Youngstown's JEDD: Sticking It To The Townships

The news on television for the City of Youngstown has been all bad when it comes to money. In addition to the dummied up college degrees of its crack employees, questionable rehires to allow double dipping, paying part time employees full time salaries, and the tossing of major bids from reputable arena operators to run the Chevy Center in favor of a local guy from Struthers, it is facing a $4 million shortfall in its next fiscal year. The proposed solution? A 2 % income tax placed on non-city residents who work in Boardman and Austintown Townships and whose employers happen to use Youngstown City Water under township development contracts negotiated years and years ago. The City would then cut the income tax rate for the people who live in the city, and kick back a generous ¼% to the cash strapped townships. Where do I sign up for that deal??

Youngstown longingly looks to Columbus as to what it should have done as the population and development fled the city and moved into the townships. Columbus required any unincorporated area that needed water to be annexed into the city. The result is Columbus City limits stretch border to border in Franklin County, including all of the commercial, industrial, and residential development. The map looks a little screwy. The City surrounds other incorporated areas like Worthington, Westerville, and Dublin…. but it works. Akron took a little different approach, but Akron and Summit County have accomplished the same thing with its charter county government.

But that’s not the deal the City of Youngstown made. Various proposals have been put forth, including the outright annexing of Boardman, Canfield, and Austintown townships into the City. There was a hue and cry from township residents, and the proposal is now strangely silent. The City claimed that it had the legal authority to proceed with annexation. That’s the law for any new areas that want City water, but the issue isn’t as cut and dried for those already benefiting from City water. There is some case law floating around which states the City cannot break previously agreed to terms for water and sewer service.

Now the city is proposing a Joint Economic Development District, which creates several anomolies on its face. For example, you can work and live in Boardman Township and be forced to pay a city income tax levied against you by the city, over which you have no vote, because your employer's water comes from the city, generally north of SR 224. Your next door neighbor, on the other hand, could live and work in Boardman, but his employer's water is supplied by Aqua Ohio, generally south of SR 224, and he will pay no tax. One can envision a mass exit of businesses out of the northern half Boardman to the southern half, as property values are totally destroyed. The urban blight already moving up Market Street passed Midlothian would be accelerated. Beaver Township and Columbiana County would pick up all of the businesses fleeing the city water tax. This, in turn, would cause a disruption to county and school district tax revenue. It would be a fiasco.

This also begs the question why the city is choosing to forsake the annexation approach in favor of this Joint Economic Development District plan. First, it is a great deal for the City. Under the above described tax plan, the residents of the city get their income tax reduced. The residents of the townships are forced to pay an income tax for which they have no vote. The townships get a pittance.

Second, and this is the kicker, the power structure within the City remains exactly the same. Here is the unspoken secret about the City and township annexation. By annexing the townships, the City gets not only the land, but the township citizens who would then be voters. Right now, for the first time in history, the African American community controls the City. There is a black mayor, a majority black city council, and a majority black school board. And they are not going to give that up!!! Any annexation would create a huge white majority in the City, and the first people booted out would be those who forced the annexation on the townships, with the black community once again being relegated to minority status. The JEDD approach, on the other hand, gives the City the best of both worlds, and sticks it to the primarily white townships.

The townships should stick to their guns and play hard ball with the City. If it looks like the City is going to press the issue, the townships should investigate jointly incorporating into one big city whose population would then exceed Youngstown’s. Call it Mahoning City, and make noise about moving the county seat out of Youngstown into the center of the county where it belongs. Maybe that would give the City pause.

Obama, Race, and the Elephant in the Room

Barack Obama on Imus:

"The comments of Don Imus were divisive, hurtful and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds," said the senator from Illinois. "With a public platform, comes a trust. As far as I'm concerned, he violated that trust."

When there is an elephant in the room, especially in politics, it is always best to acknowledge it rather than to hope that it will go away, or worse, pretend that it isn’t there at all. Such is the case of Barack Obama’s bid for the Democratic nomination for President. In case you didn’t know it, it may have crashed and burned on March 20th, when on a radio talk show, he said that his grandmother was a “typical white person” who was afraid of black men….for whatever reason. This statement hasn't sunk into the muck of the press yet. Give it a few days.

