IT'S TIME FOR A GENERATION CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP IN OHIO & STARK COUNTY?

UPDATE:  04/06/2015 AT 09:35 AM

Also see this Plain Dealer article (LINK) on Sittenfeld fundraising to-date.

FIRST UPDATE OF ORIGINAL BLOG

Back on March 5th,  The Stark County Political Report published the following blog on a youthful challenge from within the Ohio Democratic Party on the part of  Cincinnati councilman P.G. Sittenfeld (30) to former governor and 73 year old Ted Strickland (governor from January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2010).

On March 27th, Ohio's Democrats held their annual party dinner in Columbus and one of the speakers at the event was Sittenfeld.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote up the event (LINK).  Nothing from The Repository as far as the SCPR can determine.

At the event, Sittenfeld compared himself to former Democratic Ohio governor John R. Gilligan who shares a commonality of sorts with Sittenfeld.

From Wikipedia:

In 1968, Gilligan defeated sitting U.S. Senator Frank J. Lauche in the Democratic primary; however, he narrowly lost in the general election to Republican William B. Saxbe after Lausche refused to support him in the general election.

Could Ohio be in for a repeat of the 1968 race?

Here is a Sittenfeld campaign provided excerpt of his speech on the 27th.



The Stark County Democratic Party has through former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr (2003 - 2009) has strong ties to former governor Ted Strickland.

 ORIGINAL BLOG - March 5, 2015

Yours truly is not exactly sure what Cincinnati councilman P.G. Sittenfeld is a member of in terms of his generation. Some experts say Generation X; some think Generation Y and some describe him as being a Millennial. What is undeniable is that he is young, "really" young. Perhaps way too young to be a United States of America Senator? Apparently (Link 1), P.G. Sittenfeld comes from a wealthy Cincinnati area family (Link 2). At age 30, Democrat Sittenfeld has announced that he is running to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Rob Portman.

• According to the United States Constitution, age 30 (born October 1, 1984; according to his Wikipedia biography) is the minimum age at which can serve in the U.S. Senate.

One must ask, is this guy prepared for the United States Senate?

Or is this some sort of political prank? If Sittenfeld is serious, he must first take on a defeated-for-reelection (2010) former Ohio governor Ted Strickland who also has announced his campaign for seat in the November, 2016 election. And that will be a tall order. The SCPR thinks that Sittenfeld's youth could be - if played correctly - a huge advantage in taking on the 73 year old Strickland who lock, stock and barrel is tied to the "on-life-support" Ohio Democratic Party state leadership councils. In "throwing his hat into the ring" 14 months in advance of the election, Sittenfeld is showing that he knows - notwithstanding Strickland's vulnerabilities - that he has an uphill climb ahead and he needs to get going and get going now. The Report thinks Sittenfeld is in for an exceptionally hard time in Stark County and likely across Ohio. Why in Stark County? Because former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. was pretty much the political catalyst who got Strickland up and running as the front runner in 2006 when Strickland ran for governor. So? Think Johnnie and his political pals aren't licking their chops to do the same thing for Strickland in 2016? Many Stark County pols think Johnnie parlayed his being the first Ohio Democratic Party county chairman to endorse Strickland in the 2006 Ohio Democratic Party primary into jobs/positions:

• for himself, (Ohio Nursing Board)
• his most loyal Stark County Democratic Party supporter Gayle Jackson as an employee of the Ohio Lottery 
• (a Stark County commissioner from 1995 through 2007),
• former Jackson Township trustee Steven Meeks, 
• Region 9 (Akron) of the-then Ohio Department of Economic Development 
• his brother George T. Maier,
• Deputy Director of the Ohio Department of Highway Safety, and
• Heaven only knows, who else?

You can be sure that he and his Massillon Political Machine loyalists will be "all-out" for Strickland. A beachhead in Columbus is one thing, but Washington!  Let the champagne corks start flying, no?

Speaking of "all-out,"  the Northeast Ohio Media Group (aka The Cleveland Plain Dealer, NEOMG) reported yesterday that there are some statewide leadership Democrats who think Sittenfeld will not last and in the end the Democratic nomination is there "for the taking." Moreover, the PD cites Strickland supporters as saying that in private discussion with Strickland, Sittenfeld is saying that if Strickland officially enters the race, he, Sittenfeld, will drop out. Normally, the SCPR would be dismissive of such reports as self-serving political tripe typical of aggressive politico types as exemplified locally by Maier, Jr. However, Sittenfeld's response to the PD in a telephone conversation should be alarming to Sittenfeld supporters, to wit:

"What I'm saying is private conversations are private."

To The Report such is suggestive that contra what he says on his website that he is a different breed of politico is suspect. As a counterbalance though he did tell NEOMG:

P.G. Sittenfeld said Wednesday that he will measure the viability of his U.S. Senate campaign by the response he gets from Ohio voters and donors, not by the Democratic establishment forces that might line up against him. "I'm running, obviously, to make an impact," the Cincinnati city councilman told the Northeast Ohio Media Group in a telephone interview. "And that means winning." Running to win, Sittenfeld added, "means making sure you're raising the resources and running a sharp campaign" - two benchmarks he believes he is meeting.

And there is this from his Facebook page.

Knowing politicians the way the SCPR knows them, it would not be surprising that when "all is said and done" that Sittenfeld turns out to be no different than a typical politico. That he is only 30 will not cure a disgust that most Americans have with the "politics as usual" crowd that has polled Americans rating Congress in the single digits in terms of public's confidence that our elected national representatives really care about everyday people. In fact being only 30 might be horrifying for the average voter. For at his age, if he is a samo-samo politician, means that he will potentially be around for many, many years doing his political "wheelin' dealin'" at the expense of the general public interest. Let's hope he is not being the cynical politician who feeds into the public desire to have authentic, public interest serving elected officials only to turnout to be something much different than his rhetoric imports:

Recently, the SCPR had a conversation with former Massillon mayor Frank Cicchinelli.

He took exception to a SCPR blog to the effect that elective Massillon government is better served by a youth movement.

The Report agrees that youth in and of itself does not mean improvement.

