The historical Warner Mendenhall

WEDNESDAY IS the big day when the Overland Mendenhall Express arrives on the city's sidewalks with the latest crop of petitions to recall Mayor Plusquellic. Very soon we will know whether he will be successful in sending the issue to the ballot where the obsessive Akron lawyer will be consigned to history. If it gets that far, he will lose .

History has a short memory, if any at all, for such minor political figures as Warner Mendenhall, particularly when their ambition carries them over a cliff. Twenty-five years from now, the story will be something like this as two guys, Jake and Fritz, settle into the Country Manor Restaurant for the first time for their morning coffee:

Jake (looking up to a faded photo on the wall), asks the server: "Any idea who that person in the picture is? He looks like he was rather in a hurry. Just curious. "

Server: "I heard somebody say once that his name was Warner or Walter Munhall or somebody. I don't know for sure. He was a good friend of my boss."

Fritz: "If I remember my Akron history, I think it was Mendenhall....Yeah, Mendenhall."

Jake: "Some memory you have, Fritz. Why would you remember something as obscure as that? "

Fritz: "Dunno. Unless I'm mistaken, I think he tried to kick out the mayor with one of those recall elections. Hell, that was a good 25-30 years ago."

Jake: "Did he succeed?"

Fritz: "If memory serves, don't think so. Never happened."

Jake: "Walter Mendenhall, huh? Interesting. You know, I do have a vague idea of what you're talking about, now that you mention it. Sort of..."

Fritz: " I seem to remember that it was Warner, not Walter."

Jake: "Refresh my memory. Why did he want to throw out the mayor?"

Fritz: "Only the Lord knows. I don't think they even knew at the time."

Jake: "So did Walt -eh, Warner - do anything else after that?"

Fritz: "Not that I'm aware of. He just sort of faded out of the picture - except for that one on the wall. There are a lot of people like him around on any day of the week. One-shot artists who make a big splash of paint and then drop out with a lot of bills to pay for their dumb schemes."

By now both men were losing interest in the whatever-happened-to-Warner story because there wasn't much else they could add to it. Moreover, they figured that in this instance the picture on the wall was hardly worth a thousand words.

Warner: Questions but no answers

IF IT ISN'T one thing, it's something else with Warner Mendenhall, the Robespierre  of  the recall uprising against Mayor Plusquellic.  As a lawyer, he's doing some things in a lawyerly fashion to get his message to his perceived jury.   Today's news  from the front (i.e.,  the Beacon Journal)  for example,  reported that Mendenhall  questioned in an e-mail whether the city's new schools are safe, then he asks:

"Were electrical inspections done by phone on our new school buildings? This isn't safe.  An honest man objects then gets fired.  Was Plusquellic involved?"

Well, Warner, was Plusquellic involved or wasn't he?   Was he the person on  the phone doing the inspections?  You really don't tell us.  It's an old rhetorical trick:  raise the question without answering it.  

The point here is that simply by asking a question before his jury, this lawyer served his case by creating doubt about the person on trial.    And who fired the guy in your e-mail? The mayor? From what I understand, it was his  employer, J.W. Didado Electric.  All of this happened a couple of years ago, and even though the complaint against the building inspector was  sent to the state, no action was taken on it by the Ohio Board of Building Standards. A board spokesman said, "There was nothing of substance to warrant any action."

Warner, why are trying to assert your "leadership" while treating the rest of us as dummies?  Will there be more of this nonsense as the campaign barges on?   I'm afraid so.  And when it does, I'm sure  it will be challenged. Good Lord.  What a way to waste the summer months!  

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 MAYBE MY BRAIN is a bit soggy from all of the rain hereabouts, but I don't follow the logic  of hiring a thoroughbred Republican lobbyist for $142,000  as an associate vice president of "strategy and finance" at the budget-challenged University of Akron. The recipient of the newly-created position is Scott Borgemenke, and, says the Beacon Journal, his job will be to develop "innovative  solutions to challenges."  In other words, a lobbyist.  And one who was the designated hitter as the top strategist for the Ohio Republican Party.

