THE "FOX & HOUND" EPIC BATTLE OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN NORTH CANTON GOV'T?

BREAKING NEWS!

NORTH CANTON CITIZEN ACTIVIST

CHUCK OSBORNE 

SUES NORTH CANTON OVER FORMATION OF WATER BOARD

PARTIAL EXTRACT FROM SCENE OF DISNEY'S "THE FOX & HOUND"

FOR EMPHASIZING GRAPHICALLY  
ANTAGONISTIC ATTITUDE FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES

Back on July 30, 2015, The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report) published a blog (LINK) in which played off an interpretation of Disney's "The Fox and the Hound" (1981) which understands the animation to be about a fox seeking hound who began as "best friends" as pups but later as adults became bitter enemies as exemplified in the graphic presented above.

In the 2015 blog, Fox was portrayed as being the "Hound" dogging North Canton civic activists.

In this blog, Citizen Chuck Osborne takes on the mantle of "hounding" Law Director Fox and many of North Canton's council members to respect democratic-republican values of government accountability, accessibility, communicativeness, transparency and like.

Here is a sampling of litigation between Osborne and North Canton:

The discord between Fox and Osborne is once again at "fever pitch" with the filing of a lawsuit yesterday by Osborne against North Canton government over the formation by North Canton Council of a water board.

Before filing the lawsuit, Osborne sent out an e-mail (mid-April) to a group of folks describing Fox's handling of a North Canton Planning Commission meeting which piqued the interest of the SCPR and prompted The Report to seek a response from Law Director Fox.

Osborne's e-mail:

And here is a copy of a SCPR e-mail to Director Fox on April 16th asking questions about the Osborne e-mail.



It should surprise nobody that Fox has not responded to the SCPR's questions.

Apparently, he believes and most North Canton council members seem to support him in that belief that he is not accountable to the North Canton public.

While The Report would never characterize the relationship of North Canton law director Tim Fox and civic activist Osborne (active in North Canton politics at least from the late 1990s and continuing to this day) as ever being "best friends" even in a political context, it does seem fair to characterize the relationship (at least in the beginning) from Osborne's standpoint as being an attempt to be a civil  "check and balance" factor on North Canton government

Fox initially (since his hire in September, 2012) likely was presumed by Osborne as being citizen friendly in the sense of being committed to democratic-republican fundamental values.

It did not take Osborne long to detect that presuming Fox to be citizen enhancing and friendly to be a misjudgment.

It seems that the antagonistic adversarial relationship between Fox and Osborne (as well as with other North Canton civic activists) accelerated quickly off the September, 2012 Fox North Canton Council appointment on Osborne putting together a referendum initiative providing North Canton's registered voters with an opportunity to weigh-in on a council move to make council members eligible for having North Canton government pay health care insurance premiums for a certain class of council members.

And, wow! did the citizens express their sentiments, to wit:

Notwithstanding the citizens speaking loudly and clearly it appears that there was a collusion between the law director and some of council members for him to issue an opinion providing legal justification for qualifying for insurance premium payment benefits under council legislation, and, moreover, for Law Director Fox to file declaratory judgement litigation to have the Stark County Court of Common Pleas (Judge John Haas) to invalidate the November, 2012 vote.

Haas did Fox/council's bidding and overturned the overwhelming vote of the electors of North Canton and he was affirmed by Ohio's Fifth District Court of Appeals which sits in Canton.  

Here is a LINK for readers to get up to speed on the healthcare issue.

Nonetheless, even council members understood the message sent in the November, 2012 vote to them by voters.

One by one, those who took advantage of their own collective legislation dropped the coverage and returned to the North Canton treasury the value of payments made for them by North Canton government.

So Fox and Osborne were somewhat playful/more or less friendly pups for only a very, very, very short timespan.

As we all know from life's experience,  for animals and, indeed, human beings to grow from the naivety of childhood/youth that "we can get along, if not 'best of friends,"' to "you know what, I now realize that we were born to be carnivore-esque enemies and so I will now, as an adult, conform to what  I was destined to be from my birth."

