It appears that Stark County's version of "All The President's Men" may be up and running at the Stark County sheriff's office.
Nobody is alleging anybody having broken into George T. Maier opponent for Stark County sheriff Larry Dordea's campaign headquarters in the lead up to the November, 2014 general election to find out what they could about Dordea's secret campaign plans.
But there is no doubt that Maier has surrounded himself with a bunch of political loyalists who wear Stark County sheriff department uniforms and who apparently think that when Sheriff Maier says - "jump," they all rejoin - "how high?"
This blog's rough analogy to Watergate is done in order to how a politician's insecurity (referred to herein as political paranoia) can lead to some pretty dire results.
And it could be that over the next two years Stark Countians will be sitting in "front row seats" as what the Stark County Political Report thinks is Sheriff George T. Maier's malady of political insecurity play out.
As the SCPR revealed in the blogs (the Sgt. Major Altieri blog) on the campaign in progress, there can be absolutely no doubt that Sheriff Maier puts personal political loyalty at the highest rung of the ladder to departmental success. One it appears departmental leadership aspirants have to climb over to get a Maier nod for promotion.
Although Dan Altieri (a highly decorated Marine, who fught in Afgahanistan and Iraq) had been a terrific, no-nonsense, non-political law enforcement officer faithfully serving "the people of Stark County," after retiring, having been a deputy for 27 years, was denied a reserve deputy sheriff commission by Maier in January, 2014 because Altieri (according to Altieri) had the temerity to exercise is U.S. Constitutional right of political association in supporting Lou Darrow in Darrow's contest with Maier to get the appointment of the Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee to replace November, 2013 Sheriff-elect Mike McDonald. McDonald could not take office on January 7, 2013 because of an illness which cost him his life in February, 2013.
According to Altieri, when he cornered Maier asking why he was being denied a commission after his long and faithful service as a deputy sheriff, he was told that his support of Darrow raised a question with Maier as to whether or not Altieri was trustworthy.
Altieri's offense made him so untrustworthy to Maier?
He handed out literature for Darrow at a Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee meeting in support of Darrow.
The denial could have cost Altieri a job at an area college had not other Stark County law enforcement offices stepped in to provide the needed commission.
Maier certainly is entitled to have loyal-to-a point, dependable, reliable police officers surrounding him in his official capacity.
However, for Maier to demand personal political loyalty as Altieri says he did of him is "over-the-top" which means to the SCPR that Maier needs to be watched very closely by area media on the question of whether or not as sheriff he is politicizing the operation of Stark's countywide law enforcement agency.
There are those who say that it seems that personal political loyalty to George T. Maier has a lot to do with if not everything to do with whether or not one gets an administrative job with the Stark County taxpayer supported county sheriff's office.
As far as the SCPR knows there is no general public solicitation of the taxpaying Stark County general public for administrative job openings.
Stark County Political Report readers know the track record of The Report in climbing all over elected public officials (Democrat and Republican) who cut out the taxpaying public from opportunities to gain public employment.
One of the most egregious cases is how former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Randy Gonzalez's son Kody benefited from such a process in being selected by Rick Campbell (Democrat county recorder) and Phil Giavasis (Democrat Canton Municipal Court clerk of courts) for two different chief deputy positions.
Of course Randy says he had nothing to do with Kody's jumping to the front of the line or more accurately being the only person in line.
And the SCPR thinks he has the political savvy for such to actually be the case.
However, The Report believes that the likes of Campbell and Giavasis (current Dems party chairman, who, by the way, was Randy's boss when he was chief deputy of Canton Muny) don't have to be asked. Both have highly acute political noses that The Report believes function flawlessly to benefit the likes of Kody Gonzalez.
Now that Republicans have regained a foothold in county government, they too (e.g. Harold [county auditor], Zumbar [county treasurer], Park [Common Pleas judge] and Creighton [commissioner] indicate that Republicans are not to be outdone by the Dems.
In a twisted bit of justification, each party points to the other as doing politics driven (as contrasted to "merits driven" combined with "open to the taxpaying public driven") job selection as a proper basis on which to appoint - as a primary criterion - the highly partisan or personal political loyalist to public office.
It is stuff like this that grates on the everyday citizens and over time builds up to a point that ordinary citizens increasingly take on a cynicism which erodes there willingness to participate in the processes and structures of our democratic republic.
After having created the conditions for rank-and-file citizens to want to opt out of American's superbly designed democratic-republican system of government in (increasing numbers):
- not voting,
- not working on political campaigns,
- not attending government meetings,
- not willing to speak out on witnessed abuses of power by government officials,
- and the like)
many of our elected officials want to disparage the body politic (i.e. the electorate) as somehow being disinterested bores.
