(VIDEOS: REAM, SWANSON, McDONALD, OLIVER, MARTUCCIO & HANKE) ARE THE STARK COUNTY METRO NARCOTICS UNIT & CRIME LAB IN JEOPARDY BECAUSE OF STATE OF OHIO LOCAL GOV"T FUND CUTS? WILL OELSLAGER, HAGAN & SCHURING HEED SCOG PLEA TO GET BEHIND HB 471 & RESTORE SOME LCL GOV'T FUNDING?

UPDATE:  06/06/2012 AT 4:00 PM

Larry Dordea (Hartville chief of police and Republican Alliance city councilman-at-large) has brought to the SCPR's attention that he believes that this blog's statement as to his position (on the basis of prior conversations between The Report and Dordea) on the Stark County Crime Lab does not adequately convey his strong support for the lab.  He agrees with those who point out that if Stark County did not have the crime lab, Stark County law enforcement agencies would be greatly disadvantaged if they had to rely on the state of Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).

As is always the case with The Report, subjects of the blog get a full and complete opportunity to respond to yours truly's take on them as public figures and/or positions on issues discussed in the Stark County Political Report.

As for the Dordea/McDonald match up, the SCPR believes this race is akin to that between Republican Alex Zumbar and Democrat Ken Koher for Stark County treasurer in November, 2010.

Stark Countians will benefit, no matter who among the two is victorious in November of this year.

ORIGINAL BLOG

Watching and listening to the Stark County Council of Governments (SCOG) monthly meeting yesterday was a sobering experience as it became apparent that "the chickens are coming home to roost" in terms of real world consequences coming to Stark because the Republican dominated Ohio General Assembly voted last year to dramatically cut the state Local Government Fund (LGF) allocations to Ohio's cities, villages and townships for the biennium 2012-2013 fiscal years.

It appears to the SCPR that the cuts could undermine law enforcement efforts in Stark County.

Yesterday, the membership of SCOG voted to eliminate some $160,000 plus in annual payments to the Stark County Metropolitan Narcotics unit. While Sheriff Swanson said that the department would continue operating the unit, it is hard to believe that the loss of the SCOG funding will not diminish the units effectiveness.

Here is a sampling of SCOG's discussion of the issue featuring SCOG Chairman and Canton Safety Director Thomas Ream, Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson and Stark Narcotics head Sgt. John Oliver.



And here is the videotaped statement of Chief Deputy Sheriff (Jail Division) Mike McDonald who is also a candidate for sheriff in November against Hartville police chief and Republican Alliance city councilman-at-large Larry Dordea:



CLICK HERE to link with the Stark County Sheriff's website which explains the history, mission and composition of the unit.

SCOG members also discussed the future for SCOG's pride and joy project - the Stark County Crime Lab.  There was a whole lot of concern of where they are going to find the funding for it  beyond 2013.

So it seems to The Report that Stark County is going to have its law enforcement and criminal justice system adversely affected by the state cuts  notwithstanding the fact that Stark Countians voted to approve a 0.5% sales tax in November, 2011 in order to solve a financial crisis that county government was experiencing.

The levy was sold to the public on the basis of being used to used to undo severe cuts in the law enforcement and justice system of Stark County made in 2011.

And the Stark County commissioners have been good to their word and have begun restoring affected departments of county government to their 2010 levels.

Republican members of the Stark County delegation (Christina Hagan - the 50th House District, Scott Oelslager * - the 29th Senate District and Kirk Schuring - the 51st House District) voted for the budget bill (HB 153) and for ending the Ohio Estate Tax (beginning January 1, 2013).

Notice that there is an asterisk by Oelslager.  The asterisk is next to his name because he originally voted for HB 153 but then voted against it in the final vote.  One would think that by voting "no" on the final bill, he should be given credit  for being against cuts in local government funding, no?

No!

Why not?

Because he gave as the reason in a Repository report for voting "no" on the bill as being that: 

[h]e opposed the conference committee inserting provisions into the bill related to merit pay and performance standards for teachers.

 Accordingly, he does not deserve credit for looking out for local government funding.

