OSBORNE "SUBTLY" ADMINISTERS "EXERCISE OF FREE SPEECH" TEST ON NORTH CANTON CITY COUNCIL?

UPDATED:  09:31 AM

STILL UNCLEAR 
WHETHER OR NOT

NORTH CANTON COUNCIL

HAS HAD AN ATTITUDE CHANGE

ON 

EXERCISE OF FREE SPEECH

At the June 26, 2017 meeting of North Canton City Council, long, long, long time North Canton civic activist Chuck Osborne (a former councilman), got tossed from council meeting by acting council president Doug Foltz for displaying an sign that was sure to offend North Canton law director Tim Fox.

Osborne feels that his removal was a violation of his U.S. Constitution rights as extended to the states (including its political subdivisions such as city governments) by virtue of the 14th amendment to the Constitution.

Here are parts of e-mails (except the entire July 10 e-mail) that he sent (or copies of) to The Stark County Political Report, to wit:

July 10th

For tomorrow night, I have a shirt with the words “Remove Law Director Tim Fox” printed, front and back, that I intend to wear. I have consulted my attorney ...  on both the sign and the shirt and he did NOT think it should be an issue. He took pictures of both items when I was in his office last Wednesday.

July 8th

Hello Martin,

The attached state statute [see insert below] has been brought to my attention in regards to interference with the civil rights of citizens by public officials .

Wanted to share this with you.

Generally, Law Director Tim Fox is obsessed with following state law. Do you think he will be influenced to any degree with this law?

I would like to clarify a point you made in your blog of the North Canton meeting where Vice-President of Council, Doug Foltz, at the urging of Law Director Tim Fox, took exception to my little protest sign.

I had not spoken out until Mr. Foltz addressed me, and then at that point I was simply responding to Mr. Foltz.

Until that time, I was sitting there quietly.

I think you mischaracterized the situation incorrectly in your blog post.   

(Note:  My recollection does not match Osborne's, LINK to that blog) 

When Mr. Fox took notice of my little sign and prompted Mr. Foltz to act (after it had been on display for about five minutes and which no one else in the chamber knew of or could see), only then did I speak out and that was to respond to Mr. Foltz.

At any rate, I will provide this for the moment and we will see where all of this leads.

Thank you,
Chuck

June 27th

Hello Guys,

I know most of you did not get to see the small sign I had displayed at Council tonight so I have attached the 8 ½ x 11 inch sign for you to see.  (note:  see SCPR blog link above)

From thirty feet or more, I am surprised it was readable from the front of the Council Chamber but apparently it was.
...

For something so small and unobtrusive, I believe Council is overreacting but that is what they do. And always at the direction of Law Director Tim Fox.
...

Several weeks ago, I used the word “Hell” and Law Director Tim Fox made a Federal case out of it, but when Councilmember Domonic Fonte used the word “Hell” tonight, Mr. Fox had nothing to say.

In the 2004 hearings to remove former Mayor Tom Rice from office, a resident wore a complete body suit of a Kangaroo to the hearings and no one questioned it.

A small 8 ½ x 11 inch sign and I get removed from the Council Chamber.

No tolerance for democracy in North Canton.

A little “civil disobedience” is a good thing but it is not tolerated in North Canton.

It is what it is.
...

I had no doubt Citizen Osborne would follow through on his plan as set out in his July 10th e-mail.

What I was unprepared for was the timid manner in which he exercised his First Amendment rights at Monday's meeting.

My take on Osborne is that he has not in my experience of seeing him in action had any reluctance whatsoever to do a "in your face" routine when sparring with a North Canton government official.

On Monday, as he often does, Osborne spoke during a time allotted by council (5 minutes) to members of the general public under agenda item Recognition of Visitors which the SCPR tabs as being "public speaks."



Notice that he was wearing a sport jacket which in my recollection is not something that he generally, if ever, does.

To me, doffing the jacket would have been a true test of whether or not North Canton Council president Dan Peters would have been prompted to gavel him down and compel him to cover up or remove the "Remove Law Director Tim Fox" shirt.

To repeat, I am surprised that Osborne was so reticent about "showing his 'civil rights' colors" on Monday.

Could it be that Osborne is changing his ways in terms of less confrontation?

Insofar as I could tell, Osborne's jacket masked the Fox message during the entirety his addressing of council.

It was only when he sat down near his camera set up with which he records council meetings that one could discern the "Remove Law Director Tim Fox" on blue shirt imprinted plea.

In a post-meeting Q&A, Osborne told me that a motivating reason for his covering up the shirt was to ensure that he would be permitted to do his public speaks in the first place.