Closer to the truth of the matter, yours truly thinks, are the "inside jobs" done by many of our politicians which send out a message loud and clear that the hoi polloi is only to active in the public square to support the politicos continuance in office.
Otherwise, "We the People" are just to shut up!
While a number of Maier regime administrative posts are carryovers from Tim Swanson time as sheriff, can there be any doubt that they have been scrutinized by Maier and the likes of his political
henchmen (err consultants, for example brother Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and Stark County Democratic Party political director Shane Jackson) for George T. Maier personal political loyalty?
The SCPR was the only Stark County media outlet during the campaign that informed the Stark County voting public that Maier has a history of allegations that suggest that he may not have the temperament, disposition and overall character qualities that many of us insist upon as being essential to being possessed by Stark County's top cop.
It could be that Maier has satisfactory answers to those allegations
However, Stark County only countywide print media (The Repository) failed to press Maier for answers to the allegations.
The SCPR did.
The Repository has a history of landing on certain candidates about one thing or another, but giving others like Maier a pass.
Former Stark County auditor Kim Perez is a prime example of The Repository's singling out to the exclusion of others.
When he took office as Stark County auditor in 2004 having defeated Brant Luther (who worked for her in the auditor's office) hand-picked by Janet Creighton (now a Republican Stark County commissioner) to succeed her as the appointee of the Stark County Republican Party upon her resignation as auditor in 2003 to run against Democrat William Smuckler for mayor of Canton (which contest she won), The Repository folks landed on Perez for bringing some his Democratic friends into office with him as staff members.
The SCPR thinks that the media should always be on the outlook for such. And The Report had the same take on Perez.
After the SCPR broke the story on Kody Gonzalez and his inside track (a second time) to a chief deputyship, The Repository did chime in.
But by and large "mum is the word" with The Rep editorial board on personal political loyalty tests and political party office holder "horse trading."
And the SCPR cannot recall in all the years of being a Stark Countian (40 years) of the editors jumping on a Republican office holder.
The difference between The Repository and The Stark County Political Report is that The Rep has shown itself to be "a respecter of persons" whereas the SCPR is an equal opportunity critic.
The SCPR has written quite a few blogs over the nearly seven years of The Report's existence laying out chapter and verse how highly politicized yours truly thinks the record shows Sheriff Maier's brother Johnnie to be.
To the SCPR, Johnnie (a former Stark County Democratic Party chairman) is the most politically paranoid politician in all of Stark County. Accordingly, The Report thinks he surrounds himself in political and government circles with people he has determined to be totally loyal to his political interests.
Since George first came to the notice of the SCPR when he was sworn in as the SCDP-CC sheriff appointee on February 5, 2013, it is appearing to The Report that Sheriff Maier and brother Johnnie share the affliction of political paranoia.
Many folks are dismissive of importance of political paranoia as a factor in a politician's life and for the most part they are right to be so because nearly every politician is afflicted to some degree. But most successfully keep a cap on it.
One American politician who allowed political paranoia to destroy his presidency, and for many pf us, his credibility forever, was President Richard M. Nixon (1969 - 1973).
In the process of the unfolding of what came to be called "Watergate," the United States of America came to the threshold of a Constitutional crisise
Yours truly just finished reading
"The Powers That Be" by David Halberstam. (A book, hopefully, the big a The Rep have read).
The book is an exhaustive study (over 1000 pages) of The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times and CBS (to a lesser degree ABC and NBC) in terms of them effectively serving their reading publics with investigative journalism that dug out things like Richard Nixon's political paranoia prompting the occurrence of Watergate.
"The Powers That Be" shows Richard Nixon as being one of those persons who did not take scrutiny or criticism well from the days (1946) he was first elected to Congress.
The paranoia began early and went largely unchecked until he resigned the presidency in humiliation.
He surrounded himself with "jump how high" folks and these folks as detailed in "The Powers That Be" tried to bully the media. Disturbingly enough, they were successful until Bernstein and Woodward got rolling on Watergate with the help of a courageous "loyal to America first" person in
Mark Felt.
On Friday the SCPR was contacted by a source internal to the Stark County sheriff's department and told that on January 20th (Tuesday of last week), Sheriff George T. Maier issued an internal memo laying out a number of promotions and other moves.
Here is a copy of that memo.
Here is one SCPR source says about the promotions:
... it sounds clear to me, that most of the deputies and employees are NOT in support of the recent Maier promotions.
Apparently it's known/believed within the Sheriff's Office, that the recent Maier promotions are a direct result of Charles Stantz, Timothy George, and John Oliver being "MAJOR" supporters of George T. Maier's election campaign.
They were frequently seen attending area parades, public gatherings, canvasing neighborhoods, erecting George T. Maier campaign signs, and etc in support of Maier for Sheriff. (Which was clearly seen in photographs posted on the "Maier for Sheriff" Facebook page.)