However, the SCPR holds to a premise that quality younger leadership is an essential quality that government at all levels need in order not to stagnate if not regress.

Giving Sittenfeld the benefit of the doubt, the SCPR encourages the likes of younger generation Canton councilmen Kevin Fisher, Edmond Mack and John Mariol to look into the Sittenfeld purported candidacy.

Fisher, Mack and Mariol are the only Stark County Democrats who the SCPR thinks are susceptible of being viewed as bringing a young generation perspective (idealistic, energetic and persistent) to Stark County political subdivision government.

On the Republican side, the SCPR thinks of Alliance Councilwoman Julie Jakmides and Massillon Councilman Ed Lewis, IV as being of this ilk.

In general, Stark County's political subdivision leadership is stodgy, unimaginative, entitled, comfortable and stale.

The personification of these qualities can readily be seen in nearly all if not all of North Canton's elected officials.

At the county commissioner level, we had to bring back the shop worn Janet Creighton, Thomas Bernabei and Richard Regula to restore a confidence - if conservative  and halting - in county government in the wake of problems in the Stark County treasury that surfaced on April 1, 2009 was not resolved until October 19, 2011.

Hopefully, Bernabei and Creighton are on their last terms and new and youthful leadership will emerge to replace them.

Of Stark County officials, only Republican auditor Alan Harold demonstrates to any significant degree a political way of being that is enhancing and invigorating of our democratic-republican form of government.

For being a relatively young person, Canton Municipal Court chief deputy Kody Gonazalez (son of former Dems chairman Randy Gonzalez and the longer term "heir apparent" leader of the organized Stark County Democratic Party) appears to adopted the "politically jaded/cynical, old man-esque" political values and power politics modeling that ooze out of the Maier Massillon Political Machine.

Nobody should be surprised by this.

If Sittenfeld can pass the political smell test (i.e. is he authentic?), then young generation Democrats Fisher, Mack and Mariol should consider getting on board early on to help him move the "old school" politico Ted Strickland to the sidelines.

Yours truly was once an avid Strickland supporter as he ran against "off-the-charts" right wing Republican Ken Blackwell in 2006 delivering Blackwell a crushing defeat.

Strickland ran an "Aw shucks, I am a political innocent from Duck Run, Ohio" campaign.

Ted Strickland is anything but what he projected in 2006.

He is, the SCPR thinks, an arm-in-arm with the Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. type power politician who is no different than the one (other than political party label) he seeks to replace.

It is up to Sittenfeld to demonstrate that he is who he says he is.

And if he is and if Canton Democrats Fisher, Mack, and Mariol are early endorsers and supporters of his campaign, then perhaps, Canton city government will at least have entree to seek help from Washington for the many financial woes that urban governments face these days.

With Democrat Strickland's loss in 2010 and the loss of all statewide offices (non-judicial) at the hand of the decrepit Columbus-based Democratic leadership (i.e. the deposed Chris Redfern), there is not much that Canton can expect to receive from Columbus.

The jury is out on Sittenfeld.

Is he legit?

WILLIAM J. HEALY, II: A LIFESAVER FOR THE OHIO DEMOCRATIC PARTY?

A POTENTIAL GOVERNOR?

 VIDEO

MAYOR WILLIAM J. HEALY, II

2015 STATE OF CITY PREVIEW

How times have changed in State of Ohio and City of Canton politics.

Back in 2009 Ohio's Democrats were riding high with Ted Strickland firmly ensconced (elected in 2006) the governor's chair and the Democrats (2008 elections) in a majority in the Ohio House of Representatives for the first time in many, many years.

Moreover, Ohio now had a Democratic attorney general (which proved to be a disaster),  treasurer,  and secretary of state.  Only Mary Taylor as state auditor survived as a statewide Republican (non-judicial).

Stark County Democrats were chirping too.

Youngstown area Democrat John Boccieri had seized the day (November, 2008) and carpet bagged to Alliance (since losing in 2010, he has returned to Mahoning Coungy) in Stark County and from there launched a campaign to defeat Stark's home grown then state Senator and Republican J. Kirk Schuring for the right to succeed the retiring Ralph Regula as 16th District congressman, when "all of Stark County" was in the district.

But the ship of state in the Democratic bastion of Canton was in danger of sinking.

Just barely a year after taking office in defeating Republican Janet Weir Creighton in November, 2007, the William J. Healy, II administration seemed to be on the brink of heading to bottom of the sea of political oblivion.

Healy, who had once bragged to the SCPR that the Democratic National Congressional Committee in the lead up to the 2008 congressional elections had offered to fund a Healy for Congress campaign with $1 million, was on the cusp of being a one term Democrat in a city with a nine to one Democratic voter registration majority that had a history of electing Republicans.

He had brought Canton Democrats (in terms of executive leadership) out of the depths of despair at their inability to convince Canton voters that the Democrats had chief executive officer capability.

In the past 40 years (pre-Healy) Democrats had only held executive office 8 years.

And in January, 2009 with the firing of the well thought of Thomas Bernabei (a former councilman and law director) as his chief and staff and service director; many thought that Healy was destined to be a failure and at best a one-term-mayor.

Many deemed him to be all mouth with his talk of being a business entrepreneur and having an MBA from the highly touted New York University Stern School of Business.

What followed with his taking the helm of Canton in 2008 was a seemingly unending series of one controversy, after another controversy, after another controversy, any one of which could have been the salvo which brought Ship Healy to the bottom of the sea of political oblivion.

But he survived each and every one of his self-inflicted blunders.

As readers of the SCPR know, The Report has bird-dogged Healy each step of the way.

Healy is now nearing the end of his second full term as mayor and seems unstoppable in his quest to be a Democrat - mind you - who on January, 2016 will be sworn into a third term in Ohio's eight largest city located in the state's seventh largest county and its county seat.

The Ohio Democratic Party (ODP), on the other hand, has experienced the reverse of Healy's political trek.

And it can be traced, the SCPR thinks, to the inept ODP leadership Chris Redfern of Port Clinton.

In early 2012, there was a gigantic battle within the Ohio Democratic Party Central Committee  whether or not Redfern was going to be reelected chairman.  There were election challenges (the primary election, March 2012) across Ohio's counties including Stark as to whether or not a pro-Redfern central committee person would be elected.