He had noted that a North Canton policeman was stationed just outside council chambers.   Was the policeman placed at the ready by council leadership in case needed to escort Osborne from the meeting room.  That, apparently, was Osborne's thought as another reason why the jacket remained on covering the anti-Fox slogan.

Near the end of the meeting during his space to address any matter he wished with council and the Held administration , Fox pointed out that he had noticed Osborne's "Remove Law Director Tim Fox" shirt.

In doing so, he proceeded to launch an attack (my take) on Citizen Osborne in saying that he (Fox) considered it a "badge of honor" that Osborne was calling for his removal as law director and as justification for his deeming the call a "badge of honor" he recited a number of causes that he says Osborne opposed over Fox's five year tenure as law director which causes Fox said were good for North Canton.



Monday was not the first time Fox has used a North Canton taxpayer forum to single out Osborne for a tongue lashing.

Here is a LINK (July, 2015) to a SCPR blog in which it appears that Fox used the city's website to in effect excoriate Oborne for using a citizen's right to challenge city actions in a court of law.

And, my recollection is, that Fox has caused to be published at least one other account of holding Osborne up to what I think was purposeful public ridicule (i.e. costing North Canton taxpayers money to defend against an Osborne initiative) for his use of various constitutional devices to hold the city accountable.

I missed it, but Osborne tells me that Fox took his picture with him wearing the "Remove Law Director Tim Fox" shirt at an earlier point in the meeting.

On reviewing my video, apparently Fox pulled out his cellphone and snapped Osborne's picture during Councilman Dominic Fonte's report time.  Fonte sits at the end of the council dais and looking at Fonte meant that Fox could not miss Osborne's sitting in the line of sight with his jacket open revealing the "Remove Law Director Tim Fox" script.

Just to be a little bit funny, one has to wonder whether or not the picture Fox is said to have taken is a public record subject to a public records request.

While done with his "personal" cellphone, he is an appointed North Canton official participating in an official meeting of North Canton City Council.

Could make for an interesting courtroom challenge, if Fox resisted such a request, no?

Backing up a bit, what was the picture taking all about?

A case of public official intimidation?

A picture he wants to have framed and placed in a prominent place in his home for all to see the likeness of his favorite civic activist?

Or, perhaps, to throw darts at?  That's how much animosity that I think North Canton public official Tim Fox has for Citizen Osborne.

To be fair, I think the feeling is mutual.

I do not disagree with Osborne that since Fox has come on board as North Canton's law director, he, and number of council's members (mostly through whomever happened to be president of council at the time) and even Mayor Held, on occasion, have exhibited considerable hostility to Osborne.

Osborne has given at least given as much as he has gotten.

At times, it seems as if there are no adults in the room when it comes to Osborne's interaction with council, the law director and other city officials.

However, one always hopes that there are some "cooler heads" in the room among officialdom to play the adult and calm things down and, where called for, tell their fellows (Fox in this case) that he has gone too far.

Democracy can be messy.

Government officials are certainly entitled to defend themselves when criticized by citizens, but it is part of the territory for elected and appointed officials to be critiqued and they need to have a temperament of measured response.

For the rest of North Canton government (i.e. council members and the mayor) to sit by and allow the city law director (selected in North Canton by council) to chastise a citizen for opposing this or that policy, practice or program suggests to me that they are enablers of Law Director Fox going on the attack on a citizen exercising his/her due process rights (i.e. the right to be heard) and that folks puts them in a pretty bad light in my judgment.

It's not only Osborne who appears to be a target of the law director and the council through its president.

There are  a number of North Cantonians who, since Fox came on as the hiree of council, had the audacity in coming before council in the manner of not being there to "praise Ceasar" but rather to tell the "King, he had no clothes."

North Canton officials seem to obsess about being told how great they are.  Undoubtedly, they are out to make "North Canton Great Again."  Not unlike a certain person who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.

I have written quite a few blogs providing chapter, verse and video of some of those occasions when things get testy when council members are being told they are not so great.

The shy way Osborne exercised what he thinks is his exercise free speech Monday evening, leaves it open to question whether or not there has been a change of attitude on the part of council expressed through its president and its legal advisor on the matter of citizens exercising their constitutional free speech (verbal and non-verbal) rights.

It is always a constructive thing when the public's business can be conducted without disruption.

That Osborne did not flagrantly show off his shirt as I expected that he would was refreshing.

He says that his low key approach was purposeful so as not to inflame.

It is encouraging that President Peters did not react to obvious Fox's unhappiness that Osborne was wearing a protest-Fox shirt.

However, it is disappointing that we really do not know if Osborne's removal from the June 26th meeting (Foltz as acting president) provoked a reevaluation of silent protests on the part of the council president/law director and that going forward there will be no reactions so long as there is no verbal interjection outside the "Recognition of Visitors" forum.

