A "NO BRAINER" WHICH PROBABLY MEANS STARK GOP CHAIRMAN JEFF MATTHEWS WILL NOT THINK OF IT AND CERTAINLY WON'T HAVE THE BRASS TO HAVE IT DONE

The Report was talking with a local Republican today when he related that he was trying to talk Republicans from over on 2727 Fulton NW (the headquarters) into taking a petition, that Stark Republicans are circulating as a prelude to filing a case in Stark County Common Pleas Court to have Stark County Treasurer Gary Zeigler removed involuntarily, to a Stark County commissioners office for the commissioners to sign.

The Report's question to the local Republican:  "Why would you have to call?  This is a no-brainer.  Jeff Matthews (the Stark GOP chairman) should have thought of this already and recruited someone to be at today's commissioners meeting."

Why the commissioners?

Because all three have very publicly stated that Zeigler should resign.

So at Public Speaks, a petitioner should present him/herself to have Commissioners Bosley, Meeks and Ferguson (all Democrats) sign up.

How could they refuse?

The petition needs to get approximately 21,000 signatures before the complaint can be filed in Stark Common Pleas.  The petition, the court filing, and the court decision will all have to be done and over with (with a finding removing Zeigler from office) by September 7, 2010.

A veteran petition circulation manager has told The Report that the Republican effort is not likely to succeed.  Unless the Stark GOP has a core of a dozen or so petition circulators plus some occasionals, it will be nearly impossible to collect the needed signatures.

Here is a copy of the first page of the petition.

NORTH CANTON MAYOR DAVID HELD IS REASSESSING HIS ADMINISTRATION: "NOTHING IS OFF THE TABLE" IN TERMS WHO WILL BE LEFT STANDING AFTER THE ADMINISTRATION'S REORGANIZATION

UPDATE:  07/07/2010

The remake of North Canton administration materialized at last nights meeting.  It appears to the SCPR that Wise will be working for Mayor David Held through the end of 2010.  The Report understands that Wise's position will not be funded for 2011.

UPDATE:  REVISED AT 6:00 PM ON 07/06/2010

NORTH CANTON GOV'T REALIGNMENT

A SCPR source tells The Report that Mayor David Held will be announcing a reshuffling of his administration at tonight's Council Committee of the Whole meeting.

Earle E. Wise, Jr., the source says, in the Held plan will be shifted from being city administrator to another post with the title Director of Administrative Services and have an office located in the engineering department.  

James Benekos, the current city engineer, is to become city administrator (official title:  Director of Administration) with a pay raise of some $10,000 to earn about $96,000 annually.  Wise, the source says, is to be paid about $70,000 per annum.

Since the original post was made, the SCPR has spoken with Mayor Held who has confirmed to The Report the changes outlined in this blog.  Moreover, he says the changes are temporary and will likely implemented with the passage of an ordinance embodying the changes at next Monday's regular Council.


Held said Wise will be focusing on economic development in his new assignment.

Wise has long been the target of several councilpersons who want a change of direction.  However, Mayor Held is the only North Canton official who has the power to determine who is and who is not in his administration.  Held has maintained that he has the fullest confidence in Wise as city administrator and not about to remove him.


Apparently, Held has had a change of heart in an effort to improve his relationship with Council.  The SCPR believes that Council had devised a number of "persuaders" (e.g. limiting authority to spend without Council approval $2,500) to convince Held that he had to find a new city administrator.


ORIGINAL POST

The SCPR has been hearing that a big, big shakeup is coming in North Canton city government.  More specifically, it is coming in the administration of Mayor David Held.

The most prominent of reports is that Chief Administrator E.E. Wise, Jr. could be on his way out.  The SCPR's source says that this word has come from two different councilpersons.

So yours truly contacted Mayor Held and put the question to him.  "Mayor, is it true that you are considering relieving Administrator Wise of his position?"

Answer:  "No comment."

However, Held did go on to say that he is doing a complete and thoroughgoing reassessment of his administration, which should be done about July 9th.  What he would say about the Wise matter is this:  "Nothing is off the table."

