WILL HOF-VP BLACK CONTRACTORS GET PAID THE FINAL $200,000 OWED BY WELTY (HOF VILLAGE LLC) ANYTIME SOON?

UPDATE:  SUNDAY, 1:00 PM

Originally published Saturday, 9/1

Highlighted and Bolded Text is indicative of added/modified material since original publication.

Note:   The entire video of Friday's session (unedited) is located in the Appendix to this blog.

POSTED VIDEOS
(a SCPR exclusive)

HOW? WHY DID SCPR GET ACCESS TO THE MEETING?

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

PFHOF CFO BRIAN PARISI PLAYS KEY ROLE IN RESOLVING DISPUTE

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

QUALITY CARE CONSTRUCTION VP NEIL STEVENS

OUTLINES THE DIRE FINANCIAL CONDITION THAT

SLOW PAYMENTS HAS PLACED QUALITY CARE IN JEOPARDY

"Quality Care on the Verge of Going Belly Up!"

--------------------------
SUNDAY PUBLISHED VIDEOS
--------------------------

FINGER POINTING AT WELTY/IRG AS BEING THE PROBLEM
A MUST SEE VIDEO 
TO CAPTURE DESPERATION OF QUALITY CARE
----------------------------
QUALITY CARE CONFRONTS WELTY, IRG & HOF WITH
"THOSE PEOPLE" COMMENT
----------------------------
THANK GOD! FOR BRIAN PARISI
----------------------------
WHO IS NOT COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY?
----------------------------
FELLOW BLACK CONTRACTOR TO QUALITY CARE
SUPPORTS NEIL STEVENS' BOTTOM LINE
THE UNCERTAIN FINANCING OF THE HOF VP
----------------------------

ANOTHER INSTANCE OF PFHOF CFO BRIAN PARISI
SEEING THE MERITS OF QUALITY CARE'S PLEA
-----------------------------
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2018
THE CONTROVERSY GOES AWAY?

Back in May, 2017 The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report) blogged on a call for a boycott of the 2017 Enshrinement activity by a group called the Black Contractors Association because the group believed that the National Football Museum, Inc. and IRG combined effort (HOF Village LLC [60% reportedly owned by IRG, 40% by the National Football Museum dba as the Professional Football Hall of Fame]) had not made an adequate effort to recruit minority contractors to work on the 2014 conceived Pro Football Hall of Fame expansion project (HOF-VP) that is now thought to have nearly $1 billion in work to contract out in building the project.

Little did minority contractors dream that landing HOF-VP contracts proved to be one thing; getting paid has been quite another.

On June 15, 2018 in a SCPR "Breaking News" story, it was revealed that the minority contractors "walked-off-the-job" because they thought they had not been adequately paid for work done to date which at that time seemed to place completion of the parking lot project close by Tom Benson Stadium in jeopardy of being completed in time for the 2018 annual Pro Football HOF Enshrinement Event and first of the new National Football League year exhibition football game, to wit (as of June 15th):

Enough money was cobbled together to get the contractors back on the job and the parking lot was "largely" completed for Pro Football festivities during the first week of this month.

Now that the HOF folks have gotten by this year's event, it appears that they have resumed "foot-dragging" on making some remaining $200,000 to-be-paid on an original $700,000 (according to one of the owners) contract.

Obviously, the contractors (lead contractor being Quality Care Construction, Neil Stevens:  vice president) now only have the leverage of "negative public relations" for the HOF-VP as a bargaining factor in getting paid.

So it was an interesting turn of events that one of the contractors telephoned the SCPR last evening to invite The Report to be present at a HOF VP facility on Clearview St NW in Canton at 10:15 a.m. today to cover the face to face negotiations between the minority contractors (and their staffs and attorney) and representatives from IRG and Welty Construction (the managing general contractor employed by HOF Village LLC).

Readers of the SCPR know that this blogger as the "only" Stark County media critic of:

• the planning for the HOF expansion project,
• the obtaining of adequate public and private financing of the project,
• see blog on the filing of liens by contractors 
• the implementation of what plan there has been, 
• the accountability for the taxpayer portion of  money put into the project, and
• the lack of transparency on the issue of the viability of the project, and,
• whether or not the public monies invested will one day, in fact, make an productive "return on investment for public monies put into the project

In the view of the SCPR, The Repository compromised its integrity in reporting (as monitored and controlled by the editors and the publisher; not the work of the reporters themselves) and editorializing on the project in working out an agreement whereby Stark County's only countywide newspaper became "the official newspaper of the Pro Football Hall of Fame."

To make matters even worse, during the 2018 HOF festivities, Repository publisher James Porter was named to the National Museum Inc. dba Professional Football Hall of Fame) board of trustees.

Officers

Chairman - Randall C. Hunt, Attorney, Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co., LPA

Vice Chairman - Dennis Nash, Executive Chairman of the Board, Kenan Advantage Group

Secretary - Joseph Halter, President, Solmet Technologies, Inc.

Treasurer - Roger A. Bettis, President, Green Lines Transportation, Inc.

