VOLUME 1 - MASSILLON (DEL RIO-KELLER V. LITMAN) THE SCPR: STARK COUNTY'S 'ONLY' ANALYSIS OF CITY COUNCIL RACES

UPDATED 10:00 A.M.

VIDEOS

Election Night Reaction

Michelle Del Rio-Keller

Massillon Ward 6

There were only a few fireworks in council races among Stark County's major cities on Tuesday.

Many candidates for down ballot offices work just as hard if not harder than those who run for the glitzy positions (e.g mayor) and deserve to have their story told in detail.

In Stark County, their chapter and verse stories are only told by The Stark County Political Report.

There were a number of noteworthy pyrotechnic explosions in Massillon and to a much lesser extent in Canton.

November's general election could see a few more mushroom into the skies of both Canton and Massillon.

Added to the November's poltically sparkly skyscape however will be a few races from The Carnation City and The Dogwood City.

The most politically charged face-off on Tuesday occurred in Massillon's Ward 6.

Ever since the alleged politics experts of "all things Massillon politics" (i.e. former Stark County Dems chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and Stark County Dems political director R. Shane Jackson) lost control of Massillon City Council to the Republicans having been bested by Ms. Massillon Republican; namely, Ward 2 Councilwoman Nancy Halter  in the Massillon council elections of 2011, the supposed Democratic political gurus Maier, Jr. and Jackson have probably have been breakfasting daily at Belden Village's Scrambler Marie's scrambling (what else?) to find ways to recover from their council election debacle of 2011.

For her part, retiring Councilwoman Halter tells the SCPR that she will - in retirement - go about reorganizing Massillon Republican community for a third time.

If it were up to Stark County GOP chairman Jeff Matthews (also director of the Stark County Board of Elections), the SCPR thinks that Massillon like Canton would be non-competitive as between Republicans and Democrats.

And the SCPR thinks that Halter practices partisan politics in a highly ethical/constructive way in obvious contrast to what yours truly thinks of the Maier, Jr./Jackson (elected Massillon clerk of courts/appointed chief deputy, respectively) way of doing politics.

It has to be a bitter pill for her to swallow that it is all but certain that Maier, Jr./Jackson political protege Dave Irwin (an employee of Stark County recorder Rick Campbell [a quintessential Maier, Jr. loyalist]) will become her successor in November's election.

While Maier, Jr and Jackson were consummately involved in an effort to bring down 24 year fellow-Democratic mayor Frank Cicchinelli (which they succeeded at), guess what happened to Masillon City Council?

It went Republican!

And Democrats should be laying that turn of events right at the feet of Maier, Jr. and Jackson.

Finally in 2015, it appears that they are having success.

It appears they will have two Maier, Jr/Jackson loyalists in office come January 1, 2016 BUT likely at the price of losing the mayoralty in that - if he can stay in the race as a political independent - the SCPR sees Cicchinelli handily defeating the Maier, Jr./Jackson directed incumbent mayor Catazaro-Perry in November.

Where is the council success to come from?

Ironworkers #550 union connected through her husband (a real irony when it comes to Maier, Jr) and Democrat Linda Litman seems to have eked out a seven vote victory over Councilperson-at-Large Michelle Del Rio-Keller in Ward 6.

Had Del Rio-Keller done the selfish political thing, she would have run for re-election at-large and left it to Republican Ed Lewis, IV to fend for himself in Ward 6.

By the SCPR's calculation, Lewis was going to lose in Ward 6 to Litman and lose big.  And everybody seem know it including Lewis himself.

The Report's take is that Del Rio-Keller and Lewis, though of opposite political parties are politically close and yours truly suspects she and he cooked up the "I'll run in Ward 6, you run at-large and we will both stay on council" arrangement.

Del Rio-Keller's family has lived in Ward 6 forever and so the thinking had to be that she could fend off the Maier Massillon Political Machine (MMPM) and thereby do her political friend a favor and Massillon as a whole would be better off.

And she knew that the MMPM would combine massive amounts of union money (despite Maier, Jr's historical "less than enthusiastic support" for unionism effect in politics) and campaign workers to defeat the politically formidable Del Rio-Keller.