Healy was Redfern's man in Stark.  As he was brought to the fore of the Democratic Party by Strickland in 2008.

He was elected and dutifully participated in Redfern's reelection as chairman.

As we now know, Redfern's continuance as chairman proved to be a political disaster in the making for the 2014 statewide elections.

Republicans won all statewide non-judicial offices comfortably, if not by a landslide.

Kasich obliterated Clevelander Ed FitzGerald in the gubernatorial race.

And the Dems managed to lose five seats in the Ohio House of Representatives (including Redfern's very own seat in Ottawa County).

The Democrats did manage to continue to hold 10 out 33 seats in the Ohio Senate, if one calls "treading water" being an accomplishment.

As he should have done in the light of the devastation of the Ohio Democratic Party - overall - during his reign as chairman, Redfern resigned on November 4, 2014, immediately after the crushing results of the election were known.

Now Ohio's "organized" Democrats are left with the task of "picking up the pieces."

The "picker-up-in-chief" is to be David Pepper, the Ohio Dems' unsuccessful attorney general candidate in 2014.

So where is Chairman Pepper to look for help in reconstructing the Ohio Democratic Party?

How about William J. Healy, II, mayor of Canton, Ohio?

Healy has had a few additional blunders since being elected in 2011 by a plurality, not a majority; namely:

• losing Warren Price as his service director and chief of staff after a falling out,
• taking command of a Canton police car and acting the "cop on the beat,"
• trying to change the rules of the Stark County Crime Lab to bring in "under the existing rules" unqualified director of the lab, and
• "mistakingly" (according to him) using a Canton Community Improvement Corporation credit card for personal purchases which he reimbursed for

But nothing else of late.

Hold your breath, please.

It could be that he is finally maturing as Ohio's eight largest municipality chief executive officer.

In 2014, he was president of the Ohio Municipal League.

In recent Canton City Council meetings he has taken to bragging about how Canton is pulling itself up out of the ashes of devastating events (i.e. the Great Recession of 2008, draconian State of Ohio funding of local government cuts and the like) and is now on a track to be one of Ohio's great success stories as "a comeback city."

Here a video from Monday night (January 5, 2015) of his sharing the latest good news:

• on Canton unemployment being down to record low levels and concomitant income tax revenues being up for 2014, and on
• economic development and increased hiring within the city

Being the modest man he is (as to be noted in the video), Healy does not single himself out has having effected the turnaround.

But politics being what they are, the SCPR can see that maybe going forward he will increasingly take credit for matters improving in Canton and that maybe, just maybe he can do the same for Ohio.

There was talk that he might be a statewide candidate (i.e. for Ohio treasurer) in 2014.

So he does have interest in higher political office.

However, Ed FitizGerald proved that one cannot run for governor as a "smoke and mirrors" candidate.

And the SCPR assessment of Healy is that as of January 8, 2014 such is what Healy pretty much would be.

However, he registers an impressive majority win in the May 6, 2015 Democratic Primary election (he likely will not have an Republican opponent in the general election) and then builds on reelection with documented achievements going forward and thereby showcasing Canton as an authentic comeback city, it could be that he is a person that Pepper and Ohio Democratic Party shakers and movers look at as "to the rescue" leader in the statewide party.

Recently it has been announced that the Pro Football Fame complex is in for a major expansion.  Healy is fully behind the effort and has with council approval pledged $5 million in seed money into the project.

His administration seems to be on the verge of finalizing financing to assist in the reconstruction of the Onesto Hotel in downtown Canton as a showplace residential site.

Scores of eyesore houses are being removed from Canton's neighborhood landscape.

Major corridors (12th Street and Mahoning Road) have been or are in the process of being rehabbed.

All of which, the SCPR thinks, are precursors to what the Canton Comprehensive Citywide Plan (asked for by the mayor and approved/funded at $300,000 plus by council last year) will pick up on and expand upon when it is published within a few months.

Such have the potential to be the cornerstone of an "authentic" Canton turnaround.

Back in January, 2009 The Stark County Political Report was counting Healy out.

All Healy has done since is to politically survive and therein become the envy of 9 life cats.

He may now be ready to surge beyond survival and thrive politically.

Time will tell.

In the meantime, does anybody doubt that ODP Chairman David Pepper will be keeping one eye on third term as Democratic mayor of Canton, Ohio William J. Healy, II as a potential Party standard bearer in 2016?

OH! HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN FROM "BACK IN THE DAY?"

Circa 2006, 2007, & 2008, former Stark County state representative Johnnie A. Maier, Jr was "at the top" of his political game.

During his stint as Stark Dems chairman (2003 through 2009), the Dems managed to capture every Stark County-wide (non-judicial) elected office.

He must have had a premonition that "all Hell was going to break loose" as he resigned as party chairman and left his successor and prime member of his personal political loyalty group; namely, Randy Gonzalez, to "pick up the pieces" as what local civic activist Craig T. Conley termed as being Zeiglergate broke loose on April 1, 2009.

Since then:

• Zeigler resigned/retired in an agreement with Stark County commissioners on October 19, 2011, 
• In 2012 Republican Richard Regula (in a major political surprise defeated by Democrat Todd Bosley in 2006) reclaimed his commissionership in replacing Democrat Pete Ferguson (elected in 2008 but who decided not to seek reelection)
• In 2010, Republican Janet Creighton easily defeated Maier/Gonzalez political confidant Steven Meeks (appointed by the Dems in 2007 to replace Tom Harmon [resigned in 2009]),
• In 2010, Bosley
• who along with Harmon [appointed by the Dems to replace Strickland administration appointee [lottery commission] and therefore former commissioner Gayle Jackson [2007],
• voted in December, 2008 to "impose" a 1/2 cent sales tax on Stark Coutians,
• and, therefore, apparently concluding that he could not win reelection as commissioner instead ran for state representative, the 50th District, a suffered a massive political defeat
• In 2010, Democrat Stark County auditor who was apparently thought by Stark County voters to be too politically close to Zeigler and did not do enough to raise alarms that "all may not be well" in the Stark County treasury headed by Zeigler, lost in convincing fashion to Republican Alan Harold,

So there you have "a thumbnail sketch" of how the Stark County political empire that Johnnie A. Maier, Jr had worked so hard to create had come crashing down.