The SCPR is also hearing that Maier will be bringing in a chief deputy sheriff. There has not been one since McDonald held the post.
The word is that the new chief will come from among Maier's Ohio State Highway Patrol pals (
to the degree they still exist) who is said to have retired recently.
It appears to the SCPR that Maier has announced the promotions of four (George, Stanz and Oliver; Loy, of course, not a raise in rank for he is not a deputy sheriff, but with a much more significant job) of his most personally political loyal - during the Maier/Dordea campaign - administrative sheriffs.
Not only did Maier promote George, Stanz and Oliver, but he raised Stanz and Oliver by two ranks (from lieutenant to major).
The SCPR is told that it has been eight years since a skipping of ranks promotion took place (under Swanson) wherein Sgt Johnson was promoted to captain about eight years ago.
Folks, these promotions and their suspiciously seeming correspondence with political campaign activity, should raise red flags to the Stark County public and to all of Stark County media.
But no one should hold his/her breath in thinking that Stark's only countywide newspaper will nose into the question of whether or not the Maier promotions have anything to do with their political involvement in George's campaign.
Fortunately, the SCPR does have "Deep Throat-esque" type figures deep within the bowels of the Stark County sheriff's department.
Which likely means that there is very little Maier can do outside his close-in super loyal officers that the SCPR will not get hold of and pass onto the Stark County public in the context of a critical journalistic analysis.
Which, of course, likely drives the Maier brothers right up the proverbial wall.
It would not surprise the SCPR that with the publication of this blog that Maier and his political confidants will launch a witch hunt to ferret out the department's "Deep Throat."
In a post-election blog, the SCPR chided the sheriff-elect that one of his first hires should be a plumber so as to fix all the leaks emanating out of 4500 Atlantic Boulevard.
Over the seven years that this blog has been in existence, yours truly has received numerous reports the degree to which Johnnie, Jr., and R. Shane Jackson "bounce off the walls."
The irony is that these two gave yours truly the idea of starting a blog.
Questions need to be answered by this sheriff:
- justifying these promotions on merit grounds, and
- addressing his seeming obsession with personal political loyalty as factor:
- in whom he hires to administrative positions, and/or
- who gets promoted.
Maier has to (in order to avoid the sheriff''s department being generally thought as being rife with a requirement of political correctness in sync with Maier's political interests), persuade, by clear and convincing evidence that his administrative hirings/firings and promotions had nothing whatsoever to do with the recipient's personal political loyalty to him.
Additionally, there are obvious questions about the promotions and added department functions cost paid out of the Stark County general fund funded by Stark County taxpayers.
Here is a comparison between the only existing major's (Arnold) pay rate and those of Oliver and Stanz as lieutenants.
- SCPR note: When Maier provides data to the Stark County auditor's office, The Report will be sure to publish the "more or less" exact cost to Stark County taxpayers of the actions he outlines in the above January 20, 2014 inter office memo.
Of course, Maier does not have the gonads to take "political factor" and fiscal questions from
The Stark County Poltical Report.
As the SCPR sees it, this is "come to Jesus" time for the bigs at The Repository.
The Report is told that quite of number of deputies are upset with how Maier is handling things and see a significance to the safety of the Stark County public with Maier spending money on promotions and other, perhaps, unneeded changes in that overtime for the day-in, day-out law enforcement deputy sheriff workload is alleged to be severely cut back.
One change that the SCPR applauds is the addition of an investigation function (i.e. a detective bureau).
It has take Maier two years to add this much needed capability. But "late is better than never."
Maier has blown off the SCPR questions because he knows that yours truly will not abide preconditions as to limiting the digging nature and scope of inquiry. (
see blog on Massillon Ward 4 Councilman Shaddrick Stinson's attempt to do so)
Would Maierdare blow off The Repository?
If The Rep takes up the challenge to insist that Maier answer incisive questions on the issues raised in this blog, the interview needs to be video recorded and made available to the Stark County public so that we all can assess whether or not The Rep did its journalistic due diligence.
The potential gravity of this situation in terms of continuing public confidence in the integrity of the Stark County sheriff's office depending of a thorough vetting of Maier hiring/promotion practices is clearly, as far as the credibility of The Repository is concerned is a "trust, but verify" matter..
When Kim Perez took office as county auditor, the editors went to work right away.
And who thinks that the functioning of the auditor's office is anywhere near in importance to the public having confidence in the operation of countywide law enforcement?
It is not a question of the professional police men and women who staff the sheriff's department.
Only yesterday, the SCPR received a response to questions posed to former Sheriff Tim Swanson.
Here is what he had to say about several of Maier's promotees:
Oliver and Stanz are both outstanding deputies and always could be depended on to do a professional job, great choices in my book.