It is impressive to the SCPR that the councilwoman-at-large almost pulled it off.  But it appears she will have come up just a tad short even if there are provisional ballots to be counted or and counting error or two.

But until the Stark County Board of Elections certifies Tuesday's election, we will not know for sure. And there could be a recount.

Assuming that Litman's election will stand, let's take a look at the numbers.

A startling thing that the numbers show is that Catazaro-Perry opponent in the Democrat primary J. David Ress did much better than the home grown Del Rio-Keller.

In yesterday's blog, the SCPR related a story being circulated by a highly credible Massillon elected official, to wit:

Another interesting tidbit that you will only hear from The Stark County Political Report is that Mayor Catazaro-Perry while campaigning in Ward 6 with another Maier, Jr. stand-in, that is to say Linda Litman (a narrowly [by seven votes] Ward 6 councilperson candidate) got the Massillon Police called on them because of their persistent engagement with a voter who clearly told them that the voter was a committed Litman's Democratic Party opponent and incumbent councilperson Michelle Del Rio-Keller who chose to not run at-large again but in her home ward.

This account shows in an anecdotal way how intense the MMPM and its chief elected official (Catazaro-Perry) was in getting Litman elected.

As it turned out, the mayor was not protecting her own election numbers in Ward 6 in her "all out for Litman" mode.

Reports are abounding that Litman spent upwards of $8,000 on this council race.  We will not know for sure until the candidates file their post-primary campaign finance reports.

Lastly, there was a barrage of campaign literature put out by the Ironworkers PAC sponsored Litman campaign one of which was is said to have been hand delivered on Sunday, May 3rd, and, of course, the election was Tuesday May 5th.

Del Rio-Keller says that there are false allegations in the letter and that she is looking at whether or not to file a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission.

To the SCPR, this account shows how political zeal gets way out of hand and thereby produces results which while satisfying to parochial political interest undermines the quality of local government.

How anyone can look at Linda Litman as a councilperson (assuming she maintains her lead) as anything other than take orders from headquarters - like her friend the mayor - is beyond the Report.

Del Rio-Keller has been a splendid councilperson and the SCPR trusts she will bide her time and make another run at being elected Ward 6 councilperson in 2017.

Here is a video of Councilwoman Del Rio-Keller's reaction to her narrow defeat on Tuesday evening.

MASSILLON'S FIGHT TO KEEP CHECK & BALANCE IN PLACE

UPDATE:  12/22/2014

Over the weekend Massillon Councilman Shaddrick Stinson contacted the SCPR relative to Friday's blog.

As regular readers of the SCPR know, The Report always allows space to subjects this blog to respond.

Stinson's complaint to The Report was "Why not ask me?" about whether or not he is the captive of Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry administration (de facto, Johnnie A. Maier, Jr).

Stinson's point is appropriate to make.

The Report does frequently ask subjects of this blog for their responses to SCPR takes on their public persona.   But not always.

The SCPR is not very much interested in publishing, in the context of "on camera" video questions/interviews that this blog is known for, is self-serving spin.

It idea is that subjects of the SCPR's "on cameras" do not have advanced notice of what the questions might be and, on occasion, viewers actually get candid answers.

However, it is difficult to keep political spin out completely.

One of Stark County's most accomplished politicians at getting his spin in despite the SCPR reluctance to provide a forum for wiggling it in is Canton's Mayor William J. Healy, II.

He is in the judgment of the SCPR Stark County's most skilled politician.

At first thought on The Report being contacted by Councilman Stinson was why doesn't the SCPR do an on camera interview of Stinson at Massillon council's next meeting on December 29th.

The idea was presented to Stinson but his response was such that it was "DOA."

SCPR Note:  Even after Stinson's disclaimer of being the captive of the Catazaro-Perry administration, The Report is not buy. 

As far as the SCPR is concerned his response is "a mere assertion."  Where is the evidence that he has and thereby is capable of taking a stance at odds with the mayor?

