REP'S GAUGER: TRASH JOURNALISM, HERMAN - HEALY "MINISTER OF INFORMATION" TEAM UP TO UNDERMINE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN CANTON'S FIREFIGHTERS?

 UPDATE:  01/12/2010

REFERENCE TO GAUGER PIECEl


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ORIGINAL POST

Executive Editor of The Repository Jeff Gauger of The Repository reached a new low on Sunday.

He joined in on the Healy administration to trash Canton's firefighters.

Here is a man, who at the beginning of the Boccieri/Schuring race, for 16th district congressman, got on his "journalistic high horse" and pontificated how he was going to see to that the public discussion on the race be kept civil and elevated.

Hmm?

So in his Sunday "blog" (all bloggers should be insulted to be in the company of Gauger), he takes the Healy administration's "behind the scenes" line that some, if not most,  of Canton's firefighters are lazy goldbrickers.

And, if you read the the Gauger blog closely, you would think that Station 10 is a robust, up-and-running fire station.

But such is not the case.

So where does Gauger's association with Herman come in?

Well, the SCPR asked Herman about activity at Station 10 because The Report had been hearing that Station 10 was virtually shut down.

Here is Herman's response to the SCPR:

Hmm?

Sounds like Station is fully functioning, doesn't it?  So the SCPR went to work to get other perspectives.

One such other view is from a anonymous (for obvious reasons) Canton firefighter.

Here is what he has to say in response.

HERMAN POINT ONE:   Temporary close?


RESPONSE:

The SCPR's source quotes a former fire chief as once having said during a Creighton administration staffing problem, to wit:  "The station is not closed, it is just not open today."

When yours truly called the Canton Fire Department yesterday, that is essentially the answer that was given to the question of whether or not the station was open.

The firefighter then went on to describe how Station 10 was closed when the 15 firefighter cadets were let go, then reopened when the 15 returned and then closed again when the 28 were laid off in December.

Herman's "temporary" notwithstanding and Gauger's "implied" it open and running and "the place to be for goldbricking wannabes,"  is a case of semantics so says the SCPR's firefighter source.

If the station is closed, it is closed he says.  Call it temporary or whatever you want, but the result at the end of the day, in fact all days since the 28 were laid off is that it has been closed.

Chief Rich of the Canton Fire Department had a letter to the editor in The Rep today.

Some of his comments confirm the SCPR's firefighter source:

"Station 10 was closed for more than two months in 2009 due to a lack of manpower," he says.

It also puts Herman's "temporary" in the "Spin Zone" which is characteristic of Herman as Healy's communications director.

HERMAN POINT TWO:  Safety (implied) of Station 10's public not affected when the station is closed?


RESPONSE:

"When a call comes in for 10's district in the farthest areas, it takes Truck 9, Engine 6 and Engine 4 twice as long to get to the call as it would for Engine 10.  Fire doubles every minute.  The brain dies if without oxygen 6 minutes.  It takes Truck 9 over 6 minutes to get to Market and 55th N from the time of the call." (anonymous firefighter)

HERMAN POINT THREE:  A new configuration is in the works for Station 10?


RESPONSE:

The SCPR's firefighter source says that Station 10 has been a combo station since early 2009.  "What is this conversion talk (paraphrase)," he says.

The Report takes the Herman "will" to be an exercise to put the best face possible (PR spin) on a bad situation that clearly affects Canton's public safety.

GAUGER POINT:  Canton has goldbricking, long term firefighters who have found a haven at Station 10 and will be among the buyouts allowing Canton to get 20 of 28 positions back?


RESPONSE:

First from Chief Rich in his letter to the editor:

Second, from the SCPR's firefighter source:

Station 10 has a diverse assigned crew ranging in seniority from  12 years on the job to over 20 years.

As far as I know, not a single person from Station 10 is taking the buy outs (if [the proposed contract between Canton and the CPPA] ratified) as most of them do not have the amount of time or age to retire.