The question insofar as the SCPR is concerned is whether or not what the SCPR thinks is a case of Maier being unduly afflicted with political paranoia manifests itself in his management of the professionals who work for him?
Maier and his qualities or lack of qualities as a leader, is the topic of inquiry; not the professional law enforcers.
However, the SCPR can think of a least administrative employee who seems to voluntarily follow Maier around like "a lost puppy dog" seeking his Master and thereby thought by many to be pretty much having been - at the outset - an unadulterated political hire and, here, by the way is a good paying job that was not put out to bid to the general Stark County taxpaying public.
Low and behold!
A 16 months later a promotion!!
At who knows (we will know soon and the SCPR will publish that number) at what kind of increase. Of course, all taxpayer dollars from a taxpaying general public who never got an opportunity to apply for the job.
Swanson also said in his e-mail response :
Remember Maier, outright lied about his qualifications in the first place.
He told me as well as making the statement publicly that he would not vie for the appointment if he was not qualified.
Track record of being able to be trusted as to what he says as to be truthful, isn't very good.
I think that haunts some of the people still there. I'm still dumb founded by the arrogance of the ones involved in the debacle and those that sit by and don't say a word or see the same injustice as we and a few others do. (emphasis added)
On November 6, 2013, the Ohio Supreme Court "on a technicality" (George Maier says) said he was not qualified.
The SCPR agrees with Swanson that Maier has a credibility problem.
Accordingly, he is one to focus on going forward; not the sheriff department deputies. The Report thinks he has created a climate that one needs to be "politically correct" in order to thrive with the domain of the Stark County sheriff's office.
They likely will do what they have to do to survive and some of them may turn themselves into quintessential "yes-men" in order to tap into the opportunities presented by the political current which appears to be engulfing the office.
Political correctness should not be part of the equation in Stark County public official/employee relationship.
It is the role of media to let Maier that know that every step he takes as sheriff is being watched.
If the Stark County media does it job in closely watching Maier, then the professionals have some protection from future political whims that Maier may wish to press on them going forward.
Because The Repository failed to press for answers in the lead up to the Maier/Dordea election contest, the editors now have to verify to the Stark County reading public that they can ask searching, penetrating and incisive questions of the sheriff.
The Stark County commissioners have a role to play.
It is their general fund appropriation function.
They are in the process of conducting budget hearings.
Sheriff Maier is due in for the sheriff department hearing on February 5th.
Don't expect it to happen, but the commissioners should be asking about the expenditures Maier made in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 which smack of George T. Maier using taxpayer money to plaster the name of "Sheriff George T. Maier" within the sheriff's complex (as if the deputies and other sheriff personnel do not know he is sheriff) and all over Stark County (the vehicles) when it was far from certain that he would ever be elected sheriff.
Commissioner Thomas Bernabei to the SCPR is ga-ga over Maier. The only public official The Report has seen Bernabei embrace has been Maier.
If a hug was Bernabei's
modus operandi on greeting public officials across-the-board (his custom is to do a hearty handshake), The Report would think nothing of it.
But its not.
And this should be disturbing to Stark Countians in terms of Bernabei being able to distance himself from Maier so as to be as searching on Maier as sheriff on fiscal matters as he is on other public officials who get funds from the county's general fund.
For Bernabei is far and away the most capable commissioner in terms of asking tough questions of those officials who spend taxpayer dollars.
The SCPR has not heard Bernabei ask Maier one "ire provoking" (to Maier) question as he has with other county officials.
In the 2014 budget hearings, there were a number of pointed exchanges between Bernabei and elected department heads. Even Janet Creighton got in on the act here and there. But it was Bernabei who put on most of the heat.
So The Report expects the February 5th session to be an "atta boy, slap on the back" hearing.
Other county officials will not be so lucky, if prior budget hearing sessions (2013/2014) are any indication of what commissioners put "out-of-favor" department heads through, of Stark County government through.
The SCPR has no problems whatsoever with the grilling.
But it needs to be evenly/equally applied.
When Stark County taxpayer funds are a stake, it is not a matter of being in or out of favor on the personal likability chart.
Whether The Repository or the commissioners do their due diligence or not, readers of the SCPR can rest assured that The Report will.
In Maier's case, it is just terrific that Stark County's version of Deep Throat" continues to function post-election right under George's nose.
Don't you just love it?
Hey Sheriff Maier, who do you think Deep Throat is? Or, perhaps, better yet: who the Deep Throats are?
Maybe he will put his new investigation unit in on the hunt?
LOL, no?
Sort of, perhaps in a political sarcasm/satire context.
But not for everyday Stark Countians who have no other policing resource!
What if one of George Maier's political enemies (no names please) needs sheriff office services and/or contact and has to deal with one perceived to be on a political correctness track with the sheriff?
Which factor will trump?
Political correctness or professional policing?
Think about it Stark Countians!
