INCUMBENTS/CANDIDATES AVOIDING PUBLIC FORUMS: ARE THEY WORTHY OF YOUR VOTE?

(BASE HEAD/BYLINE FROM "POLITICO")

"Running Scared" is the only way one can fairly describe the way many incumbents/candidates are campaigning across the nation, the state of Ohio and indeed Stark County in this election cycle.

And for the most part, they seem to be Republicans who are seeking to avoid that political albatross named Donald J. Trump being hung around their collective necks as they get out into the arena of public discourse.

It appears that we have two key "avoiders-in-chief" running for Congress in districts that include Stark County; namely, incumbent 7th Congressional District Republican Gibbs and aspirant Republican candidate (the 16th Congressional District) Anthony Gonzalez.

One local Republican who has a lot of political connections and experience suggests to The Stark County Political Report that Gibbs and Gonzalez likely are being managed by the Republican Congressional Caucus to stay out of public limelight in the sense of having to answer the incisive questioning of constituents or would-be constituents and the media.

One might call avoiding groupings of voters as being"smart" politics.  On the other hand, one might deem the avoidance of the public forums as a way to dodge answering questions on issues that they have no "real" or "defensible" answer for which causes them embarrassment and perhaps some votes.

Two (the 7th and the 16th) of three districts that Stark County is a part of (the 13th which only includes a small slice of Stark in the Alliance area) are highly gerrymandered  Republican which prompted a recent lawsuit challenging the fairness of how the districts were put together at the beginning of the current decade as part of the U.S. Constitutional mandate that congressional districts be reapportioned every 10 years.

Recently, a spate of congressional Republicans sought to and were granted the right to intervene in the lawsuit including Congressman Gibbs, to wit:

So not only is Bob Gibbs hiding from a cross section of 7th District voters (he does appear in carefully staged and managed events) he in joining the lawsuit confirms that he is for "unfairness" to how districts are drawn up (in the popular language sense called "gerrymandering") so that as in his case the district, using President Trump's oft used term is rigged" to ensure that he is highly likely to be re-elected.

Republican elected officials and candidates often portray themselves as being in favor of competition (e.g. "free trade" and "the marketplace') but betray themselves in supporting the President's recent initiative on tariffs and programs and policies which many think amount to nothing more than corporate welfare.

On the gerrymandering issue, Republicans rejoin that "organized Democrats" if given the opportunity would do the same.

And, the SCPR thinks and historical evidence supports that rejoinder.

The Report's answer to both is that the practice is antithetical to a thriving democratic-republican and to the extent that either political party puts "party" (and individual candidates' political fate) over the "country's" interest in having a competitive, accountable, transparent and accessible government; they are insidiously undermining the fundamental structure of governance and thereby demoralize the electorate to the point of thinking that individual votes do not matter.

Many of the same politicians like to wrap themselves in the American flag, but the reality of their conduct is to eat away of what make the American way of governance superior to all other forms of government.

Stark County has two politicos who have a history of endorsing gerrymandering as a tool they favor the use of in maintaining personal/political party dominance in control.

One is current state Republican Party chair Jane Timken and the other is former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.

Timken a little over a year ago told a Cleveland City Club audience that "elections have consequences."  Maier was one of Ohio former political strongman Vern Rife's top political operatives when Maier was a part (early 1990s to lage 1990s)  of the Stark County delegation to the Ohio General Assembly.

To boot, this blogger has heard Maier rage in anger that Republican Megan Todaro had the temerity to run against him for Massillon clerk of courts back in 2005.

My God!  How much does one have to win by to feel secure?

You talk about a "wake up call" about the lack of  basic "the right to compete" democratic-republican political values on the part of Maier; such was the message this blogger took out of his rant against Todaro.

In the SCPR's book, the likes of Timken and Maier are very dangerous people to the viability of our democratic-republican structure of government going forward.

And it appears that Gibbs and Gonzalez have adopted their model of "stacking the 'political, government structure deck," in their personal political and political party's favor in letting the Republican Congressional Caucus dictate to them the context of their interaction with the voting public.

The Gonzalez campaign likes to portray him has a rough and tumble Ohio State and Indianapolis Colts football player who has the air of intellectual prowess that connotes that he is his own man to wit:

After graduating from St. Ignatius High School, it was off to Ohio State University. There, I was fortunate to earn a scholarship as a wide receiver playing for one of my mentors, Jim Tressel. On and off the field, we had many great successes — two Big Ten championships and an undefeated record against “That Team Up North” — but most importantly, it was from Coach Tressel that I learned the team motto, a motto that has stayed with me for my entire life. “With Tradition Comes Responsibility.” 

…

After spending a lifetime in and around Northeast Ohio, and 5 years in the NFL, it was off to Stanford University where I earned my MBA … .

That Gonzalez with his imagery as background would allow the Republican Congressional Caucus to dictate to him that he avoid public forums might indicate to voters that he is not what he implies via the aforementioned imagery that he is.

Hmm?  "With Tradition Comes Responsibility:" Is it responsible for him to avoid the collective public in a direct context or via doing "unfiltered" interviews with straight talking media.

The SCPR thinks not.

Gonzalez was accountable to Coach Tressel and The Ohio State University because the coach and university administration had him under their collective thumbs.

It appears that when the accountability factor is diffuse (i.e. the voters, the taxpayers, et cetera), then Gonzalez, Gibbs and the Republican Congressional Caucus (and one can say the same for Democrats similarly situated) feel unaccountable to be responsible to their respective publics whom they have an obligation to answer to.

Let Gonzalez pontificate about being responsible when there is no specific, direct line to his district's public.

This Report has asked the Gonzalez and Gibbs campaigns on several occasions for an opportunity to do one-on-one interviews and/or get access to public Q&A forums to the highly limited degree that either camp is willing to participate in.

None of the requests have been responded to.

Obviously such is highly irresponsible when it comes to the taxpaying public being fully informed on the candidates' leadership qualities and their positions on the issues.

Voters need to take a hard look at this guy and make a determination as to whether or not he will put the interests of 16th Congressional District constituents and indeed the American electorate itself over those of the Republican Congressional Caucus and his personal fate as a congressman going forward.

The SCPR views these people and their ilk (Democrat or Republican) as distanced politicians as barriers to America having an 'informed' electorate.

They and their handlers create images of who they are by which images are highly, highly, highly likely to be "fake" and bear little resemblance to the real person.

One has to wonder how long our democratic-republican structure can stand in the face of unrestrained self-serving attacks/conduct by the likes of Gibbs, Gonzalez, Timken and Maier?

Right now Democrats Ken Harbaugh (the 7th, "country over party") and Susan Moran Palmer (the 16th) stand out as examples of politicians who are out in public group settings fielding questions both friendly and hostile.

Of course, both are political underdogs in highly Republican-candidate-favored districts and therefore they have no alternative but to take advantage of every public opportunity that they muster up.

But if elected, will either maintain an "openness" presentation?

Both "appear" to be genuinely committed to fostering connection between the governors and the governed.

But it is interesting how self-interest takes over with politicians.

That is why many if not most of them disgust the general public.

If Palmer and or Harbaugh are elected on November 6th, the SCPR will continue to hold "the feet of both 'to the fire."'

Unchecked, politicians of both political parties are fully capable of forgetting where they came from and whom they are ultimately accountable to.

This election presents a powerful opportunity for the voting public to make it clear to all candidates who want to run away and hide from the public that the phenomenon in and of itself might well cost them a vote regardless of the political affiliation of the voter.