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Summit County Update - BOE and County Council
- Filed under: Arshinkoff / Coughlin, Local
- Date: Jun 21,2008
(post bumped to the top)
UPDATE, AGAIN (8:45 Saturday PM): Angela McMillan, Executive Director of the Summit County Republican Party, has resigned to take a job in Washington DC with the American Association of Political Consultants. McMillan was basically Alex Arshinkoff's assistant. Out under pressure or her own will? Developing, obviously……(end update)
According to sources, Brian Daley will be sworn in tomorrow as one of the two Republican members of the Summit County Board of Elections. He will be sworn in by Judge John Holcomb. On Daley's front lawn. Ok…….that sounds about right. As noted, due to the recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling, Daley will replace current member Don Varian as one of two Republicans on the board. Daley was the original choice of Alex Arshinkoff to replace him when he was tossed off.
Varian is the current chair (rotates between Republican and Democrats) and my guess is that Jack Morrison Jr. (the other Republican) will become the new chairman. There has been some uncertainty post OSC ruling as to whether Varian was still on the board until Daley was actually sworn in, but those questions will be put to rest tomorrow.
Look for a lot more 2-2 votes at Summit County BOE with the whole process being slowed back down. Again.
UPDATE: In other Summit County news, which never stops, a not so shocking report. Arshinkoff has decided to put Dennis "Den" Robart on the ballot for the Summit County Council race, District 3. This, you may recall, was the primary where John Widowfield ran against the only incumbent Republican on the board, Louise Heydorn. Heydorn should have gotten the call if Arshinkoff was really wanting to bring all sides together. Oh, and because she is a proven winner. Instead he has decided to put up an inferior candidate because Heydorn is not a Arshinkoff ally. Despite party backing, Den Robart lost to Rich Nero in March for the party nod for the 42nd House seat. This is our Republican Party.
The reason I always write Dennis "Den" Robart is because the higher ups tried to get it written Den on the ballot to try and confuse people into thinking it was actually Don Robart, the mayor of Cuyahoga Falls. Den Robart is the nephew of Don. No word on whether they will try that again. Den will face off against Paul Colavecchio, who lost the race to Widowfield for his job in 2006.
29 Responses for "Summit County Update - BOE and County Council"
The 2006 race was for State Rep not county council.
Thanks for correcting that typo, I was trying to type so quick.
Hopefully, Alex is kidding about the front lawn part. Wonder if Brian Daley will have Board employees doing the lawn to clean it up for a proposed ceremony? I wonder if he said during his little meeting that they were going after Wayne Jones and Gorbach now that his pick is on. Intereting that they will personally be taking material in to Brunner on Monday.
When will the BOE staff start their manadatory phone calls, yard sign drive, and petition drive this year?
Dear Friend,
Ohio is in trouble. I recently visited with young professionals in Cuyahoga
County and got an earful. Many of our most promising Ohioans believe there
is no future for them here and that in order to advance their careers, they
will eventually have to leave the state.
Decisions made today will determine what Ohio looks like in the year 2020. I
envision a state that is an attractive employment destination thanks to a
flourishing knowledge-based economy, a thriving cultural life, vibrant cities,
and a good quality of life where our children can grow to be healthy, safe
and strong.
The wrong decisions today can lead to a very different scenario by 2020. Our
population could drop dramatically, taking with it the best and brightest
minds and leaving a waning economy. Our cities could become hollowed out and
ghettoized. And Ohioans around the nation could increasingly view their state
as backward and irrelevant.
Reviving Ohio's economy is a bipartisan priority. For those who have a stake
in Ohio's future, it's the only priority.
That's why I believe that Ohio needs a new generation of leadership. Often
in politics, leaders promise to be visionaries who will "turn around Ohio."
All too often, those slogans and promises turn out to be empty.
Ohio's challenges are too serious to simply be managed. They require
forward thinking leadership that is in touch with our common values. Our citizens
deserve leadership that is bold enough to share a detailed vision and is
energetic enough to turn that vision into a reality.