Maier got his start back in 1988 when he had the good fortune "be in the right place, at the right time."  Stalwart Republican icon "Red" Ash (the, at the time, 49th House District, which became the 56th and then the 50th) had run into legal troubles and Maier was there "to pick up the pieces."

Over his years of chairman and a Massillon clerk of courts, Maier worked equally hard - if not more so - to develop a cult-like following of his personal political aspirations, to wit:

He had come home (Massillon area) from "the high reaches" of Columbus where he fraternized with the all-powerful Vern Riffe, Jr. (Speaker of the House 1975 - 1995) and learned "the art of cultivating and mastering" political power.

Many think Riffe used political power for the public good whereas there are those who think that student Johnnie, Jr applies it to his personal interests.

One of the devices of governance that the Republicans used in 1992 to wrest power from te Democrats was to support voter passage of term limits in Ohio.

Under the term limits legislation, representatives were limited to eight (8) consecutive years in office.

Accordingly, Maier, Jr had to find a more secure and nesting place and in a show of what was to come from this disciple of Vern Riffe, he put a political power move on fellow Democrat Edward L. Radel, Jr and ousted him as clerk of Massillon Municipal Court earlier in 1999.

Maier went on to defeat Republican Richard Reichel by an overwhelming majority in 1999 general election.

All of the foregoing is to demonstrate that Maier is now "on life support" to salvage what remains of his Stark County based political empire.

And that, folks, is his "all-out, all consuming" effort to get his brother George (who he likely got Ted Strickland to appoint as assistant director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety) elected as Stark County sheriff.

A victim of the Maier obsession with getting his brother elected may be "top-gun" prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett.

Chryssa works for Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero (who along with former sheriff Tim Swanson have worked against George becoming sheriff, appointed and/or elected).

The SCPR believes that the Maiers are soaking up nearly all the financial resources that Stark Dems can raise and that Hartnett may not be able to garner enough campaign funds to get her message out to the Stark County voting public that she is - so the SCPR thinks - is vastly more qualified to be judge of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas that Republican Curtis Werren.

Before being appointed by Republican governor John Kasich to a court vacancy,  Werren was president of the Stark County chapter of the American Red Cross.

Republican Larry Dordea who ran a, more or less, "gentlemens' campaign" when he ran in 2008 against incumbent sheriff Tim Swanson (who is now on the outs with the Maiers), is now in, what he says (as interpreted by the SCPR) is - to be kind to the Maiers, not that they deserve it - a "political hardball" fight in its harshest form with George (Link to blog detailing Dordea's accusations, implied and otherwise).

But Dordea needs to understand, this may be Johnnie's "Custer's Last Stand."  That is to say, electing George sheriff.

For next year, it might be that his political creation Kathy Catazaro-Perry, mayor of Massillon, whose election in 2011 Maier engineered over long time Maier political foe and two decades plus mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr, will be defeated for a second term if she chooses to run.

Even with Catazaro-Perry's election in 2011, Maier showed he was slipping in that, while he was focusing on Catazaro-Perry's mayoralty quest, the Democrats lost control of Massillon City Council.

For those who do not know, Massillon is staunchly Democratic.

Not to be forgotten is Maier's "all-out" sponsorship of Celeste DeHoff for state representative in his, more or less, old District.

He prevailed on then Governor Ted Strickland (who, recognized Johnnie to be the first county chairman to endorse him in the Democratic primary), former U.S. Senator John Glenn, Senator Sherrod Brown, and then-Ohio treasurer Richard Cordray to come to Canal Fulton to campaign for DeHoff.

Since then, DeHoff has fallen on hard times.

But she was and out-and-out Maier loyalist.  And that appears to be all that matters to Johnnie and George.

In 2012, perhaps, Johnnie's closest political ally; namely, Judge Edward Elum of the Massillon Municipal Court was disciplined by the Ohio Supreme Court.

In a rare display of Johnnie A. Maier, Jr loyalty to anyone other than himself, so the SCPR thinks, he did submit a letter in support of Elum's quest to avoid discipline by the high court.

The SCPR thinks Dordea may have seen nothing yet compared to "what is yet to come."

When the political end comes for Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., he will go down - not in a whimper - but in a thunderous crash.

There will be great wailing and gnashing of teeth with Maier, Jr and his cult of followers.

But Maier's political demise might not be yet.

It all depends on the November 4, 2014 outcome between brother George and Dordea.

That's "how high the stakes are" in this election!

FORMER CICCHINELLI OFFICIAL SAYS MASSILLON SAFETY SERVICE DIRECTOR GEORGE MAIER HASSLED HIM IN DISCHARGING HIS DUTIES AS ROADS AND STREETS SUPERINTENDENT

It was an amazing story to hear.

Former Massillon Mayor Cicchinelli administration official Mike Stevens (Operations/Street Department, also a Lawrence Township trustee) recited chapter and verse to the SCPR in an account of an encounter that he had with the then candidate Kathy Catazaro-Perry and supporter George T. Maier.

Maier (brother of Massillon Clerk of Courts Johnnie A. Maier, Jr,) is now Massillon's  safety service director having been appointed by Catazaro-Perry as one of her very first appointees when she became mayor on January 1st.

Stevens' account of the incident was particularly interesting to The Report in the light of allegations made against Maier in 2008 according to reports in the Columbus Dispatch. (Director quashed inquiry into No. 2 - Public safety chief rejects more action in intimidation case, The Columbus Dispatch, August 28, 2008)

According to The Dispatch account:

When state troopers leveled charges of misconduct against the assistant director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the top boss and top cop began butting heads.

Col. Richard Collins, superintendent of the State Highway Patrol, strongly urged that Ohio's inspector general be brought in to investigate Assistant Public Safety Director George Maier.

However, Public Safety Director Henry Guzman declined to dig into the charges against his No. 2, ruling that there were no grounds to justify either an in-house or outside investigation of Maier.