The irony in this should be clear enough.  Borgemenke, a former race track executive,  is a first team figure in a political party that, as we all should know by now, has been damning the stimulus and government spending - big socialist  dollars.  And I presume such dollars are what the university is looking for from the new guy on the campus.  Or in Columbus.    And maybe even from the hated Democrats.  

Warner's crime figures don't parse

WELL, WE are just hours away from the day we've all been waiting for.  It's deadline day (sort of) for Akron Lawyer Warner Mendenhall to end his surge for 3,200 signatures on petitions to recall Don Plusquellic, the city's mayor since 1987.  (Actually, if Mendenhall doesn't achieve that goal, he will have 20 more days  to knock on more doors to come up with the minimum number for a recall election whose systemic costs to taxpayers could crash through $400,000.  Some deal for a crusader who wants to spare the city of what he believes to be a free-spending Edward Scissorhands at City Hall.

We might not know much more by day's end tomorrow. I won't speculate on whether the accuser has already passed the finish line. He claims he has, but the signatures will have to be carefully checked.    For all that I know, the valid numbers may be locked in a Swiss Bank. (Was it John McCain who said he only wanted change that he could believe in. Huh!  A lot of good that it did him.)

Mendenhall's self-drawn map to glory has had a strangely disorganized response to his critics.  He accused me of trying to create a fight between him and Plusquellic, asserting that is not really his purpose. But for the life of me I don't know anybody else he is trying to recall.  He has often accused the mayor of public corruption while his campaign material works to link Plusquellic to the corruption scandal in Cleveland.  But as early as 2003 when Plusquellic was engaged in a lightweight challenge from the GOP nominee, Bryan Williams, I was told by Republican operatives to be on the lookout for federal indictments of the mayor.  Those whispers have been hanging around with the mayor's opponents for six years.  You do the math. 

But of all of the charges and innuendo in the 47 page campaign document the one that stands out as the most egregiously wrong is the attempt to show the mayor as soft on crime in his city.  On Page 26 of the strangely crafted statistics,   Mendenhall  attempts to show that Akron is falling behind other Ohio cities in controlling property crime. Some examples, all undated:

   Although Akron  experienced only a one pct. decrease in property crimes, all of the other Ohio cities were much more successsful, with Toledo  having a 13 pct. decrease.  (For what period, who knows?)  And the same is true in other categories, with the greatest urban gap in arson, with Akron registering a 69 pct. increase and Cincinnati showing a 14 pct. decrease. Scary, right? Why isn't the mayor personally slinking down alleys by the light of the moon to hose down the arsonists' matches?

However, I can date some crime figures for Akron:  the latest FBI city crime rankings - this date is important, for 2007, the latest figures available - shows Akron to be in much better 

shape than  the cities quoted by Mendenhall in his report.  Cleveland ranked 11th nationally for the highest number of crimes; Youngstown, 15th; Dayton, 26th; Cincinnati, 28th; Columbus, 43rd;  Canton, 46th;  Toledo, 64th; and finally, Akron, 79th.   

Akron the greatest den of iniquity?  Not according to the FBI, only to Mendenhall.  I rest my case.  For now.  So what point is he trying to prove at such great expense to the city?  

But of 

Warner "learning" to become mayoral candidate

WARNER, LET IT GO.  You've been preaching hellishly to your choir for months.  You are merely asking them to greet your costly  plan to recall the mayor with an off-key Hallelujah  Chorus. I have read your version and choose not to accept it as Handel's masterpiece but rather the words of a desperate man who is trying to create a political environment  for his own long-festering mayoral schemes. Isn't that, after all, the root of your ambitions? Show me any councilman, present or past (as you are) who wouldn't like to be the chief executive at City Hall.  

Do I exaggerate your ironic insincerity in carrying out your avowal to clean up the debris from the Plusquellic administration?  Come now, Warner.  I haven't been a political journalist all these years who only attended the Saturday matinees for the free popcorn. The transparency hurts the eye. 