Assistant Treasurer - Gary R. Smith, Retired Executive

Trustees
Brian J. Barker, Founder & Chairman, AFS Logistics & Limited Partner, Atlanta Falcons

Brian S. Belden, Vice President Sales & Marketing, The Belden Brick Co.

William H. Belden, Jr., Retired Chairman of the Board, The Belden Brick Co.

Barbara Bennett, Director of Administrative Services, Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District

Todd Blackledge, Lead Analyst, ESPN

Ronald W. Dougherty, Attorney, Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co., LPA

Roger Goodell, Commissioner, National Football League

Stephen Gregory, CEO,Gregory Industries

Jimmy Haslam, Owner, Cleveland Browns

Donald E. Jakeway, President & CEO, Jakeway & Associates LLC

Jerry Jones, Owner/President/General Manager, Dallas Cowboys/Pro Football Hall of Fame member

George McCaskey, Chairman of Board, Chicago Bears

Bernard McRae, Jr., CEO/President, Main Street Lighting

Frank J. Monaco, Partner, 415 Group, Inc.

Warren Moon, Pres.& Founder, Sports 1 Marketing; Pro Football Hall of Fame member

Anthony Muñoz, Executive Director, Anthony Muñoz Foundation; Pro Football Hall of Fame member

George R. Oliver, Chairman & CEO, Johnson Controls

James A. Porter, Publisher, The Canton Repository and GateHouse Ohio Media

Renée Powell, PGA/LPGA Pro, GM at Clearview Golf Club

Ed Roth, President & CEO, Aultman Hospital

Stephen Harold Schott, Managing Partner, CapTrust 

John A. Sirpilla, Founder, Encourage LLC 

Dan Snyder, Owner, Washington Redskins

Amy Adams Strunk, Controlling Owner, Tennessee Titans

W.R. Timken Jr., Former US Ambassador to Germany, Retired Chairman of the Board and CEO of The Timken Co.

Denise DeBartolo York, Co-Chairman, San Francisco 49ers

Robert A. Zmudka, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Rail North America, GATX

The question clearly is:  Who does The Repository under the leadership of James Porter owe a duty of trust to?

The Stark County reading public or the likes of:

• Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) and other directly connected to the NFL personalities which staff the HOF Board of Trustees,
• C. David Baker, president and CEO of the Professional Football Hall of Fame?

Accordingly, the SCPR thinks that Stark Countians cannot trust The Rep to thoroughly investigate and weigh-in on things like the black contractors being treated the way they are in getting timely and prompt payments for the work they have done.

One reader of this blog has had this to say to the SCPR:

****.****@gmail.com  Today at 8:31 AM
To:  Martin Olson

Nice job on today's post...YOU got called! 

Says something doesn't it?  

An old retired guy in Uniontown armed only w a camera seems to be the only tool for the little guy seeking justice!  Clayton Horn and Don Millett must be spinning in their graves.


This thought:  billion dollar project and these guys can't pay a$200,000 tab

. Where are these big time New York financiers???  

Another reader observation:

*****@neo.rr.com>  Today at 12:48 PM
To:  Martin Olson

Great job Martin! 

There is no better coverage on this project than what you are doing. 

Keep the light of transparency going!

The contractors know and the general public knows that the SCPR will look into such behavior if The Report can get cooperating sources to step forward and shame the powerful for the way small contractors are treated.

The SCPR would like the HOF-VP to succeed even though it appears that Baker et al have poorly put together and so far managed the project.

Even if the project eventually succeeds in its $1 billion mode (which remains highly questionable that it will), the SCPR is not impressed with Baker, Denny Saunier (of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce) and The Rep's Porter who comprise the "prime movers" for the project.

Again, the SCPR is not impressed "key: players in the HOF VP (Welty, HOF Village LLC and the HOF Board of Trustees which has the NFL commissioner and many NFL connected as members on the issue of how it treats African-American Stark County-based contractors.

What follows is a series of video clips from today's one hour plus meeting.

But first a summary of the what the SCPR deems to have been revelations/accomplishments of the meeting:

• The perceived need of the contractors and their supporting association to have an unbiased record (the video recording by a truly "independent" media outlet (i.e. the SCPR),
• From the get-go with the leadership from the Welty, IRG and HOF Village LLC perspective side of the table in the form of HOF CFO Brian Parisi taking charge and persistently returning to an approach of "let's solve this problem and let's solve it now,"
• As the SCPR interprets the meeting:
• Pyott of Welty and Shaffer of IRG wanted to focus on technical/legal aspects of why the black contractors have not been paid whereas Parisi consistently returned to the "big picture" of  "how can we get this matter resolved."
• Parisi reveals that Welty (the HOF VP project manager) has been paid-in-full as of July, 2018
• Which implies that the payment delay lies at the doorstep of Welty and IRG
• Note:  Pyott said he was not prepared to say how much Welty had been paid to-date by HOF Village LLC.
• Quality Care says it has been financing the parking lot part of the HOF VP\
• It appears that the basis of the black contractors not being paid has to do with an industry standard of a 10% retainage being held back in payments pending contractor completion of the project which Quality Care claims it has done but still has not been paid some $200,000 which appears double or more of what 10% of the original contract was for
• It appears to the  SCPR that IRG/Welty may have a point (see Video Clip 7) in saying that there have be problems with the contractors providing documents to justify IRG/Welty making more timely payments but the bottom line seems to be that fragile financial structure of the HOF-VP and folks like Quality Care Construction not being "timely" paid

VIDEO CLIP 1

PFHOF Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Brian Parisi as Contractors Best Hope to Get Paid

Of the three non Contractor connected officials present at Friday's meeting, PFHOF CFO Brian Parisi stood out as a person who seemed to hear the Contractor complaints about slow payment and appeared to establish a structure for resolving the impasse sooner than later.

