DO SOME GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TAKE THEMSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY?

Last week a story broke about now resigned/retired Perry Township Police Chief Tim Escola being caught on camera kissing subordinate officer Janine England during a return trip from Cincinnati transporting a prisoner back to Perry Township.

Early on, The Canton Repository published a story suggesting that Escola/England may have been setup.

A highly reliable source of the SCPR contacted yours truly with information to the effect that the talk was rampant among local government/law enforcement types that if there was a set up, Perry trustee Anna Capaldi was believed to be somehow involved.

Another very good source contacted the SCPR and refined the information from that source's perspective that "yes, he believed based on information he was getting that Calpaldi was a factor in outing the video episode but not in a set up."

What was believed to have happened, according to this source, was that under a regular monthly review by Perry Township police officers (on June 20th) of cruiser videos, the "kissing scene" between Escola and England was discovered.

Moreover, the source continued, the discovering officer(s) believed that Capaldi had enough of a personal interest in the subjects/subject matter of the video to be counted on to bring the matter to an accounting.

When the SCPR first broke with this story on July 3, yours truly received a call from Trustee Capaldi.

One of the points made by Capaldi, which the SCPR now picks up on, is her protestation that she always tells the truth. The clear implication of her self-serving attestation was that all the SCPR needed to do was call her and she would have told all, but that in this case there was nothing to tell.

Yours truly has been doing this blog long enough to know that the implied Capaldi message is utter nonsense from her or any other public official/figure under scrutiny.

The SCPR has been working with one of the sources for this story since March, 2008 which was the beginning of the Stark County Political Report. To date, the source has not been wrong on the essence of the information passed on. Moreover, the second source has been essentially correct on inside information he has passed on.

The SCPR is not generally in the business of calling Capaldi or any other public official or public figure a liar. And yours truly is not about to start with Capaldi.

Amazingly, Trustee Capaldi put the matter of her own veracity in question as virtually the first thing out of her mouth on contacting the SCPR. Yours truly's life experience tells him that when anyone (not just Capaldi) initiates imperative, categorical statements (i.e. I do not lie), then one should think about doubling down and look for provable instances to debunk the self-serving absolutism.

Most human beings understand (regrettably) that all people lie here and there over the course of a life. The SCPR certainly understands this, but tries not to engage is a "gotcha-esque" blogging.

It is never a question of whether or not a person lies sometime in his/her life. The proper question is whether or not a person is generally credible.

What Ms. Capaldi needs to learn is that people do have different perspectives on the same conversations heard and conduct observed. Accordingly, one person's lie is another person's "it's not what you think it is."

As soon as Trustee Capaldi called, yours truly updated the original statement with the core of her response and, indeed, offered her access to the SCPR to make a response "in her own words." But no response.

Clearly, whether or not Trustee Capaldi had a role in the Escola/England episode is a matter of opinion.

In America, citizens are entitled to take information they have, to ruminate on it and form an opinion and to express that opinion.

Public officials/figures are not fond of the public's right, but the exercise of that right is a cornerstone of accountability in our democracy.

The general public, then, can decide whom to believe.

DID A PERRY TOWNSHIP OFFICIAL HAVE A HAND IN SETTING UP FORMER CHIEF TIM ESCOLA?

UPDATE: JULY 3, 2009 AT 12:36 A.M.

Trustee Capaldi contacted the SCPR minutes ago and stated that The Report's source has his information wrong on the alleged involvement of Capaldi in events leading up to the resignation of Police Chief Tim Escola.

The SCPR checked again with the source prior to returning Capaldi's call and the source was adamant that there are multiple sources making this point.

Yours truly offered Trustee Capaldi the opportunity to respond to this blog in her own words. However, she is traveling and does not have facilities to generate her response. Because she is traveling, she has not read the blog itself and therefore was relying on a second hand account of the blog in conversing with yours truly.

Ms. Capaldi complained that the SCPR had not contacted her prior to posting the blog.

The SCPR policy on contacting principals in stories is that generally that no contact is made because The Report checks and rechecks with sources prior to posting a blog and only uses sources who have established that they are reliable. Many, if not all, stories that the SCPR writes are denied by principals and the SCPR does not seek permission to publish from principals because of obvious self-interest factors which is clearly understandable.

As stated above, after a story is published, principals are given unfettered access (except for personal attacks) to state their side of the story on, in the opinion of some "non-story."

Moreover, if a source proves to be wrong on a given post, then, once such is established in the mind of yours truly, the SCPR will write a follow up blog saying so and needless to say will re-evaluate downward the reliability of the source.

ORIGINAL POST
The SCPR has learned that former Perry Township police chief Tim Escola may have been setup by a Perry Township official (in the instrumental sense of "setup;" in other words, the driving force behind) to be caught on camera in amorous conduct with subordinate officer Janine England on a trip the pair made to Cincinnati in early June to pick up a prisoner.

Who is the SCPR's source (a high level Stark County official backed up by at least two others) alleging the Perry official to be?

Perry Township trustee Anna Capaldi, that's who.

If true, the allegation is shocking. Moreover, it does not make sense. Capaldi is reported to have been the moving force behind Escola getting the job in the first place. Moreover, another source says that Capaldi regularly, over the years since he has been chief, has extolled Escola's performance.

The Repository printed a story on the matter suggesting the possibility of a set up last evening but did not mention Capaldi (or any specific individual) as a person being investigated. However, The Rep does report Escola's attorney Craig Conley as saying:

“Mr. Escola expects appropriate law-enforcement agencies to investigate and, if merited, criminal charges will be brought against that culprit as well.”

In a June 30 Repository story, Capaldi is quoted thusly:

"When something happens out of character, it certainly is a surprise, We're disappointed."

Capaldi quotes from Massillon Independent stories on the Escola/England matter include:

“We can’t do anything about something we don’t know about,I was very, very shocked when I was made aware of the situation.”

“I don’t know how it could be. Could it be somebody inside the department? I don’t know. It just wish it had been handled better. It was wrong. ,,, "

Hmmm?

A surprise?

If the setup charge is true, it is unclear why the plan was put together and how it was pulled off.

If Trustee Capaldi is behind the plot, did she do it alone? Probably not.

The SCPR wrote earlier in the week that all was not right with this whole matter. The trustees moved very quickly through this process and obviously just wanted it to go away post haste.

Now the rest of the story is starting to unfold.

Calpaldi is thought to be a rising star (one of the few) in the Stark County Republican Party and has be rumored as running against Democratic commissioner Todd Bosley or Democratic county auditor Kim Perez.

Yours truly still has to pinch himself to believe that Byzantine operation involving Trustee Capaldi is about to unravel.