Here is the problem. If Obama is the Democratic nominee, he will be headed toward a McGovern style defeat. The Reagan Democrats won't go for this sort of stuff. And if John McCain picks who I think he is going to pick for his vice-presidental candidate, (Hint: he was with McCain whispering in his ear on this week's trip to Israel), it will give these voters a place to go. If Clinton is the nominee, there will be rioting in the streets by those who will claim white America stole the election. It is a dangerous situation, and has the potential to fragment and destroy the Democratic Party, no matter which way it goes. How did it come to this? No one would acknowledge the elephant in the room, the race issue.

The black community does not view the issue of race in a unified manner. There are those, such as Bill Cosby and Clarence Thomas, who have a "pull yourself up by the bootsrap" view of how blacks should handle these issues. Then there are the race baiters such as the likes Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Any candidate for office, white or black, is shaped by his or her background. Romney dealt with it because he was a Mormon. Kennedy because he was a Catholic. Clinton because he was a Baptist. Obama should have been scrutinized as to his religiosity to understand past influences on his view of the world.

Geraldine Ferraro was right. Obama, with next to no business, legislative or executive experience, rose to national prominence based on his race. He didn’t have a record to review. He continually didn’t show up for votes on various issues, or voted “present” when he did. The press was enamored with his black candidacy, and declared him to be “Kennedy-esque.” He was a clean slate. They could make him into anything they wanted him to be. And if you challenged him, or the press, on anything at all, you were a racist. There was an unspoken list of things those in opposition weren’t allowed to say or questions that weren’t allowed to be asked.

Obama built his success on themes of judgment and transcending race. Now that the spotlight of reality is finally focused on him, it turns out Obama is no better than the rest of us. For over 20 years he belonged to a church run by a black racist minister spewing forth from the pulpit the worst kind of hatred of whites and our country. How it has impacted Obama's view of the world and race relations is just beginning to surface.

Obama claims that he denounces those horrible statements, but defended Mr. Wright, who preached his venom to a congregation in excess of 4,000 people. For 20 years, Obama gave money to the church. He sent his kids into that church. He continued association with it can be explained in only two ways: 1) He agreed with the preaching; or more likely, 2) he was using it as a political base from which to launch his career, to firm up the black base. If it is the former, he is not fit to be President. If it is the latter, he is a politician no better than anyone else running for office, and it is time he climbed down off of his righteous pedestal.

His wife’s comments about her lack of pride in America, and the mean nature of the American people, may indicate that some of the preaching has rubbed off on at least his family members. Then in a speech clarifying his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Senator Obama threw his white grandmother “under the bus.” But his comments on a radio talk show made March 20 are the most disturbing of all. He said that his grandmother was a “typical white person” who was afraid of black men. The public needs to know which view of race does he hold: the liberation theology of Rev. Wright, or the view of Martin Luther King and Bill Cosby.

These associations are not new. This information, as well as some other questionable relationships, has been around a long time. But the press, whose job is to vet out the dirty little secrets of our politicians, treated him as a saint rather than a candidate. We heard his silver tongue, now we are finally finding out what he is selling. I don’t think the American public will be in a buying mood.

In a campaign that needs to focus on issues such as war, health care, and the economy, Obama has turned it to race. Not this year, please. Too much is at stake for all Americans.

Mahoning County and the Public Trust

At some level, there has to be a basic trust between our layers of government and the people they are supposed to serve. If that trust breaks down, then things start to collapse. That trust has been violated here in Mahoning County, and it will haunt this area for years to come. In the spring of 2007, there was a hotly contested referendum to extend a ½% sales tax to fund our county government. The whole sales tax pitch was couched in terms of insufficient funds to run the county jail as deputies were laid off and prisoners were released from the jail, while the news media cameras watched the bad guys strut out the front door. The sales tax passed, and the jail issue was resolved. But there was a hidden codicil in the deal.