Welty Construction's David Pyott and IRG's Todd Shaffer to the SCPR seemed to be markedly less helpful in resolving payment matters.

If the NFL/PFHOF combo is to avoid a further embarrassment at the way in which the black contractors have been dealt with, it will be the likes of Parisi who bails them out.

Here is Quality Care Construction's Neil Stevens singling out Parisi for his apparent highly helpful stance in offering the prospect that the Contractor can expect payment in full sooner than later. (1 min, 20 sec)

VIDEO CLIP 2

SCPR Presence Questioned (44 sec)

VIDEO CLIP 3

Quality Care (QC) VP Stevens Outlines the Threat to the Continued Non Payment to QC Might Have on QCs Ability to Stay in Business (1 min, 24 sec)



VIDEO CLIP 4

In the SCPR's view, this video clip shows the manifest unfairness of how the black contractors have been and seemingly continue to be treated by IRG, Welty and to the extent it is co-joined with IRG, the Professional Football Hall of Fame in jeopardizing the financial viability of Quality Care Construction.

Where is Roger Goodell?  Where are the members of the HOF Board of Trustees?

They could certainly step in and mandate that the black contractors get paid and get paid now, no?

The video of all the videos published that is a MUST SEE. (2 min, 52 sec)



VIDEO CLIP 5

Going back to May, 2017 and the threatened boycott of the 2017 HOF Enshrinement Week activities and the resulting pressure on HOF Village LLC to look at hiring of black contractors, it appears that the pressure was resented at the time and when difficulties erupted on the black contractors not being paid timely someone on the Welty/IRG HOF Village LLC is reported to have derisively referred to Quality Care Construction et al as being "those people."

The video.  (3 min, 41 sec)



VIDEO CLIP 6

Readers should pay close attention to the next video clip.

PFHOF Chief Financial Officer (presumably speaking for HOF Village LLC) offers the greatest hope that the black contractors will get paid and get paid now thus diffusing the notion that perhaps there is a racism element in how the black contractors are being treated (1 min, 19 sec): (1 min, 19 sec)



VIDEO CLIP 7

In this video, one sees Welty's Dave Pyott quibbling with the contractors over whom said what to whom as a seeming justification for "slow" payments to the contractors.  Readers will be impressed with Neil Stevens impassioned response to the quibbling in the vein of:  "who works without getting paid!" (5 min, 52 sec)



VIDEO CLIP 8

In this video fellow (to Neil Stevens of Quality Care Construction) black contractor Jesse Childress (who the SCPR speculates had about a $300,000 part of the minority contractors business on the HOF-VP)  expressed earlier in the session of being skittish about having Friday's negotiated session being recorded "cuts to the chase" as Stevens did that the core problems has always been the fragile nature of the financing of the project including the Stevens/Childress aspect (the parking lot) of the HOF-VP.



VIDEO CLIP 9

The following 2 min, 24 second video is a clear showing that HOF CFO Brian Parisi has a heart.  Maybe the likes of C. David Baker (of the HOF), Donn Taylor (of Welty) and Stu Lichter (of IRG) do not, but-unless-he-is-an-accomplished-fooler, which the SCPR does not think he is, Brian Praisi seems to be a person who wants to help minority contractors be a viable part of the HOF-VP going forward.



VIDEO CLIP 10

One of the things that has been missing in the black contractors dealing with IRG, Welty and the HOF-VP folks has been the establishment of and the compliance with a timeline for resolving disputed matters.

In this video segment, Parisi sets Wednesday, September 5th at 11:00 a.m. as a time for all the parties to meet at the Clearview site to hopefully resolve all outstanding issues.

As Neil Stevens suggests:  Resolution of the frustrations of the minority contractors might then be resolved because of the obvious leadership of Brian Parisi.

The video (12 min, 22 sec):



APPENDIX

The entire "unedited" 1 hour, 5 minute meeting session:

NOT LIKE YOUR TYPICAL "WATCHING PAINT DRY" COMMISSIONERS MEETING?

STARK CO. COMMISSIONERS MEETING OF AUGUST 29, 2018

A common perception of a Stark County Board of County Commissioner meetings is that they are like "watching paint dry."

The current version of the Board of Stark County Commissioners seem to be engaged in the weekly agenda items to a degree that "like watching paint dry" for nearly every meeting (if not all) is not an accurate take on the general attractiveness of a given meeting.

Here is Wednesday's agenda.  On its face, it does not look all that interesting.



