(VIDEO: DORDEA ON CAMPAIGN, BERNABEI ON SHERIFF'S OFFICE) LIKE ZUMBAR & KOHER, DORDEA AND McDONALD ARE RUNNING A HIGH CLASS CAMPAIGN?

A few days ago, the SCPR received an email that included the following statement:  "Many of us think you are the only one with the courage to look into this."

"Courage to look into this?"

Of course.   After all, this is the Stark County Political Report!

The writer was making some rather serious allegations about the candidacy of Democrat and current Stark County Chief Deputy (Jail Division) Mike McDonald.

The SCPR does probe where nobody else will.  However, the probing is a two-edged sword and it appears to The Report that the allegations are baseless and that the writer comes up way short on the credibility side.

Yours truly looked into the matters by contacting both McDonald and his Republican opponent Larry Dordea and with third parties (on a jail utilization question) with respect to certain allegations/questions posed. 

The most dramatic of the allegations had to do with Mike McDonald's health.  The writer asserted that McDonald's health had seriously deteriorated since he shared his diagnosis of having esophageal cancer with The Canton Repository last November.

So yours truly picked up the phone and called McDonald.

At the other end of the telephone was a robust sounding Mike McDonald.  If strength of voice is indicative of a person's throat condition, the chief deputy (jail division) did not sound like he was in any way, shape, or form as fragile as the writer claimed.

It was not long ago (June) when yours truly actually saw McDonald at a Lake Township trustees meeting and he appeared to be anything other than in condition to carry out the functions of sheriff.

The clincher for the SCPR with regard to the state of McDonald's current health was a conversation yours truly had with McDonald's opponent Larry Dordea pretty close on the heels of talking to McDonald himself.

Here are some the things Dordea had to say to The Report on Tuesday of this week:

• That he saw Mike McDonald at the Alliance Rib-Burnoff (August 9 - 11) and from his observations "The news of his demise is much exaggerated,"
• That he thinks the issue of McDonald's health may surface in the campaign between now and November, but that Larry Dordea would not be the person bringing it up,
• Understands that McDonald might suspect that Larry Dordea is behind inaccurate statements about his health, but such is not the case.

A few weeks ago, The Report interviewed Dordea when he appeared at a Lake Township trustees meeting to speak to the matter of his take on Lake's consideration of whether or not to give expansion of policing township wide another try.

Here is that video.



For his part, when The Report spoke earlier this week with Mike McDonald about the allegation  regarding his health earlier this week, he had this to say:

• "I'm feeling good, I'm coming to work and I'm out campaigning,"
• It's no secret that he has esophageal cancer and that he shared that information with the Rep so that he could take advantage of the opportunity to educate the public about what the potential consequences could be if acid reflux goes untreated,
• But that he does not have serious problems with the cancer presently,
• In no way, shape or form does the cancer interfere with his doing his job or campaigning nor will it have any affect on his ability to serve as sheriff, if elected,
• That he suspected that the negative talk was coming from the Dordea campaign and he believes that there will be rumors circulating between now and the election which he thinks is very unfair.

McDonald, understandably, was reluctant to share much with the SCPR about his illness.  From his perspective, he is doing just fine notwithstanding his bout with cancer and that is all the public needs to know.

 The SCPR's point of view is that he needs to keep the public appraised of his medical condition right up through the election.  For, God forbid, if his health was to take a turn for the worse and it turns out that it is knowable prior to the election that he likely will be unable to serve; the Stark County voting public is entitled to know so that voters can choose between the possibility they will be voting for a situation that the Stark County Democratic Central Committee will be picking the next Stark County sheriff or the alternative Republican Larry Dordea.

The SCPR is well aware that life is uncertain for all of us.  

It could turn out that Dordea has a health problem that nobody including Dordea himself knows about presently.  And, again - God forbid - that he becomes unable to serve then guess who would pick his successor?  You've got it.  The Stark County Republican Party Central Committee.

The Report would expect Dordea, if something surfaced affecting his ability to serve between now and November 6th, to promptly inform the Stark County public.

And yours truly believes that both McDonald and Dordea are of such a quality that they would put the public's interest and right to know ahead of their respective political party's interest.

However, a vital function of the media is to track such matters and ensure that the public is fully informed about factors that might impact on how voters vote.

Another issue raised by the writer was that of getting the county jail up to full utilization (some 500 prisoners) in light of the 0.5% sales tax for eight years duration that Stark County voters passed in November, 2011.

Dordea has also raised the issue with The Report (about a month ago) after a lady released from the jail was killed by a hit and run driver as she walked along Route 62.