Stinson's response:

Mr. Olson I'm willing sit down and talk with you. But I have conditions as well. First, you are on camera as well. Second, you agree to answer my questions as well. What do you think? Lastly, I view the video before you post it to your blog for accuracy. Let me know.

Obviously, Councilman Stinson is not very well acquainted with the SCPR.

Conditions?  You have to be kidding.

As for his "I have conditions as well;" (implying that yours truly had conditions); the SCPR has no idea where that came from because The Report never conditions "on cameras" with anybody on anything.

Quite to the contrary.

The SCRP likes to use "on cameras" to be all encompassing and far ranging.

One never knows what might come out in the spotlight of the camera, no?

So absolutely NOT!  The SCPR accepts "no conditions" from any interviewee and is quite content to pass up opportunities to ask questions or do interviews if a subject is insisting on conditions.

Stinson did make some written input and here it is, that is to say "the back and forth."

Re: Why don't you ask me?

        Shad Stinson
        Dec 21 at 7:51 PM

To: tramols@att.net

I behold to no one but the citizens of Massillon and my Ward. I am not in the Johnny /Kathy camp other than by party affiliation. This was my first year on council. I know some of my mistakes or errors were basically not knowing so if he can base my alliance on that then that's totally up to him and that's fine. Hell he didn't even vote for me and I was appointed by the party.  The same one he is "aligned " with.  Anyways. Good luck with your blog and I'm sorry we couldn't have a sit down.  You can learn a lot from people when all your cards are on the table and open conversation.

On Dec 21, 2014 6:51 PM, "Martin Olson" <tramols@att.net> wrote:

    Thank you for the partial "on point" response.

    Any additional response to his telling me that he had made a mistake in thinking - based on your presentation to him back in the 2013 election cycle that you would be an "independent" thinking/acting councilperson vis-a-vis the Catazaro-Perry administration, if elected?

    From: Shad Stinson <shadstinson@gmail.com>
    To: Martin Olson <tramols@att.net>
    Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2014 4:57 PM
    Subject: Re: Why don't you ask me?

Just for the record I did seek Frank out to get his vote and endorsement for coucil [sic] just like I did others in the Legends. And he told me that he did not feel comfortable putting my sign in his yard due to Trinor [sic] being his neighbor. I said thank you and reminded him to vote. But yes I did have a sit down with Frank at his request.

ORIGINAL BLOG

As 2014 winds down after having gotten through the election of November 4th, it may seem that politics is on the back burner.

Believe me, political maneuvering is "alive and kicking" even as Christmas is less than a week away.

A hotbed of political activity is the city of Massillon.

Just take a look at the Stark County Board of Elections candidates list for city council as of December 17th:

One of the things that impresses the SCPR is how many "independent" thinking council persons hold office on Massillon City Council.

For many government legislative bodies, it has been the experience of The Report that members line up with this or that interest group or political/government figure and not with the interests of their respective constituents.

North Canton City Council is a glaring example in Stark County of having too many robot council members who have taken on a siege mentality in lining up with the administration and each other resulting in their emanating a hostility to citizens who disagree with "the official position."

In  North Canton, it seems as if the whole of government is run by one person; namely, Law Director Tim Fox.  "Whatever Tim thinks" appears to be "the order of the day" on the part of North Canton mayor David Held and at least a majority of North Canton City Council.

Massillon City Council as presently constituted is pretty much as a legislative body ought to be:  independent minded and highly constituent oriented.

And this has to be driving Mayor Catazaro-Perry and her chief benefactor and "power behind the throne - right up the wall" in his apparent quest to control all things Massillon.

Only Tony Townsend (council president) and Ward 4 Democrat Shaddrick Stinson seem to be council persons who - in the words of Tennessee Ernie Ford - "have sold their 'political' souls to the company store" with the company store being in the opinion of the SCPR the Catazaro-Perry administration and her prop-ups constituted by and large by the Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. Loyalty Club.

Townsend, who was Massillon's former Ward 4 councilman, may get the surprise of his short political life as council president with possibly being challenged by current Republican Ward 2 Councilwoman Nancy Halter.