It is totally out of order and disruptive for Osborne or anybody else to shout out from the audience during an ongoing council meeting.

That he did none of that on Monday, is also encouraging.

The only discouraging thing that happened at Monday's meeting was Fox's "badge of honor" speech.

As I said earlier in this blog, Fox should have been called out for what I think was an attack on Osborne.  Very unbecoming of a professional and city official, no?

If there is a change of approach vis-a-vis the likes of Osborne underway, it would have been helpful for President Peters to have articulated same, no?

But maybe his "silence" and non-action is the best we can hope for given the present climate.

NORTH CANTON LAW DIRECTOR TIM FOX A "STARK COUNTY" PERSONIFICATION OF OHIO'S CPIC "F" GRADE ON EASE OF GETTING PUBLIC RECORDS!

UPDATE:  5:30 PM

From: Holly Pierpont <holly.pierpont@att.net>
To: tramols@att.net 
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 1:11 PM
Subject: Today's blog

You wrote: "North Canton voters must be some of the most disengaged and ignorant of their self-interest in all of Stark County."

Yep.  I have to wonder what percentage of North Cantonians, who voted to end city paid health insurance three years ago, showed up last week and still re-elected those who basically ignored, disrespected and lied to them.  I believe we can expect nothing but more of the same for many years to come...  

-------------------------------------------------------

Jamie McCleaster <rmccleaster@aol.com>  Today at 5:20 PM

To:  Martin Olson

Martin,

Great blog today! I think this is an accurate assessment of what's happening in North Canton. I think a lot of people would agree that changes need to be made, but sometimes those changes come slower than what people want. Thanks for your honest and accurate reporting.


Jamie

(TOP PART OF GRAPHIC EXTRACTED FROM CPIC WEBSITE)
(HIGHLIGHTING & CHECKMARKS ADDED)

North Canton's elections last Tuesday had to be a huge disappointment to those North Cantonians/Stark Countians/Ohioans who think Ohio government and specifically Ohio's local government should be accessible, open and transparent.

While the SCPR piles on Law Director Tim Fox and thinks this autocrat richly deserves being unloaded upon, it is clear to The Report he is doing the will of North Canton councilpersons Foltz, Peters (council president), Werren, Fonte, Cerreta, Griffith and Kiesling.

North Canton City Council (NCC) is an embarrassment to Stark County's citizenry in terms of being hostile to its citizens on basic democratic-republican values of accessibility, openness and transparency.

Ohio is rated by the highly regarded Center For Public Integrity as deserving of grade F because of "the struggle" Ohioans experience in trying to "obtain public records from state officials."

CFPI investigators need to come the North Canton, Ohio.  Undoubtedly, if they came to North Canton, they would be horrified at the pillaging of the open government rights suffered by North Cantonians.

For North Canton City Council working in cahoots with Law Director Fox have made it like "pulling teeth" for a citizen to get North Canton government public records.

And the SCPR includes North Canton mayor David Held (ran unopposed last Tuesday) for not showing more leadership in publicly taking North Canton Council and Fox to task for their obvious hostility to any North Canton citizen who appears to looking into North Canton matters and their look might prove to be embarrassing to elected and/or unelected North Canton government officials.

Held implies in conversations with the SCPR that he disapproves of the anti-citizen attitude demonstrated by Fox in his apparent compliance with the seeming "wish of council mandate" to him, but Held does very little of a concrete nature to give credibility for his finessed rhetoric.

The only thing that Held has done of note in this regard is to force the release in February, 2014 of Tim Fox's legal opinion  (LINK)  to council members that North Canton's 72% voter approved health care ordinance was illegal.

But that was January, 2014.  He sat on his duff from November, 2013 until then and let North Cantonians uninformed as to why council was dragging its feet in complying with the North Canton voting public's desire on the matter of part-time council members not being eligible for taxpayer subsidized family coverage.

North Canton voters must be some of the most disengaged and ignorant of their self-interest in all of Stark County.

All that was needed in last Tuesday's election was for one of the challengers as among Pierpont (Ward 2; Peters), Hoagland or Osborne (Ward 3; Werren), McCleaster (at large; Cerreta, Griffith, Kiesling) and even perhaps Snyder (Ward 4; Fonte) to be elected and Mr. Fox's apparent mandate of foisting barrier after barrier after barrier on requesters of North Canton government records would come to a rapid end.

The SCPR trusts that the 2015 incumbent council member challengers will continue their campaigns unabated through to the general election of 2017.

North Canton voters seem to be some exceptionally ignorant in that they cannot see that the denial of others of core democratic-republican core values will likely one day come back on any of them who want the check up on the inner workings of North Canton government.