As The Report understands Dordea's point is that the sheriff's office (perhaps, as evidenced by the lady's release) may be engaged in a turnstile operation which might delay the jail reaching the goal of full utilization as promised in the levy effort.

McDonald denies that such is the case.  He does say that that whom the sheriff releases and whom he holds is controlled by Stark County courts. 

 On Wednesday, Stark County Chief Administrator Mike Hanke shared with the commissioners data which shows the progress that Sheriff Swanson is making towards the ultimate goal of Stark County's jail being up to its capacity of 500 prisoners by December 31, 2012.

Here is a copy of that report.

Beyond the report, the SCPR asked Commissioner Tom Bernabei (president of the Board of the Stark County Commissioners) whether or not he is as satisfied with the progress the sheriff is making towards the ultimate goal.

Here is his video response.




In talking with candidates Mike McDonald and Larry Dordea, the SCPR believes that both candidates are committed to running "a high road" campaign a la the one run by Alex Zumbar (R - Alliance) and Ken Koher (D - Navarre) in November, 2010.

Both have excellent credentials in policing and their qualification to be sheriff is unquestioned.

The have always spoken well of each other to The Report.  And The Report believes Dordea when he  says he is not going to make McDonald's health a campaign issue.

The SCPR's analysis of the McDonald/Dordea race is that, if elected, Mike McDonald is likely to run the sheriff's office pretty much as it has been under Sheriff Tim Swanson.  Undoubtedly, he will make some changes because no two individuals, no matter how close, see things exactly the same.  However, for him to make wholesale changes would be a betrayal of everything Tim Swanson stood for.

On the other hand, The Report sees Larry Dordea coming in with a fresh perspective and is likely to institute significant changes.

While it has been four years since Dordea ran unsuccessfully against Tim Swanson, here is a LINK to a blog that the SCPR published during that campaign that provides some insight into the thinking of  the former Alliance police chief who is now chief of police in Hartville.

In the end, the Stark County Political Report believes that no matter which of the two comes out on top in November, Stark County will have a first-rate police commander.

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.

HARTVILLE POLICE CHIEF LARRY DORDEA GETS "BIG, BIG" BOOST FROM PAST POLITICAL FOE SHERIFF TIM SWANSON IN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE STARK'S EMERGENCY FORCE COMMUNICATIONS PROBLEMS?

In November, 2008 Hartville Police Chief Larry Dordea (formerly the Alliance police chief) was duking it out with Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson as to who was going to be Stark's sheriff for the next four years.

In March, 2010 they are working together to solve some lingering communications problems that plague Stark County's emergency forces.  Smooth and integrated communications are a key in effective law enforcement and emergency force response.

For years  now, Sheriff Swanson has been working, through obtaining federal grants, to equip all of Stark's policing/emergency forces with a state-of-the-art 800 megahertz radio communications system.  At yesterday's Stark Council on Governments Governance Committee regular monthly meeting, it was made known that Congressman John Boccieri has agreed - as one of his top priorities for Stark County - to see an "earmark" of federal funds to complete the purchase of the necessary monies to fulfill Swanson's dream.

Larry Dordea, of late, has become an evangelist for advanced integrated Stark County emergency force communication.  He has been pushing a plan for Stark County's law enforcement, fire departments and EMT forces to get behind a plan proposed by TAC Computers, Inc utilizing the Summit County Emergency Management Agency's grant submission facilities to obtain TAC's state-of-the-art software to integrate home base and "in-the-field" police/emergency force including Computerized Assisted Dispatch (CAD) for the revamping of Stark 9-1-1 centralized dispatch.

There has been some skepticism (healthy, in the judgment of the Stark County Political Report) about the viability of the TAC system in view of the promise that the system would be "free."

The SCPR has been at two of Dordea's presentations and is satisfied the "deciders-in-chief" are asking the right questions and putting Dordea and TAC owner Tom Craven to the test in providing answers to key questions as to whether or not the system would - indeed, be "free," and effective.

As it turns out, "free" means that the $1 million or so in cost will be paid for (if Stark officials can get the Summit Emergency Agency to get behind the TAC plan) by a federal grant.  However, there will be ongoing maintenance costs in the range of $150,000 per year.

Dordea may have achieved a critical mass that might well propel his effort to success at yesterday's Governance Committee meeting.

Among the most enthusiastic for the TAC plan was none other than old Dordea political foe:  Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson.

That Swanson would support Dordea in his effort for the good of Stark County does not surprise the SCPR.

During the campaign when The Report talked with Swanson, he had nothing to say critical of Dordea.  In fact, he credited Dordea with cleaning up an illegal drug use problem in Alliance where Dordea had been police chief.

The SCPR applauds both men for setting aside their political differences in a mutual quest to do the right thing for Stark Countians!