This is quite a switch for Held who was telling The Report just a few weeks ago that Wise has his fullest confidence and that he serves at the pleasure of the Mayor and that he is going nowhere.

The SCPR believes that Wise has become a problem for Held (who really does want Wise to stay on board) because certain members of North Canton Council (Council) are disenchanted with Wise in terms of their expectations of him that they are fomenting unrest within the entire City Council and are using indirect means (e.g. floating the notion that they are about to require Held et al to get pre-Council approval for expenditures over $2,500) to communicate their message to Held.

Apparently, their strategy is working.  What was once off-the-table is now on-the-table.

Held says that he is working hard to generate more revenue for North Canton and to find ways to cut expenses by streamlining city operations.

Asked about the notion being floated at City Hall that North Canton needs to take a new look at the structure of its government in terms of perhaps modifying it (which requires a vote of the people) to go to a full-time mayor who also is a chief administrator.  Another possibility is to go to a city manager form of government.

Held dismisses such talk. He points out that North Canton's charter government has been in place for 50 years (since 1960) and, other than some minor tweaking (the last being in 2007), the structure of North Canton government is just fine, thank you, and he opposes any changes.

He described to The Report how North Canton's 15 member charter commission took the Dogwood City's charter apart line by line, in its every 10 year look at the charter, to figure out ways to improve it.

Although Held is a Republican (who works well with Democratic officials who dominate Stark County government), he broke ground when he became mayor, about 4 years ago, by bringing Wise, a Democrat, into office with him as the city's chief administrator.

There is no doubt that Held wants to keep Wise.  However, Council appears to think otherwise and is putting pressure on Held to sacrifice Wise for what they perceive to be "for the good of the order."

What will Held do?

It is hard to say.  David Held is a very loyal person and Wise should feel comforted that Held wants to keep him.

But, it could be, that he will ask Wise to step down so that Held and Council can get away from the bickering that Wise seems to draw from some on Council.

By doing so, the Mayor and Council can devote their energies to coping with resolving expected 2011 and 2012 and beyond deficits and leaving the political infighting in the dust.

WHY DIDN'T STARK COMMISSIONERS EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT TO INSPECT THE TREASURY'S BOOKS? WHY IS THE AUDITOR'S OFFICE EXCITED ABOUT THE CALL FOR PEREZ TO RESIGN?

 UPDATE:  07/06/2010 AT 9:45 AM

Commissioner Todd Bosley has told the SCPR that Auditor Perez will be appearing before the commissioners to answer their questions when he has the called for report ready.  Bosley expects the report to be done prior to the 30 day period prescribed by commissioners in their letter to Perez.

ORIGINAL POST

Revised at 7:30 AM

In Stark County, "auditors" are a hot topic these days.  Normally, auditing is pretty boring stuff.

Stark County commissioners are focusing their efforts on the failure to catch Vince Frustaci (who has pled guilty on June 25 in federal court to having stolen about $2.46 million in county funds) on the Ohio Auditor of State Mary Taylor (Taylor) and Stark County Auditor Kim Perez (Perez).

However, it appears to the SCPR that there are different motivations behind the two efforts.

The Report believes that the Taylor initiative is designed as a part of a larger Stark County Democratic plan to assign blame on Taylor whereas the Perez initiative is to be a platform which provides Perez with a politically friendly overture to present cherry-picked information to absolve his office of any responsibility on the failure to catch.

There is no suggestion that Perez compensate the county, if information surfaces that indicates a county auditor failure to catch.

Here are copies of the two letters sent out by commissioners on Wednesday.

First, to Taylor.  (By the way, a Taylor spokesman says that Mary will not be appearing before the Stark County commissioners in response to the letter)

Second, to Perez.

However, the commissioners have not exercised statutory authority to do a direct examination of the Stark treasury's books nor have they asked Treasurer Zeigler or Auditor Perez to come in for a public Q&A session as they have Taylor.

So how about the commissioners themselves?