Also in for a tongue lashing at the hand of The Stark County Political Report are the core Stark County members of the county's delegation to the Ohio General Assembly.

Oeslager (Republican, Ohio Senate, 29th) in particular should ashamed of Ohio "F" grade on public records.

Seemingly, many, many, many years ago he made a name for himself as someone who fought for open records in Ohio has gotten "fat, dumb, happy and disinterested" on this issue and in representing almost all of Stark County (except extreme eastern Stark County).

A couple of years ago he outright rejected a plea from Canton officials to come to Canton City Council to discuss fiscal problems (he was then chairman of the Senate Finance Committee) saying "he was too busy."

Schuring (Republican, Ohio House, 48th) did heed Canton's plea, but proved ineffective in helping not only Canton but other Stark County political subdivisions.  Moreover, he has shown to inclination whatsoever to push for legislative enhancement of fundamental democratic-republican system values.

Hagan (Republican, Ohio House, 50th) seems totally disinterested in doing anything but pushing the agenda of the far right Republican-religious fringe group.

Slesnick (Democrat, Ohio House, 49th; term-limited out after the current legislative session) has been a total waste in terms of being productive for Cantonians/Stark Countians as a member of the Ohio House.

He does have the excuse of being a member of the House Democratic Caucus which because of their exceedingly low numbers get steam-rollered by the supermajority Republicans.

But the SCPR's take on Slesnick is that were he a member of the Republican supermajority he still would be ineffective because is political competence level is a near zero.

Mark the SCPR's word, Slesnick now that he has been a part of government is looking frantically at a way to stay on the taxpayer role.  He is now "entitled," is he not?

All any of Stark's Ohio General Assembly members have to do is to go to the Center for Public Integrity website and pick those aspects of the F grade which make the F grade an F grade and initiate legislative corrective action, to wit:

The foregoing are the "0" scores in the march to Ohio getting a grade F at the hand of the prestigious Center for Public Integrity.  There are moreover other questions that score 25, 25, 50 and 50 which, of course, are failing grades.

Only one of the questions was graded as passing and that question was only scored at 75 which in most grading circles is a middle level C.

So Oelslager, Schuring, Hagan and Slesnick have plenty to work on - if they care about enhancing the rights of North Cantonians, Stark Countians and Ohioans having a greater degree of open government.

And "if they care" is the appropriate overall question to put to Stark County's legislative delegation.

A F grade coupled with their inaction in remediation of a deficiency that has been of many years duration which, if they are aware legislators, have known about or should have known about indicates to the SCPR that they do not care about making all levels of Ohio government more responsive to Ohioans.

On top of the Ohio General Assembly's disinterest you have a North Canton City Council who through its law director takes full advantage of the legislative low priority for fundamental democratic-republican government accountability values.

Shame on North Canton's city council.

Shame on Mayor David Held.

Shame on legislators Oelslager, Schuring, Hagan and Slesnick.

And shame on North Canton voters for not being aware enough to place at least one caring citizen on the North Canton City Council to begin the process of reining-in the rest of council and their beholden law director Tim Fox!

NORTH CANTON 2015 ELECTIONS: IN THE INTEREST OF DEMOCRACY; ANYBODY BUT PETERS, WERREN, FONTE, CERRETA, GRIFFITH OR KIESLING!

As regular readers of The Stark County Political Report know, yours truly has pounded, pounded and pounded away some more on the denial of basic democratic-values of governance in North Canton government.

Here is an index of some of the SCPR blogs as compiled by Ward 3 candidate Chuck Osborne:

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

BREAKING NEWS! OSBORNE & CITIZEN ACTIVISTS WIN APPEAL WITH JUDGE FARMER OVER NORTH CANTON LAW DIRECTOR TIM FOX

http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2015/08/breaking-news-osborne-citizen-activists.html

Thursday, July 30, 2015

NORTH CANTON COUNCIL ALLOWS FOX TO HOUND democracy EXERCISING CITIZENS?????

http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2015/07/north-canton-council-allows-fox-to.html

Tuesday, June 02, 2015

NORTH CANTON SHOWS ITS ANTI-CITIZEN STRIPES - ONCE AGAIN

http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2015/06/north-canton-council-shows-its-anti.html

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

#2 - THE SCPR "BOTTOM 10" (I.E. WORST) STARK COUNTY POLITICAL SUBDIVISION ELECTED OFFICIALS

http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2015/05/2-scpr-bottom-10-ie-worst-stark-county.html

Monday, May 18, 2015

#7 - THE SCPR "BOTTOM 10" (I.E. WORST) STARK COUNTY POLITICAL SUBDIVISION ELECTED OFFICIALS

http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2015/05/7-scpr-bottom-10-ie-worst-stark-county.html