A key action by SCOG yesterday was authorizing Canton Law Director Joseph Martuccio to prepare a resolution asking the "Stark County delegation" to the Ohio General Assembly to support HB 471 which would restore some of the cuts to local government funding.

Here is a video of the discussion of  SCOG board members including Martuccio and Stark County Chief Administrator Mike Hanke.



As pointed out on the McDonald videotape, McDonald sheriff opponent Larry Dordea has told the SCPR that while it is convenient and helpful to have a local crime lab, if it was lost because of the evaporation of funding, that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) would do just fine.

Other officials beg to differ.  An example was given to The Report that BCI reports can take up to two to three months in the making whereas Stark County Crime Lab reports are generally available within two weeks.  

Moreover, it is said that reliance on the BCI could cause a delay in the administration of justice.

It seems to the SCPR that Representatives Hagan and Schuring as well as state Senator Oelslager have some explaining to do to Stark County voters.

Democrat state Rep. Stephen Slesnick (the 52nd House District) has consistently opposed Governor Kasich's cuts of local government funding.

PROSECUTOR JOHN FERRERO: HIS RE-ELECTION HANGING IN THE BALANCE?

Is he about to cry for Stark County and the safety of Stark Countians or is he on the cusp of tears because he sees his career as Stark County prosecutor coming to an end?

On Saturday last, Laurie Huffman of The Alliance Review did an article (Stark criminal justice officials worry about reduction in prisons) and she wrote, in part:

Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero said he was brought almost to tears at a recent meeting of the executive committee of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorney Association, of which he is secretary, due to the fact all the county prosecutors at the meeting were complaining about the cost the bill [HB 86 is due to go into effect on September 30th] will bring to their counties, and he believes Stark will feel the brunt the most. (emphasis added).

Pardon the SCPR, but The Report is skeptical that Ferrero's first priority is something other than his own political hide.  Ditto that for Mike McDonald in terms of political fortunes.

As former chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party, The Report believes that Ferrero is more attuned to political considerations and specifically his own perpetuity as a Stark County officeholder.

Ferrero's political problems in getting re-elected in November, 2012 are manifold.  Ohio House Bill 86 (HB86) ramifications is but one of a number of hurdles facing Ferrero to remain Stark County prosecutor after December 31, 2012.

While the impact of HB86 and a negative public reaction to its implementation may spill over onto Ferrero and Chief Deputy (the Stark County Jail) Mike McDonald (who is running to succeed Tim Swanson as sheriff) both of whom will be in the midst of political campaigns in 2012; the SCPR finds it hard to believe that the Ohio General Assembly did not factor in "the public safety" in passing the bill.

If the passage of the bill is to have the dire consequences (released non-violent prisoners from state prisons (?) and limited ability to place the newly convicted in state prisons) that they say it has, the SCPR wants to know where Ferrero and McDonald were post-February, 2011 (when the bill was introduced) in publicizing the catastrophe about to fall on Stark County, and marshaling Stark County's leadership and citizenry to fight its passage.

Moreover, where was the Ferrero/McDonald full court press on local legislators "to kill the bill?"

The fact of the matter is that all of Stark connected legislators (Republicans and Democrats alike) voted for the bill.

Would Hagan, Oleslager, Schuring, Slesnick, Okey and Schiavoni vote for a bill that is as ominous in effect as McDonald and Ferrero suggest?

One wouldn't think so.

It appears that Ferrero and McDonald are attempting to get out in front of the implementation impact of HB86 in a "scare-tactic" sense and thereby seek to make political capital out of it.  November's 1/2% proposed sales tax increase is included "hand-in-glove fashion" in Huffman's piece.  Linkage of HB86 and the effort to pass the sales tax could not be clearer.

They may find that such a tactic might backfire on them when the public learns that they failed to make a huge "local" public fight on HB86 going back to February of this year when it was first introduced.

Moreover, - looking longer term - the belated HB86 alarm could be an attempt by Ferrero especially to divert the Stark County public's attention from other political problems he has in gaining re-election.

Exactly, what are some of those "other political problems?"