The notion that there can be a win-win relationship is left to the "Good Book" and not to "here and now" animal/human relationships, to wit:

Accordingly, Fox (who the SCPR thinks council hired for the express purpose of being antagonistic to the likes of Osborne) has, in the opinion of The Report, been and continues to be "the" leader in North Canton government's seemingly, by and large, "us" against "them" interaction model.

The most recent example of a whole string of examples that have surfaced since September, 2012 of marked combative North Canton attitude towards its "questioning" citizens is caught up in the following email that the SCPR received of Osborne (with The Report's inquiry of Fox), to wit:

In the SCPR's experience, Law Director Tim Fox is a  highly disrespectful of any who would question his legal work product for North Canton government.

To The Report, North Canton's council (except for Councilman Daryl Revoldt and maybe, to a lesser degree, Councilpersons Foltz and Peters) buys into the Fox demonstrated hostility.

The "unelected" Fox is far more imperial than elected Stark County political subdivision law directors Joe Martuccio of Canton (recently retired), Andrea Scassa of Massillon (appointed but soon to have to stand for election) and Jenn Arnold of Alliance.

Perhaps North Canton ought to change its charter to require Fox to stand for election?

But in the meantime Council needs to take Councilman Mark Cerreta's philosophy of having some backbone and rein Fox in and require him to acquire a "born again" demeanor and attitude towards those who challenge the processes of North Canton government.

It seems that anyone who differs with Fox and the group of councilpersons who appear to have adopted if not established (on Fox's hiring) the "pitched battle" mentality in relation to North Canton citizens who differ with them.

Of course, it is not just Fox and supportive council members of his seeming "beat them down" manner of governance that causes political turmoil.

Osborne sometimes, unnecessarily and counterproductively, The Report thinks, significantly contributes to the hostile environment.

But all-in-all Osborne does high quality work in keep North Canton government on its toes.

A Osborne ratcheting down of "invective,"  The Report thinks, could signal that he is ready to engage in  "effective" dialogue rather than engaging his penchant for "one upping" Fox and those council persons he views as his political/program/policy adversaries.

The SCPR is not optimistic that Osborne has a "tuning the invective down" capacity.  He has been so worked over by most of the current council members that he likely wouldn't believe what he is seeing if they were to demonstrate signs of change.

Nor does The Report think that there is a majority of council members who have the political maturity to adopt a more hospitable attitude vis-a-vis those who critique council.

Nor does The Report think Director Fox has the political maturity to take Osborne as he should be taken as a citizen doing what our democratic-republican form of government provides for as a check and balance for arbitrary government action which Fox seems to be quite accomplished at.

If Fox and his supporting council members continue their Osborne et al belligerence, then the "Fox & Friends" Battle of Civic Engagement in North Canton" will continue and the overall quality of North Canton government will take a huge hit.

In political contexts, most of us long for mature "adults in the room" to take charge.

In North Canton government processes, it seems all too many of problems between governors and the governed (especially those who question the quality of governance) are attributable to politically immature being adults in the room." 

Adults who may as children had the ability to create "best friend" relationships only to turn out as adults being people of "my way or the highway attitude," which, of course, can turn ugly in a hurry.

It will take adults committed to the biblical injunction to "come, let us reason together" to change the environment between North Canton government and its questioning citizens.

The SCPR thinks Law Director Fox is a "my way or the highway type guy" who infects most of North Canton government with that kind of thinking and demeanor and accordingly has created a vicious cycle of "tit for tat" which makes North Canton government processes unresponsive to its citizens.

Fox/North Canton council as a whole and Osborne need to embrace a "come to Jesus" moment in donning the cloak of Matthew 5:9 "Blessed be the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

And, maybe just maybe, get back to the origin of Disney's "The Fox and the Hound" and becoming "best friends" in the sense of civilly and respectfully (in a context of starting out disagreement) seeking out "win-win" positions on policies and programs of North Canton government between the governors and the governed.

Wouldn't that be somewhat like "Heaven on Earth" here and now?