Monday, April 20, 2015

THE "POLITICALLY" DISGRACEFUL NORTH CANTON CITY COUNCIL CONTINUES TO SHIELD LAW DIRECTOR TIM FOX?

http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-politically-disgraceful-north.html

Friday, November 21, 2014

STARK COUNTY'S WORST CITY COUNCIL AT ODDS WITH CITIZENS AGAIN

http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2014/11/stark-countys-worst-city-council-at.html

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

NORTH CANTON CITY COUNCIL IS NOTHING BUT A MONUMENTAL "SCREW UP" THESE DAYS?

http://starkpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2014/10/north-canton-city-council-is-nothing.html

To sum the essence of all the SCPR blogs that have been written about North Canton government since Tim Fox was made law director by North Canton City Council in September, 2012 here goes:

• Fox was himself a councilperson less than a year (Ward 3), when as the brainchild of then personnel committee chair and Ward 2 councilman Dan "Jeff" Peters, Fox was appointed law director,
• SCPR Note:  Ward 3 now held by Stephanie Werren as a political appointee of council on Fox's hire as law director,
• [seems to be a specialty with the Werrens in that husband Curtis has been the recipient of two Republican gubernatorial appointments as a Stark County political subdivision as judge within the last couple of years] 
• Fox's marching orders from council were to sit on the half a dozen or so civic activists who were asking embarrassing questions of the sitting members of council and who were asking for copies of documents of North Canton government records,
• Fox who the SCPR thinks he sees himself as the equivalent of being God Almighty was all too happy to accommodate then councilpersons Foltz (Ward 1), Peters (Ward 2), Werren (Ward 3), Snyder (Ward 4) and Cerreta, Griffith and Kiesling (at-Large),
• Consequently, there has been a systematic denial (i.e. a tag team approach between council and Fox) in insulating council and all of North Canton government from fundamental American democratic-republican values of accountability, openness, transparency, communicativeness and access.

Accordingly, that is to say, sitting council members being in lockstep including appointed councilman Dominic Fonte (Ward 4), it is apparent that the council members have a besieged mentality to them and, if anything, have grown more belligerent to any North Canton citizen who does anything but praise the work of council.

The only remedy that will be effective to change the obvious hostility between council and any who dare question or examine records of North Canton government is for North Canton voters to comprehend what is going on and understand that should any North Cantonian critque council/Fox, then they too likely would be subject to official hostility is to replace as many of the sitting councilpersons as there are challengers to their continuing in office.

Yesterday, the SCPR received a mailer touting the election of three challengers to Peters, Werren and one of the three incumbent at-large councilpersons (i.e. Ceretta, Griffith and Kiesling).

The Report is only to happy to accommodate the implied solicitation of the mailer to yours truly who is a Lake Township resident to blog about the importance of this North Canton election in terms of replacing as many as possible of the demonstrated anti-democratic-republican sitting council members as there are opponents.

The Concerned Citizens of North Canton for whatever reason has not opted to include Ward 3 candidate Chuck Osborne and Ward 4 candidate (versus Fonte) Kathy Snyder, the wife of former Ward 4 councilman Jon Snyder in the recently mailed out flyer.

Osborne has been quoting the SCPR as citing his knowledge of North Canton government with the implication that The Report specifically endorses his candidacy.

Such is simply not the case.

Osborne does clearly have strengths but one he lacks is the ability to disagree with government officials including colleagues on council and maintain 

lines of communication and therefore the opportunity to effectively function as a legislative representative.

However, having said that, he would be preferable to incumbent Stephanie Werren.

Werren, who, unbelievably (in the opinion of the SCPR) was recently appointed the director of Leadership Stark County which is an effort of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce (Commerce) to produce Stark County's next generation of leaders, does not have the necessary commitment and skills to remain as a councilperson in North Canton.

Not a mature political leader (i.e. engaging the ebb and flow of responsive dialogue with her and council's constituents) in her own right, how is it that this woman presumes to have the ability to mentor others in to attaining skills that she herself does not have.

Shame on the Chamber for her appointment as director of Leadership Stark County.

A consequence of her appointment might be more ill-prepared Stephanie Werrens out there in Stark County political subdvision leadership posts.

Werren comes from what there is of Stark County high society and obviously benefits from her family/political connections and ends up in unmerited (North Canton Council and Leadership Stark County) positions that she does not have the skills to effectively produce for North Cantonians and Stark Countians.

