mayor himself have assessed that it is critically necessary that a new generation of Canton leadership needs to be developed and that Mack, for one, fits the bill.

Note:  The SCPR asked Councilman Mack why he changed his mind about running for re-election. After he volunteered to provide a "thoughtful" and presumably more detailed explanation to The Report's inquiry, he failed to do so until after the publication of this blog (LINK).

Thankfully, Mack, being one of a few Canton city councilpersons with step-up leadership ability, tells me that he has acceded to the political/governance wisdom of Plakas, Schulman and Bernabei and has agreed to stay on council as a "de facto" (my assessment; not his) leader of council in a "check and balance" sort of way in the relationship between Canton council and the Bernabei administration.

At the same time, Mack will in functioning as a liaison sort of way will gain a perspective of the executive function of Canton city government that make him equipped to perhaps be a successor mayor to Thomas Bernabei.

For the sake of competition of ideas, administrative practices, programs and policies, hopefully, between now and the time that Bernabei is unable to continue as mayor; other persons with political/governance experience/maturity will surface.

But Louis P. Giavasis:  no-way!

While the SCPR has written that he was the lead in a pretty effective Plain Township governance model (as one of three trustees) for the period 1992 through 2015, I think I know Louis well enough in the sense of his total capabilities factoring in the highly partisan political profile which I think diminishes him and thereby prompting me to say that he would as a potential mayor be a step down and a return of the Healy days.

My view is that Giavasis became clerk of court through the political machinations of Louis, his brother Phil (chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party) and the party apparatus itself.

With Louis P. Giavasis as mayor, I think it would be "Katie, bar the door" in terms of political patronage returning in full bore at Canton city hall.

So who are these "dozens of people" who think Giavasis should run for mayor of Canton?

I posed that very question to Louis, to wit:

Martin Olson <tramols@att.net>  Jun 30 at 10:26 AM

To:   Lou Giavasis

Louis,

Please identify for the SCPR names of persons 
who you claim are urging you to run for mayor of Canton?

Thank you,

Martin Olson
SCPR
tramols@att.net
330 430 9378

And the answer?

No answer.

Who is surprised by the non-answer?

It is obvious to me that Louis P. Giavasis is a transparent government official if he perceives it to be in his personal political interest to be so.

The whole "dozens of people" self-love assertion by Giavasis is a ego run amok.

Perhaps even:  FAKE NEWS?

Why won't Giavasis supply the names of the "dozens of people" who he says he has asked him to run for mayor of Canton?

What does he have to hide?

Canton had enough of the egotism thing with William J. Healy, II.

The Hall of Fame city does not want to go down that road again with Louis P. Giavasis!