JOE MARTUCCIO: OFF & RUNNING FOR CANTON CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT!

On November  l6, 2018 Canton City Council president Allen Schulman passed away.

Canton government lost a person who fit ideally as council president.

This past Saturday a memorial service for the general public was held at the Canton Cultural Center for the Arts.

On Saturday this blogger (in Hawaii for much of January, February and March) telephoned recently retired  Canton law director Joe Martuccio to learn whether or not he was going to actually file to seek to be Schulman's successor.

Martuccio had just returned from Allen's memorial service and spoke with heavy heart as he and this blogger (who goes back to the 1970s in knowing Allen) reminisced with Joe about our times connecting with Allen in (as a pre-eminent trial attorney) and out of government (as council president) over those years.

Of course there is only one Allen Schulman and whomever between the Democratic candidates (Martuccio and William Sherer, II) in the May 7, 2019 Democratic Primary election will have his own style.

Undoubtedly, either will try to model themselves after Schulman.

In the Saturday conversation with Martuccio confirmed with the SCPR that he will indeed file petitions to run in the primary election.

Whomever wins the Democratic primary will be the next Canton City Council president.  An "independent" candidate could file to run, but the SCPR cannot imagine anyone having the political clout as independent to defeat either Sherer or Martuccio.

Between now and at least until December 31, 2019, William V. Sherer, II will serve as council president having been selected by the Canton members of the Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee on December 17, 2018.

If Sherer loses to Martuccio in May, he could resign and undoubtedly the Dems would appoint Martuccio council president.

Martuccio initially indicated he was going to contest for the council president position in the December 17th central committee session, but withdrew in a December 15th letter to eligible to vote precinct committee members announcing this withdrawal.

His reason for withdrawing?

Because he did not want to put the 29 eligible voters in the position to having to choose, many of whom, undoubtedly, would be pleased to have either as the new council president.

Having political party members select between Sherer and Martuccio could well cause a ripple of discontent among those who supported the losing candidate.

It is quite another thing to put the question to the voters of Canton.

Citizens are not likely to make political calculations in deciding which of the two to vote for.

It is anybody's guess who would have won had Martuccio stayed in the central committee selection process.

Of course, the SCPR would have liked to see a competition at the central committee phase of the council president replacement process.

The results either way would have made for good blogging.

Sherer pushed hard to win at the central committee level whereas Martuccio would have taken a low profile in his effort.

It would be interesting to see which method would turn out to be the most effective with the central committee members (many of whom are politically skilled and sophisticated).

The SCPR's hunch is that Sherer, II and his being one of the foremost labor leaders in Stark County with a say in union campaign financing and producing union connected campaign workers would not be lost on those central committee members who are elected officials with aspirations to remain elected officials or those desirous of becoming elected officials.

From a political standpoint, it was probably wise for Martuccio to side-step the central committee process.

He now has the high ground of being a political peacemaker.

Moreover, he has been before the Canton voters going back a number of elections whereas Sherer, II has never run for political office before.

The SCPR believes that Sherer, II will have a tall order in putting together a winning campaign in vying with Martuccio.

Stay tuned!