 Want to know what some of your friends (and enemies) are saying about this?  One fellow who claims you as a friend, despises  Plusquellic and has signed your petition,  casually mentioned to me that win or lose the recall, you are really involved in a learning experience to prepare you for your own mayoral campaign.  Well, there  is much  for you to  learn and a couple of years of creating turmoil for the city is hardly enough time to capture the imagination of a big city electorate.   As of now you only have your fixed chorus, who would never support the mayor anyway. After all, how common is it for any elected public official to be seated  by acclimation?

And don't count on all of those folks who have signed the recall petitions to be an electoral resource when you decide to convert your "learning experience" into a bid for the mayor's office.  Some of the recallers are Republicans who are using you to return to City Hall with their own candidate after   26 frustrating years of denial.   ( Curiously,  somebody was passing out recall petitions at the recent Republican Lincoln Day Dinner.)

Along the way you have lost support from key people who might have been expected to support the recall.  Are they captives of the Plusquellic mystique?  Would they vote for him in a mayoral election?  Probably not.  Would they pick you out of the crowd and vote for you?  Probably not. Why could that be, Warner?

 Having read your campaign material, I must say that it took years to assemble (Right?) in preparation for  your auspicious coming-out party.  God knows how much it cost the taxpayers for the lost hours for the city to respond to your  (or Bob Smith's) countless requests from Day One.    

Warner, why don't you end the charade?   If you want to be mayor, I would be the first  to say you have a right to go for it.  But you have not yet explained why your impatience should be hastily served by  a self-serving  inflammatory recall campaign rather than the normal election year process used by Don Plusquellic and all of his  predecessors.  

Unless, of course, you need the learning experience as the warrior in the Trojan Horse.  Warner, let it go.  

On recalls, Italian festivals and Voinovich non-stimulus

WEEK END WITH WARNER:  Warner Mendenhall's mad dash to recall Mayor Plusquellic hit a few bumps Friday with the report in the Beacon Journal that two guys who figured to aid and abet the assault are now declaring their opposition to the whole idea.  That's  the word from Joe Finley, the former Democratic councilman who opposed Plusquellic in a primary; and Ward 2 Councilman Bruce Kilby.  Based on their past opposition to the mayor, neither would likely send him a Christmas card.  But Finley told the BJ that  a recall movement is a much too extravagant reprisal:  "While I oppose Plusquellic, I believe that recalls should be reserved for gross malfeasance, not for resolving simple policy differences or personality conflicts." 

Mendenhall seems to be taking the bad news in stride, forever trying to rise above the madding crowd to describe the whole spectacle as an exercise in democracy, thereby rudely disrupting City Hall and the city's business with his door-to-door cavalry.  I can't deny that democracy makes allowances for recalls, although people with a mind to remove a pol from office usually wait until the election season to advance their grievances.  Having said that,  might Mr. Mendenhall should be reminded that democracy also allows people to make foolish nuisances of themselves in public. 

 To cite the cautionary words of the late Hubert H Humphrey: The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. 

           

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Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robart's crowing that he salvaged part of the Italian summer festival, the bulk of which is moving to downtown Akron from his city, leads me to wonder whether Republican Robart will claim this as part of his own stimulus program.   The festival split is a continuation of the rivalry of Italian clubs in the Falls, but a long-time observer, whose company had a major role in the festivals in the Falls,   expressed doubts to me that the spin-off will be a success for the smaller group that remains on the Riverfront Mall.  "They're having some problems lining up vendors so soon after the Akron festival," he said.   Aside from the rivalry, the economic realities were clearly in Akron's favor.  The city won't charge the festival.  On the other hand,  the sponsors' bills from the Robart administration  have  continued to rise .  So you pays your money and takes your choice.  Buona fortuna!

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Speaking of crows, the Plain Dealer caught Sen. George Voinovich in his own stimulus-puffing trap when he reminded voters that he was out front in 2005 to get some money for an Inner Belt Bridge project  and is now citing the importance of  the new outlay of $200 million in the stimulus package to cover the bridge construction project.  As columnist Michael McIntyre alertly pointed out:  Voinovich voted against the Obama stimulus package, calling it a Washington "slush fund."    