Last Sunday, the Vindicator wrote a front page article about massive salary increases within our County government in the 10 – 35% range, which were granted in the summer of 2007 and made retroactive to January 1, 2007. Immediately after the passage of the tax, the commissioners hired a consulting firm out of Westerville to review the county salary structure, and then got out the checkbook. According the Vindicator, the raises went to “department heads, supervisors, and 911 dispatchers…”

What’s sad is that the public has just found out about it now, after the primary election. The article went on to talk about how the commissioners feel they were justified in granting the salary increases, citing the “study” from the Westerville firm.

Here is the problem, no matter how justified these increases may or may not be, the public has been duped. That is not what we voted for. Now all levels of government in Mahoning County have a problem. For the next 10 years, the difficult task of getting funding for any level of governmental operations from school levies to township operating millage issues to the income tax issues which will be debated as the city attempts to extend its influence into the townships, are doomed. All one has to do is to listen to talk radio to hear “you can’t trust them.” The issue is compounded by taxpayers wondering if these qualified people benefiting from the increases were hired in the first place because of their qualifications or because they knew somebody.

The insensitivity to the severe economic problems of this area is staggering. While the rest of us are struggling to keep our jobs, let alone get raises, these salary increases border on obscene. There is no justification or excuse or explanation or job description maneuvering or classification jumping that can justify the magnitude of these salary increases in any way, shape or form.

The County had a sad story. But there isn’t one of us who lives here that doesn’t have a sad story. The commissioners should justify what they did to the Boardman fire fighters who have been laid off, to the road crews that have been laid off, to the teachers who have gone without raises for over 10 years and whose jobs are being eliminated as schools close down and revise their curriculums to state minimum requirements. These folks are also in the public sector. The problem in the private sector, which ultimately pays the bills, is beyond comprehension. What do you think the chances are of passing any tax increases to take care of any further public problems? No chance now. And if the local politicos think the public will forget, the public won’t. The Vindicator story is now the poster child for defeating any further tax issues, and will be hauled out over and over again.

Here are some options the commissioners could have taken but chose not to:

1) Level with the public. We’re not stupid.

2) Take a more reasoned approach to the salary increases. If someone can make more somewhere else, then maybe that person should go. The fact of the matter is salaries in this area are commensurate with the cost of living here, which is the lowest in the nation. Only in the public sector do we hear the “parity” argument.

3) Don’t hide behind studies. They should be a starting point, not the end game.

4) Use common sense. How about “3% this year, 3% next year…then we will look at it again.” Sometimes you just can’t pay what people want, but there are always other good people, especially here where the only good jobs are government jobs like these.

I am not sure that the commissioners realize how much damage has been done to the credibility of all levels of government in Mahoning County. I am not sure what they can do to rectify it. The story may fade from the papers today, but will be there for years to come in the voting booths. Trust is not easily regained.

WHY YOUNGSTOWN COUNTS! WHY DON'T WE KNOW IT?

I am writing this “pre-mortem” prior to the Tuesday primary because for the Mahoning Valley, the story is always the same. We are important to the national election process. The politicians know it. We don’t. Why does an area whose population is stable at best, and more likely than not declining, been so privileged to host such a wide variety of Democratic candidates? In the past two weeks we have been graced with presence of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, and Hillary Clinton again. What do they know that we don’t? Or do we know why, and choose not to do anything about it?

Here’s the deal. You can look at the red state / blue state map, and it pretty much tells the tale about the electoral base of each party. Except for Florida, the South belongs to the Republicans. The Democrats can count on New York and California, some of the northwestern states and New England states. The rest are in play, some more important than others. For the past two elections, the difference between winning and losing was in Florida and Ohio. Beware of those saying “this time it will be different.” It won’t be. Ohio is in play again.

Why Ohio? First, it still is the 7th largest state in the Union, and has held onto that ranking for a long time. The urban legend is that its population is declining. The truth is it is increasing, just not as fast as other states, most of which are in the 6 states ahead of Ohio in population in the first place. Congressional seats and electoral votes have been lost to those states.