A source tells the SCPR that the idea of Halter challenging Townsend is one of the options being discussed this year by those who want to preserve council's "separation of powers" from Massillon's "my way or the highway" Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry.

It makes sense to the SCPR that Halter might want to challenge Townsend.

She was hopping mad when in 2013 Republican Al Hennon pulled out of running against Townsend after it was too late for Republicans to replace him.  The SCPR thinks this was all part and parcel of a diabolical "political" scheme by Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and his Stark County Dems' political director hanger-on and Chief Deputy Clerk of Courts R. Shane Jackson to keep Townsend on council.

Townsend, had he remained Ward 4 councilman, was likely to lose in 2013 because of a number of publicized troubles he has had in recent years.

The Report thinks Townsend is the epitome example of what Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. will do for anybody that he - Maier - is convinced is willing to be the ultimate loyalist for Maier's political interests.

But for the political shenanigans at play, former Republcan Massillon Ward 6 councilman Donnie Peters, Jr. was set to run for council president which likely would have made Townsend a part of Massillon's political and government history book.

And it is becoming apparent that Tony's Ward 4 successor - Shaddrick Stinson - "is cut from the same cloth - as Townsend.

There is an effort being made to unseat Stinson.

One of the persons that Stinson politically courted in 2013 was former Massillon mayor Frank Cicchinelli.

It was a amazing sight for the SCPR to behold.

The politically hardened, tested and astute Cicchinelli bought Stinson's line that he was not a Maier Loyalty Club member.

With Cicchinelli being politically neutered, Stinson still had to struggle to defeat a less than ideal Republican candidate.

Recently The Report brought this up with Cicchinelli and he admitted, more or less, that he had been hoodwinked by Stinson.

The SCPR is somewhat empathetic with Cicchinelli in that Stark County is "blessed" with some pretty slick political operators and it can be quite an undertaking to smoke them out.

Of course, "the really big question" hovering over Massillon politics is whether or not Catazaro-Perry will have meaningful opposition in the Democratic primary or from a Republican in the general election.

Today, the SCPR thinks probably not.

Which, of course, means that Maier, Jr. and Jackson can go all out to convert perhaps Stark County's very best council to something that resembles North Canton.

One of the more interesting political plays in the making in Massillon's council race jockeyings is that going on between Maier, Jr. loyalist Linda Litman and Councilwoman Michelle Del Rio-Keller.

Del Rio-Keller tells the SCPR that she has no problems whatsoever with any of the warring political factions in Massillon.  She wants to work for the betterment of Massillon and will work with the mayor, the Republicans on council, Johnnie A. Maier, Jr, influential Massillon Democrat John Ferrero or anybody else for the benefit of Massillonians.

However, she will be her own person.

And even if that means that people she differs with from time-to-time (e.g. Mayor Catazaro-Perry) will not talk to her after a given disagreement.

Her independent-mindedness may pit her against Maier, Jr. Democrat Linda Litman who lost narrowly to Republican Ed Lewis, IV in November, 2013 in upcoming 2015 primary election.

Both have taken out petitions to run at-large and in Ward 6.

If Lewis decides to run against Catazaro-Perry, then look for Del Rio-Keller to run in Ward 6 in and Democratic head-to-head clash.

In a sort of ironical twist, Litman having taken out petitions to run in Ward 6 may force Lewis' hand to run for mayor.

The SCPR figures that he has much more to gain than lose if he were to run against the mayor than trying to hold onto his Ward 6 seat.

Lewis in the 2013 general election won by a mere 23 votes.  In a 2015 match up in a scenario in which Catazaro-Perry runs unopposed or with a nominal opponent, the SCPR thinks the Maier, Jr. forces will go "all-out" to put him on the political sidelines.

And, even if he survives; he is only one of ten council persons.  A highly influential one with his Republican and Democratic colleagues, no doubt.  But still just one of ten.

As mayor, which the SCPR figures he has just as good a chance to win as remaining a councilman in the face of a Litman candidacy; he has an opportunity to be much more effective for the welfare of Massillonians.