The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report), more or less, has been covering Stark County commissioner weekly meetings for some 10 years or better since March 12, 2008.

Over that span, The Report has had the experience of witnessing various meeting approaches of former commissioners Todd Bosley, Tom Harmon, Jane Vignos, Steve Meeks, Pete Ferguson, David Bridenstine, Thomas Bernabei as well as the current set of commissioners; namely,  Richard Regula, Bill Smith and Janet Creighton and a coming and going of a parade of Canton Repository reporters.

Over that span, The SCPR has taken in among other things:

• the imposition without vote of Stark Countians a 1/2 cent sales tax (December, 2008) by Bosley, Harmon and Vignos in part to fix "a broken countywide 9-1-1 system" and an infusion of millions in general revenue funds,
• the rejection of the imposed tax at the hand of a determined core of Stark County citizens (local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley (November, 2009),
• the revelation (April 1, 2009) what proved to be an upwards of $3 million stolen from the Stark County treasury by then Chief Deputy Treasurer Vince Frustaci and the political fallout sustained by the then county treasurer (resigned/retired October, 2011) and county auditor (defeated for re-election in November, 2010) because of a public perception that they had not exercise sufficient oversight so as to have prevented or caught the theft earlier over the several years it had occurred,
• a turmoil over the handling of the Stark County Dog Pound operations which the SCPR thinks was generated by Todd Bosley (as The Report thinks he unwisely prevailed with Vignos and Harmon on the "imposed" sales tax) and which was not resolved until the appointment by commissioners of Jon Barber as Dog Pound Warden in August, 2013,
• a county government financial crisis (2010 through 2012) likely generated by the theft of treasury funds and the public's rejection of the imposed sales tax of 2008,
• the restoration of public confidence in the commissioners leadership with the election of Bernabei and Creighton (2010 election) and the commissioners (including Pete Ferguson) hiring first Mike Hanke and later Brant Luther and Chris Nichols to place the county on a sound fiscal footing, and
• the passage by Stark County voters of a 1/2 cent sales tax in November, 2011 (renewed recently).

The forgoing list is a testament to the importance of local government as embodied in the Board of Stark County Commissioners.

However, many of us devote our citizenship efforts to impacting federal and state office holders.  

But the political reality is that the likes of Sherrod Brown, Rob Portman, Bob Gibbs, Jim Renacci, John Kasich, Ted Strickland, Kirk Schuring, Scott Oelslager, Christina Hagan and Tom West largely blow off Joe and Mary Public.

Government officials who are most likely to hear a citizen's plea for attention to his/her issue is much, much, much higher at the county, township, city, village and board of education levels of government.

In today's blog the SCPR asks for readers' attention for a "look, see" in this SCPR breakdown of the anatomy of a commissioners' regular meeting.

Commissioner meetings are held most nearly every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m in the commissioners meeting room located on the second floor of the Stark County Office Building, 110 Central Plaza, Canton, Ohio.

Former commissioner Thomas Bernabei often jazzed up meetings during his tenure as commissioner (2010-2015) with his sometimes eccentric-esque wit.

Current commissioner Janet Creighton sprinkles an entire meeting with her jovial, fun-poking style as president of the Board of Stark County Commissioners.

A sample of the commissioners' "by design" entertaining style published by the SCPR on December 24, 2017: (4 min, 16 sec)

WRITTEN AGENDA WALK THROUGH

On Wednesday earlier this week, the commissioners meeting (which lasted a total of 30 minutes) was a mix of humor and a consideration/discussion of important issues that will affect the lives of Stark Countians who:

• use the services of the Stark County Dog Pound,
• get public assistance including SARTA services,
• suffer from public ditch drainage problems,
• rely on the ongoing training and hence expertise of Stark County appointed officials
• Engineer's office,
• Coroner's office,
• Emergency Management office,
• Job and Family Services office,
• Sanitary engineer's office, and
• Treasurer's office
• benefit from Ohio Public Works funded projects: ($3.243 million in total)
• Perry Township (Jackson Avenue and Perry Drive)
• Jackson Township (Applegrove and The Strip),
• Hills and Dales Road to Massillon city limits Brunnerdale Road,
• Belden Village Avenue from Whipple Avenue to Everhard Road, South,
• Spangler Road Bridge (Plain Township)
• Weimer Drive Bridge (Osnaburg Township)
• Hills and Dales Road/Avondale Storm Sewer
• use the intersection of Lake Center Street and Cleveland Avenue in Lake Township,
• use the intersection of Shuffle Road, Pittsburg Avenue and Orion Street in North Canton, and
• need infrastructure repair as in Lexington Township and the Village Green Lift Station,

VIDEO AGENDA WALK THROUGH

First, "The 169th Annual Stark County Fair" - an unusual Stark County commissioner meeting opening: (1 min, 30 sec)

And here is Commissioner Richard Regula (post-meeting) reminiscing about the Stark County Fair going back to his childhood, the value of 4H and other thoughts on the fair.



