OHIO HOUSE - THE 50TH: DEBATE SCHEDULED - JULY 28, 2010 AT 10:00 AM.

REVISED & REPUBLISHED 07/12/2010 AT 12:14 PM

The SCPR has learned that the first political debate of the 2010 political season has been set up between state Representative Todd Snitchler (incumbent Republican of Lake Township) and his challenger Todd Bosley (currently Democrat Stark County commissioner.

A debate has been scheduled for July 28, 2010 beginning at 10:00 AM on 1480WHBC on Ron Ponder's "Points to Ponder" daily (Monday through Friday) radio talkshow.

Commissioner Bosley says that he is aiming for four debates with Snitchler:  one this month, another in August and then filling out the hoped for four with one each in September and October.

The SCPR puts this race in the "too close to call" realm, but there is a poll out showing Bosley with a low double digit lead.  However, there are about 10% undecideds according to the poll.

Snitchler's advantage is that this district is a gerrymandered Republican seat designed to be "safe" for Republican candidate.  Troublesome for Snitchler is the knowledge that Bosley came out of nowhere to defeat Republican Richard Regula (son of the former congressman) in 2006 for the commissioner's seat that Bosley currently holds.

Normally, incumbents are not that willing to debate challengers.  But if the Snitchler camp knows about the poll numbers, that could be the reason for this representative's willingness to engage Bosley on the SCPR and in other Stark County venues.

The SCPR believes this race for the 50th Ohio District could decide which political party controls the Ohio House of Representatives.  The Report expects record levels of campaign fundraising and spending between now and November.

The host for the July debate will be well-liked and respected radio talk show personality Ron Ponder.

Ponder and WHBC render outstanding public service to the Stark County public in providing Stark County government leaders and politicians with a forum in which to explain their actions and motivations in governing, and to take questions from Ponder and his radio audience that probe and test their answers.

This week the SCPR has gotten Bosley and Snitchler into a "blog debate" of sorts focused somewhat on who better represents the interests of everyday Stark County working men and women.

The last communication by Bosley on the blog challenged Snitchler to an immediate (in the sense of being held sometime in the remaining part of July.  Bosley had indicated to The Report that Ponder was ready, willing and able to provide the WHBC/Ponder "Points to Ponder" as an available forum.

Snitchler and Bosley both tell The Report that they have been in contact with Ron and he has confirmed that he is willing the host a debate.  The SCPR understands that each candidate is putting together a list alternative available dates so that they and Ponder can coordinate a date compatible with the schedule of all three.

A Stark County Political Report "tip of the hat" to Ron Ponder and 1480 WHBC!

THANKSGIVING 2009

Stark County has had a number of local political figures step forward with a positive contribution to the well-being of our county in 2009.

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) recognizes the following for their contributions to better government and/or making current officeholders more accountable.

MIKE REHFUS (Stark County Engineer) demonstrated exemplary courage and steadfastness despite an ongoing battle with cancer which resulted in him untimely death on November 11th at age 49.

It is not surprising that Rehfus was courageous to the end.  Courage is a quality that he has shown over his tenure as county engineer.

He pushed for an increased license plate fee so that the Stark County is better positioned to construct new roads and rehabilitate  roads and bridges greatly in need of repairs. 

In 2008, he convinced Commissioners Bosley and Vignos to support imposition of the fee over Commissioner Gayle Jackson's objection.

Rehfus is the quintessential county official for streamlining operations and thereby doing more with less in terms of personnel.

Despite his illness, he worked hard with Commissioners Bosley and Harmon to effectuate a merger between the engineer's operations with that of the Stark County Sanitary Engineer which will prove to be highly beneficial for Stark County taxpayers who will enjoy more performance for less money because of the merger.

For his many years of service to Stark County, Stark Countians, indeed, are thankful that Mike Rehful came our way.

CHARLES BROWN (judge/Stark County Court of Common Pleas).  Judge Brown is a leading member of  a group of  Stark County jurists (Common Pleas) who have been and continue to work hard to facilitate the return of Stark Countians, who have gone awry of the law,  to a restored position in the Stark County community.

Moreover, Brown is a leader in working with Stark Countians across-the-board to go back to the drawing board to find ways and means to adequately fund Stark County government in the light of the failed Issue 5 which was designed, in part, to provide sorely needed revenues for the Stark County general fund.