At least one of those problems is wrapped up in what local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley has termed "Zeiglergate" which presumably means that Zeigler failed to have in place policies, practices, procedures and structural fixes to have prevented the loss of $2.96 million of taxpayer money during Zeigler's administration of the Stark treasury.  Zeigler's chief deputy Vince Frustaci admitted to taking $2.46 and is thought to have taken the entire missing amount.

One would think that given the political relationship between Ferrero and Zeigler going back into the 1990s, an opponent might want to question whether or not Ferrero should have recused his office from any role in the investigation or in any other part of proceedings against Zeigler.

Ferrero was the Stark County Democratic Party chairman when Zeigler was appointed to replace Mark Roach who was removed as county treasurer for not keeping up his continuing education requirements.

Undoubtedly Ferrero has contributed to Zeigler's campaigns over the years and vice versa,

Ferrero ran for office in 2004 as part of a Swanson, Zeigler and Ferrero campaign until differences crept into the arrangement.

Are Stark County's voters going to think that recusal was in order and factor Ferrero's failure to recuse into their voting decision?

The SCPR believes, like Stark County Auditor Alan Harold and Stark County Commissioner Janet Creighton, that Stark Countians in general have wanted and continue to want Zeigler to be treasurer no more.

However, Prosecutor Ferrero has not been up to the task of finding a basis in law for removing Zeigler.

His office provided Zeigler removal legal advice to Stark commissioners to proceed under Ohio Revised Code Section 327.38 which the Ohio Supreme Court found to be unconstitutional "on its face" in its June 23rd decision reinstating Zeigler as county treasurer.

The Report believes that Zeigler's continuation in office in not a good thing for the re-election prospects of Ferrero from the Stark County voter perspective.

Ferrero also faces the prospects of substantial 2012 reduction in office funding if the commissioners 1/2% sales/tax initiative fails this November 8th which the SCPR thinks is likely.

Ferrero has said that the projected cuts will severely affect his office's ability to function at anywhere near the level the office currently operates at.

So are Stark County's voters going to be understanding when Ferrero has to announce cuts to professional staff that necessitate curtailment of essential prosecutorial functions?    Will projected cuts coalesce with HB86 impact to snowball on Ferrero to put him in an untenable political position?

Apparently, Ferrero realizes that he has a uphill fight to stay county prosecutor in the 2012 elections IF Stark's organized Republicans can come up with a viable candidate.  Make no mistake about it, notwithstanding Ferrero's manifold political problems, his defeat in 2012 is not an automatic.

And Ferrero, with McDonald's help (of course, helping himself), is in full fledged mode to preempt the political consequences of HB86 and a seemingly likely voter rejected sales tax increase.

Sorry to say, but as the SCPR sees it, Ferrero's dramatics ("brought almost to tears") is more about his concerns for his personal political fate than it is about the safety of Stark Countians.

While they may not be "crocodile tears," they are - in the opinion of the SCPR - a mask for his number one concern; getting re-elected!

(VIDEO) DID CHIEF SHERIFF'S DEPUTY MIKE McDONALD (CANDIDATE FOR SHERIFF - 2012) CHANGE THE COMMISSIONERS' MINDS ON PROPOSING A TAX INCREASE FROM 1/2% TO 1%? IF HE RUNS, DORDEA IS WILLING TO ACCEPT CHALLENGE OF BEING SHERIFF "WITH NO NEW TAXES." HMM?

Last week at a Stark County commissioner work session designed to hear the input of county officials on what amount of new sales tax (1/4, 1/2 or 1 percent) for what period of time (1, 5, 8 years or permanently) that the commissioners should present to the Stark County voters in November of this year.

The SCPR believes that the commissioners had pretty much decided to propose a 1/2 cent increase for from five to eight years.

But Stark County Sheriff Chief Deputy Mike McDonald (Democrat) may have changed the commissioners plans with his dire description of dangerous conditions at the Stark County jail currently let alone the continuation of a "no new sales taxes" that will result in the county sheriff's department being reduced to about a $8.5 million budget come 2012.

Hear/see McDonald again.



Within hours of McDonald making his shocking statement, the commissioners decided to postpone their expected  Wednesday July 27, 2011 regular meeting resolution placing a 1/2 cent proposed sales tax increase on the ballot.