Ohio Revised Code Section 321.11 has been pointed out to The Report as a statutory enactment of long standing (1953) which gives them to right to assure themselves as county officials that all is well with the treasurer's office, to wit:

A factor that has not been widely reported upon, are the "social/civic/political/familial" factors between Perez, Zeigler, Frustaci and Stark County sheriff (Swanson - whose office was involved in the Frustaci investigation under the guidance of the auditor's brother Rick Perez - a chief deputy poised to become the Stark County sheriff when Swanson quits). Perez, Zeigler and Swanson are all Demoratic county office holders.

Social/civic/political and familial?

Examples, please!

SOCIAL

The SCPR is told by a source that before March, 2009 Frustaci vacation trip to Florida, it was practically a daily occurrence that Kim Perez, Gary Zeigler and Vince Frustaci would have lunch together.

CIVIC

Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson has written at least one letter to the editor of The Repository (in recent times) defending Zeiglier's managing of the Stark treasury. 

On October 24, 2008 Vince Frustaci wrote a letter (Swanson is widely respected in state, local law enforcement) to The Rep's editor endorsing Sheriff Swanson over Republican Larry Dordea in their 2008 match up.

POLITICAL

According to the SCPR's best recollection, Zeigler, Swanson and Ferrero have run as a "law enforcement team" in past (2004?). However, the triumvirate did not last as The Report remembers Ferrero dropping out of the three-way campaign because of differences between the three.

FAMILIAL

Zeigler's son is employed by Stark County Auditor Kim Perez in the auditor's office.  The SCPR source says that Zeigler has described his son's work in the auditor's office as preparing one day to succeed Zeigler as county treasurer.

By Ohio ethics law, relatives cannot work from one another.   It is common practice (especially among Democrat officeholders) for them to hire each other's family members.  However, the official line is always that in hiring the fellow officeholder's relative, the hiring official was getting "the best available person" for the job.

Recorder Rick Campbell says this about his employment of his Chief Deputy Recorder Kody Gonzalez (son of Stark County Democratic Party kingpin Randy Gonzalez).

As a final note, the SCPR recites the following about Auditor Kim Perez's office.

On Friday, June 25th (the day of the former Stark County Treasury Chief Deputy Frustaci "bill of information" press conference), the SCPR got a call from the Stark County Auditor's office (not Perez himself) which The Report suspects to have been a feigning of an inability to get in contact with Pat DeLuca of "The DeLuca Show."

Why the thought of feigning?

Because, when contacted by the SCPR,  DeLuca said that he had not received a message from Perez's office.  However, he had yet to checked voice mails at his station, which were not available to him over the weekend.

Also, an e-mail sent to Perez (a copy of which was sent to The Report) asking for his resignation had DeLuca's e-mail address on it.

So - in hindsight - the obvious question to the caller by yours truly should have been:   If you can't get through on the phone, why not just dash off an e-mail?  Because that is how the SCPR contacted DeLuca.

DeLuca had criticized Perez and called for his resignation with reference to DeLuca's belief that Perez failed Stark Countians in ferreting out the $2.46 million theft from the Stark treasury that former Stark Treasurer former Chief Deputy pleaded guilty to in federal court on June 25th..

What would have been the motivation for the suspected feigning?

Answer:  To get The Report to defend Perez to DeLuca.  The caller had a perception that the SCPR  and DeLuca are close.

Close (an articulated perception of the auditor official) or not, it was a serious miscalculation for the caller to think that The Report would be so undiscerning as to not raise questions (in terms of thinking it over) about why such a call would come from out-of-the-blue.

When The Report published a blog asking questions of Perez's office as a follow up to DeLuca's Facebook "open letter, " then the Perez aide's attitude to yours truly turned negative.  "You blindsided us," he said.

Really?

"We've bent over backwards to comply with your public information requests," he said.  Hmm?

So Perez's office, apparently, is a respecter of persons when doing its statutorily mandated public records response?

Isn't that interesting?  

Well, the SCPR does not ask for preferred public service from Stark County based government officials.  Just comply with the law!

The officeholder in providing the SCPR the requested information was merely complying with Ohio's open records law. The Report demands nothing more and will accept nothing less!

Public officials need to focus on doing their jobs and quit trying to massage/manipulate the media.

And, the media has to have the discernment to know when they are being manipulated.