Lewis has the disposition to be a "come let us reason together" as mayor.  No doubt there will be times he disagrees with a majority of council, but he has the maturity to reach out to them and most of them will have the maturity to reach to him for the good of Massillonians to make Massillon government work for everyday Massillonians.

The SCPR encourages him to run for mayor even if former Democratic mayor of 24 years Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. decides to take on Mayor Catazaro-Perry in May, 2015.

It is time for Massillon to move on with a younger generation of executive leadership.

Lewis tells the SCPR that he considering whether or not 2015 is the correct timing to run for mayor.

The Report thinks it is.

Not so much that the political environment is that such that "stars are aligned for a Lewis win."

There is no doubt is that he may well win.  But there is a risk that he might not.  An equal of greater risk of his not winning exists, the SCPR thinks, in Ward 6 is present.

All he should ask for is a 50/50 chance of winning and then roll up his sleeves and get to work and get going now.

Certainly that 50/50 ratio if not better exists now.

Run, Ed, run!

When the Republicans took control of council in November, 2011; they took office in a spirit of working with the newly elected mayor in a non-partisan way.

But that was not to be.

For little did the Republicans know (or, for that matter, independent minded Democrats) at the time that the Catazaro-Perry/Maier, Jr. alliance would not allow for compromise, give and take or whatever label one wants to put on different functions of government to be a "check and balance" on one another.

As a consequence of the Catazaro-Perry/Maier, Jr. "my way or the highway" attitude, Massillon finds itself a financial mess with no solution in sight other than deep cuts in Massillon's operating budget which undoubtedly mean that everyday Massillonians will be less-safe and getting less services (e.g. street and highway repair).

Massillon can get on a track in which council and the mayor's office can work collaboratively each through "check and balance" of the function of their respective branches of government to bring effective and efficient government to Massillonians.

The only model that the Catazaro-Perry/Maier, Jr. cabal sees is to elect loyalists to council who pledge to work in a collusive fashion with "those who know best" and thereby give short-shrift to the everyday citizens of Massillon.

The elections of 2015 may be the most important in terms of the future well being of Massillon that the city has ever faced in its entire history.

Voters should use as their guidance as whom to support in May and November in the dawning new year this standard:

the commitment of candidates for mayor and for council who promise to work collaboratively together but ever mindful that they do have different roles in government and to function as a check and balance on each other.

Voters should reject those who are "top-down" types who appear to use politics and government for their personal enhancement and, not as it should be:  which is to say - for "the general welfare" of Massillonians.

(VIDEO) MASSILLON'S 6TH WARD RACE HOLDS THE KEY TO MASSILLON'S FUTURE?

WARD 2 RACE AS WELL
================

 VIDEO

COUNCILMAN ED LEWIS
STATES HIS CASE
FOR
NOT REDUCING
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS ALLOCATION
================================= 

In analyzing the "leadership factor" among candidates for Massillon City Council in tomorrow's election, the Stark County Political Report believes that Councilman Ed Lewis, IV (Republican) has those qualities which make him the "candidate of choice" if Massillon is going to recover from its current financial crisis and get back on track to being a city with a bright future.

The folks who fancy themselves as Massillon's most skilled and perceptive "backroom" politicians (former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and Stark County Dems political director Shane Jackson) appear to see the same qualities in Lewis as the SCPR does and want to "nip this guy in the bud" before he gets on a roll.

For if he gets reelected tomorrow in Ward 6 (a predominately Democratic [by registration] ward), by the SCPR's assessment, Lewis is on track to become Massillon's first Republican mayor in many, many of a moon.

In getting elected in 2011, the year in which the Massillon Republican Party astonished all local political pundits in taking a 5 to 4 control of Massillon City Council, Lewis burst onto the Massillon political scene as "the great future hope" of the Massillon Republican Party.

Just take a look at the numbers he rolled up on "incumbent" Democrat David McCune.

His only losing precinct in the 60% to 40% Democratic ward was in 6-C and there only narrowly (about 2-1/2 percentage points).

Granted, McCune, did not distinguish himself as councilman and had a few incidents (e.g. the traffic ticket controversy) which were the equivalent of "shooting oneself in the foot."