I want you to be the first to know that I will be spending the coming months
discussing what my contribution can be toward building a Whole New Ohio with
my family, friends, and supporters. By Thanksgiving, I will decide whether
to seek to lead our state in 2010.
My time in politics has taught me three iron-clad rules:
• Start early
• Don't take anything for granted
• Get the best people involved
With that in mind, I'm reaching out to you today for help. No matter the
amount, your financial support will help me continue to fight for our values
and to build a Whole New Ohio.
Please take time today by clicking the link below and making an instant and
secure online donation to my campaign. No matter the amount you are able to
give, your support will be greatly appreciated and prudently used.
As always, individual taxpayers who contribute to my campaign will receive a
dollar-for-dollar credit on their Ohio income taxes in the amount of $50.
Joint filers receive a $100 credit. So you can actually help jump start this
effort with a contribution that won't end up costing you dime.
The 2010 election is important for our party, as well. Like Ohio itself,
our party needs a rupture from it's past. When our citizens see and hear Ted
Strickland, they don't see Ohio's future. But they aren't equating our party
with the future either. We must re-brand our party. Not by changing our
values - most Ohioans share our outlook on almost every issue.
The first rule of any party with aspirations to govern is to understand the
aspirations of the people and how they change with time. What do Ohioans
want today? They want to believe in Ohio's future again.
If we're going to be the party of the future we need candidates with the
energy, courage, hope, competence, and optimism to rally the people of this
state and to create a Whole New Ohio.
This is a crucial time. Ours is a crucial effort. Not just for the values
we share, but for the survival of this state we love. Please join me with
your support today. Together, we can do so much more that cheap sloganeering.
We can truly transform Ohio and secure it's place as a great place to live,
work, and learn for generations to come.
Kindest regards,
Senator Kevin Coughlin
Dear Friend,
Ohio is in trouble. I recently visited with young professionals in Cuyahoga
County and got an earful. Many of our most promising Ohioans believe there
is no future for them here and that in order to advance their careers, they
will eventually have to leave the state.
Decisions made today will determine what Ohio looks like in the year 2020. I
envision a state that is an attractive employment destination thanks to a
flourishing knowledge-based economy, a thriving cultural life, vibrant cities,
and a good quality of life where our children can grow to be healthy, safe
and strong.
The wrong decisions today can lead to a very different scenario by 2020. Our
population could drop dramatically, taking with it the best and brightest
minds and leaving a waning economy. Our cities could become hollowed out and
ghettoized. And Ohioans around the nation could increasingly view their state
as backward and irrelevant.
Reviving Ohio's economy is a bipartisan priority. For those who have a stake
in Ohio's future, it's the only priority.
That's why I believe that Ohio needs a new generation of leadership. Often
in politics, leaders promise to be visionaries who will "turn around Ohio."
All too often, those slogans and promises turn out to be empty.
Ohio's challenges are too serious to simply be managed. They require
forward thinking leadership that is in touch with our common values. Our citizens
deserve leadership that is bold enough to share a detailed vision and is
energetic enough to turn that vision into a reality.
I want you to be the first to know that I will be spending the coming months
discussing what my contribution can be toward building a Whole New Ohio with
my family, friends, and supporters. By Thanksgiving, I will decide whether
to seek to lead our state in 2010.
My time in politics has taught me three iron-clad rules:
• Start early
• Don't take anything for granted
• Get the best people involved
With that in mind, I'm reaching out to you today for help. No matter the
amount, your financial support will help me continue to fight for our values
and to build a Whole New Ohio.
Please take time today by clicking the link below and making an instant and
secure online donation to my campaign. No matter the amount you are able to
give, your support will be greatly appreciated and prudently used.
As always, individual taxpayers who contribute to my campaign will receive a
dollar-for-dollar credit on their Ohio income taxes in the amount of $50.