And, by the way, the SCPR did offer Perez an opportunity to defend himself from DeLuca's call for his resignation by putting the defense/response together in an e-mail which The Report will then publish the response either as an update to the original blog or in a new blog.  Such is standard practice for the SCPR whenever a subject of a SCPR blog disagrees with The Report's opinion.

Moreover, The Report has asked both DeLuca and the auditor's office via e-mail whether or not they have contacted one another.  So far The Report has received no answer from either. Accordingly, it appears that Perez's effort to contact was a ruse.

As stated at the outset of this blog, normally discussions about auditor offices is boring stuff.

But not in 2010 in Stark County, Ohio!!!

Auditor Perez does have a lot of questions to answer.

It is just a short jaunt down the hall from Perez's office to the commissioners' meeting room.

Why don't the commissioners insist on having Kim Perez in for questions?  After all, one of the commissioners told yours truly that somewhere during the unfolding of the Frustaci matter, Perez contacted the Taylor with the admonition "you have a problem in the Stark County treasurer's office."

A Perez spokesman, when asked if the commissioner's statement was accurate, said:  "It may be?"

So this is a for instance of questions that Perez needs to answer in public.

Thirty days to submit a report?  No public Q&A?

Hmm?

Sounds like Democrats (all three commissioners) protecting a Democrat, doesn't it?

VIDEO: HEALY & SCHULMAN SPEECHES - WHY WEREN'T THERE ANY REPUBLICAN ELECTED OFFICIALS AT THE "JUSTICE FOR LOCAL WORKERS" RALLY ON JULY 1ST AT MILLS BUSINESS PARK?

UPDATE#3:  07/06/2010

Secrest follow up e-mail:

I was not aware of the event before I left for New Mexico. I left June 17th. Being in the back country for ten days leaves you out of cell phone and certainly Internet. So I didn't know about the event to send anyone as a serogate. (sic)

It is not a snub towards labor or economic development. Recovering out economy is the number one issue in my campaign.

Travis

UPDATE#2:  07/05/2010 AT 12:45 PM

The Report has received an email from well known Stark County Republican LaVera Guillan.


Here is the email:

In response to today's blog.  Do you not think there are more than one ways to deal with a stiuation (sic) like the use of local labor than jumping up and down like a child.  I stood with Dan in the past in a protest in Columbus and at that time felt that other means of protesting would suit me better.  Yes I am a republican (sic), but I stand with the unions in many situations. 

UPDATE: 07/05/2010 AT 12:15 PM

The SCPR received this e-mail from Travis Secrest who is the Republican candidate for Ohio's 52nd Ohio House District. It is posted in its entirety below:

To answer Secrest's question:  why didn't the SCPR email him before posting the blog?  

His reason or any reason as to why he was not at the "Justice for Local Workers" really begs the question.  He could have sent a surrogate and had him/her check in with the leadership of the event so that the emcee would have identified the representative as being there for Travis Secrest.

The same answer applies for any other elected official or candidate who wasn't there to support this valiant effort to get work for Cantonians and Stark Countians.

Here is the Secrest email:

From:

"Travis Secrest" <travis@ ... .

To:

"Martin Olson" <tramols@att.net>

Marty,

Good morning.

I wanted to e-mail you regarding a recent post questioning why I was not present at the Mills Park Industrial Park Rally.

For the past two weeks I was serving as an adviser to a contingent of boys who attended Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico. Philmont is the National High Adventure base of the Boy Scouts of America. I was out of town for the past two weeks and just came home July 3rd. This is the reason why you did not see me at this event.

Over the past few months I have been to a number of events throughout the district. I believe you know me well enough to know that I plan to work hard during this race. Again, I would encourage you to contact me before offering speculations about my campaign.

Thanks again,

Travis

ORIGINAL POST

Two years ago or so, a local labor official told yours truly about a local Republican official asking him why Stark County organized labor - for the most part - will not give Republicans a smell when it comes to supporting their candidates.

The official, Daryl Revoldt  (currently president of North Canton City Council and formerly Region 9 economic development director for the Bob Taft administration and before that a chief honcho for former Republican Congressman Ralph Regula) would, if he had been present on Thursday past, gotten his answer from the make-up of elected officials who attended the July 1, 2010 "Justice for Local Workers" rally held at Mills Business Park down on Sherman Church Road, SW.