Getting back to the mailer that the SCPR recently receive, it is gratifying to see the message communicated to North Canton voters, to wit:

To pick up on the 1 - 2 - 3 theme, it should be 1 - 2 - 3 strikes and your out on the council incumbents being opposed by:

• Hoagland or Osborne (Werren), Ward 3,
• McCleaster (Cerreta, Griffith or Kiesling) LINK, at-Large,

• Pierpont (Peters), Ward 2,
• Snyder (Fonte), Ward 4,

Snyder is not signed on to the 3 point mailer and she many turn out to be the same as Fonte.  Voters need to keep in mind that she is the wife of former Ward 4 councilman and council president Jon Snyder who the SCPR sees as having been up to this eyeballs in the decision to hire Fox and support his imperials ways vis-a-vis the North Canton questioning/examining citizenry.

Spouses do not necessarily share political philosophy.  Given Fonte's "fall-into-line" stance, it is worth trying Kathy Snyder on for size to see whether or not she has what it takes to promote democratic-republican values of governance.

Should North Cantonians fail to replace Peters, Werren, Fonte and in the case of the councilpersons at large Cerreta or Griffith or Kiesling, then the SCPR for one will not want to hear it if someone other that the current crop of questioners/examiners complains about being worked over by Stark County's foremost anti-democratic-republican council.

NORTH CANTON COUNCIL ALLOWS FOX TO HOUND democracy EXERCISING CITIZENS?????

UPDATED AT 11:39 AM

The Stark County Political Report takes a break today from it first quarterly update of the SCPR Stark County Political Subdivision "Top 10" Elected Officials to focus on the political carnage being allowed if not fostered by North Canton City Council on The Dogwood City's core activist citizens at the hand of the city's law director Tim Fox.

The graphic for today's blog is made up in part of excerpts from a web page The Report is told was put up by Law Director Tim Fox within the last week or so and then quickly taken down when a furor erupted from among certain persons from within the North Canton citizenry.

Undoubtedly, Fox has some disingenuous reason for having put the page up, if, in fact, he did so.

The SCPR thinks the page was published in order to make the likes of McCleaster, Baughman and Osborne appear to be trouble makers just for the sake of being trouble makers and therefore not productive of the public good.

Moreover, the reference to Fox's success rate in winning litigation (will outside legal help in some instances) initiated by Chuck Osborne appears to the SCPR to be a public relations-esque effort to make Fox to seem to be some kind of legal juggernaut that somehow establishes that Osborne is out there somewhere in la-la land with his legal challenges.

Osborne has been the butt of such discrediting and disparagement by various North Canton officials efforts ever since he served on council himself in the early 2000s but failed to win reelection.

While the SCPR does not think Osborne has developed the skills to deal effectively with the "let's smear Chuck Osborne" crowd of detractors (many of whom The Report are supposedly politically mature sitting councilpersons), he certainly is the most expert and knowledgeable person on the ins and outs, the ups and downs of North Canton government except perhaps for former mayor and councilperson Daryl Revoldt.

He works far harder than any of the sitting councilpersons to ensure that North Canton government is transparent so that North Cantonians can know the truth of what goes on in the city's local government entrails and thereby be in a position to assess whether or not it is a government that can be trusted to provide for the general welfare of the city's residents.

Fox's alleged city of North Canton webpage effort smacks of as being, perhaps, a case of using taxpayer money to support the candidacies of councilpersons who supported his initial appointment and who continue to support him to be retained as law director.

Ohio's campaign finance officials should conduct an investigation as to whether or not there is a promotion of political candidates in the 2015 councilperson elections and the also the converse of it being directed towards detracting from the filed candidacies of McCleaster and Osborne and perhaps the potential candidacies of others.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and perhaps Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine should be taking a look at the  whys and the wherefores of how the page came into being and concomitantly whether or not any campaign finance laws may have been broken as a consequence of the page being published which of course would necessitate of a finding that taxpayer monies where used inappropriately.

Husted and DeWine need to clear the air on this matter.

Even it is borne out that no campaign finance laws have been violated, the SCPR thinks it is shameful that North Canton government financed by citizens of North Canton (included in part, of course, McCleaster and Osborne) should have countenanced the use of the city's website for obvious to the SCPR dissing of McCleaster, Baughman and Osborne.

Here is a copy of the entire webpage said to contain material developed by Fox and/or his office which appears to have vanished.



Let's turn to the smiling mayor David Held pictured in the pdf file and below as annotated by the SCPR.
 
As far as the SCPR is concerned there is nothing to smile about in terms of Mayor Held's protecting of Law Director Tim Fox and his obvious antagonism to North Canton citizens and their desire for "a transparent government" so they can get to "the truth of matters governmental" in North Canton a know whether or not North Canton "is worthy of being trusted" by its people.

Let's take another look at the smiling David Held:

 Now to get behind the smile.

Focus on the highlights of his message as added by the SCPR.

"[A] local government that offers a climate of:

• cooperation,
• teamwork, and
• OPENNESS (emphasis added)

to all residents."

