Akron politics: Local, or loco?

The late Tip O'Neill, the iconic Democratic House Speaker, liked to tell people that "all politics is local".  But unless the downtown political rivals take note of the newly arriving interim Mayor Jeff Fusco's advice to calm down, the coming months will be a knock-off of O'Neill's definition of his institution. For Akron, it would read, "all politics is loco."


Not kidding.  The passion runs deep, maybe too deep to take Fusco's caution to the bank for the sake of the city's welfare.

As he rightly said in his prepared statement, Fusco, who also is the Summit County Party's Democratic chairman:

"Historically, we know that we Akronites are not strangers to moments of adversity.  We also know historically that we unite, bounce back and come back stronger than  ever.  We are fighters, we are committed to our city and we will get through this.  At this time, we may feel a little bit down, but I promise you, we are far from out."

That's the sort of talk that could change "loco" to "local".

PS: Summit County Clerk of Courts  Dan Horrigan's entrance as a mayoral candidate is a good start for an upbeat city  storyline.