As far as the SCPR knows, not a single Republican showed up at the event.  Not even Mark Butterworth who is the sole Republican on Canton City Council.

The SCPR wonders what the partisan issue is for Republicans when it comes to getting jobs for Cantonians and Stark Countians when new businesses like Medline come to the area.

Medline is a medical equipment supply company that started out constructing its fancy new building in the Mills Business Park (with tax breaks and other Canton help) without any local labor as hires (union or otherwise) until a number of Democrat Canton City Council members took up the cause of local labor.

Consequently, as long as Democrats control Canton, companies coming to Canton had better figure on hiring locals if they think they are going to get tax breaks and other assistance from Canton's local government.

Notice that The Report speaks only of "local labor," and does not qualify the noun labor with "organized" labor (or use the expression "union labor.")

That's because the local trade unions when they talk of local labor include all Cantonians and Stark Countians (including the unorganized) who want construction jobs - in the unions' definition of labor.  It is hard to see why Republicans would not join in on an effort to get good paying jobs for the laboring men and women of Canton and Stark County.

There are some boneheaded things going on at 2727 Fulton NW these days (the site of the Stark County Republican Party) and this one is at the top of the list.  Perhaps Stark County has a Michael Steel; "act-alike" in charge.

You have Travis Secrest, executive director of the Stark County Republican Party, who is running for the Ohio House - the 52nd district, who wasn't at the rally.  Really?  Canton Township, Secrest's home,  is populated with mostly working class folks who badly need jobs in this Great Recession economy and Chairman Jeff Matthews couldn't even see to it that Secrest got to the rally?

And this guy thinks he is going to appeal to the electorate of the 52nd?  Even with the lackluster Stephen Slesnick as an opponent, Secrest is likely not to be an appealing alternative.

Remember folks, these are jobs for "everybody" not just organized labor.  This SCPR reminder is for those Republican officials and candidates who apparently cannot abide anything that is tinged with "organized" labor even if the effort will bring jobs to the larger construction worker community; organized and unorganized.

Another interesting note.  There were a surprising number of Democrat officeholders who were not present.  But you can be sure they will have their hands out when it comes to fundraising.

In addition to those pictured on the graphic above,  SCPR saw Steve Meeks (commissioner, seeking retention), Tom Bernabei (candidate for the unexpired term), Joe Martuccio (incumbent candidate for law director), Brian Horner (9th Ward, Canton councilman).
Perhaps there were others that The Report did not see and, if they were there, they need only contact The Report at tramols@att.net to be included on the SCPR's list in an update to this blog.

The SCPR agrees with Revoldt.  Organized  labor should support more Republicans.

But first, Stark County and Canton Republicans need to show that they support the laboring man and woman.  It was such a simple thing for at least some of them to show up at the "Justice for Local Workers" event.

And maybe, the Republican candidates and officials could even find it in their heart to say a good word or two for the hardworking laboring class of the Canton/Stark community.

The Report sees Democrat officials frequently voicing support for the business community.  But, it seems as if it will be "a cold day in hell" before the Republicans will say or do anything much that is constructive  and productive to get more construction jobs in the area.  After all, most of these folks are Democrats.  Wonder why?

Golly gee!  Why doesn't organized labor support more Republicans?

Hmm?

Here is a video of the rally held by local "organized" labor for the benefit of "all" laboring men and women of Canton and Stark County.  Nary a Republican to be seen!

HOW IS STARK COUNTY'S NEW DOG WARDEN DOING? WILL SHE MAKE IT PAST THE PROBATIONARY PERIOD?

On Monday, May 24, 2010, Reagan Tetreault (former Homes County warden) took over at the much-troubled Stark County Dog Pound.  On May 23rd, the SCPR did a report on Tetreault's first public appearance (including video) in Stark County.

Recently the SCPR talked with Nanci Miller, who is a member of the Stark County Dog Pound Advisory Board and also involved with the Animal Welfare Society of Stark County (AWS), about her take on the first few weeks of Warden Tetreault.