Second, the Pledge of Allegiance:

Third, Amendments, Approval of Minutes, Public Speaks and Administrator Jean Young time:

Fourth, Administrator Rick Flory on Ohio Public Works projects: (2 min, 39 sec)

Fifth, a break from the "serious" agenda items for a little "fun poking" at Commissioner Richard Regula and his years' long fastidiousness on getting U.S. Route 30 improved to the Pennsylvania state line:  (44 seconds)



Sixth, Administrator Flory and Engineer Torrence on Lake Center/Cleveland Avenue (Lake Township) signal light installation (re:  signal pole backlog, should be completed by December, 2018):

Seventh, Flory/Torrence on plan to reconfigure Shuffle Road to Pittsburg to Orion intersection:

In the following video, there is an extensive discussion of the merits of "roundabout" intersections which Commissioner Bill Smith says he once opposed but is now convinced are the way to go:  (4 min, 51 sec):



Eighth, a follow up consideration to the Jackson Ave/Perry Dr project: (1 min, 32 sec)

Ninth, the Whipple Ave/Everhard project.  The commissioners discuss with Torrence soon to be Whipple closing and next year Everhard closing:  (4 min, 48 sec).

The video has important Torrence provided closing information on both Whipple and Everhard.

Tenth, the commissioners review with Engineer Torrence Stark's "long line" road stripe painting program:

Lastly, the commissioners consider a sanitary sewer project in Lexington Township:

So there you have it folks.

A video walk through of the August 29, 2018 Stark County commissioners meeting.

STARK COUNTY "TRUMPSTER" TRIES TO "BULLY" THE SCPR. HOW IS IT THAT AMERICA HAS SO MANY 1ST AMENDMENT ENEMIES?

GET IN LINE!
STARK HAS A NUMBER OF LEADERS WHO LIKE TO BULLY

IN HIS OWN WORDS

TRUMP SUPPORTER GOES OFF ON SCPR

Early in the life of The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report), former Local 94 Plumbers and Pipefitters business manager Daniel Fonte aptly described Martin Olson as being "an equal opportunity critic."

It wasn't all that much later (May, 2012) that one of his proteges at Local 94 (David Kirven) was part of a movement banning the SCPR from Jefferson-Jackson Club (of the Stark County "organized" Democratic Party) meetings.

The offense?  The SCPR showed the Democratic candidates as they presented themselves.  As inadequate for public service as that may have been.

But before the banning, Kirven had no qualms whatsoever in asking The Report to cover an organized labor event at Mills Business Park billed as "Justice for Labor."

Here's a guy who is willing to be part of the trampling of the public's "Justice to Voters" right to know political candidates as they really are as he dons the cloak of "Justice for Labor."

How hypocritical can one be?

Somewhat similar from the Republican side of the same political coin was the Stark County "organized" party (Jeff Matthews, the executive director of the Stark County Board of Elections and currently chairman of the "organized" Stark GOP) after this blogger captured the "politically over-the-top" Phil Davison in September, 2010 of banning the SCPR camera from "organized" Stark County Republican Party functions.

To show what an utter hypocrite Matthews can be, he is reported by Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton to this blogger of having uttered "Where is Martin when you need him?" post-Creighton after she had given what he deemed to have been an outstanding speech.

"Cherry-picking" types like Kirven and Matthews want to have it every which way and it seems to the SCPR to be "bullying" types who appear to this blogger not to have the public interest at heart but their self-serving individual or political party interests as the motivator in how they handle their public functions.

While it wasn't Matthews but rather the political party appointed members of the Stark County Board of Elections (Cline, Braden [Republicans]'; Johnnie A. Maier, Jr and Ferruccio [Democrats with Ferruccio being the current chairman of the Stark Dems] who initially prohibited the SCPR from videotaping board meetings

Of course we all readily recall Trump repeatedly calling the free press "the enemy of the people" which is nothing other than as thinking himself to be the whole of the American people.

There is no doubt that much of the media goes after Trump and his incessant lying, name calling, refusing to deal with those media types to differ with him and his concomitant bullying.

Maybe just maybe the man brings the intense scrutinizing on himself?

LINKS:  FERRERO, ELUM

Ferrero, the man who reportedly worried that The Repository publisher (who himself fits a characterization of being a bully) was mad at him for an attorney on his staff doing the attorney's job for Stark County treasurer Alex Zumbar in complying with Ohio law tries to intimidate others.

Elum a man who collects civic awards like he is reaching into a bag of candy and yet cannot bring himself to treat those with whom he disagrees with anything but contempt and the vilest of language.

There have been and continue to be other Stark County public officials/public figures who seem to share the Trump sentiment and intimidating conduct in relation to the press.

At the local level, the SCPR has not hesitated whatsoever to identify these folks by name so that they have to walk in the light of day.

Of late, there has been a Stark Countian who has taken to ranting to this blogger in e-mails in defense of President Donald J. Trump.

LINK referred to

From a June 25, 2018 e-mail concerning the SCPR blog of June 21, 2018 (LINK).

Martin,
            I normally agree with you on most issues, but your demeaning article against Trump today is over the edge. 

Obama started the screwup with illegals, not Trump.  

I am an unhappy Republican who now is a Trumplican.  