A spiritual voice in recall campaign?

WARNER MENDENHALL'S spring offensive is prompting speculation around town that the Summit County Republican Party is playing some role in the recall campaign against Mayor Don Plusquellic.  The fuse was lit by the appearance of Bryan C. Williams, the Summit County Board of Elections deputy director and a former GOP candidate against the Democratic Akron mayor, at Mendenhall's recent public meeting  to launch his campaign.  To put it politely, Williams has nothing but scorn for Plusquellic to this day. However, he rejects  the notion that he might be a back-channel operative for Mendenhall. 

  "I went to the meeting to give my spiritual support (to a recall election) but I' not actually giving my active support," Williams says.  "But I wish Mendenhall all of the success in the world." So mark that down in the category of  political spirituality.  Sort of Platonic.    

Likewise, GOP County Chairman Alex Arshinkoff sharply responds to talk that he might be aiding and abetting the current effort to overthrow the mayor.  "I'm not in it!  I kind of look at it with amusement.  We're thrilled that two Democratic factions (Mendenhall is a Democrat) are tearing each other apart."  Alex did confirm that the Mendenhall forces asked the GOP  to contribute campaign cash. But he said he denied their request.  

All of this will go on for awhile. Let's hope there will be some time left for other pressing matters in the city working through a serious recession.  Maybe a word or two about jobs, foreclosures,  and the growing pressure on the Akron food bank.  I doubt that you will hear a word about any of this from the recall forces until the issue is finally settled.    

Mendenhall's spring offensive begins

WARNER MENDENHALL has begun his spring offensive against Mayor Plusquellic  so I would alert you to be prepared for round-the-clock shelling from his recall regiment.  Recorded phone messages.  Neighborhood blitzes. Petitions circulating like the wind-blown leaflets dropped from World War II bombers. Ahhh...Democracy in action.  Or is it demagoguery in action by an overreaching politician who would have you believe that he isn't a politician at all but rather a savior of all that should be pure and good in his city of Akron. 

He has been planning this 15 minutes of narcissism for several years, I'd guess, and the moment has arrived to bring the Plusquellic administration to its knees.   Although the inquisition  boasts of many Plusquellic sins, the one that stands out  as pure sophistry is that the mayor has been recklessly sending taxpayers dollars on out-of-town trips hither and yon, the last being a visit to the White House with many other city mayors to engage the President's attention on the need for stimulus dollars.   Or his earlier travels  as the head of the national conference of mayors , a distinction not only for Plusquellic but for the city itself.

Excuse me.  Wasteful spending?    If Mendenhall's campaign  goes the full route with a special election and all that follows, it would be a fair guess that the taxpayers'  bill for wasteful spending will be greater than what Plusquellic has spent on his travels.  Besides, with apologies to the poet John Donne, "no city is an island".  Any mayor is not only in charge of filling potholes and snow clearance but also in representing his or her city at the state and national level.  That has been, for all the world to see, one of his strengths.  He does it well. 

As one who spent many days and weeks on round- the-clock reporting of the recall campaign against then Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich (which he narrowly survived ), I can assure there are never any winners in these spectacles. The pace of governing slowed  considerably as the Kucinich administration was distracted  by the expenditure of time, energy and treasury , not to mention the newspaper headlines.   And I would challenge anyone to point out any great strides the city has taken in progressive management since Kucinich left office.  

Unfortunately, when these rare spectacles arise they usually have less to do with improving the welfare of the entire community but are rather a scheme by relatively few people inciting enough voters to achieve the ends of those few.    At the core, Mendenhall for mayor.  Seems that way these days, doesn't it?  

 

Sunday morning e-mails...

MAX ROTHAL'S morning routine has taken a significant turn since some people foolishly decided that  Akron's only salvation lay in recalling Mayor Don Plusquellic from office.  Each morning or so, Rothal - the usually unflappable city attorney - finds one or more e-mails demanding satisfaction from a long-time nemesis, Hudson real estate man Robert Smith.   The fellow has apparently thrown in with Atty. Warner Mendenhall to create costly havoc to the Plusquellic Administration with their recall movement.  "I even see some e-mails that were sent on Sunday morning,"  Rothal said.  "The guy never stops."