Undoubtedly, Judge Brown would be the first to say that he, along with Judges Lee Sinclair and Tayrn Heath the visible part of the Stark County judiciary working in a "let's work together" mode with the Stark County public to put together a funding mechanism for Stark County which will meet county needs as well as working for the taxpaying public.

What is impressive about the judges' effort is that they could just sit back and let other county officials "twist in the wind."

How's that?

Ohio law empowers county judges to mandate county commissioners to fund whatever the judges say their financial needs are.

But Stark County's judges have not rested on this prerogative and have chosen instead to be caring of the needs of the entire county.  For this attitude, Stark Countians are thankful.

WAYNE SCHILG (Marlboro Township trustee).  Trustee Schilg has just gone through the most trying time of his political life.

Schilig was caught in the middle of a battle between Trustees Tim Wise (who was defeated on November 3rd) and Trustee Dave Wolf (who chose not to run for re-election) over Marlboro Police Chief Ron Devies and son Kyle's activities on transitioning from Kyle being Marlboro's computer man to a successor caretaker.

The SCPR is not going to dwell in any more detail on the particulars of the "disagreement." and, instead focus on Schlig and his abiding efforts to conciliate.

In the end, he was unsuccessful for reasons he could not control.  But his mediating efforts were not in vain.  For they created the foundation for healing within Marlboro Township. 

Stark Countians, at large, and Marlboro residents, in particular are certainly thankful for have the likes of a Wayne Schilg serving the citizens in a constructive and helpful way.

LOUIS GIAVASIS (Plain Township trustee) has lead the way in showing that in troubling economic times, government leaders at all levels can anticipate and take measures to avoid a financial meltdown in trying economic times.

Giavasis very unselfishly gives fellow trustees Al Leno and Pam Bossart (who will be leaving as trustee on December 31st because she did not seek re-election) full credit for the good fiscal condition that Plain Township is in as 2010 approaches.

Under the Giavasis-led Plain Township trustee effort, the SCPR evaluates Plain to be "the best run Township in all of Stark County," and ranks in the upper tier for all of Ohio.

Another Giavasis quality that Plain Township residents are undoubtedly thankful for is Lou's tenaciousness.

From the day that the anchor store left the Oakwood Square Shopping Center in Plain (years ago), Giavais has worked tirelessly to get a replacement.

It appears that he may realize his goal soon.  For this persistence and durability, Plain Township residents are surely thankful.


RANDY GONZALEZ (9-1-1 Stark County Council of Governments [SCOG] Governance Committee chairman and Jackson Township fiscal officer).

Gonzalez has a terrific characteristic of marshaling community forces to solve a problem.

If Stark County achieves a state-of-the-art centralized 9-1-1 dispatch, it very likely will be because of Gonzalez.  He has a knack for bringing people together who come from different "turf," and getting them to work together on a commonly beneficial project.

Gonzalez is close to pulling off "a coming together" on the 9-1-1 project.  He says he is about 90% towards reaching his goal.  The SCPR believes his number is credible and that the dissidents will come aboard in time.

In years to come, when Stark Countians dial 9-1-1, it is very likely that those who remember the Gonzalez effort on 9-1-1 will utter to themselves a "thank you."  While Stark Countians in general may not know about the Gonzalez effort, they too will be thankful that that "unknown" person who pushed 9-1-1 into being a high quality emergency services center. 


CHARLES SNYDER (member of Vote No Increased Taxes Committee and newly elected Fairless school board member).

Among the basic points of the Vote No Increased Taxex Committee made during their campaign, first, to put the "imposed" 0.50 sales/use tax increase up for a vote and, second, to find a cheaper way to rework 9-1-1.

A primary person shepherding the Vote No group was Charles Snyder.

A keystone of a democracy is that citizens need to have a say in the decisions that are made by public officials in their conducting public policy and operations.  While yours truly ended up vote to ratain the imposed tax, all Stark Countians certainly have to be thankful to Snyder and his cohorts for ensuring that we - the citizens of Stark County - did get to vote for or against retaining the tax.

The SCPR believes that an spin-off of the vote effort and the decision of Stark Countians (64% of those who voted) not to retain the tax was that, perhaps, the Vote No Increased Taxes Committee had a point that the 9-1-1 rehab could be done for significantly less money (in terms of new taxes) and in a way more palatable to Stark Countians.

Though some may see Snyder and his fellows in the Vote No context as being negative; a fair look at the committee effort sifts out positives for which Stark Countians are certainly thankful.

MARK BUTTERWORTH (Councilman-elect Canton's 8th ward).