Was McDonald and his Tuesday statement "straw that broke the camel's back?

Stark Countians will likely find out this coming Wednesday as the August 10th filing deadline looms close  much like the federal debt ceiling issue (August 2nd) at the national level.  Commissioner Bernabei did tell The Report today that the decision could slip to the 10th, the actual due date for the commissioners' decision.

No one has stepped forward from county officialdom to suggest to the commissioners that calamity might not be the order of the day for county government operations should they offer a 1/2 cent option that voters pass or - God forbid - voters opt not to pass any increase.

The SCPR went looking for someone who might be willing to face up to the possibility if not the probability that in 2012 many county officials will be operating their departments of government at 40.7% less than their 2011 appropriations.

And The Report did find someone who was will the to discuss the "what if."

Republican Alliance Councilman Larry Dordea (also Hartville chief of police and former Alliance chief of police) took the question head on from the Stark County Political Report.

Dordea ran against Sheriff Swanson in 2008 and may run against Mike McDonald in 2012.  However, he says that he needs first to run his re-election campaign for Alliance councilman-at-large and then ponder whether or not to run for sheriff.   The Ohio legislature has changed the Ohio primary to May, 2011 and so Dordea has plenty time to mull the matter over.

This is what he had to say in terms of being willing to accept the challenge of running EVEN IF the voters reject the sales tax initiative that commissioners will be offering this fall:

• Sheriff Swanson still has high paid employees on staff that need to have their salaries cut,
• "he (Swanson) has a big staff of people" which can be cut,
• Stark County could use the state of Ohio crime lab if the Stark County crime lab is lost because of state cuts in local government funding (which Dordea said "would be a terrible thing").  
• Stark County government official, during the financial austere times, have to put up with inconveniences such as having to deal with BCI (the state crime lab) at its regional location in Richfied, Ohio and the several day delay when compared to the response capability of a local crime lab,
• Swanson and his top people want for nothing and that the cuts are on lower eschelon employees.  Dordea believes it should be the reverse,
• The county does need the 1% asked for by Swanson and Ferrero, but the county must find someone other than Swanson as a publicly visible proponent of the increase,
• If he runs for sheriff and is elected and faces running the department on an $8.5 million budget that he:
• would welcome the challenge,
• it would be very difficult,
• maybe the department could not run well on $8 million but $18 million is not needed
• Sheriff's office should not be a landing place for one's political friends and supporters,
• Sheriff's office (because of long term Democrat control) stranglehold has become a "culture of inefficiency"
• If the department goes down to a $8 million or so budget, then there is an opportunity to rebuild it from scratch with a lot more efficiency and effectiveness,
• Rebuilder needs to risk being a "one term sheriff" as a consequence of creating a "no-frills" Stark County sheriff's operation,
• Stark County needs a stand up,  "think out of the box" leader to surface who can lead an effort to reconstruct Stark County government so as to restore Stark to a pre-eminent position as one of Ohio's premier examples of efficient and effective government.

Should Dordea decide to run, it will be interesting to see how Mike McDonald responds to Dordea's "bring it on!" mindset when it comes to the challenge of running an austere Stark County sheriff's department.

VIDEO: "THE REST OF THE STORY;" SHERIFF SWANSON & CHIEF DEPUTY McDONALD. THE REP GIVES YOU 2 MIN. 53 SECS OF VIDEO, THE SCPR ABOUT 15 MINUTES.

The county commissioners work session of yesterday was spellbinding.

And today's regular meeting is one Stark Countians should not miss (1:30 PM at the Stark County Office Building, 2nd floor commissioner meeting room).  Commissioners will be deciding how much of a sales tax increase they will be putting on the ballot and for how long.

One of the most dramatic parts of the work session was a vivid description given by Stark County Sheriff Chief Deputy Mike McDonald (a candidate to succeed his boss Tim Swanson) on the dangers that lurk in the Stark County Jail for "reduced staff" deputies and corrections officers who have to deal with unwieldy numbers of in mates.

Here is a video of McDonald and his horrifying description of current jail conditions (ask yourself, he he employing scare tactics?):



The Repository also had video of the McDonald statement with its coverage and a little bit of what Sheriff Swanson had to say for a total of 2 minutes and 53 seconds.

