Another end run for another juvenile court judge

Talk about the elephant in the China shop! The Summit County Republican Party, in peril of being swallowed whole by the Tea Party, is staging a desperate political charade to create a second juvenile court judge.  Not that many people aside from the promoters like the idea.  It's provisioned in the proposed Republican budget down in Columbus, which makes it newsworthy even though it's not likely to be seaworthy.

It is sponsored by State Rep. Anthony DeVitis, a Republican of Green; and co-sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Slaby, a Republican of Copley Township.  They say the juvenile court system in the county  is overworked and causing long delays.  A second judge alongside Linda Tucci Teodosio, an elected Democrat, would expedite matters, which is one way at looking at justice. And, if as County Executive Russ Pry (Democrat)  and  others point out,  the county budget  is already so tight that it can't afford to have another mouth to feed  in the courts, the Republican sponsors insist the  problem could be resolved by laying off some magistrates who, quite likely, are Democrats.

In a bi-partisan vote, the Akron Bar Association unanimously passed a resolution opposing the packing of the courts.  County council voted 9-2 against it, too, with the council's two  Republicans, of course,  supporting it.

Cautiously taking the safer  ground, another area Republican,  Sen. Frank LaRose, predictably told the Beacon Journal that he will withhold judgment until he gets more information.(A tactical response on Page 7  of the survival kit on expressing the need for more information.)     And uncharacteristically, GOP chairman Alex Arshinkoff, who doubtless was in the thick of the process, withheld comment from  the BJ.

It has been widely known for years and years and years that Arshinkoff has tested the soft spots in the judicial system to appoint his people to offices.  It's his M.O.

Otherwise, the weather the past few days has been delightful.

Democrats leave dinner formalities to Republicans

THE SUMMIT COUNTY DEMOCRATS  met under one roof this week for the party's annual
FDR dinner (Franklin Delano Roosevelt for anyone with a short memory).  The 400 or so who arrived at Todaro's party center early enough for a head start on  wine and buffet nibbles  assembled the party's first team - County Executive Russ Pry, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic,  chairman Wayne Jones et al - to begin  an evening of Democratic pep talks featuring Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley,  who some folks are already casting as a fellow of great potential.  Say, 2016?

O'Malley, the former Baltimore mayor,  and Plusquellic developed a lasting friendship when the latter served as the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.  As Plusquellic told the audience of his friend: "He's qualified to be the president". Say, 2016.

Well,  that's a long way off and the local event served as the platform  for O'Malley to drive home the need to reelect President Obama in November, the governor's current mission as he travels about  to engage new voters and rev up the old ones.

All in all, it was an informal  evening that once again contrasted how Democrats and Republicans go about their business at celebratory occasions in this county.  The Democrats provided a venue for collegial banter, some decent food, a lively speaker, and awards to its workers, all of which took no more than a few hours.   Having attended a score of Republican dinners before new rules barring certain media were exercised, I  can tell you there is a world of difference here.

Republican dinners are pure pageantry: A live band, drumrolls, an off-stage voice calling out the names of each Republican grandee who proceeds to his or her seat on the dais with applause,   and an evening filled out - in recent years, at least -with  prominent ultra-conservative speakers symbolic of the party's servile acquiescence  to the far right.

There also is the customary  bellowing harangue by the County Party chairman, Alex Arshinkoff, with his laundry list of grievances against the Beacon Journal, a former editor, a local law firm and whatever else needs to be aired out for the dinner guests.  Heavens!

Trust me:  Whatever your politics, the Democratic events hereabouts  are always more fun, even without the drumrolls.

Turn out the lights, Warner. The party's over

IT DIDN'T TAKE long after the polls closed Tuesday night to learn that Warner Mendenhall's drive-by drill team had been drubbed by the voters. Word spread quickly around the packed rally crowd at Musica downtown that Mayor Plusquellic had not only survived the farcical recall election but also did so with such overwhelming 3-to-1 authority that perhaps only Mendenhall and the night gab-guy on WNIR would sulkingly still consider it close enough for a recount.

Actually, still on his white horse after the final vote was in, Mendenhall emerged at his base, the Country something-or-other restaurant, to declare a moral victory by sending an important message to City Hall that would "change the future of the city" As he had during the entire ludicrous campaign against the mayor, he was still talking in riddles. What message might he be referring to? Was this the beleaguered football coach trying to incite his team to play harder after a 45-0 halftime deficit?

On the other hand, I didn't find a single Plusquellic supporter who had anticipated the wide margin of victory. When Dave Lieberth, the mayor's right-hand man and factotum at City Hall, was asked if were surprised, he could only nod that he was, while adding that he believed the mayor would survive, but added cautiously: "One never knows." County Executive Russ Pry and City Council President Marco Sommerville, also appeared to be sorting out the impressive showing by the mayor. Pry said the Mendenhall campaign was a "speed bump" when government should be concentrating on the more serious business at hand. "When you go through a campaign like this, it takes a lot of energy and time," Pry said. Sommerville handed the challenge back to Mendenhall, asserting: "The people have spoken. He (Mendenhall) says he listens to the people. We'll see...."

But it was the mayor himself who wrote the campaign's epilogue, reviving his plain-spoken cut-to-the-bone ways as he addressed the throng. He slashed at the "false statements" from the other side while conceding that he could be wrong on some issues but would never retreat from his commitment as a determined leader "to continue to be strong and continue to fight for the citizens of Akron."

Several people mentioned that one of the problems with the Mendenhall assault is that a mayoral recall election was the first in the city's history and nobody had any experience in addressing it. In some ways it was a a grimy underground protest campaign, word of mouth, full of sound and fury in certain precincts, , and as the Bard of Avon once wrote, "signifying nothing." Mendenhall cost the city's taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of it in time spent by city workers to research records sought by his forces. And what did he prove by all of this? Only that there was nothing to be proved.

Get over it, Warner. You lost, doubtless in a way that startled even you. Now try hard to become a good citizen like the kind that you want everybody else to be.

P.S. If you accomplished anything . Warner, with yesterday's numbers, you doubtless have made the mayor a much stronger candidate for his next election campaign. Sometimes you have to be careful about what you wish for, you may get it in ways that you never anticipated.