The Report's take on Lewis is that he demonstrates that he cares about Massillon's future by paying particular attention to non-politically-exotic things such as infrastructure.

Ignoring infrastructure has proved the undoing of many cities throughout America.

He is making an issue out of a move by the Catzaro-Perry administration to go from a 98% to 2% (operations to infrastructure ratio) to 99.5% to .5%.



At the .5% rate, Massillon will spend the grand total of $59,000 out of a $17.3 million budget on things of an enduring nature.

Some on council want to draw lines with the Catazaro-Perry administration.  Lewis seeks to be a bridge builder notwithstanding how utterly impossible the mayor makes his quest with her abiding belligerent tone.

Should Lewis be reelected, the SCPR considers him to be the likely choice of Massillon's Republicans to take on Catazaro-Perry or her "heir apparent" in November, 2015.

The Report says "heir apparent" because of the many persistent reports that Catazaro-Perry is about to "pull up stakes" and leave Massillon.

The SCPR believes that one of the reasons that the Maier/Jackson duo political operatives are "pulling out all the stops" to derail Lewis is they understand that he has all the tools and qualities needed to become the first Massillon Republican mayor in many an eon.

Whether Catazaro-Perry sticks in Massillon or not, they do not want Ed Lewis to be building a reputation for himself as a springboard for taking her or an alternative on come 2015.

As it is, whomever the designated Maier/Jackson mayor candidate is, she/he will most certainly face an opponent in the May, 2015 Democratic primary.  That opposition could well come from former mayor Frank Cicchinelli.

Democrat Linda Litman is making a determined run at Lewis in Ward 6.

And her pre-general-election campaign finance report shows that she is, in fact, the candidate of the Maier/Jackson wing of the Massillon Democratic Party.

Moreover, inasmuch as her husband John is a vice president of Ironworkers 550, she is getting huge financial support Stark County's trade unions.

Lewis tells the SCPR that his campaign is going well.

However, his pre-general-campaign-finance-report does indicate that he is substantially behind Litman in fund raising.

Perhaps, he is sandbagging and will do better in the final days before election day.

The SCPR believes that it essential for Lewis (followed by Republican Nancy Halter) to be reelected if Massillon Republicans are going to remain a viable political force.

Competitive Republican and Democratic politics is the best way for any level of government to function in terms of ensuring that the check and balance features of our government structure are effectively implemented.

Of course, we are now seeing that the right wing of the Republican Party (the Tea Party crowd) uses those check and balance features to obstruct.

But such is not the case with the majority of Massillon's council.

They work quite well with the four "voting" Democrats presently on council.

If either Lewis or Halter lose (which would mean the Maier/Jackson forces would have a direct voice on council), the SCPR believes that council would not function nearly as well as it does now and Massillon council would take a turn towards greater discord within its ranks.

Not only does The Report see Dave Irwin and Linda Litman as taking their marching orders from Maier and Jackson, but also (differing with former mayor Frank Cicchinelli) thinks that Shaddrick Stinson would for the third leg of that political stool.

If Massillon is to recover from its financial difficulties any time soon, having Maier/Jackson allies on council would be a super impediment to such happening.

Massillon has much at stake in this election.  First in Ward 6 and closely followed by Ward 2.

Will Massillon voters make choices that best serves the "City of Champion's" future?

MASSILLON: IN "POLITICALLY INDUCED" FINANCIAL CRISIS - WHO PREVAILS IN CONTEST FOR POLITICAL POWER IN COUNCIL RACES?

As the SCPR sees it, the "hotbed" election night focus will be on the city of Masillon and its city council races in Wards 1, 2, 4 and 6.

At stake?

Perhaps who will control Massillon city government for the next two years.

It is rare indeed to see a Republican Party organization and key Stark County elected Republicans heavily engaged in a municipal election in Stark County as between Alliance, Canton and Massillon.