Of all the states, it probably most represents what America looks like. Picture the state of Ohio, and draw a line from Toledo to Marietta diagonal across the state. South and West of that line, the state is mostly conservative and tends to vote Republican. North and east it tends to vote Democrat. The line bisects Franklin County, which pretty much describes the mix in Columbus, 50-50.

Ohio is also at the crossroads of various ethnic and ideological groups. The east has a heavy blue collar union Democratic vote. Get around Cincinnati and you have a strong Southern/Midwest influence coming in from Kentucky and Indiana. The northeast is heavily industrial with rust belt kind of industries and the vast center and western parts of Ohio are heavily agricultural…and I will include Columbus, which is still a big, farm town. Any Democratic vote coming out of Toledo is offset by Reagan Democrat votes along the Ohio River in the East Liverpool / Steubenville area and points south. They are Democrats, but gun control is the single overriding issue. Liberal Democrats don’t do well there.

As you heard many times before, no Republican has ever won the Presidency without winning Ohio. But here is the corollary; no Republican has ever won Ohio without carrying at least 35% of the vote from Mahoning County. Wait a minute, Mahoning County votes Democrat 100% of the time. That is true, but it isn’t who wins that counts in Mahoning County, it is by how much. If the Democratic vote in Mahoning County is kept to no more than 65 -68%, all other things being equal, the Republican candidate will take Ohio.

Bush’s campaign knew this. During the past two elections, it sent in some pretty heavy hitter operatives from its campaign to run things here in Mahoning County. Campaign workers would receive telephone calls from Washington at all hours of the night giving them specific addresses to call on in heavily Democratic areas in parts of Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers, many of them in Catholic neighborhoods. Bush made one stop here at the air base, but his campaign had a major presence here, and it went mostly undetected.

So, while the media is watching Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton Counties, the vote in Ohio can be predicted by watching Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, and Stark Counties. A suppressed Democratic vote in these counties will shift the advantage to the Republicans in the rest of the state. The importance of these 4 counties in Ohio is as important as Broward and Dade Counties are to Florida. It is the same dynamic. It’s not whether they will vote Democrat, but by how much.

That makes us important. One can argue with a straight face that we choose the President of the United States. Jim Traficant knew this, and he parlayed it into a whole bunch of money for this area by triangulating it between the Democrats and Republicans. Now our gerrymandered congressional districts are split between Tim Ryan, north of Route 224, and Charlie Wilson, south of Route 224. Both seem to be playing things in a more traditional manner. Ryan is bringing some money to the area; Wilson not so much, although they seem to cooperate.

Notwithstanding, the Mahoning Valley continually underestimates its importance in national politics, and it ought to wake up and flex some muscle demanding specific promises from both the Democratic and Republican nominees for President when they come a’knockin’. We shouldn’t let them get away with a royal screw job as Bill Clinton did to this area with the promised, then denied, Federal payroll center which he promised to locate here.

Whether Republican or Democrat, union or management, urban or suburban, if we don’t look out for this area, no one will. Every voter should be educated as to the importance of this area in the national political process, and should use that to our advantage. When it comes to party politics, area residents can do whatever at the local and state level. But at the national level, we should stand united. Wake up, folks. If we don’t know what we got, we will everything we don’t deserve.

WEDNESAY MORNING POST SCRIPT

The Ohio Democratic primary winner was late in being called by the news media last night. Much of the discussion was centered around the Cuyahoga County results. However, Michael Barone, the Fox News analyst responsible for calling a winner, called it for Clinton before the Cuyahoga County results were released. The determinative factor in calling the winner: he overtly stated it was the results in Mahoning and Stark Counties, and he mentioned Youngstown and Canton by name.