Nanci was at the Stark County commissioners' meeting of June 23rd to share with commissioners the progress being madeon  the effort to put together a spay and neuter clinic for Stark Countians who cannot afford to spay/neuter their animals.

She shared that the Dog Pound Advisory Board (DPAB)is optimistic that Warden Tetreault is going to work out.  Moreover, she provided the SCPR with a copy of the minutes of the DPAB at its June 17th meeting which has an outline of the projects underway at the hand of the warden.

Readers of The Report will recall that the DPAB (members of which are appointed by the commissioners) got into a fuss of sorts with commissioners over whom should be appointed warden and how much import DPAB members should have.

The DPAB seemed to be concerned that "the fix was in" and that a person who was not on the top five or six list of the DPAB was going to end up with the appointment.  Also, Member Swank got into an argument with County Administrator Michael Hanke as to whether or not Swank was to be part of the interview process of candidates for warden.

Hanke took the position that interim Warden Kevin Fox was to be the "outside" person to be part of the interview process as - according to Hanke - Swank had deferred to Fox.

The import of all of this is that the SCPR does believe that the DPAB was effective to kill the political fix, if there was one.  The operation of the DPAB is a good model for all boards and commissions throughout Stark County.

They should not be compliant rubber stamps.  They should endeavor to be cooperative in the context of taking a critical look at the appointing authority.

Here is a list of achievements that Warden Tetrault hopes to attain at the Stark County Dog Pound:

TOUGHNESS OR OBSTINANCE? STARK COUNTY TREASURER GARY D. ZEIGLER - WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES TO THE STARK CO. DEMOCRATIC PARTY?

In resisting the pressure to resign, Stark County Treasurer Gary D. Zeigler is either demonstrating great "mettle" or he is being "bullheaded."  Which is it?

Before being elected Stark County treasurer, Zeigler tried numerous times to be elected as a Stark County public official.

In hindsight, Zeigler might be saying to himself:  "Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true."

In trying many times to be elected to public office, it is obvious that becoming an elected official was Zeigler's number one wish.  As anyone who has run for office knows, campaign is no fun.  And, raising money for a campaign is even less fun.

But the arduousness of the campaign enterprise did not stop Zeigler.

Finally, he struck gold in the spring of 1999.

When former Treasurer Mark Roach ran into problems in meeting the qualifications to be treasurer in Stark, county commissioners ousted him and the Stark Democratic Party Central Committee appointed the persistent, seemly perennial candidate Zeigler.

Another Zeigler characteristic seems to be that "he tries to be everybody's friend."  Yours truly recalls that by 2002, former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., was openly speculating that Zeigler was the source of "inside the Democratic Party information" to Stark Republicans.

Such was the first indication that not all within Stark Democraticdom were enthralled with Zeigler.

By 2008, it appeared that Zeigler was "on top of the world."  All of a sudden, a man who ran and ran and ran - had no one to run against.  Indeed, Zeigler was a "to be feared" political candidate that nobody wanted to run against.

This year's auditor candidate against Kim Perez (Republican Alan Harold) was all set to file his petition to run against Zeigler, but at the last moment pulled back.  Hmm?

When asked by yours truly, what happened.  All Harold would say is:  "no comment."  Hmm?

From Zeigler's perspective, he was now "in the catbird's seat."

And in November, 2008 Zeigler garnered enough "uncontested seat" votes (impressive, no?) to be re-elected.

But as we who know who have been in politics, political life is a fickle thing.

On November 9, 2008 Ziegler was undoubtedly being glad-handed by many, if not all, area politicians.  Especially, the office holding countywide Democrats.  Zeigler's unopposed victory seemed to be a validation of countywide Democratic Party leadership.

What is the saying?  "Pride goeth before a fall."

And a fall for the Democrats was coming.  If only they knew how soon.

Fast forward to April 1, 2009.  Headlines galore!  in the like of:  Zeigler accuses Chief Deputy Vince Frustaci of theft of county funds.  Zeigler fires Frustaci.

Now the congratulators of November 9, 2008 were all running for political cover.