Really!

Yours truly has talked with Held literally for hours upon hours over the seven plus years of publishing The Stark County Political Report.

In the course of recent conversations, The Report has asked Held point blank the question of when North Canton is going to get a handle on Law Director Tim Fox and rein him in in his obvious hostility towards any North Cantonian who is not cheerleading for the administration he is part of and for the city council members who hired him from its midst after he served only a few months as Ward 3 councilperson after being elected in November, 2011.

The answer?

A song and a dance!

Held is a one smooth communicator who says very little if anything of substance about solving the lack of trust that a number of North Cantonians have in North Canton government.

There is no doubt to The Report that Held knows better than what he is promoting and producing in terms of transparency in North Canton government as North Canton's chief executive.

It is clear to the SCPR that for whatever reason Held is completely in sync with at least a majority of North Canton city council members who The Report has believed from the inception of Fox's hiring hired him with the understanding that he would play hardball with the likes of North Canton citizens Jamie McCleaster, Miriam Baughman, Chuck Osborne and others.

And "others" would pretty much including anybody including yours truly who has the audacity to expect transparency in government.

It is only through transparency that we citizens get to the truth of any given matter. It is a constant battle with government at all levels to get the truth out.  For citizens to trust government, we must be convinced that transparency is the default standard of government.

Held presents the appearance of transparency but in reality he is a "smoke and mirrors" guy.

Council itself rather flagrantly its majority support (four members or more) of Fox does an "in your face" to any North Cantonian who merely suggests a critical demeanor vis-a-vis North Canton government.

And, of course, Stark County's only countywide newspaper (The Repository) lets Held, council and Fox get away with the trashing of transparency.

For Fox to have included The Repository on his list was a deceptive maneuver, The Report thinks, designed to make it appear that he was not singling out McCleaster, Baughman and Osborne.

Every year the newspaper industry promotes "Sunshine Week."

And The Repository does pro forma, obligatory support of that week.

However, where "the rubber meets the road," the SCPR thinks that The Rep has a incestuous relationship with "the powers that be" in Stark County government and therefore cannot be counted upon to smoke out and condemn anti-citizen attitudes/actions that develop at various political subdivison levels of Stark County government.

The Stark County Political Report salutes the likes of McCleaster, Baughman, Osborne and other community activists sprinkled across Stark County for:

• the time and effort they give their respective communities to keep government sunshine filtering through, and 
• the disparagement they sustain at hands of the likes of Tim Fox and certain members of North Canton council

If there is to be an improvement in transparency in North Canton government, it will be because of their effort and as a consequence of one or more of them being elected to office in November.

To their extra credit, McCleaster has filed to run for North Canton councilperson-at-large and Osborne has filed to run in Ward 3 (against Stehanie Werren, wife of Canton Municipal Court Stark County Republican Party appointed Judge Curtis Werren).

McCleaster in particular has the skills to insist that Fox be relegated to what the SCPR thinks is a more appropriate role as law director.

Moreover, the wife of former Ward 4 councilman Jon Snyder has filed to run in Ward 4.

The Report does not know where sitting councilman, appointed (by the rest of council), Dominic Fonte stands on reining Fox in, but it is not encouraging that he seemingly just sits by and watches the pillaging of basic democratic-republican values.

Can we expect Kathy Snyder to make an issue of Fonte's silence and inaction?

Let's hope!

But so far there are only three council seats under challenge.

It will take four committed to restructuring Fox's role to get the job done (see LINK).

There needs to be candidates in Ward 1 (Foltz) and Ward 2 (Peters).

Peters (currently council president) along with Councilperson Marcia Kiesling, The Report believes, are the strongest proponents of letting the unelected Fox pretty much run North Canton government unchecked

There is still time for others to file for council and PLEASE SOMEBODY FILE TO RUN AGAINST DAVID HELD!

Nobody should get a free ride in our system of government.

Held goes to great lengths to distance himself from what appears to yours truly to be politically inspired shenanigans from some in North Canton government directed at McCleaster, Baughman and Osborne.

But are his protestations believable?

In a couple of recent conversations with Held, he made to borrow from Vice President Joe Biden "a really fu**ing big deal" out of Fox having not been on the losing side of any of Citizen Osborne's litigation against North Canton.

That's why the SCPR questions Held's sincerity in appreciating the activism of McCleaster, Baughman, Osborne et al though he disagrees with much of what they are trying to do (The Report's take).

The Report can see it in the mind's eye.

Fox, Held, Peters, Werren, Kiesling and Griffith high-fiving one another when the 5th District Court of Appeals came down with a decision on the health care insurance coverage case affirming Judge Haas of the Stark Court of Common Pleas declaratory judgment to the effect that the overwhelming vote of North Cantonians was not recognizable under the Constitution of Ohio.