2008 LOCAL PRIMARY ENDORSEMENTS

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR PRESIDENT: HILLARY CLINTON

Hillary Clinton has earned and should be the Democratic nominee for president. While Barack Obama is an attractive individual, he has a messianic quality about him that is disturbing. The press loved the idea of a female presidential candidate, but an ultra-left black man trumps the woman in the liberal press every time. They have given Obama a complete pass on anything and everything, refusing to ask or report on anything, and I mean anything, substantive in nature. Bottom line, he is an inexperienced, European style left wing socialist. He makes George McGovern look conservative. The few answers he has given on foreign policy show a naiveté that is dangerous. Bomb Pakistan? If we are attacked in 9/11 fashion again, he would “talk” to those who attacked us? His economic policies are unworkable. If he does what he says he is going to do, I will quit work and join the gravy train myself because I am sure not paying for it. The press owes it to the public to thoroughly and properly examine this guy. When the pretty words are dusted away, you won’t like what you see.

Hillary, on the other hand, has more experience than I would care to admit. I think it would be safe to say that she actively participated in her husband’s administration. She is shrewd, crafty, Machiavellian, and smart. I am assuming that she was privy to some if not all of the daily national security briefings her husband received while in office, and has a realistic understanding of how dangerous it is out there. The press claims there is no difference between her and Obama. That isn’t the case. She will govern from the center like her husband, which is why she is having such a hard time in the primary. Her true beliefs probably put her closer to McCain than Obama.

Obama has mesmerized the Democratic base. The press is positively orgasmic over him. Wolfe Blitzer’s eyes will pop out if they bulge anymore while reporting on him. Obama is bad for the country, and ultimately, will be bad for Democratic Party. He risks a McGovern style defeat in the fall once he is pinned down on issues. If elected, the public will get a belly full real fast, and his presidency will herald in the death of liberalism for another 25 years, just as happened after Jimmy Carter. The “hope” and “change” train will leave this country and its foreign policy at the station, and us holding the baggage.

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR PROBATE JUDGE: MARK BELINKY

The public has little understanding just how bad things were in the Probate Court under Timothy Maloney. His rules of court were volumes long and took a year to write. Many lawyers simply refused to practice in his court. Many financial institutions also hesitated before involving themselves in probate matters. It was the worst case of form over substance I have ever seen, and hope I will never see again. He turned it into his own, personal fiefdom.

The current sitting probate judge, Mark Belinky, was appointed by Ted Strickland after Maloney’s difficult resignation. You can argue with the process. You can argue with the appointment itself. What you can’t argue with is that Judge Belinky, in a very short period of time, has turned the Probate Court around, and has modified its rules down to 16 pages to be in line with every other Ohio Probate Court. He has an open door policy, and has given every indication that he understands that the Probate Court is a service oriented court, there to serve the public rather than the other way around. He has been a breath of fresh air.

Judge Jim Lanzo is a good lawyer, and a fine Struthers Municipal Court judge. He has a large following in Struthers, Poland and Lowellville, the areas he serves. Attorney Susan Maruca is also a fine lawyer with a good reputation. Did I say they are both fine individuals?

But I am not ready to trade in a capable known entity that has done a remarkable job in a short period of time for something unknown. Judge Belinky has done a good job, has a good judicial temperament, has changed the attitude of the clerks and the magistrates, and treated the lawyers, and most importantly, their clients with respect. It is good to have the Probate Court back. Of the three candidates for this seat, only Judge Belinky has been rated as "extremely qualified" by the Mahoning County Bar Association. I concur.Judge Belinky should be retained.

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR PROSECUTOR: PAUL GAINS

Not even close folks. Prosecutor Gains has done an outstanding job in representing and protecting the citizens of Mahoning County. He has excelled not only in the criminal area, but in the civil area as well. Whether one agrees with him or not, he has shown he is adept in dealing with local governmental infighting, and has made principled decisions on how various issues should be handled between feuding government factions. He has restored and maintained.dignity and confidence in the Prosecutor’s office. I don’t know why Heidi Hanni is running, but her candidacy should not be considered seriously. Paul Gains should be retained.

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DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR COUNTY COMMISSIONER (1):

ANTHONY TRAFICANTI

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR COUNTY COMMISSIONER (2):

JOHN McNALLY

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR TREASURER: JOHN SHULTZ

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR SHERIFF: GOOD LUCK!!!!!!