Some troopers and officers whom Maier once commanded as a captain accused him of threats, intimidation, favoritism and creating a hostile workplace.

As it turns out, Maier was never investigated insofar as The Report can determine even though a former Inspector General and some officials in the Ohio State Patrol thought that an investigation was warranted.

The SCPR can find no media reference to Maier commenting on or responding to the allegations.

The then-Democratic Governor Ted Strickland promised to take a look at whether or not Maier should be investigated on the accusations.  Ultimately, he decided that an investigation was not warranted.

While The Report thinks it is a certainty that Maier's brother Johnnie (then the Chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party and the first party chairman to endorse Strickland in his 2005 run for the Democratic nomination for governor) did not, directly or indirectly, weigh-in on Strickland's consideration of the issue because The Report believes Maier and Strickland are way too politically savvy to have initiated/allowed such a conversation; one does have to wonder whether or not the close political bond between Maier and Strickland was coursing through Strickland's mind in an indistinct, unarticulated, unfocused upon sort of way in his coming to a decision not to investigate.

Strickland may have thought he was doing the best thing for the overall morale of the Ohio State Patrol, but there is a point of view that in not directing an investigation, he left a cloud hanging over the entire matter.  An investigation would have cleared the air one way or the other.  A "no brainer," no?

Yours truly read The Dispatch coverage of the Maier allegations at the time its reports first appeared.  They lingered as a memory as background material until The Report had a telephone conversation with Stevens about a week ago.

In the conversation, Stevens went into some detail about a campaign trail incident that he says occurred at the initiative of George Maier about two days before the general election of November, 2011 which suggests to the SCPR when added on top of the 2008 allegations that Maier may have "a control of his temperament" issue.

And, in one sense (notwithstanding the existence of a police chief), he is Massillon's top cop!

As Stevens tells it, he, as Massillon's Operation/Street  Department supervisor, went out with employees of the department taking down political signs from the public right-of-way (two of which were Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. signs - Maier a candidate for Massillon clerk of courts).

The incident with George Maier occurred, according to Stevens, as he was leaving the Massillon's city garage.

Here is a bullet point account of the allegations that Stevens makes (re: George Maier):

• drives up to Stevens, rolls down the window (has a woman passenger in his white pickup truck) and proceeded to bad mouth him:
• in a m-f tone, up one side and down the other, who do [you] f...... think you are,
• You'd better learn the difference be what's a right of way and not right of way,
• who is your boss,
• tells Stevens he needs to be his own man.
• Stevens (of Maier), he appeared about ready to come out of his skin, he was vulgar and out-of-control.
• Stevens (of Maier), his professional background and training at the very least should have taught him to be under control and to defuse and not accelerate the situation.

In the light of the uninvestigated allegations made of Maier in his role in the Ohio Department of Public Safety in 2008, and in the light of Stevens' allegations, Massillonians ought to know whether or not their safety service director has a temperament issue.

Catazaro-Perry had to know of the 2008 allegations.

Notwithstanding Strickland's cop out, Mayor Kathy should have vetted George thoroughly and completely on the allegations and reported the results to the Massillon public before appointing him director.

Now that Stevens has made his accusation, she owes it to the Massillon public to find out whether or not Stevens' account is accurate and, IF they are, ask George Maier to apologize to Stevens personally and to the citizens of Massillon for having been a "to-be-Massillon public official" disrespecting a man just trying to do what the public expected of him.

Supposedly Maier challenged Stevens "to be his own man."

Interesting.

The SCPR has long criticized Catazaro-Perry because her obviously too close of a relationship with the Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. Massillon political machine.

The Report is told that one of the Maiers or Maier political "gofer" Shane Jackson can be seen tending to Mayor Catazaro-Perry on more or less constant basis at Massillon City Hall.

The question that comes rushing to mind?

When is Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry going to be allowed "to be her own woman" as the chief executive officer of the city of Massillon?

STATE SEN. OELSLAGER & STATE REP. CHRISTINA HAGAN TAKE STAND AGAINST DEMOCRACY?

News came down today (via The Alliance Review in Stark County) that the Ohio Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit with the Ohio Supreme Court seeking to invalidate the Republican controlled Ohio General Assembly's (OGA) action in re-carving (aka "gerrymandering" designed, in this case, to enhance the GOP's control of the Ohio congressional delegation) of Ohio's congressional districts.

Yawn?  Both parties do it.  It will not get to first base with the Ohio Supreme Court!

Perhaps not.

Why not?

Because the Republicans including state Senator Scott Oelslager (the 29th Ohio Senate district) and Christina Hagan (the 50th Ohio House district) (disingenuously, the SCPR thinks) tagged on an appropriation intended to remove the gerrymandering effort from review by the people of Ohio via a referendum vote by one of the exceptions contained in Article II (Section 2.01d - see below).

The SCPR is not sure why Republican state Rep. Kirk Schuring and Democratic state Rep. Stephen Slesnick did not go along with Hagan and Oelslager in their votes, but they did not and are to be commended for supporting the right of the people to weigh-in on OGA passed measure to the greatest degree possible.

The Oelslager/Hagan action is somewhat like action taken by the then Stark County Commissioners Todd Bosley (Democrat), Tom Harmon (Democrat) and Jane Vignos (Republican) who "imposed" a 1/2 cent on a dollar sales tax increase (December, 2008).  However, there is a difference which makes the Bosley/Harmon/Vignos action take a back seat to what Hagan/Oelslager and those legislators who voted with them are trying to foist on Ohioans (including, of course, Stark Countians).

Stark Countians had the ability to get back at Bosley/Harmon/Vignos by collecting signatures (about 20,000 or so) and Vote No Increased Tax Committee formed and did so, placing the question of a tax increase before the voters in November, 2009.  Stark County's voters overwhelming rejected the commissioner triumvirate's attempt to circumvent our democracy.

Perhaps, the Ohio Supreme Court will do the same thing to the Ohio GOP's circumvention effort.

Here is what the Ohio Constitution has to say about referendum votes:

§ 2.01c The referendum


The second aforestated power reserved by the people is designated the referendum, and the signatures of six per centum of the electors shall be required upon a petition to order the submission to the electors of the state for their approval or rejection, of any law, section of any law or any item in any law appropriating money passed by the general assembly.
... .
(Adopted September 3, 1912. HJR 3; Amended, effective November 4, 2008.)