Later on in this blog, the SCPR provides Stark Countians with the entirety of what Swanson and McDonald had to say for a total video presentation of 15 minutes.  For in depth and more extensive coverage of the financial crisis, the place to come is, of course, the Stark County Political Report.

Let's back up a minute and provide some background for the meeting.

For several weeks now, the Stark County commissioners have been in intense email negotiations with the departments of Stark County government about their ability to comply with commissioner requests that they sustain 40% in budget cuts in 2012 (from the 2011 appropriation) in the event that a planned sales tax levy (probably a 1/2 cent) fails.

Some departments for various reasons cannot abide any cuts whatsoever and those departments are the ones listed "in black" on the document set forth below.  In the case of the Stark County Veterans Service Commission, it outright refuses to make any cuts as a matter of entitlement.

Those listed "in red" are departments who said they could make limited cuts (see the blue numbers), but who will sustain 40.07% cuts if the November levy fails except for Family Court at 18.24% and Telecommunications at 25.79%)

Getting to Sheriff Swanson's operation, here is a his line item on the projected cuts document:

As readers of the SCPR can see, if the November levy fails then the Sheriff will go from $13,884, 409 to $8,320.960 which equals a reduction of over $5.5 million and is 47.5% of his 2007 budget amount.

What will Sheriff Swanson do in terms of cuts to live within the $8,320,960 budget?

Here is his list of actions he will have to take:

When the commissioners were conducting their community meeting series (22 of them in total), they encountered a lot of skepticism about the dire financial condition of Stark County.  Frequently, they heard citizen response of "scare tactic" when they warned about severe cuts in criminal justice were in the offing if a sales tax was not passed in 2011.

The SCPR's take is that citizens have to make a decision.  Are they willing to risk that the commissioners are spoofing them?  For if they are not, then denying them the additional revenue they say they need will be putting Stark County in a deeper hole than it already is.

Bad news surfaced today on the employment front.  Stark County increased from 9.3% (May) to 10.0% in June.  And besides that Stark County does not compare favorably to its neighbors.

But one statistic Stark does best its neighbors is its sales tax.

Hmm?

Here are the videos of Swanson and McDonald and their input with commissioners yesterday:

(VIDEO: CHIEF DEP. SHERIFF MIKE McDONALD) "I MADE THE DECISION TO RUN FOR SHERIFF ON MY OWN" Hmm? ENDORSES COUNTY SALES TAX. POLITICAL SUICIDE?

Had Stark County Democrats not fallen on hard times with what local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley has called "Zeiglergate," Chief Deputy Rick Perez would be running for sheriff to replace the once again retiring (2nd as sheriff) Tim Swanson.

Fairly or unfairly, Rick's brother Kim (the county auditor up until March of this year) was perceived by the Stark County voting public has not having done enough - in a "check and balance" sense -  to figure out that not all was right at the Stark County treasury and thereby help law enforcement officials figure out that the then Deputy Chief Treasurer Vince Frustaci was stealing county money.  Consequently, he was defeated for re-election by Republican Alan Harold.

Republicans (Commissioner Janet Creighton - the point person - in the opinion of the SCPR) were quick to jump on Perez and the likes of Sheriff Tim Swanson and his chiefs at the sheriff's department (but also implicitly Prosecutor John Ferrero, Recorder Rick Campbell, to name a few more) as being part of a political "good ole boy" network that did not produce effective, efficient government for Stark Countians.  Rather, the Republican line goes, they deal in the world political favoritism and cronyism and not necessarily in the best interests of Stark Countians.

The Republican initiative seems to have worked.  Subsequent to Sheriff Swanson anointing Rick Perez to be his successor in front of a Signature class group of Leadership Stark County (a Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce sponsored effort) that was visiting the Stark County Jail at the invitation of class member Perez, it has become abundantly clear that Rick Perez cannot be elected sheriff.

The sheriff had to be thinking:  "if not Perez, who?"  After all there is a Sheriff Tim Swanson legacy to protect!

The SCPR believes that he prevailed upon his other chief deputy, Mike McDonald, to run.