Up by 14 votes as this piece is being written, it appears that Republican Mark Butterworth has broken the stranglehold that Democrats have on elective office in Canton.

Canton is on the brink of bankruptcy and a primary reason is the lack of political competition and youth among Canton's public officials.

Canton's 8th ward has been held the past four years by a well known Canton Democrat with strong ties to organized labor.  But Mark Butterworth was not intimidated and in running a highly effective campaign, he very likely has ousted the Democrat and will bring a fresh political perspective and a touch of youth to Canton City Council.

If the result should turn around on a recount, Butterworth has still made a noble contribution to the well-being of the body politic in Canton.

Butterworth's infusing local government with competition and youthful vigor is something for all Stark County's citizens to be thankful for.

TODD BOSLEY has slipped from the top of the list to eighth because of some difficult issues that he has not handled well, but, nonetheless, he still demonstrates, more than any other county official a purposefulness, a stamina and a vision for Stark County that tops all other non-judicial elected officials.

Despite setbacks, Bosley demonstrates daily his commitment to repair Stark County's 9-1-1 dispatch in to a state-of-the-art operation.

One of Bosley's finer qualities is his willingness to get into difficult situations to effect a "coming together" of folks at odds with each other or with Stark County government in Lawrence Township  (road ingress/egress) and Nimishillen Township (flooding concerns) and to avoid a funding standoff with the Stark County Veterans Service Commission - to make some but not all of his efforts.

Stark Countians have benefited from and are appreciative of Bosley's hard work.

HAS TODD BOSLEY PACKED HIS BAGS YET?

November 3, 2009 will go down, in his personal political history, as Commissioner Todd Bosley's absolute worst night as a Stark County politician.

His Issue 5 got slammed bigtime.  Nearly 64% against; 36% for!

A deeper sign that Stark Countians are highly negative on the sitting Stark County Commissioners can be found in the vote on a proposed electric aggregation program.

Readers will note that the issue (45 in Stark County) got trounced 3 to 2 in Stark, while it won with a comfortable margin in Massillon.

Hmm?

After all, this is a program that would save Ohio Edison customers about 6% on their monthly electric bills.

Only plausible explanation to the SCPR is that Stark Countians are completely turned off by anything the commissioners come up with these days and voters have an opportunity to have a say.

Apparently, the "imposed" 0.50 sales/use tax (December, 2008 by Bosley, Harmon and the now retired Jane Vignos); has done political damage to the commissioners beyond their wildest imaginations.

Other Bosley loses last night?

Fire Chief Richard Peterson's stand-ins Michael Lynch and Lisa Shafer (Nimishillen) won going away for trustee.  Peterson has dogged Bosley saying that he has the wrong plan to fix Stark's 9-1-1.

Marlboro voters roundly rejected a Bosley favorite (Bosley lives in Marlboro):  Trustee Tim Wise.  As trustee, Wise (in concert with fellow trustee Dave Wolf [who did not run for re-election] had taken on Marlboro icon Police Chief Ron Devies over what the SCPR believes was a miscommunication but which got turned into a criminal prosecution.

So does this mean Bosley is toast when it comes for his own re-election bid next November.  Is he going to be political "toast" one year from today?
 

The year 2010 will be the year that Todd Bosley will be fighting for his political life.

Bosley has told the SCPR that he feels that in a year's time, the voters will have forgotten his association with the imposed tax.

The SCPR's take is this.  The rub-off on Bosley will be a function of the numbers.  A huge loss like this one will taint Bosley and anyone the Republicans run against him will loom large in 2010.

The 64 to 36 margin will bring more than one Republican out of the woodwork.  It is very likely that we will be looking at a contested Republican primary in May, 2010.  Walters of Jackson, Peters of Massillon and others will now be taking a close, close look at this race.

There is strong irony to this turn of events.

Bosley came out of the oblivion of Nimishillen Township politics riding on a "let's fix 9-1-1 countywide" platform blaming his Republican opponent Richard Regula for not getting the job done and eked out a 1,700 plus vote victory over the powerful Regula name.

Who was one of Bosley's strongest supporters and who, in fact, persuaded Bosley to embrace the 9-1-1 fix?

Nimishillen Fire Chief Richard Peterson, that's who?

But Bosley was not able to effectuate the Peterson plan.  In Peterson's mind, Nimishillen's CenCom at Nimishillen Station #3 was to be the cornerstone of a countywide 9-1-1 "state-of-the-art" emergency dispatch service.

One last important point.