Kasich has turned into a slimey, snivelling worm. 

Trump has raised our economy, lowered black unemployment to record levels, raised income, is working to make this a safer country and I 100% support building the wall to prevent and stop not only the illegals crossing the border, but the Pakistanis, Syrians, Libyans, and any other terrorists filtering through the border. Also the drugs coming through the border are the real cause of our heroin problem, not pharmacists or doctors.

Trump might not say things the nicest way, but at least he has the balls to say them.

The Democrats have become almost satanic in their opposition and attacks on Trump. 

The Mueller investigation is pure illegal, corrupt, biased bullshit and the IG investigation is just the tip of the iceberg against him. The more they attack Trump the more we will support him.

Schmidt is a RINO just like McCain. He's in the mold of Kasich who should just resign because he no longer has any working person Republican support. 

You are way off base this time. You say none have the backbone to denounce Trumps departure of Republican community/ family building core values?

He's lowered unemployment for all to historic levels. He is working to keep America safe. He is pro traditional family, He just took a historic step in peace with North Korea who we have technically been at war with for the last 70 years. He's bring jobs back to this country. 

You call Trump a lying, scheming and totally self serving president. 

You are a fool. 

Trump is the voice of those of us who are tired of the Democratic, liberal, Obama / Clinton decade of decline, lies, corruption, and moral collapse.

 Why aren't you writing about the corruption with Strzok,,  Page, McCabe, Comey, Brennen, Clapper, and Lynch?

Trump is working to clean up this mess and I'd rather have a president who has enough backbone to say what he needs to say as opposed to Obama and Clinton who lied continuously.  

 (CAPITALIZATION = emphasis added)

What venom! no?

And disturbingly the fulmination comes from a self-described (by implication) former Stark County "working Republican," now a Trumplican, who apparently fancies himself (from material not included in the foregoing e-mail reproduction) as a veteran's veteran, who, of course, had nothing to say about the draft dodging Trump (like Democrat Bill Clinton) and Trump's bashing of the heroically courageous Vietnam War prisoner John McCain.

Wow!!!

Citizens out to be standing up against the bullies of life wherever we find them while honoring the "come let us reason together" folks.

SCPR SERIES "ECOT-GATE" & MORE (VOL. 2): CAN DEMS FRIEDMAN & WILBURN PUT SCHURING & OLESLAGER IN POLITICAL JEOPARDY?

UPDATE:   September 5, 2018

LINK

UPDATE:  August 28, 2018

U.S. Senator Brown introduces legislation to return up to $130 million of federal money to Ohio if Feds recovery it.  (LINK)

UPDATE:  August 26, 2018
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 8/8/2018 AT 10:54 AM

LINK to Cleveland.com editorial (Larkin)
THEME:  THE DAMAGE DONE TO OHIO PUBLIC EDUCATION

UPDATE:  August 12, 2018 

UPDATE:  August 9, 2018 (08:30 AM)

Are ECOT campaign finance recipients Scott Oelslager (Oho Senate, R-29th) and Kirk Schuring (Oho House, R-48Th) going to make amends for the $591 million diverted from local education to ECOT?

Especially so, in light of the Ohio Supreme Court decision yesterday denying ECOT's appeal of an Ohio Department of Education determination of ECOT liability to the taxpayers of Ohio.  (see full decision in Appendix to this blog).

ECOT was formed with the legislative support of Oelslager and Schuring in 2000.  An Innovation Ohio study (LINK) shows that since 2012, Stark County public school districts have lost over $14 million to ECOT alone (not counting other charter/online schools receiving diverted public school monies).  The $14 million, of course, does account for the period 2000 through 2011.

Will Stark County school superintendents and board of education members hold them politically accountable in November?

Superintendents of school districts are notorious for being political with their respective boards of education.  But when it comes to the likes of Oelslager and Schuring, they show themselves, by and large, to be gutless.

In particular,  how about Ohio State School Board Present-elect John Halkias (president of the Plain Local School Board; also a 19 year school board member) John Halkias?

Will he use his new position to lean on the Ohio General Assembly to hold local school district harmless on the $591 million taken from Ohio's local school districts?

UPDATE:  August 8, 2018

BREAKING NEWS!:  AUGUST 8, 2018:  OHIO SUPREME COURT FINDS FOR OHIO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

5TH District COA W. Scott Gwin (of Stark County) concurs in 4 to 2 majority opinion.

See entire opinion in the Appendix

ORIGINAL BLOGS (Vol 1 05/30/18 - 10:13 AM)

LINK to Volume 1 of this series.

There is a largely political drama playing out in the Ohio Supreme Court.

The Ohio General Assembly (OGA) under supermajority control of Republicans (for the most part) reportedly have put some $1 billion Ohio taxpayer  dollars into the pocket of  Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) founder and entrepreneur William Lager since the assembly approved in 1998 House Bill 700 which was the start for Ohio into the waters of charter/community/online alternatives to Ohio's public school system.

Ohio is currently in the process of trying to collect some $80 million in Ohio taxpayer overpayments to ECOT assessed by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE)

There two cases pending in the Ohio Supreme Court in a double-attack by ECOT on ODE's prospects for ever collecting the $80 million.