A sampling of campaign contributions to those Republicans in competitive races in Massillon is quite revealing:

SARITA CUNNINGHAM-HEDDERLY

• Votes for Women * ($1,000),
• * Votes for Women is a front group for the organized Stark County Republican Party, which like the Stark Dems and its Coalition of Women Voters, dons a political neutral sounding name but only endorses candidates of the Republican Party (Votes for Women) or Democratic Party (Coalition of Women Voters)

NANCY HALTER 

(All Republicans)

• ($2,000) Votes for Women
• ($40) Ward 5 councilman Donnie Peters
• ($20) Lee Brunckhart (2011 mayoral candidate
• ($50) Jane Timken (Stark County GOP official)
• ($50) Stark Co. Commissioner Richard Regula
• ($20) Common Pleas judge Kristin Farmer ($20)
• ($20) Domestic Relations judge Rosemary Hall
• ($20) Stark Co. Commissioner Janet Creighton
• ($20) former Stark Commissioner Jane Vignos
• ($100) Stark Co. Auditor Alan Harold
• ($25) Mayor Pat Fallot of Louisville
• ($40) Judge C. Roland Centrone - Massillon Municipa
• ($40) former Judge Rick Kettler - Massillon Municipal
• ($50) Judge Sheila Farmer - 5th District COA

ED LEWIS, IV

(All Republicans, except where noted)

• ($50) Councilman Steven Tharp, Jr of Brewster
• ($10) Judge Roland Centrone - Massillon Municipal Ct
• ($10) Judge Curtis Werren - Stark Ct of Common Pleas (
• ($40) Judge Rosemary Hall - Domestic Relations Ct
• ($10)  Megan Starrett, Democrat unopposed Ward 5
• ($20) state Representative Maryilyn Slaby

There is no discernable Republican presence in Canton and Alliance, but Massillon is quite a different matter.

And for the sake of competitive politics and the benefit that competition brings to the give and take of government, it has been refreshing to see the resurgence of Republican "urban" political engagement in at least one of Stark's three major cities.

It was a huge surprise when the Republicans took control of Massillon's council two years ago.

However, the takeover was not an accident.

The SCPR attributes the switch to the superb efforts of Ward 2 councilwoman Nancy Halter.

She went out and recruited attractive candidates to run in Ward 1:  Sarita Cunningham-Hedderly, (herself in Ward 2), Ed Lewis, IV in Ward 6 and Milan Chovan at-large.

And they all won!

Nobody had to be more shocked that the Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. (former Stark County Democratic Party chairman) and Stark Dems political director Shane Jackson.

Fresh off their victory of May, 2013 in ousting 24-year mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. in the Democratic Party primary, they took their eye off the "political" ball and forgot that their Kathy Catazaro-Perry was destined for failure as mayor without majority support in council.

Now they are scrambling to recover.

The Maier and Jackson tandem (in the SCPR's assessment) have candidates loyal to them and "their" mayor in Ward 2 (Dave Irwin), Ward 4 (Shaddrick Stinson) and Ward 6 (Linda Litman).

Stinson seems to be the most likely of the three to make it to council.

The Report is told that Catzaro-Perry herself was out in Republican Jim Triner's stronghold (the area including and surrounding The Legends golf course) to campaign door-to-door for Stinson.

Recently a Stinson campaign representative sat down with Cicchinelli and tried to convince him that as councilperson he would not be a Maier/Jackson captive.

And, apparently, he succeeded.

Cicchinelli declined a request that he put a Stinson sign in his yard, but the impression that The Report gets is that he will personally support him mostly because of his being a Democrat.

Cicchinelli tells the SCPR that he thinks "when all is said and done" Stinson will be his own man on council.

The Report does not agree with Cicchinelli.

Looking at Stinson's pre-general campaign finance report and Catazaro-Perry connected contributions ($150) and believing as host of Maier/Jackson loyalists must be hidden within the "contributions of $25 or less" (which by Ohio election law does not have to be attributed to specific names) and, of course, the mayor "hoofing it" for Stinson, it does not compute that - if elected - Stinson will forget "who brung him to the dance."

At one time, the SCPR thought that Republican Jim Triner might pull off an upset in this "most heavily Democratic Ward" in all of Massillon.

How's that?