From April 1, 2009 on,  Zeigler's political pals have been watching Zeigler twist in the wind.  Keeping the distance.  Whispering among themselves:  "What shall we do?"

No calls for resignation yet. For now, there was just watching and waiting.

All that came to an end on June 25, 2010:  The day that the United States Attorney (Dettelbach) held his press conference and announced the "bill of information" being filed in federal court against Frustaci charging him with having stolen $2.46 million in county funds.

Fellow Zeigler Democratic pal (former pal?) Commissioner Todd Bosley, of course, was at the front of the line to officially and publicly separate from the treasurer.  "[I]t is my view that that there must be an immediate change of leadership at the Treasurer's office," he said.

Meeks, Ferguson, Perez and Gonzalez follow, tripping over Bosley in the rush to get their statements out to the press.

Now the Democrats are in a frenzy to flee from Zeigler.  Commissioner Todd Bosley has told The Report that there is no communication to speak of between Stark Democrat officeholders and Zeigler except for the efforts of Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero's continuing efforts to get Zeigler to step down.

The fear (Stark County Democratic Party Chairman Randy Gonzalez told the SCPR on July 1st) is that the there will be political reverberations in the immediate sense to the effect that Alan Harold (a political novice) is now a legitimate threat to defeat, perhaps the strongest Democratic vote getter,  in Stark County; namely Stark County Auditor Kim Perez.

Gonzalez agreed with The Report that Harold's lack of political sophistication could be a big plus for Harold.

Notwithstanding all the calls for Zeigler to resign, do not look for him to quit.  On that score there is only one possibility,   according to Commissioner Bosley.  Bosley says he believes that only Zeigler's immediate family could prevail on him to resign.

Otherwise, Bosley says the county commissioners are looking at the viability of the commissioners taking action to force Zeigler to the sidelines.  But that will only happen, after the Frustaci sentencing.

The SCPC believes that Zeigler is being both admirably tough and obstinately bullheaded.

Dare say that most of his Democratic colleague officeholders would long ago resigned in the face the Stark County public's and media's (including the SCPR) hue and cry.

That Zeigler hangs tough in the face of public outcry is a rare commodity among politicians these days.  The public is not always right.

On the other hand, it is clear that the Stark County public has lost confidence in the way he has managed his office.  By hanging in there, Zeigler is exhibiting a bullheadedness that could cost some of his fellow Democrats at the polls.  Such could begin with the fall from power by Kim Perez this fall.

Moreover, his remaining in place at the displeasure of the public could cost the Stark County commissioners any chance they might have had getting a renewal of a 1/4th of one percent sales tax issue coming up this November or in May, 2011.

Undoubtedly, these are unintended potential consequences from Zeigler's perspective in staying put.

Long term, as the SCPR sees it, Zeigler staying in office is not in the picture.  If he can remain stout in his determination to stay in office until its normal end, you can bet that if he chooses to run again; the organized Democratic Party leadership will find and support an alternative candidate in the 2012 Democratic primary.

In this scenario, there could be ramifications over what local attorney Craig T. Conley terms as "Zeiglergate," for the numerous Democrats who have to run countywide in 2012.

Even is Zeigler stays in office to fill out his term but chooses not to run for re-election, the SCPR believes there could residuals affecting the 2012 election.

The main question is this.  Can Republicans take advantage of the opportunity?  The SCPR believes that Stark Republican Party Chairman Jeff Matthews (and his predecessor Curt Braden) have bankrupted the Stark County Republican Party of a candidate base that can effectively challenge.

In light of all of the foregoing, the question is:  Will Zeigler see his term through to the end?

And this question filters out the possibility that the commissioners will act to try to remove him involuntarily or that Stark Republican Party sponsored petition drive to bring the question of his removal before the Stark County Common Pleas Court.

The SCPR believes it is unlikely.

However, it is still an interesting question to mull over.  Is Treasurer Zeigler a courageously tough-minded political figure who "can stand the heat in the kitchen" or is merely being bullheaded for now and "will cut and run" when he perceives that his bulliers have the upper hand.

But there is a third way out.

He could always, as suggested by Commissioner Todd Bosley, quit citing personal and family considerations.

But will he?

