DISCUSSION: IS A "STARK COUNTY" STAR BEING BORN?

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) has been a bit skeptical of Todd Bosley.

Why?

He appears to be a somewhat of a grandstander. Moreover, he seems to too ambitious. Witness his announcement (to Democratic Party confidants) right after winning a county commissioner's seat, that he was ready to take on Ralph Regula for congressman (16th District).

But in the judgment of The Report, perhaps, political realities have set in and he has tamed his grandstanding and his ambitions.

Bosley is an "outsider" who will never be accepted by the Stark County political establishment as one of its own. In contrast, Commissioner Tom Harmon is the quintessential "insider" who is not only accepted by the "powers that be" in Stark County, he could be the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.

Bosley can be like a "bull in the china shop." Just ask former Nimishillen Township Trustee Russ Goss with whom Bosley served four years.

Now approaching two full years as commissioner Bosely has done more than any other county commissioner in recent memory in moving the ball forward in Stark County.

Bosley is the force behind getting the 911 consolidation (central dispatching0 closer to existence. He alone had the political courage to dig into the Stark County Job and Family Services fiasco. Now we learn (from a Repository report) that he tried but failed to get Volkswagen to come to Stark County.

If only Bosley had someone to work with. Tom Harmon is a huge disappointment to The Report. Harmon is not the "bold" factor that Stark County needs to rejuvenate itself. Neither are Pete Feguson and John Hagan, one of whom will be replacing the retiring Jane Vignos.

The question: Can Bosley drive Stark County into the 21st century on his own?

DISCUSSION: A PROFILE IN POLITICAL COURAGE?

When the story first broke, successor to Canton mayor William Healy, II, Stephen Slesnick didn't know enough to comment on the Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann controversy.

Well, all the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report), "What a Difference a Day Makes."

Now Slesnick has jumped on the bandwagon State Rep. Mark Okey (D-61) started.

What's more, 16th Congressional candidate John Boccieri has gotten much stronger in his condemnation of Dann.

You even have Stark County's ultimate politico, Democratic chair, Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., getting in on the act. With the likes of Maier jumping ship, Dann has to know he is in big, big trouble.

Returning to the Slesnick "Profile in Political Courage," on Friday May 2nd, he told The Repository "I don't know enough about the situation to be able to comment . . . "[w]e have been very busy working on legislation."

By May 5 he was telling The Rep: "I'm right behind the governor, . . . [g]iven the facts are correct, we are all on the same page as the governor." Still kind of mealy-mouthed in the estimate of The Report.

Slesnick is an example of what is the worse about politicians. Mark Okey is a model of "A Profile in Courage."

Among the two, which in your opinion is the the one who exemplifies political courage?

DISCUSSION: IS TODD BOSLEY THE ONLY COMMISSIONER DEMONSTRATING EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP?

Todd Bosley has be saying for a long time how broken Stark Count Job and Family Services is.

Apparently, his fellow commissioners Harmon and Vignos disagree.

Harmon and Vignos have hired an interim director from within despite a report.

Bosley is quoted in The Canton Repository as saying: "I have a very hard time of allowing the same people who have been in control for many, many years, while these problems have been happening, to stay in control," . . . "To allow this to continue is a great injustice to the community."

What Bosley says makes a lot of sense to the Stark County Political Report (The Report). Moreover, at one time The Report was supportive of Harmon as commissioner.

But as time goes on it it seems as if Harmon is a "good ole boy" type public official who does not serve the public well because it he worried about offending someone in the hierarchy of Stark County leadership.

What do you think?

DISCUSSION: WHY HASN'T A STARK COUNTY OFFICERHOLDER CALLED FOR MARK DANN'S RESIGNATION?

The best we got was a stinging condemnation by state Representative Mark Okey (D) who represents the eastern fringe of Stark County.

The next strongest rebuke was from congressional candidate John Boccieri (D). His opponent, Kirk Scurring (R) was bland at best.

50th District Rep. John Hagan is quoted in The Rep as saying; "I'll stay out of that one." Strange comment from a self-announced Promise Keeper who one would think would stand up for morality in a big way.

Stranger yet is a comment by Canton Democrat Stephen Slesnick - "I don't know enough about the situation to be able to comment." Not commenting at all is Scott Oelslager (R-Jackson).

Isn't it hard to fathom why every one of Stark County's elected officials are not demanding Dann's resignation?

DISCUSSION: HAGAN VOTES "NO" ON CURBING PAYDAY LENDERS. DOES THIS MAN HAVE A HEART?

DISCUSSION: SHOULD STARK COUNTY OFFICIALS SOLVE STARK COUNTY BUDGET PROBLEMS BY SUPPORTING CASINO GAMBLING IN OHIO?

A no nonsense campaign to bring gambling to Ohio is underway by an group known as MyOhio.com.

The group behind the effort is trying to get Stark County elected officials to support the campaign through endorsement and other campaign activities.

Stark County stands to gain $7 million plus if the constitutional amendment initiative succeeds. The county budget is about $50 million. An infusion of the money would represent a 14% increase in revenues.

This is one of the few ways county officials can grow revenues because it is like pulling teeth to get Stark Countians to support sales tax increases.

Would Stark Countian support their public official campaigning for this initiative?

DISCUSSION: GIAVASIS ANNOINTS REINBOLD "CLERK OF COURTS," IS THIS THE WAY STARK COUNTIANS WANT COUNTY OFFICES FILLED?

Was she born to be Stark County Clerk of Courts. If you ask former Stark County Clerk of Courts (now Canton Municipal Clerk of Courts) Phil Giavasis, she was.

Many Stark County Democrats were surprised when about a year ago Phil Giavasis announced that he was running for Canton Municipal Clerk of Courts (better pay; better retirement benefits) on the retirement of the sitting clerk Tom Harmon (now Stark County Commission - seems sorta like a retire/rehire type situation doesn't it?).

Oh well, getting on with the Giavasis/Reinbold saga, when Lawrence Township Trustee Michael Stevens heard of the apparent vacancy; he went and talked to Giavasis to express an interest in succeeding Phil.

As Stevens tells it, Giavasis became visibly annoyed and upset that Stevens would be interested. Apparently, Phil had let it be known through Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., that he already knew who his successor would be and that person would be Nancy Reinbold (wife of retiring Stark County Court of Common Pleas judge Richard Reinbold). Isn't this getting to be amazing. All these Stark County officials retiring?

So there you have it folks: Giavasis the self-appointed patron saint of Nancy Reinbold. After all, it's her birthright!

Question: Is this the way Stark Countians want their elective offices filled?