Who was to be the project manager to put the new 9-1-1 together?

You've got it:  Nimishillen Fire Chief Rich Peterson.

When Bosley couldn't sell CenCom as the hub of centraiized 9-1-1 and could not persuade fellow Democrat and Stark County Democratic Party power Randy Gonzalez to accept Peterson; the Nimishillen chief turned on Bosley and shall we say:  "the rest - on November 4, 2009 - is history."

Over the next 365 days Commissioner Bosley will be into repairing the damage done to his political aspirations.

For the likes of the SCPR, there will be a lot of interesting material to write about as the political melodrama plays out in Todd Bosley's struggle to remain Stark County commissioner post 2010.

The effort to unseat Bosley will be a "knock down - drag out" battle.  Whoever takes Bosley on can bank on a bitter, bitter, nasty "take no prisoners" campaign.

Any Republican who takes Bosley on had better thoroughly self-assess and have trusted (in the sense of being totally candid) vet him/her before making the leap.

Stayed tuned, folks; 2010 is going to be a very, very exciting political year in Stark County politics.

IS COMMISSIONER BOSLEY "SPOILING" FOR A FIGHT? IS SALES/USE TAX ISSUE THE BEGINING OF "COUNTY OFFICIALS" VERSUS "THE PEOPLE?"

Recently Stark Citizens for the Right to Vote told the Massillon Independent that he is ready to file the group's signatures to put the December, 2008 Stark County commissioners imposed 0.50 county sales/use tax to a vote of the people.

Of course, just the notion of a ballot box fight is exciting to those of us who follow Stark County politics.

But this fight has an added dimension.

The leader of the Stark Citizens for the Right to Vote (Tom Marcelli) has a history, chronicled in local media, of challenging various county officials to "duke it out" over his differences with them over things such as the imposed tax (Bosley) and how various officials (particularly, Auditor Kim Perez and Treasurer Gary Zeigler) administrate their offices.

While not opposed to the ballot initiative, the SCPR has been skeptical of the Marceill-led group to pull off getting nearly 14,000 valid signatures.

A SCPR source tells yours truly that if Marcelli was the only person providing leadership to the group, the SCPR could be right. But, the source adds, there have been Stark County "heavy hitters" working sub rosa to make sure the Stark Citizens Right to Vote cohort is successful.

Could one of these sub rosa people be Stark County Board of Elections (BOE) deputy director and Stark County Republican Party chairman Jeff Matthews?

Readers are reminded that Matthews (who asks county commissioners, from time-to-time, in capacity with the BOE for more money for the BOE) appeared at "Tea Day, Tax Day - April 15, 2009" encouraging those assembled to support the petition drive.

What's more, his sidekick at Stark County Republican headquarters (Jason Wise) was the local leader of "Tea Day, Tax Day."

The SCPR believes Matthews has a huge conflict in interest on this matter.

So if the SCPR's source is correct, Commissioner Bosley is about to embark on a fight for his political life beginning August 20th.

The next date in what could be a "political Waterloo" for Bosley is November 3, 2009 should Round One go to the Stark Citizens for the Right to Vote.

Bosley worries a lot as to who will be running against him in November, 2010. The SCPR believes - that should "the repeal the imposed sales/use tax" make it to the ballot and then lose - Bosley will have an all out challenge from the Stark Republicans come 2010.

So it's not only Stark County financial solvency and 9-1-1 funding that is at state in this political fight, but it could mean the end of Todd Bosley as an elected Stark County official.

Bosley is already lining up county officials to take on the Stark Citizens for the Right to Vote. He presumes that the repeal issue will make it to the ballot. And, he is structuring the fight as an "us" against "them" tiff.

The SCPR believes that Bosley statements appearing in Stark County media that lend credence to a sort of "us" against "them" approach are "unthought" and could give the anti-forces the ammo they need.

To rephrase the point: Is it wise to make this issue one that appears to be county officeholders and their employees versus Joe and Sally Smith?

If they are on the ballot in November and the Stark Citizens for the Right to Vote can fix in the public mind that they represent the people and Bosley et al the established political order, then the odds favor the citizen action group.

From the county perspective, they need to frame the contest in the context of convincing voters that 9-1-1 is broken and voters' personal safety is tied to fixing it and that if the tax is repealed the county will be in a financial crisis that Stark has never seen before which could lead to draconian cuts in county government services.

It is beginning to look as if Stark Countians need to brace themselves for one of the biggest political fights this county has ever seen.