BOSLEY: BIG-SPLASH ARTIST, AT IT AGAIN?

You can bet that Stark County's other elected officials are not amused with Commissioner Todd Bosley's "big-splash" announcement at yesterday's county commissioners' meeting.

With Bosley, it is one upstaging after another, after another, after another - on ad infinitum.

Bosley is fast turning into the most publicity hawking politician Stark County has seen in many of a year.

In reading The Rep's account of the meeting Stark commissioners consider furlough, other cuts in face of budget shortfall (Kelli Young, September 9), you can see that Auditor Kim Perez and Recorder Rick Campbell are not amused in the slightest by Bosley's latest attention getting maneuver.

What's more, this Bosley gambit is likely to make it more difficult for the sales/use tax repeals (Stark Citizens for the Right to Vote Committee) to convince Stark Countians that rolling back the December, 2008 "imposed" 0.5 percent tax increase is a good idea.

Bosley does worry about how his fellow county office holders view his bold move.  But the SCPR believes that Bosley is irrepressible when it comes to his need to be in the limelight.  However, that does not mean that his daring moves are not good for Stark Countians.

Fixing 9-1-1; good idea?  The SCPR thinks so.

Having adequate resources for essential local services, good idea?  The SCPR thinks so.

Having county employees and elected officials share in economic bad times; good idea?  The SCPR thinks so.

Bosley tells The Report that Stark County faces a potential $6 million shortfall next year.

If he is accurate, taking preventative actions now; a good idea?  The SCPR thinks so.

There is no doubt that Bosley is a "political showman."  And there is a method to his political madness.  It is all about Bosley getting voter attention and parlaying the spot light on other public officials as impediments to getting Stark County as a whole fixed as a way to whip these folks into line.

The SCPR believes that fellow commissioners Harmon and Ferguson are dead weights on Stark County.  If Stark County keeps electing these types to Stark County leadership positions, it will be in someone else's lifetime that Stark rebounds from the economic abyss she now rests in.  Neither has a clue on how to dig Stark out of its current mess.

So Bosley has put the spotlight on his fellows in county government.  How will they respond?  Do they have any choice?

They could hide behind the Ohio Constitution provision which precludes any change - up or down - in their remuneration during their elected term in office.

But they won't.

Bosley is a step ahead of them.  He has worked out a plan where there is no change but that each elected county official will write a personal check to the county treasurer as a "voluntary" give-back that meets constitutional standards.

Bosley has politically check-mated Perez, Ferrero, Reinbold, Swanson, Campbell, Rehfus, Murthy and Zeigler and they really have no choice but to fall in with Bosley's 10 day give back proposal.

One even has to wonder whether or not the Stark County's judges (Common Pleas/Court of Appeals) will want to be included and will join in?

The SCPR has learned that "give-backs" will be a campaign issue in at least one Stark municipality this fall.

Will it surface in township races, board of educations races?

After all, shouldn't everyone have to share in economic hard times?

Ever wonder how much your county elected official are paid?

Here is a list pushlished by Auditor Perez:

HOW INCONSISTENT ON THE RIGHT TO VOTE CAN YOU GET? COMMISSIONERS HARMON & FERGUSON "ANTI-CONSUMER" ON PROPOSED STARK COUNTY ELECTRIC AGGREGATION ?

It was December 30, 2008 when the Stark County Board of Commissioners voted to "impose" a 0.50 sales/use tax on Stark Countians. So you and I are "involuntarily" paying more taxes since April 1, 2009.

In July, 2009 they are in a more "democratic" mood. Now all Stark Countians get to vote on whether or not some Stark Countians will save money on their monthly electric bills. But we must wait until November to vote.

Note: According to a Repository report (Commissioners: Let voters decide about about electric aggregation, July 15) about 100,000 who have Ohie Edison/First Energy - OE/FE) are likely to save money.

However, the way the commissioners plan to set up the plan if voters approve county aggregation, the SCPR believes that "uninformed" Stark Countians could end up paying more.

Who might they be?

Folks who are American Electric Power (AEP) customers, that's who.

Because AEP is significantly cheaper than OE/FE, AEP customers may not save money under an aggregation plan but under the commissioners' plan will be automatically included and must "opt out" to not be included.

If it turns out that AEP customers will not be benefited, think a few might not know they need to opt out or forget to opt out?

Why would the commissioners make the gas aggregation plan an "opt-in" and the electric aggregation "opt-out?"

Is the county going to be put to extra expense in postage and administration costs notifying Stark Countians who turn out not to benefit that they need to opt-out?

Yours truly is not a part of the the county gas aggregation plan because cheaper rates are available under the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) "Apples to Apples" program.

Apparently, most Stark Countians are AEP customers. Let's say in the run up to the vote that the AEP customers take the position that they will not benefit and therefore vote down a county electric aggregation plan. Is that fair to the 100,000 or so who very likely will benefit?

In the final analysis it seem as if the commissioners are all turned around on what Stark's citizens ought to be able to vote on and what the commissioners should simply - err, not impose; let's say implement.

Voters in Stark County should have the right to vote on the sales/use tax.

The Commissioners should vote to "implement" an electric aggregation plan NOW and rethink the opt-out part of the plan. Opt-out (a mainstay of the credit card industry as a way for companies to use consumer information for indirect purposes unless the customer "opt-out") in an anti-consumer approach in that it is laced with consumer burdens and therefore needs to be scrapped.

According to The Massillon Independent's account (Stark County resident to vote on opt-out electric aggregation program, Rinker, July 15), Commissioners Harmon and Ferguson favored the opt-out plan whereas Commissioner Bosley was for the opt-in plan. Obviously, Harmon and Ferguson are doing the bidding of Mark Burns of Independent Energy Consultants, Inc. Why?