Stark County's Scott Gwin (a Democrat and a member of the 5th District Court of Appeals) is sitting by assignment on case 20170-0913 (LINK to video of session).

Members of the 1998 OGA included Republican current state Rep J. Kirk Schuring (in the OGA since 1995) and Republican W. Scott Oelslager (currently a state senator, in the OGA since 1985).

And campaign finance records show that they are knee-deep in what some call "pay to play" in the form of campaign finance contributions they have received from Lager or Lager connectioned contribution entities.

Stark Countians Schuring and Oelslager have to be among the longest serving legislators in the OGA if not "the longest serving" in the light of a 1992 voter approved referendum saddling OGA with eight year consecutive years term limits, to wit:  (a Wikipedia descriptions)

Republican activists, led by Fred A. Lennon, began pursuing term limits in the 1980s, in 1992, a referendum set term limits of eight consecutive years in office: four consecutive terms in the House or two consecutive terms in the Senate. Years in office are considered consecutive if they are separated by less than four years.

They have switched back and forth since 1992 every eight years between a largely "all-of-Stark" Senate seat (currently the 29th) and "Jackson Township centered" House seat and thereby violated a supposedly "sacred" Republican cause of bring "fresh" faces to the Ohio Legislature.

Both Oelslager and Schuring are affable types who have achieved some legislative good for Ohioans and Stark Countians.  Oelslager at one time was a leading figure on formulating/strengthening Ohio's Open Records Law.

As a major achievement, Schuring apparently thinks promoting economic development legislation (Tax Increment Financing, TIF)  at the expense of  (or on the backs of) public school districts in allowing for the taking of a hefty percentage (up to 100%) of property tax revenues on increased assessed value of developed property and passing it onto the developer.

All-in-all Schuring shows that his Republican colleagues are not enamored with his leadership skills given his apparent ineptness in getting them to agree for the "under-FBI-investigation" of former Republican Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger.

Climbing towards three decades in the Ohio General Assembly and he demonstrates that he has no political muscle with his colleagues?

The Stark County Political Report's take on Schuring and Oelslager is that given a combined nearly 60 years in the Legislature especially in light of term limits taking effect in the late 1990s are far less effective than they should have been given their seniority edge.

Between ECOT, charter and community schools, TIF legislation drain-offs of school support over the years by the Oelslager/Schuring duo and their support since Republican governor John Kasich took office (January, 2011) of "local government funding," it is hard to see the two being a net positive factor for Stark County.

In 2018 alone, with Oelslager and Schuring supposedly looking out for fiscal wholeness of Stark County school districts (source of information:  Ohio Department of Education), Stark County city school districts lost over $11 million to community/charter/online schools and the county school districts as a whole over $15 million.

As the SCPR will show in future blogs, Schuring and Oelslager have failed to protect Stark County school districts from community/charter/online revenue losses (of which ECOT is just part of the picture) to the tune several hundred million dollars.

One hears local school leaders decry their financial struggles at the hand of the Republican dominated OGA and one hears the likes of Canton City Council president lambaste the supermajority Republican Legislature for gutting state support of local government funding.

So one would think that local Democrats would be "chomping at the bit" to unseat them by tapping into the education community and local government officialdom dissatisfaction with the inability of Schuring/Oelslager (remember with nearly 60 years combined seniority in the OGA) to protect educator and local government units from financial duress, no?

But the SCPR thinks that the Phil Giavasis-led "organized" Democratic leadership

• with former Dems' chairman and Oelslager/Schuring Stark County legislative delegation  colleague [1990-1999] Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.  still a party power lurking in the background,

is not all that committed to the Friedman/Wilburn candidacies.

No doubt, Giavasis et al have to be thinking that there is no way that either Oelslager or Schuring and certainly not both will be defeated in November.

The SCPR believes Friedman and Wilburn working with Democrat incumbent Thomas West (the 49th) would have the ear of local education/government officials and be the vanguard of a turnaround in the state of Ohio's financial relationship with local boards of education and the cities, villages and townships of Stark County.

Wilburn sent this e-mail to the SCPR:

And here is a press release on the topics encompassed in this blog sent out by Wilburn:

Candidate for Ohio House, District 48 responds to continued Statehouse dysfunction

North Canton — Lorraine Wilburn, the Democratic candidate for Ohio House 48 today issued the following statements in response to today’s FBI raid of Rosenberger’s home and session cancellation notice from House Republicans hours before the House was scheduled to vote on a new Speaker:

“The news of the FBI raids of the home of disgraced former Speaker Cliff Rosenberger is yet another indicator of the chaos and dysfunction hanging over the Statehouse. It seems clear that current leadership has allowed an environment of pay to play corruption at the expense of hardworking Ohioans. Our representatives have forgotten who they serve. It's disturbing that Scott Oelslager is running to join the House GOP caucus, and he has no comment on the dysfunction and nasty infighting that's happening there. If he can't stand up and speak out now, how is he going to be an independent voice in the House for Stark County? We can do better. We need new leadership in the statehouse who will do the jobs they were elected to do and put people over partisan politics and personal profit.”

