SCPR 2017 ELECTION SERIES: CAN ANOTHER "INDEPENDENT" BE A DIFFERENCE MAKER IN CANTON GOV'T?

UPDATED:  MONDAY 3:00 PM

ADDED

SCPR VIDEOTAPED INTERVIEW WITH PATRICK WYATT
IN EIGHT SEGMENTS

UPDATED:  MONDAY (Correction on  identity of John Mariol contribution)

Ward 7 Councilman John Mariol's father; not the councilman

PATRICK WYATT

RUNNING 

FOR

CANTON CITY COUNCIL-AT-LARGE

(WYATT PHOTO FROM HIS CAMPAIGN WEBSITE)

One never knows what one might find buried deep in campaign finance reports.

Thursday, October 26th was the date for candidates/issues statewide to file their pre-general election campaign finance reports (CFRs).

As readers of The Stark County Political Report (SCPR) know, this blogger digs, deep, deep, deep down into the reports to find nuggets of information that might reveal a lot about the quality of a given campaign and offer a clue as to who might surprise Stark County political pundits come election day.

On Wednesday of this week the SCPR was discussing Stark County political subdivision politics with

Stark County Commissioner Janet Creighton when the candidacy of Patrick Wyatt for a Canton council-at-large seat came up in the conversation.

Of course, this conversation was one day before Wyatt along with other Stark County office seekers/issue proponents/opponents filed their respective CFRs.

Creighton expressed the hope that Wyatt will be among the victors on the November 7th general election.

On Thursday (and, by the way, a big SCPR thank you to Travis Secrest of the Stark County Board of Elections for promptly providing as a matter of a "public records request" pdf versions of the respective reports), on looking at Wyatt's report, the SCPR's observation:  "Wow, he may actually have a chance to win!"

The amount of money raised was in and of itself impressive.

However, what was equally or more impressive is the list of politically and civically prominent Cantonians who are by virtue of contributing to Wyatt's campaign are declaring their belief in Patrick Wyatt.

Wyatt is the son of highly respected former Canton police chief Thomas Wyatt.

Through October 18th, "independent" Patrick Wyatt had attracted some 150 contributors.

In addition to the biographical information set forth above and, of course, the impressive list of contributor/supporters for Wyatt, uniquely, on the SCPR what follows is a video of Wyatt articulating (in running for a Canton charter commissioner [which Cantonians rejected]) some of his vision for Canton.



In the morning of Monday, October 30th, the SCPR sat down with candidate Wyatt for a videotaped interview.

SEGMENT ONE - WHY RUN AS AN INDEPENDENT? (2:33)



SEGMENT TWO - ON HIS FATHER THOMAS, A  FORMER CANTON POLICE CHIEF (1:20)



SEGMENT THREE - LIVING THE CANTON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN (1:19)



SEGMENT FOUR - WHERE IS CANTON'S FUTURE LEADERSHIP COMING FROM? (1:34)



SEGMENT FIVE - ON ENDORSEMENTS (3:58)



SEGMENT SIX  - ON PUBLIC SAFETY & CANTON'S NEIGHBORHOODS (3:41)



SEGMENT SEVEN - WYATT'S "CORE" MESSAGE TO VOTERS (1:43)



SEGMENT EIGHT - WRAP UP OF THE INTERVIEW (1:04)



The SCPR sees Wyatt primary opponent for who takes the third seat of "three to be elected" Canton council-at-large seats being long time councilman Jimmy Baback, the son of a long time Canton council councilwoman (Mary) and a long-ago mayor of Canton (Charles).

Nothing personal (he takes it that way), but the SCPR has always seen Jimmy as a lightweight legislator who add very little if anything to the quality of Canton government.  The SCPR thinks that BUT FOR his family political pedigree James Babcock would not have seen "the light of day" as a Canton elected official.

Jimmy "dresses to the nines" and therefore might be thought of as "an empty suit" when it comes to making significant contributions to solving the many problems that Canton government is facing these days.

Jimmy's campaign finance report shows that he is a captive of  the Canton/Stark County organized labor movement.

Take a look at his CFR.



Although union support does not show up on Wyatt's CFR, the SCPR is told by two highly credible sources (one being Councilman Edmond Mack) that Wyatt has been endorsed by the Hall of Fame AFL-CIO.

Moreover,  The Report is told that the union has never endorsed an "independent" candidate for Canton council.   However, the union has been known to endorse a few Republican candidates.

Speaking of Edmond Mack (Democrat, Canton Ward 8), his name is among the contributors to Wyatt but he tells the SCPR that he also likes fellow councilman Babcock for one of the three spots.

If Mack votes for Wyatt and Babcock, that leaves out likely other Mack preferences long term councilman Bill Smuckler and Corey Minor Smith.

It appears that the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce (CRCC; Saunier/Kaminski [see lead-graphic in this blog]) is all-in with Wyatt.

Wyatt is part of the CRCC Stark County leadership development program which, as readers of the SCPR know, has not impressed The Report in the number and quality of graduates from its academies.

The SCPR sees the CRCC sponsored leadership effort (under the unspectacular directorship of Republican North Canton Ward 3 councilperson Stephanie Werren) as mostly a credential gathering exercise with its graduates gaining very little in actual leadership skills.

Wyatt may be an exception to the SCPR take on the CRCC effort.

We will not know for sure unless he is elected to council and once he develops a record on which to assess whether or not he is a council asset in Canton's effort to dig itself out of a deep, deep, deep hole created by eight years of the William J. Healy, II administration.

Of course, it was not only Healy who helped dig Canton's hole.

In fairness, one needs to go back through a number of city administrations (mostly Republican) to truly understand why Canton is in such dire financial straits today.

Canton is now digging itself out of its hole by virtue of  politically "independent" mayor Thomas Bernabei.

One thing Bernabei needs is a bevy of creative, intelligent, energetic and productive councilpersons.

It appears that Patrick Wyatt might well fill the bill.

But in being a political "independent," he has a steep hill to climb.

Even Bernabei had to fight 'tooth and nail" to get through the "everything Democratic" to be elected over Healy in 2015 notwithstanding that he had been elected law director and councilperson in his many years as a leading Canton Democrat.

Councilman Mack now says he sees Bernabei as doing an effective job in leading Canton out of its morass.  However, had it been up to Mack, Bernabei would never have become mayor of Canton.  For he and most Canton council members stood by William J. Healy, II in his quest for a third term.

In a prior version of this blog the SCPR referenced Councilman John Mariol being a contributor erroneously.  The contributor was in fact Councilman Mariol's father.

Realistically, one should be prepared to see the non-descript, ineffective Babcock re-elected.

If that happens, it means that Cantonians are more interested in partisan politics and therefore electing labeled Democrats than getting "potential" quality legislators on board.

Wyatt may not pan out.

But doesn't it make sense to elect him over Babcock who has been a part of Canton's decline?