McDonald, after a Tuesday night Stark County commissioner hearing (mandated by Ohio law) on whether or not the county should put a 1/2 cent sales tax on the November ballot, denied to The Report that he was following Swanson's direction in running for sheriff.

Such a protestation is hard for The Report to swallow.

If the overall political climate had not turned against Perez, Mike McDonald you mean to tell me you were going to run against Rick Perez in a Democratic Party primary?  Who would believe that?

By the way, as a matter of a sidenote to who or who might not run against McDonald in a Democratic primary in March or May of 2012, Canton Safety Director Tom Ream has emphatically told the SCPR that he is not running.  He did admit, however, that he had been asked to consider running.  Also, McDonald tells The Report that he has talked to Jackson Police Chief David Zink and came away from the discussion thinking that Zink would not be running.


One might think of McDonald's "I made my own decision" as being an attempt to distance himself from Swanson who has become a political pariah in Stark County because of his "poop on the people" outburst at a Stark County commissioners' meeting (December, 2008) in which the commissioners were deciding whether or not to impose a 1/2 cent sales tax (which they did do).

Moreover, Swanson is perceived to be a close confidant (at least at one time) of reinstated Treasurer Gary Zeigler (needs bond to be official).  Swanson has made a number of public statements (including letters to the editor) attesting for Zeigler as being a quality treasurer.  Also, he, Zeigler and Prosecutor Ferrero have a history of having run a joint campaign for re-election.

But, when asked by the SCPR whether or not Swanson's support (which the sheriff has profusely bestowed on McDonald in local media) was a good thing or a bad thing, McDonald answered by saying that Swanson has many admirers across Stark County.

The Report then turned to the question of the future of Chief Deputy Rick Perez, should McDonald be elected.

The - up until then - profuse McDonald buttoned up real quick.  "I won't discuss that," he said.  "I wonder if it is legal to discuss that," he said.  When pressed by the SCPR, he adamantly persisted in refusing to answer the question.

Hmm?  Will Stark County voters let him get away with that?

Among other matters that came up in the SCPR/McDonald exchange included whether or not he thought his Republican opponent was going to be Larry Dordea (who ran against and lost to Swanson in 2008).

McDonald said that he is hearing reports both ways.

Asked whether or not the fact that he is retired as a public official would factor into the fall/2012 campaign, he replied that he was sure that it would.  He pointed out that if Dordea is his opponent that he also is a retired public official having retired as Alliance police chief.  Additionally, he pointed out that Dordea is Chief of Police for Hartville and an Alliance city councilman (he is running for re-election).

The most pressing thing on McDonald's mind Tuesday night seemed not to be that Dordea could be (the SCPR thinks definitely will be) his opponent but rather that his support of the 1/2 cent sales tax increase that Stark County commissioners are posed to place on the November, 2011 ballot would be tantamount to committing political suicide.

Here is Mike McDonald in his own videotaped words from Tuesday night's hearing:

FIRST REPUBLICAN SHERIFF IN STARK COUNTY SINCE ROBERT BERENS?

Stark County Chief Deputy Mike McDonald has taken out a petition to run for sheriff of Stark County.

Clearly, this means that Sheriff Swanson is not running for re-election.

His action is both a surprise and yet not so much of a surprise.  A surprise in that McDonald is not sitting Sheriff Timothy A. Swanson's first choice as a successor.  That would be Swanson other chief deputy Rick Perez.  When Perez hosted his classmates for a tour of the Stark County jail conducted by Sheriff Swanson about a year ago, Swanson let it be known to the group that classmate Perez was his choice to succeed him.

However, that was before the November, 2010 election and Rick's brother Kim (Stark County auditor) getting trounced at the polls by Republican candidate Alan Harold.  Brother Kim's defeat can be traced directly to the Vince Frustaci scandal in which the former chief deputy was convicted of stealing money from the Stark County treasury.