IS COMMISSIONER BOSLEY SEIZING UPON THE TREASURY PROBLEMS AS A POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY?

One often hears about the power of incumbency in politics.

While Commissioner Todd Bosley is not the incumbent state representative for the 50th Ohio House District (Republican Todd Snitchler is), his command and control of local media on the problems at the Stark treasury from his commissioner base is providing him with the power to garner the public's attention to himself superior to what Snitchler is able to do.

Bosley will have tons of money to run his campaign as the Ohio House Democratic Caucus sees the 50th as a grand opportunity to help maintain its majority status.

So will Snitchler as the House Republican Caucus means to hold the 50th.

And, in an ironical sort of way, one of the main vehicles for Bosley to command the media is Republican Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor's front and center role in sniffing out or, according to Bosley, long time failure to discover the admitted theft of Stark County treasury funds by former Chief Deputy Vince Frustaci.

Ironical?

Yes.

Snitchler is politically very close to Taylor.  He has had one of her staff people appear at what the SCPR labels as being a campaign event held at the Stark County District Library (Lake Branch) on March 4, 2010.  The Taylor staffer was helping Snitchler tout his House Bill 65 and it call for performance audits of - eventually - all units of Ohio state government.

For now Snitchler political pal Taylor is playing the perfect foil for Bosley as he is soaking up tons of positive media attention (i.e. a man of action fending for the taxpayers of Stark County).  And, of course, Bosley needs this kind of attention to offset the negative attention he got as being the lead commissioner in imposing the 0.50 of one percent sales/use tax on Stark Countians in December, 2008.

Bosley seems to be a key component in a Stark County Democratic Party effort to blame Mary Taylor for not catching Frustaci.

The SCPR spoke with Randy Gonzalez (chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party) at the "Justice for Local Workers" rally at Mills Business Part down on Sherman Church Road SW.  His focus in our discussion was on the Ohio Auditor's failure to find Frustaci years earlier.

Here is a video of Bosley at yesterday's commissioners meeting asking fellow Commissioners Ferguson and Meeks to go along with his proposal to send a letter to Taylor asking for a refund on account of her failure.



The Snitchler camp has to be going absolutely crazy when they see Bosley using his commissioner seat successfully as a springboard to political stardom.  Bosley is well aware of the tizzy he has put his opponent into.

Of course, the Snitchlerites will say all this is political posturing and grandstanding.  And, it certainly looks that much of Bosley's activity is such.  It is not just the media seeking him out.  Bosley sits for hours pondering ways he can get media to focus on him.

Here is an example of a Bosley set up in video form from yesterday's commissioners meeting.



Bosley is a master at this sort of thing.  It started with his political attack on fellow Nimishillen Township trustee Russ Goffus back in the days that Bosley was a trustee himself.

His efforts really began to take on a political polish tone to them when he ran against and defeated incumbent commissioner Richard Regula (Republican and son of former Congressman Ralph Regula) in 2006.

He took the the rehab of Stark County's 9-1-1 emergency dispatch services issue (under the guidance of Nimishillen Township Fire Chief Rich Peterson) and used it to deliver the stunning defeat to Regula.

However, not all has been perfect for Bosley.  The glaring imperfections are two.

First, he miscalculated on imposing the sales tax.  He thought by offering to provide "free" dispatching services to the political subdivisions of Stark County, he would have local fire, police and many other political subdivision leaders coming out of the woodwork to resist any attempt to repeal the imposed tax.

Secondly, while Bosley always cloaks his initiatives in being for the "public good," those of us who understand how politicians work suspect that he is more about aggrandizing Todd Bosley and his political future than about the public good.  What's worse for Bosley is that with each scheme he cooks up, there is a likelihood that more and more Stark Countians will see him more as a political opportunist rather than a champion of the public good.

But the same could be said of Todd Snitchler.  However, the SCPR believes that Snitchler really believes what he touts; whether one agrees with him or not.

Rightly or wrongly, The Report sees Bosley much more pragmatical and opportunistic.

A key to the state house race could be who wins the battle for the hearts and minds of the voters of the 50th House District.

The true believer or the pragmatic one?