Well, by The Report's assessment, it appeared that when the Catazaro/Maier/Jackson triumvirate turned on Quenessa Hampton when she did show them that she was an independent minded councilwoman (all of a sudden, her military status became an issue and she had to withdraw because of the Hatch Act prohibition on military holding "partisan" political office); interesting, no?) and her husband Edward decided to act as her surrogate in taking out petitions to run as a non-partisan that such was "the perfect 'political' storm" whereby a Republican might just win in the 4th.

All reports are that Edward Hampton is doing very little, if anything, in terms of campaign.  That he did not reach the threshold of $1,000 raised in campaign contributions and therefore was not required and did not file a pre-general campaign finance report seems to be validation of the reported campaign inactivity.

All-of-a-sudden, the 4th is now a Republican versus Democrat race in Massillon's most Democratic ward.

In the opinion of the SCPR, council president Tony Townsend who was formerly the elected 4th ward councilman was the least able of all of Massillon councilpersons that the SCPR has observed in the nearly six years of existence of The Report covering Massillon politics.

It appears to The Report that his close political friends Maier and Jackson finagled a way to persuade Republican Al Hennon to drop his race against Townsend for council president by inducing him to join the Catazaro-Perry administration as safety director.

There was no way Townsend was going to win citywide in Massillon had Hennon stayed in the race.

Apparently, he got elected in Ward 4 by being a Democrat in Massillon's most Democratic ward, no?

To sum it up, given the apparent fade of Edward Hampton as a viable factor, it would be a surprise equivalent to, if not exceeding, the 2011 Republican takeover of council if Triner were to win.

And if Triner loses, then the Republican's control of council evaporates.

It could be that Democrats like Paul Manson (at-large) or Michelle Del Rio-Keller might join those Republicans elected next Tuesday and form an bipartisan coalition and organize the 2014/25 council.

The new council, even if pro-Catazaro-Perryites Shaddrick Stinson, Dave Irwin and Linda Litman are elected, will, in the SCPR's analysis, tilt against the mayor on key votes.

So the "balance of political power" of council will not shift towards the Catazaro-Perry administration even if everything falls her way in the council races.

Sure to be elected Democrats Andrea Scassa (Ward 3, who the SCPR sees as being truly independent), Megan Starrett (Ward 5, a "John Ferrero Democrat"), Michelle Del Rio-Keller (at-large; a likely independent minded, if not somewhat "anti-Catazaro-Perry type) and Paul Manson (at-large, who probably has ties to the Cicchinelli forces in Massillon politics) constitute a bloc of councilpersons who will keep the administration "on pins and needles."

Moreover, the SCPR believes that chances are very good that Halter (Irwin) and Lewis (Litman) will survive the Maier/Jackson inspired challenges and will return to council.

One has to wonder whether or not Stark prosecutor is following through with his promise (reported in a prior SCPR blog) to Halter that he would be supporting her reelection bid.

If so, the support is of the "word-of-mouth" variety he is passing on to Ward 2 Democrats because there is nothing in Halter's campaign finance report to indicate monetary support.

As noted above, in the SCPR analysis of Ed Lewis' campaign finances, Ferrero political loyalist Megan Starrett has made a contribution to him which occurred on July 31st - and - he has reciprocated with a contribution to her campaign on August 24th.

Also notable on Starrett is the fact that Frank Cicchinelli contributed to her campaign.

Interesting, no?

Here is a look at the Irwin and Litman "list of contributors" campaign finance reports.  They make it abundantly clear that these folks are linked-at-the-hip to the Maier/Jackson Massillon political machine.

Sarita Cunningham-Hedderly may even survive in Ward 1 in her race against former safety-service director Mike Loudiana (a Cicchinelli man).

While the Massillon races will be among Stark County's most interesting to watch, the results will not change the "political - balance of power - in Massillon.

The city will continue to struggle with its financial problems (currently placed "in fiscal emergency" by the state of Ohio Auditor) which are, in the judgment of the SCPR, a consequence of the political turmoil that has plagued Massillon city council for some years now.

Look for that turmoil to continue no matter what the outcome of next Tuesday's election.