The statement made by the Repository [Editor Gauger] is uneducated and unfounded. A simple call to the Fire Administration would have made it clear that there is no one station in the City of Canton that is used to "Hide "the elderly employees.

All of the fire personnel work the exact same, even the officers, at an emergency scene.

In the opinion of the SCPR Herman is merely doing his job of "spinning for Healy.  And he does it very well.  Healy couldn't get from day to day without Adam Herman.  All William J. Healy, II cares about is his image - Canton be damned!

In the opinion of the SCPR Executive Editor Jeff Gauger is a blight on competent journalism.  As demonstrated by this blog written by yours truly, bloggers can do thorough work on a given topic.

In writing his Sunday piece insofar as it deals with the Station 10 matter, it is an insult to yours truly that Gauger calls himself a blogger.

It is obvious that the SCPR has far higher journalistic standards than a man that his spent his entire adult life in journalism.

The Stark County reading public now knows that everything that Jeff Gauger writes is highly suspect!!!

IS CANTON CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT ALLEN SCHULMAN "SCAPEGOATING" COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR ADAM HERMAN?

A significant part of last night Canton City Council meeting was Council president Allen Schulman's grilling of Mayor Healy on his need for a communications director.

Here is Schulman grilling on video.

As yours truly was leaving the meeting last night, I heard "Martin" uttered from the distance.  Turning to see who had called for me, lo and behold it was Adam Herman, Mayor William J. Healy, II's communications director.

It soon became obvious that Director Herman was not happy with Schulman singling him out.

"You know," he said "there are other departments with employees that are similar in significance to me.  Why is Schulman's focus on me?"

To which, yours truly retorted:  "You have a good point and I am the guy to make good points to."

The Healy top-level administration thinks that the SCPR is dead set against the mayor.  Actually, the opposite is true.  The analyzing and critiquing is designed to prod the administration into doing better.  Healy is the mayor of Canton, like it or not, and everyone should be pushing him to become a better mayor.

If Healy can control his arrogance and demonstrate that he can work with others and take hard questions, governmental and political, and be responsive, and, above all, demonstrate that he has good, workable ideas to bring the city of Canton out of its funk, then The Report is open to revising his take on Healy et al.

Healy has been two years in creating a negative impression; it is likely to take that amount of time - perhaps longer - to reverse the impression.  Should Healy be of a mind to change himself, there is hope.  But he better get cracking because in a little over a year the 2011 Democratic primary will be upon us and Healy will have to had done enough by then to have any chance at all of surviving the primary.

Back to Adam Herman and the communications director job.

Herman does have a good point.  He appears to have been made the "poster child" of everything that Schulman and others do not like about Healy and his close-in staff and cabinet. 

Is it fair for Schulman and other critics to tie Herman's job to the $4.5 million projected city deficit for 2010?  Are there jobs in other departments that merit the same scrutiny that the communications director job has gotten?

Perhaps, Canton does need to eliminate the communications director job, but it should not be just that job.  There have to be others spread out over Canton's 35 departments of government.  If there were 15 such jobs (at a total cost of about $70,000 per), you would have $1 million in savings.

There was much talk about shared sacrifice at last night's Council meeting.  The SCPR gets the idea that there is an Animal Farm-esque (remember:  "more than equal") quality about the cuts that are going on.

There is some evidence that the firefighters are among the "less equals" with the Healy administration.  Healy never really answered Schulman's question on whether or not the director of communications job is essential.  Of course, everyone knows that firefighting and police jobs are essential.

It is obvious that there is a lot of political infighting going on among Canton city employees over who gets cut or the size of pay cuts or the number of furlough days.  And, the elected officials are doing a lot of demagoguing the "cuts" issue.

Schulman is, in the opinion of the SCPR, the brightest of all of Canton's Council.  Accordingly, he has to fully understand that he was grandstanding - on Herman - as a play to the Canton firefighters assembled at last night's meeting. He did seek to tamp down the raucous response of the safety forces, but he had achieved the desired reaction.  Kind of like asking the "inadmissible question," getting a response, and then having the judge to tell the jury to disregard, no?