Bosley has it right with the opt-in, and, as usual, Harmon and Ferguson are on the anti-everyday person side of the issue and bending over backwards to accommodate the Mark Burns and his corporation. Again, why?

While the commissioners are rethinking the electric aggregation plan, they may also order up some "IronY Out" treatment in order to get the irony out of Stark County government.

COMMISSIONER PETE FERGUSON'S PLAN FOR AFFINTIY-DOCTORS CAMPUS IS NOT GONNA HAPPEN?

On April 4, 2009 (a regularly scheduled Stark County commissioners' meeting) Commissioner Pete Ferguson "out-of-the-blue," in the opinion of the SCPR, came up with the idea of converting Affinity Medical Center's "Doctors Campus" into a medical center for veterans.

This is how the SCPR put Ferguson's presentation in an April 13th blog:

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) believes that this is an "off-the-cuff" proposal by Ferguson who is obviously feeling the pressure to do something has commissioner. He has been in office about 100 days and the only thing he has succeeded at is get his brother-in-law (to the exclusion of the general public) appointed Project Compliance Officer on prevailing wages.

At the April 4th meeting Ferguson intimated that he had contacts within the U.S. Department of Defense who might be helpful. He also did a whole lot of other name dropping as you will see in looking once again at a video (posted below) of that part of the commissioners' meeting.

The SCPR believed at the time that this was "bull" and now has even more reason to think this is grandstanding by a commissioner who has very little going for himself in terms of providing desperately needed leadership for Stark County.

The SCPR hears that recently Ferguson held a meeting at the Stark County Office Building that was supposed to have U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Congressman John Boccieri in attendance.

But did they show?

No.

United States senators and congressmen only show up when something "real" is about to happen. They probably have a sense that this is a case of Ferguson wishful thinking. But hedging their bets, they did send aides.

Apparently, Ferguson did not initally include the local head of Affinity in the meeting. Somehow he got wind of it and was _ _ _ _ _ _ big time with Doctor Peter Ferguson (as he likes to refer to himself and be addressed by others). However, the SCPR understands that the Affinity honcho did make it to the meeting.

In the November, 2008 Stark Countians had a "hobson's choice between Democrat Ferguson and term limited out Republican Ohio House Rep. John Hagan (R - Marlboro). Both political parties were saying how incredibly lazy each was in conducting their respective campaigns.

Whichever one was elected, Stark County was going to be the loser.

And Commissioner Tom Harmon is nothing to write home about.

These are, indeed, tougher times for Stark than they need be. But does that bother Ferguson and Harmon? Apparently not!

As a refresher, here is the video of Ferguson "springing" his grand scheme on Commissioners Bosley and Harmon.

CAN STARK'S POLITICIANS WORK TOGETHER TO BRING JOB PRODUCING BUSINESSES TO STARK COUNTY?

The news for Stark County was bad yesterday in terms of the Stark County commissioners having to sue Alliance and Massillon to get them to pay up on what the owe for jailing their prisoners in the Stark County jail.

As longs as these silly fights persist in the county, there is very little chance that the county can right itself economically and become a once again prosperous community.

The same goes for Canton.

Mayor Healy has created such a negative political situation with Canton City Council that he will end up spending his four years (if he lasts that long) in one political brouhaha after another. The SCPR suspects that Healy is relishing in the political cover the infighting provides for his failure to have made meaningful progress in turning around Canton economically.

The one bright light in Stark County is Commissioner Todd Bosley. He has been trying to get something going to turn around Stark's dire economic downturn. But he is getting resistance. The SCPR has learned that Commissioner Tom Harmon is resisting Bosley's effort to get Stark to collaborate with Chevron on a biomass economic joint venture.

Rather than fight and/or sitting on their collective duffs, Stark County's politicos should be brain storming ways they can work together cooperatively to bring economic revitalization to our county, cities, villages and townships.

Stark County has an opportunity to be the first in Ohio to become a magnet for auto manufacturers of electric/hybrid cars.

USA Today did an intriguing piece in today's edition revealing that electric/hybrid car makers are accelerating their electric/hybrid car production schedules to meet anticipated demand. Nissan (per the quote in the accompanying graphic), will be focusing its market on communities that build a support infrastructure to accommodate buyers of these vehicles which get the gasoline equivalent of up 387 miles per gallon.

Perhaps Congressman John Boccieri could find some federal money to help Stark local governments build this infrastructure. Could Reps Oelslager, Slesnick, Okey and Senators Schuring and Shiavone do the same at the state level.

A North Canton elected official supports an unasked for tax breaks to Albrecht's Acme grocery store operations in the city, "just to show them that North Canton is business friendly" and thereby to send a message to the business community at large.

The SCPR can see the officials' perspective, but questions whether or not this is the kind of ambiance that will "really" jump start economic development.

A better plan would be for North Canton to band together in a countywide infrastructure development plan like the "re-charging station" idea. Now this really would create a "buzz," if that is one is looking for.

And who knows, it might even promote a local businessman to open a "first of its kind" selling electric/hybrid motor vehicles to the Stark County consuming public.

As much as the SCPR likes Commissioner Bosley and his demonstrated initiative, there is a missing element.

It is critically essential that a Stark County put together a "continuously-existent economic development taskforce" which brings all stakeholders to the table to develop a sustainable program of countywide economic development.

The taskforce must be broad enough to include all stakeholders, but structurally efficient enough to see its consensus based recommendations (always in the state of being refined) realized in actual economic development projects throughout the county; the cities, villages and townships of Stark County.

Commissioner Bosley needs to be pushing for the creation of such a taskforce.