To reiterate, here is what North Canton government (purportedly Law Director Fox) posted recently.

And here is the cause for celebration.



And here is Osborne's rebuttal:

I would like to point out that my purpose in the litigation over the healthcare litigation was to get the court to uphold Ohio's constitutional right of initiative.

I had already won on this issue before the City started the litigation. North Canton's part-time elected officials no longer have taxpayer subsidized cadillac healthcare coverage.

In the two-year cycle of this term of City Council, this has saved taxpayers by my estimate, $500,000. Until this point, it is disappointing to realize that our court care so little about democracy, the Ohio Constitution and the will of the voters.

Further, they totally fail at understanding the meaning and definition of words in the English language. The word "shall" does not convey exclusivity.

I was fighting for principle in court. Sorry the court cannot uphold the principles of democracy.
I accomplished my goals despite Law Director Tim Fox and a City Council members whose priority was to serve themselves above the electorate.

A half-million dollars and counting for taxpayers.

NORTH CANTON COUNCIL SHOWS ITS ANTI-CITIZEN STRIPES - ONCE AGAIN

Does the sun ever shine in North Canton?

Of course!  How else could the city be dubbed "The Dogwood City?

Just not in the chambers of North Canton City Council nor within the law director's office in city hall located at 145 North Main Street in the heart of the city at Maple Street and North Main.

Undoubtedly, North Canton was in full bloom with American flags at its recently held Memorial Day activities.

Properly and fittingly honoring those who gave "their last full measure" preserving and protecting the unparalleled freedoms we Americans enjoy in our cherished democratic-republican system of government better than 225 years ago.

Tragically, it does not seem that the spirit of Memorial Day seeps into the confines located at 145 North Main.

A week past Memorial Day, 2015; North Canton City Council passed an ordinance described by The Repository's Robert Wang (North Canton City Council, meeting of June 1) thusly:

Approved a new Personal Information Policy that Councilman Dan Griffith, at-large, said would allow for the discipline of city employees who release private, personal information contrary to state law. 

Law Director Tim Fox said former Councilman Chuck Osborne has made a public-records request for the names and addresses of everyone who has purchased a Dogwood Pool pass [last] year. 

He said the policy is necessary to help prevent a city employee from releasing information about minors with pool passes, which state law allows a city to decline to release.  (restructured for ease of readability)

Hmm?

Seems to the SCPR that the law as yet another move by unelected Law Director Tim Fox endorsed by elected council members to blot the sun of transparency from the skyline of North Canton.

Osborne, who is a candidate for the Ward 3 seat of council,

• currently held by Republican Stephanie Werren,
• wife of appointed Canton Municipal Court judge Curtis Werren, and also 
• recently appointed as director of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce Leadership Stark County) 
• one of seven councilpersons voting for the Councilman Dan Griffith (Republican-at-Large)  initiative

says he is willing to have the names redacted as he only wants to know how many non-North Cantonians are using the city's Dogwood Pool paid for by North Canton taxpayers.

If North Canton Council members and Director Fox had one "come let's reason together" bone in their respective bodies, then they would extend government processes to accommodate  Osborne's request and still protect that which needs to be protected.

Fox, Griffith and the rest of council can talk about preventing/disciplining the release of:

• private, personal information contrary to state law,
• information about minors

until they are "blue in the face," but the SCPR for one is not buying that such is the true reason for
the legislation and the denial of Osborne's request.

The Report has written numerous blogs about North Canton City Council as being Stark County's most antagonistic deliberative body vis-a-vis its constituent public.

Recently yours truly designated members Dan "Jeff" Peters (as seventh worst):

•  a Ward 2 Republican and president of council

and Marcia Kiesling (as the second worst):

• a council-at-large Republican
• long term since the early 2000s
• except for the 2005-2007 term

being among Stark County's worst elected public officials principally because of their role individually and representationally in leading the way in developing a culture of adversarialness as part of the sinew of council in relation to citizen activists.

As The Report sees the situation, Fox is doing what is expected of him by at least a majority of council member (that being four members) and that his dominance in North Canton government is a consequence of an abrogation by council of their responsibility in North Canton "strong council" form of local government to control the unelected administrative processes of the city's government so as to ensure that those processes are:

• open, 
• accessible, 
• accountable, 
• communicative, 
• transparent, and 
• responsive 

to the citizens of North Canton.

Last night's action is additional evidence of North Canton Council's hostility towards any citizen of the city that wants a full measure of democratic-republican enhancing government made available.

Only when some (preferably four) of the seven are replaced, can North Cantonians expect a re-emergence of democratic-republican values in North Canton government.