Having said the "demagoguing" thing, the SCPR will say that Schulman has, over the years, been highly attentive to the voice of organized labor, while Mayor Healy has not.

So what is the SCPR position the director of communications job?

If the effort is to embarrass Healy and single out Herman, then the matter should be dropped.  All a move like this would accomplish would be to fan the fires of mutual animosity that now engulf City Council and Mayor Healy.  Yes, there would be some savings to be applied to saving a firefighter job or two; however, the "intangible" cost in terms of damaged relationships may not be a good trade off.

If Herman's fate is meted out to similarly situated employees (i.e. useful, but not essential) in other departments and the city can save a half-millon, a million or more, then by all means make the cuts.

Above all, scapegoating Adam Herman in his capacity of being the communications director will not help Canton through this financial crisis!

HEALY'S PROPAGANDA PIPELINE TO STARK COUNTY? THE CANTON REPOSITORY EDITORIAL BOARD!

Somehow Mayor William J. Healy, II has gained the confidence of The Repository Editorial Board.

When things are not going well for Healy and he needs to explain his actions to the public or he needs to prime the positive publicity pump, he has his communications director Adam Herman go into action with The Rep.

An example from a July 12th editorial by Executive Editor Jeff Gauger:\

Healy asked Tuesday to meet with The Repository’s editorial board to discuss annexation. In the meeting later that day, Healy expressed reservations about whether the annexation agreement was good for Canton, saying the city might give up too much or get too little. He said a “cost-benefit analysis” was needed to determine whether the city should proceed.

One can imagine the following conversation going down on the eight floor at Canton City Hall.

"Adam, Adam!" (Adam Herman, Healy's communications director and closest confidant)

"Yes, Mayor, what is it?"

"Call Gauger"

"Why, boss, why?"

"Cause we need to get the word out how I am one up on Bill Smuckler."

"What word?"

"Adam, I am surprised. You ask - what word. You know, you know."

"I was just kidding, boss. There isn't a thought that enters your mind that doesn't hit me. You know we have a "wireless relationship" - instant communication." "Yeah, your right. We know that Bill Smuckler is trying to upset your re-election apple cart. And your annexation plan is brilliant, simply brilliant."

"Yeah, Adam and I came up with it on my very own (snicker, snicker, snicker). And they call Sam Sliman 'Darth Vader to the townships'"

"Okay, boss, I'll give 'good ole Jeffy boy' a call. He's always good to make The Rep available - on call - to get our message out."

"Yeah, Adam, with Martin Olson at the Stark County Political Report telling it like it is with my administration, we have done good counteracting him by greasing Stark's only countywide newspaper.

You're right boss, but I have work to do with Olson.

What's that Adam?

"I need to find the leaks that we have here on the eight floor. It's frustrating. Olson keeps coming up with story after story that don't make us look too good."

"Frankly, Adam (Healy, sneering) I don't worry about Olson and his Stark County Political Report. He can take his report and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. We got The Rep folks right where we want them - at a beck and call."

"You're right again, boss. Take Olson's story about your new safety director. What a stroke of genius - that appointment. Wow, how do you do it! Ream will do nothing but fortify our good relationship with The Repository. Just outstanding, boss; simply outstanding. How do you come up with these ideas"

Well, Adam, thanks. But you know where my genius comes from. After all I didn't go to the New York Stern School of Business for nothing. And throw Jack DeSario in there too. DeSario has to be one of the very best political consutants in the US of A as Archie Bunker says.

"You know, boss. You are too good for Canton, Ohio. You have skills that could help the nation in these times of trouble."

"Aw shucks, Adam. What you say is true. But Canton needs me. You make me blush. Well, you know before Boccieri decided to run for the 16th district congressional seat the Democratic National Congressional Caucus offered to finance a Healy campaign to the tune of $1 million cool smackeroos. Did you know that Adam?"

"Oh yeah, boss. I hear that little ditty in my sleep. You gotta remember, we're wireless!"