While Kim had absolutely nothing to do with the theft (and the same is to be said for then Stark County Treasurer Gary D. Zeigler), it appears that Stark County voters lumped Democrat officeholders together as "political good old boys" who did not mind the store in accordance with voter standards (voters apparently thinking - rightly or wrongly - that there needed to be more oversight) and sent Kim Perez packing.  Zeigler was removed from office in August, 2010 in accordance with permissive Ohio statutory law that empowered county commissioners to remove him from office notwithstanding that he had been exonerated by federal and county prosecutors of any involvement whatsoever.  Zeigler has appealed his dismissal and a decision should be forthcoming any day from the Ohio Supreme Court as to whether his removal will be sustained.

Should choose to run, Sheriff Swanson (who wrote letters to the editor supporting Zeigler during his days as treasurer) undoubtedly would lose.

But does that seeming political reality extend to those closely connected with Swanson?

The Report believes it does.

Neither McDonald or Perez is electable in the opinion of the SCPR.

But it is - in a sense - not s surprise that McDonald took out a petition.  You can bet the Swanson et al are working overtime trying to figure out a way to stay in power.  One scenario has Canton Safety Director Thomas Ream stepping in to run if it appears that he can save the day for the Swanson, Perez and McDonald legacy.

The last time Stark Republicans had a chance to take control of the Stark County sheriff's office was when in 1980 long time Sheriff George Pappadoopuouls ran into political trouble.  Republican insurance man Robert Berens ran against the politically troubled sheriff and defeated him.


Problem was for Republicans that the challenges of office proved to be more than Berens could bear and he ended up being a one-termer.

 

The SCPR has learned that there may be two contenders for the Republican nomination for Stark sheriff.

First, and the most likely to win the nomination, is Hartville Chief of Police Larry Dordea (a former Alliance police chief and currently a councilman-at-large in Alliance who is seeking re-election).  Dordea

A mention is made of Republican Canal Fulton Mayor John Grogan who is a lieutenant in the Summit County Sheriff Department.  Unless Dordea decides not to run, Grogan deserves no more than a mention.  He has been involved in a couple of controversies (one as a Summit County sheriff's employee and another a mayor of Canal Fulton - both of which he was cleared on) which, were he the Republican nominee, would certainly surface in the heat of a political campaign.

Dordea tells The Report that he is confident that he will be the party nominee should he seek the nomination.  Dordea ran against Swanson in 2008 and made a respectable showing for his first time out on the political hustings.  This time around The Report figures Dordea to be the odds on favorite win no matter who runs for the Democrats.

Should the Republicans succeed this time in dislodging the Democratic Party stranglehold over the sheriff's department, chances are that a Republican takeover will last for over four years.

Why?

Because, unlike Berens (the insurance man turned sheriff ), - referred to above -  Dordea is a highly respected policeman who served many years (including a number as chief) in Alliance before becoming police chief in Hartville.

Democrats must know that should they lose this office and the winning candidate is Dordea, then it could be a long, long time before they can win it back.

So look for a hotly contested race, if Dordea is the nominee.  Even if he isn't, the Democrats will not have an easy time retaining the seat in light of the disfavor that Stark Countians are seeing Democrats running countywide these days.

Stark Countians - if the March primary election date holds - will know by early December who will be running to replace Swanson.

DISCUSSION: SWANSON'S TWO CHIEF DEPUTIES (PEREZ) ON & TO BE ON (MCDONALD) RETIRE/REHIRE LIST? MUST BE CATCHING?

Earlier this week the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) learned that The Report missed a Stark County official who had retired and got rehired.

The Report is not one to slight proper recognition a retiree/rehiree.

Today, The Report adds Chief Deputy Rick Perez (brother of Stark County Auditor Kim Perez) to the STARK COUNTY PUBLIC OFFICIALS RETIREMENT HALL OF FAME. The Report apologizes to Chief Deputy Perez for the inadvertent omission.

The same source who chided The Report for missing Perez also informed The Report that Chief Deputy Mike McDonald (who is in charge of the Stark County jail) is planning a retire/rehire soon.

It is one thing for an elected official to do a retire/rehire a la Sheriff Tim Swanson (because he announced his plan before running for re-election). But it is quite another for the unelected to do the same. Of course, the sheriff bears responsibility for rehiring Perez. As he does, if McDonald follows through with retirement and then ends up back in his pre-retirement job.

Doesn't Swanson have officers in his department to promote when senior deputies retire?