So what does Mr. Smith want in what appears to be a non-stop search-and-destroy mission? "Oh, public records of this and that, documents and other things,"  Rothal says, unhappily.  And of course, because they are public records, Rothal won't refuse Smith's requests.  "But it goes on and on," he says, "as we have our  staff at City Hall try to locate the records that Smith wants.  It's time consuming and it's costly.  It takes people away from the jobs they normally do." 

 Largely, it's a fishing expedition that leads to nothing other than more requests in an effort to find something that might embarrass the mayor in a recall ad. Another word for it is "pestering" at public expense, both the records' searches and the cost of a special election if  Mendenhall and his cronies follow through on their threat.  

Frankly, it's hard to know the motives behind the notion other than Mendenhall has a vendetta against Plusquellic, regardless of  how it might harm to stability of the city at a time  when economic survival is on everybody's mind.    Plusquellic,  after all, was one of  a group  of mayors who have been meeting with President Obama and congressional leaders to get a share of the stimulus money for their cities and has repeated his proposals on national TV  this week.  It's hardly a time to be bombarding  the mayor's administration with ludicrous requests and political threats.  That says a lot about the ones who recklessly remain unconvinced of the gravity of  the current economic crises, don't you think?   

Recalling the recall

AKRON MAYOR Don Plusquellic  has not been in a giving mood to his political opponents during the holidays and you may expect to see the consequences in the weeks and months ahead.   The mayor's team is girding for battle.  It has had several high level  meetings to counter a recall campaign against him by former councilman and Plusquellic thorn, Walter Mendenhall. Around City Hall, the mere mention of Mendenhall's name is always accompanied by the soundtrack from "Jaws".   Neither side expects the latest clash to be gentle: recall campaigns are never pretty.  And this one would be at a desperate time in the economy when the minds of public officials should be on something more productive.  .

The mayor's strategy, I have been told,  will be an across-the-board appeal to civic and business leaders to defend the mayor's work during his six terms in office by sending the message down through the ranks of their companies and institutions.  If this strategy is effective  - and I think it probably will be - it will stave off a recall in a special election.  But that isn't certain.  As Plusquellic learned in his last campaign against Mendenhall ally Joe Finley,  nothing in politics can ever be taken for granted.  City Hall has set out to make sure that there will be no more close calls.

It will be costly for the city. Plusquellic advisors are talking about a six-figure outlay with some forecasts of upward of $500,000.    And the internal advice that will be given to the often outspoken mayor:  For this to be a success, you have to hold your tongue.  

The danger, of course, is that Mendenhall  may be able to get the 3,200 or so valid signatures on the recall petitions to force a disruptive special election. That's why there will be an intense effort to amass support from the top rung of the city's movers and shakers - many of whom have been supportive of his leadership in the past.  There is more than enough evidence of Plusquellic's productive initiatives for Akron to offset his setbacks over the years.  

So let the spitefully silly season of his opponents begin.  With so many other things on our collective minds to worry about, why do I feel that we are instead heading off to Wally World?  

Akron: Here we go again

IN A WORLD of uncertainty, there is one matter that remains rigidly in place:  Warner Mendenhall, the Akron lawyer and former city councilman,  thinks Mayor Don Plusquellic is insufferable.So he is launching another crusade against him.    This time, he is leading an effort to have the mayor recalled. He says it will take him several months to organize the challenge to the mayor.  If Mendenhall and his allies persist in hating Plusquellic,  it's a free  country.  What isn't free is the projected cost to taxpayers by a fellow who has fiercely opposed taxes.  Elections officials  estimate the tab to be $160,000 at a time when every penny counts.   My guess is that it would cost more, both in money and distraction from the grave economic matters that will confront all cities in the months ahead.   And to be spent to oust a six-term mayor who has won awards for his leadership, the most recent from  the International  Economic Development Council?