 § 2.01d Emergency laws; not subject to referendum


Laws providing for:

• tax levies, 
• appropriations for the current expenses of the state government and state institutions, and 
• emergency laws necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, 

shall go into immediate effect.  (structure changed to achieve clarity and emphasis)

... .

The laws mentioned in this section shall not be subject to the referendum.

(Adopted September 3, 1912.)

In 2009, Democratic Governor Ted Strickland tried to bypass the people of Ohio on his desire to generate new revenues by inserting (with the complicity of the Ohio General Assembly via the 2010-2011 biennium state budget [HB 1] 17,500 video-lottery-terminals [VLTs] at racetrack which dot Ohio.

However, the LetOhioVote organization (which the SCPR believes to be a Republican front group) struck a blow for democracy in filing its lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court (Court) against then Democrat Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for refusing to certify its referendum effort.

The Court struck down the Strickland contrived effort, to wit:

The question that arises now is as to whether or not the Court stays consistent in its decisions.

The SCPR believes it will and that Ohio will have a political mess on its hands in figuring out who is running for what congressional district in the 2012 elections.

HAS OHIO'S "DUCK RUN" GOVERNOR BECOME OHIO'S "DUCK & RUN" GOVERNOR?

Yours truly was impressed with Ted Strickland in terms of his "apparent" humility, accessibility and responsiveness when he ran for governor in 2006.

He may still have his humility on a "personal" level, but he is not accessible to the average guy and gal and he certainly is not responsive in June, 2009 at the same standard he possessed in pre-November, 2006. Strickland has been taken over by Columbus politics, politicians and statewide by the likes of Stark County's Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. (former head of the Stark County Democratic Party).

Because the Republicans are likely to run Wall Street (financial crisis) connected John Kasich (a former congressman, as is Strickland), chances are that Strickland will be re-elected. But to what end?

The way he is heading, Strickland is likely - by the end of his second term in 2014 - to rival past Republican governor Bob Taft in terms of his in-state popularity. It hard for people to see now. But recent political events demonstrate with disturbing regularity that the mighty can fall fast indeed.

However, he does have time to right the ship. Doing so, will necessitate getting away from his excessive reliance on political professionals and following his heart-felt instincts he learned as a boy growing up in Duck Run.

It is understandable that he was grateful to Maier when he, as the first county Democratic Party chairman, endorsed him. When it became apparent that Maier and his ilk had Strickland's ear, then the Strickland fall began.

The SCPR first developed questions about Stricklands sincerity in tackling the many difficult problems that Ohio faces on the basis of a conversation he had with yours truly's spouse at the John Boccieri coming out for congress in North Canton.

She quizzed him hard and persistent about getting going on fixing Ohio's public education infrastructure. His core response: "I'm keeping my powder dry."

Well, fast forward some two years down the road, Strickland's powder is getting so dry that it is evaporating before our very eyes.

Now we hear he is embracing gambling (slots at the racetracks) after opposing gambling in the first 30 months of his tenure. And, he and his allies in the Ohio General Assembly, are taking it out of the public accountability realm by putting into the state budget bill to provide political cover to legislators who - whether honestly or not - can say "I would never have voted allow the slots, but I had to vote for the budget.

Even Strickland can say, "I have always opposed gambling as being a unsound revenue source for government, but I could not veto the budget bill to get at the gamb ling thing."

Months ago his administration conceived a plan to raise taxes by raising fees ($236 million's worth). The sin? Trying to make out that fee increases are not tax increases.

Strickland knows that Republicans jump all over Democrats as being "taxers and spenders" merely by virtue of being Democrats. Despite the clear need to suspend state tax reductions and to do an "no holds barred" analysis of whether or not the Republican sponsored tax reform of five years ago is the ultimate answer to Ohio's revenue woes, he sits and watches.

Is this another case of "keeping one's powder dry?"

There are other instances that the SCPR could bring up as more evidence that Ted Strickland is a changed man - for the worse; even assuming the "man from Duck Run" was somewhat of a fairytale or mirage from the get-go.

It is becoming more and more clear that the idyllic man from Duck Run is well on his way to being a "duck and run" politician that Stark Countians and Ohioans know all too well.

As long as he holds court with the consummate political pros who hang out in Columbus and Tuscarawas Township, Ohio; there is little hope that Ohio will rebound during a second Strickland term.

So governor, what should we expect: "a genuine man from Duck Run, or a "duck and run" politician hanging out with the fellowship of the political cognoscenti?

HAS STARK COUNTY GROWN "STALE" WITH THE LIKES OF SCOTT OELSLAGER IN THE OHIO LEGISLATURE?

Scott Oelslager has announced he is again doing an "in your face" to the spirit of term limits. He is term limited out of the Ohio House. But he is not about to give up a good thing for himself. He is running for the Ohio Senate for a seat he has already held once.

This is not news to the SCPR. Oelslager told yours truly at the Stark County Fair last Labor Day weekend that he would be running for the Senate. His musical chair capers with Kirk Schuring have been treated in a number SCPR blogs since.

It is very likely that state Representative Scott Oelslager will be elected to the Ohio Senate in 2010.

How can the SCPR say that on May 29, 2009?

Easy.

Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. has "no answer" for Oelslager or Schuring (should he chose to play musical chairs with Oelslager and return to the Ohio House in 2010) at the state legislature level.

It took the more personable (than Schuring), "war hero," highly financed John Boccieri (running amidst a huge Democratic year) to wrestle the 16th congressional seat from the Republicans.

Maier had "political" sweetheart relationships with both Oelslager and Schuring since the days he was in the legislature with them. In fact, he got along better with them than he with Canton Mayor William Healy, II's father (also William but called "Bill" by most).

Maier's politically cozy relationship with Oelslager may be the reason he gave Oelslager a free ride (no opponent in 2008; very weak opponents 2000 thru 2006) for all of his time in the Ohio House.

So why would things change in 2010?

They won't.