The SCPR has no doubt that Wilburn/Friedman would be a welcome change for Stark County in getting local education officials and local government officials voices heard in Columbus.

Wilburn's/Friedman's beef should not be with the SCPR telling it like it is in terms of both being faced with a gigantic uphill fight to be competitive with their respective races, but rather with motivating the likes of the:

• Stark County Democratic Party leadership,
• Stark County superintendents of education,
• Stark County board of education members,
• Stark County school teaching and administrative staffs,
• Stark County political subdivision officials:
• (cities, village and trustee)
• mayors,
• city council members, and
• citizens

to turn their seeing impossible dream into a reality that will shake the halls of the Ohio General Assembly.

The SCPR is highly skeptical.

But The Report would be delighted to be proven wrong!

APPENDIX

Full text of Ohio Supreme Court decision on ECOT.

A "SLIP OF THE TONGUE" BY A MASSILLON GOV'T OFFICIAL ON I.D. OF POTENTIAL AFFINITY SUCCESSORS?

UPDATE ON SATURDAY (0825/2018)
 $389,700 MORE IN APPROPRIATION ON AFFINITY EXPENSES
(See below main graphic)

TWO CLEVELAND AREA HOSPITAL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE RUNNING TO WORK A DEAL WITH MASSILLON GOVERNMENT ON THE AFFINITY FACILITIES?

On August 21st, the Massillon Independent published an article regarding the identity of "Three groups vying to take over closed Affinity hospital."

Here are a few sentences from the article:

Catazaro-Perry declined to name the three entities making private, separate pitches to the city, and wouldn’t say whether any group is based in Stark County or Ohio. 

Privacy is paramount during the negotiations, she said while citing the city’s ongoing contract with the law firm Tzangas, Plakas and Mannos to ensure attorney-client privilege, thus keeping talks confidential. 

“If we share any specific information (or name them) publicly, a company can walk away,” the mayor said. “But we’re heading in the right direction.”

So the identity of the groups slipping out into the general public could only have come from somebody in Massillon government, no?

So one can imagine the astonishment of this blogger that (August 23, 2018) when in an "out-of-Stark-County-venue" heard two hospital industry employees talking (talkers) about by name what one said was the identity of two of the three groups "vying to take over Affinity hospital."

There was no indication whatsoever in that conversation that the topic of the conversation was "forbidden to be talked about" from the talker's source nor was the revelation shared in "hushed" tones.  Any of estimated six to eight other employees and others in the vicinity of the talkers discussion could easily has overheard the conversation.

To the SCPR that the identity of the Affinity pursuing groups (or, two of them) was being so openly and loudly talked about indicates that somebody in Massillon government has shared ultimately the source.

All of which is to point out the futility of governments and private sector entities of trying to keep the government's respective general publics"out-of-the-loop" on information.

The SCPR is highly skeptical of Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry's:   “If we share any specific information (or name them) publicly, a company can walk away.” 

Of course, anything can happen whether or not the company's names are generally know by the public or not.  What a ridiculous statement by a seeming disingenuous mayor.

Such (Catazaro-Perry's "can" statement) is not a good enough basis on which Massillon government should be withholding information from the taxpaying/voting public.

It seems to the SCPR that from the get-go Massillon government has rushed to do things re: Affinity which may have been unwise from the public interest standpoint and the danger in the current "secrecy mode" is that Massillon's citizens may once again (for lack of information) be brought up on the short end of the "financial stick."

From an April 29, 2018 SCPR blog:

It will be interesting to see whether or not the information that The Stark County Political Report has as to the specific identity of Cleveland-area-based (two of the three entities interested in picking up where Affinity left off) is accurate.

Irrespective of the identity factor, the take-away for Massillonians ought to be "Beware of Agreement(s) made Behind Closed-to-the-Public Doors" and then rushed through Council without the public having had the opportunity to thoroughly vet the quality of any such agreement(s).

The Report's experience is that it is government that wants to hide as much as possible the details of a really bad agreement for its taxpaying public when that government is between a self created "rock and hard place" and needs to make a deal; any deal.

When citizens apply for government jobs, they are subject to be discovered by name by Ohio's Open Records law.   Some folks do not apply for fear of being identified as thinking about leaving their current jobs.  In the private sector, anonymity can be and often is accorded to applicants.

In the public sector, there should precious little that the public is not fully informed upon.  Unless there is compelling proof that revelation of a private sector entity (by specific name) interest in working a deal with government at any level would likely compromise that entity's ability to compete, there should be no sheltering of the name of that entity.

The SCPR suspects that Massillon is on the cusp of making a bad deal for the Massillon taxpaying citizen in having bought a "pig in a poke" in settlement of its dispute in the closing of Affinity.

With all the secrecy surrounding current negotiations, Massillonians ought to be worrying about Massillon government making a bad deal for Massillon.

Secrecy and "rush to judgments" (e.g. a hurry up to get Council approval of any tentative agreement made) go hand-in-hand in foisting on the taxpaying public some really bad deals.

Massillonians needed to be leery of their own government!