Stark Countians are used to Oelslager smiling, talking about solving the problems of school funding because his parents were educators (which proved to make no difference in achievement), riding the horse of his solitary significant legislative success (Open Records) and generally being a dull, vanilla-ish and ineffectual legislator.

Just to pause on Oelslager and the fixing public education funding issue.

At one time in his treatment of the topic, he was saying that the Republicans had fixed the funding problem - citing the millions they added to the funding pot.

For him to banter this official Republican Party line at the time, was disingenuous at the very least. He knew or should have now that as a percentage of the Ohio budget, the funding of education was well under historic highs that had been attained by the Ohio legislature decades earlier.

Both Oelslager and Schuring have been "less than spectacular" legislators (to state the obvious) notwithstanding being the majority and sometimes supermajority most of their legislative careers.

There are plenty of powerful Stark County Democrats that could take on Oelslager. Maier, Strickland, Boccieri, Healy could lean on any number Stark Democratic warhorses to take Oelslager on. But they won't.

These Democratic power brokers will stand aside and let Oelslager skate right back into the Senate.

The SCPR won't want to hear local Democrats make excuses for Strickland in his second administration, to wit: "but the Senate is in Republican hands." No, not for a group that lets Oelslager sail back into the Senate

Ohio and, more importantly, Stark County will suffer because Oelslager continues his undistinguished career in the Legislature.

Undoubtedly, devoted Stark Republicans who will dutifully surface in 2014 to help Oelslager celebrate being in the Ohio General Assembly for 30 years. And that may be the first of many celebrations: thirty-five, forty, forty-five and fifty may follow.

However, those Stark Countians who want to see an effective legislator from Stark County will not be celebrating. They will be lamenting how much Stark has lost because of having this colorless, bland and the unadventurous man represent them.

The Stark Democrats themselves have a unexciting representative in Columbus. Stephen Slesnick of the 52nd, from reports the SCPR is getting out of Columbus, is schlepping around in Ohio House hearings.

Back to Oelslager for a final note.

Indeed, Scott Oelslager is getting to be like yesterday's newspaper; stale news.

But it appears all but certain that Stark Countians will be in for a steady diet of "stale - political - bread" from Oelslager at least through 2014. Maybe longer.

Lamentations, lamentations, lamentations!!!

TRACKING OUR LEGISLATOR SERIES: SCHURING - HIS CHANCE TO SHINE FOR OHIO EDUCATION!

In the days leading up to his congressional race against Democrat John Boccieri, Republican Kirk Schuring worked hard on a proposed Ohio constitutional amendment the main feature of which was to take funding of Ohio education from the back burner to the front burner.

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) thought Schuring's effort was more political gambit than a proposal that had a real chance to be accepted by the Ohio General Assembly even though it was controlled by the Ohio Republican Party. If perchance it did, Governor Strickland would have vetoed it inasmuch as he would not standby and allow the success to undermine "brother-esque" John Boccieri's drive for congress.

But today is a different day.

Now Strickland has to deliver on his inaugural day address that he must fix education in Ohio or his governorship will be a failed governorship.

Who could be key in Strickland's quest?

Yes! Stark County's very own. J. Kiirk Schuring (Republican - Jackson).

The Akron Beacon Journal's Dennis Willard, the area's only statehouse writer - and, a darned good one - now that Stark County's only countywide newspaper (The Repository) has let Paul Kostyu go, had this to say in Sunday's edition:

The governor ... [is] taking the right approach to weaning the state from residual budgeting, or the money leftover, and basing the system on scientific research [the evidence-based scientific model].

[He is] also making long-term strides toward reducing the over-reliance on local property taxes to pay for schools.

And an advisory council, which would continuously review not only Ohio's formula, but examine what is working and failing in other states, should be rightly acknowledged as a vital key to keeping the state on track to continuous improvement.

State Senator Kirk Schuring can (if he has the political courage) and should be the governor's point man in the Ohio Senate.

The Report is skeptical that he can break the mold of being a "cookie cutter Republican" and do the right thing by future generations of Ohioans, but yours truly does hold out hope.

Will Schuring disappoint or will he "rise and shine?"

DISCUSSION: WILL SENATOR DO WHAT'S RIGHT OR WILL HE DO WHAT'S POLITICAL?

Dennis Willard, Columbus Bureau Chief, of the Akron Beacon Journal (remember - The Canton Repository - [Stark County's only countywide newspaper] has no political reporter in Columbus) wrote an interesting piece about how politicized Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor has become (or, more likely, has always been) a highly partisan politician even though she has a responsibility to be a "rule of law" person as a state government administrator.

It is especially interesting when an "accountability/auditing" person is primarily a political partisan. Because Ohio Republicans are nearly shut out of state government in Ohio these days, the Ohio Republican Party (OPR) is using her (though she likely is fully complicit) as a point person to oppose the Strickland administration in any way she can for any political gain she can make for the OPR.

The flap that Willard writes about is Taylor's prediction (looking into a "red" tinted crystal ball). Before the 2010 - 2011 budget has been dealt with, Taylor is saying that there will be an $8 billion shortfall in the 2012 - 2013 budget.

Strickland through his political mouthpiece (Democratic state party chair Chris Refern) says that Taylor and House Republicans are set to be Ohio's version of the "Just Say No Republicans" (i.e. refuse the stimulus money [including the jobs that the money will create] and, by the way, cut taxes),

Willard points out that "just say no" (or, if you will, play the role of backbenchers) will work with isolated Republicans like Taylor and Ohio House Republicans but not likely with Ohio Senate Republicans. Unlike minority Republican members of the House, "in the majority" Republican state senators actually have a state constitutional responsibility, working with the governor and majority Democrats in the House, to provide Ohio with a balanced budget.

This is where Stark County comes in.

Undoubtedly, Stark Countians Scott Oelslager (Republican - Jackson) and Todd Snitchler (Republican - Lake) will toe the party line in the Ohio House Republican caucus.

Both Oelslager and Snitchler like to insinuate that they seek opportunities to be bipartisan. But the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) sees very little evidence to support either's claim.

Oelslager has done a little bit along bipartisan lines over his 20+ years in the Ohio General Assembly. While Snitchler is in his first term, there is no "real" evidence (only rhetoric) that he will shake free of Ohio minority leader Billy Batchelder and do what is good for Ohio and Stark County over his political party.

If you take his performance at Matt Patrick's and Jason Wise's highly partisan ditty (with denials of partisanship galore - "thou protest too much") at Tax Day, Tea Day - Canton as any indication where Snitchler is on the right wing continuum, it is beginning to appear to The Report that Snitchler is pretty much a carbon copy of his predecessor John Hagan except he may be a little smarter. He should be. After all he is a lawyer who should have superior analytical skills.

Maybe in time Stark Countians will realize that Todd Snitchler is not one wit sharper than Hagan, just more polished. And perhaps even worse on policy matters.

State Senator Kirk Schuring is the local politician to watch on the budget.

Schuring keeps telling yours truly that he is "no cookie cutter Republican."

Well, according to Willard, his vote on the Strickland budget will be "come to Jesus" time for the good senator and his colleagues in the Ohio senate.

We shall see.

Watch Ohio Auditor "Mary Taylor" (from the nearby City of Green - Summit County) speak for herself in the accompanying video snippet from the full piece produced by the Ohio Republicans.

Be sure to note the "great" Ohio economy that Taylor refers to in the video that apparently only a blindly partisan Republican such as Mary can see as having come from Republican one-party-rule for the better part of 20 years in the pre-Strickland political era of Ohio.

How did the rest of us miss the booming Ohio economy that Taylor thinks came out of the Voinovich and Taft administrations and the Republican controlled Ohio General Assembly?

DISCUSSION: IS GOVERNOR STRICKLAND CAVING IN TO THE "OLD SCHOOL POLITICS" OF STARK COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR JOHNNIE A. MAIER, JR.?

Stark County has really fallen on hard "journalistic times" these days.

For today's blog, the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) has to draw from the Akron Beacon Journal not Stark County's "The Repository."

Dennis Willard, the Columbus Bureau Chief, yesterday wrote an outstanding political analysis on Governor Ted Strickland's turn toward secrecy as his administration move forward on revamping Ohio's public education.

Readers of The Report will recall that The Rep no longer has a Columbus Bureau Chief since The Rep's parent company let Paul Kostyu go about a year ago.

In addition, Stark County has at least two members of the Ohio General Assembly who refuse to answer questions about their activities in Columbus; namely, Representative Stephen Slesnick (Democrat - 52nd) and to a slightly lesser degree Representative Scott Oelslager (Republican - 51st).

Back to Willard.

The theme of the Willard's piece is that Strickland administration policymakers "appear" to be attentive to input, while in reality disdaining it. In other words, the Stricklanders have their minds made up already and are merely playing to egos of those appearing before them to testify.

Another grievous action spelled out by Willard as being done by the Strickland folks was to take public information private, to wit:

Last week, the Associated Press reported that the governor steered an end run around the state's open records law by relying on a private consulting firm [Discoll & Fleeter] to work on the nuts and bolts of his new funding formula rather than his own budget office or the Ohio Department of Education.

To The Report, what Ohio and Stark Countians are witnessing is a frittering away of the goodwill many of us felt toward for Strickland when he first took office. On April 1, 2007, yours truly wrote this in a letter to the editor of The Rep:

Gov. Strickland demonstrates new promise of breaking with old-school politics. But his recently announced "creative accounting" is a reversion to the shell game politicians typically play. Strickland needs to nip in the bud "doing what politicians have always done." The governor has high credibility and good will now. Does he really want to squander these assets on quick-fix nostrums?

Willard goes on to describe how the Stricklanders "got hoisted by their own petard." By going secret, the Governor's education plan was not thoroughly vetted. Consequently, his plan is in real political trouble. It has a number of problems that Strickland's policymakers and senior legislators are in a desperate race with time to fix.

A "desperate race with time."

Yes.

The 2010 gubernatorial campaigns already underway. Strickland set the bar high for himself when in his Inaugural address (paraphrasing) that he would be a failed governor if he failed to fix the unconstitutional funding of public education during his first term.

If the appearance of failure persists, you can be sure that the Republicans will be all over him over the next 20 months.

The Report believes that the likes of Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., have given Strickland a bum steer. Johnnie is an openly avowed disciple of storied political strongman Verne Riffe. Maier/Riffe types both in terms of political advisers and policy advisers appear to be carrying the day with Strickland presently.

Strickland feels indebted to Maier because Maier was the first county party chairman in Ohio to endorse Strickland when he ran in the Democratic primary in 2006.

Strickland is likely at a crossroads of his future political career. The current national economic crisis has bought him some cover for not having "Turn[ed] Around Ohio" as promised in the run up to his election. But the cover is not likely to last through November, 2010.

Willard has some good advice for the governor in his column.

To Willard' advice, The Report adds the following:

Go back to being "proud of Duck Run Road and ... proud of that little school [you] attended" and the innocence and sincerity it instilled you.

Do not let the hard-boiled, cynical political power types change who Ohioans perceive who you are.

The question now may well be: Can Ted Strickland "turnaround" himself; let alone Ohio?

DISCUSSION: HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE THE STARK CO STATEHOUSE LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION TO FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH & WHERE THE MONEY GOES IN STARK?

UPDATED: 03/28/2009 AT 8:00 AM. Apparently, Stark's legislative delegation had no say in how much money ou was coming to Stark (which turned out to be 21.5 million, according to a Repository report) and where it would go within the county (just about all to the city of Canton). It would be interesting to know how the governor decided these questions.

For the last couple of days it has been raining in Stark County. It's springtime and that's the way it ought to be.

In coming days Stark should be getting a different kind of rain: green rain. Yes, the governor has gotten his hands on Ohio's share of federal stimulus money and now we will find out if our legislative delegation is going to get Stark County's fair share.

The Report suggests to the delegation that they bring Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. in as a consultant on this one. After all, he was the first Democratic chairman in all of Ohio to endorse Strickland before it was a sure thing that Strickland was going to be governor.

Don't think the governor has forgotten "good ol' Johnnie," do ya?

In case you have forgotten how close Johnnie and the governor are, here is a video reminder.