Joint filers receive a $100 credit. So you can actually help jump start this
effort with a contribution that won't end up costing you dime.
The 2010 election is important for our party, as well. Like Ohio itself,
our party needs a rupture from it's past. When our citizens see and hear Ted
Strickland, they don't see Ohio's future. But they aren't equating our party
with the future either. We must re-brand our party. Not by changing our
values - most Ohioans share our outlook on almost every issue.
The first rule of any party with aspirations to govern is to understand the
aspirations of the people and how they change with time. What do Ohioans
want today? They want to believe in Ohio's future again.
If we're going to be the party of the future we need candidates with the
energy, courage, hope, competence, and optimism to rally the people of this
state and to create a Whole New Ohio.
This is a crucial time. Ours is a crucial effort. Not just for the values
we share, but for the survival of this state we love. Please join me with
your support today. Together, we can do so much more that cheap sloganeering.
We can truly transform Ohio and secure it's place as a great place to live,
work, and learn for generations to come.
Kindest regards,
Senator Kevin Coughlin
How many R's are up for election this year in summit? How many will we win? 1? 0?
Heydorn cant win— not on ballot
Nice of Arshinkoff's losers to advertise that Coughlin is raising money. Thanks.
Dennis Robart is a bouncer at a nightclub and is getting an online degree. He's got a rap sheet a mile long. Par for the course with the trashy Robart family.
gary the answer to your question is maybe one
What deals can Alex get from Wayne Jones now? The answer is none. Alex, say goodbye to relevancy in Summit County after November.
Hey go team alex. Kevin said thank you for hitting all the blogs trying to be a nuisance. You are getting his message out for him and it leaves free time for him to do other things. Have fun, your doing a good job.
Latest whisper: Arshinkoff and Daley plot removal of Democratic BOE members Wayne Jones and Tim Gorbach. How long does everyone think Daley and/or Morrison are going to last on the Board?
I do wonder if Bryan Williams could have egged them on. Daley is already starting trouble and he hasn't had a Board meeting yet. He best heed the Court's ruling though: a sitting Board member can be refused appointment for personality reasons. (State ex rel. Lucas County Democratic Party v. Brown) For Morrison, its too late to go back now.
I do not believe Dennis Den Denny Robart even lives in that county council district. Idiot.
CYF. Since when do you care about facts or the law since you use donor money to make it out of thin air.
**News Flash** Heavy rumors are that indictments will come down the pike for a board member on the Summit County Board of Elections. Would anyone care to take a guess who that person might be?
Ben,
The group she took the Executive Director position with is the American Association of Political Consultants.
I stand by the Robart in District 3 story.
Can't Den's dad get him a job in a different family business?
He lives in Cuy Falls
Robart does not live in Council District 3. He lives in the flamer John Schmidt's district.
P.S.
Cleveland Plain Dealer, LEAD EDITORIAL, Sunday, June 22, 2008
Ohio's secretary of state has a partisan streak that has become too visible - editorial
Secretary of State Brunner is much too willing to meddle in partisan affairs in places far from her Columbus office
Ohio's highest court had to remind Jennifer Brunner this week that voters chose her to be their secretary of state - not the chairman of the Summit County Republican Party.
And with that reprimand, Brunner, every bit the Democrat, moved a bit closer to cementing her reputation as an overly partisan overseer of Ohio's elections.
After Brunner essentially fired longtime Akron-area GOP boss Alex Arshinkoff from the Summit County Board of Elections earlier this year, the party's executive committee named former Hudson City Council President Brian Daley as Arshinkoff's replacement. But Brunner wasn't satisfied. She rejected Daley's appointment and instead named Akron attorney Don Varian to fill the Republican seat on the four-member panel.
Not only was Varian's appointment applauded - and perhaps suggested - by prominent Akron-area Democrats, but Varian was also involved in what turned out to be a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to remove Arshinkoff as Summit County's powerful and polarizing Republican boss.
In a 4-3 ruling that itself may have had political overtones, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered Brunner to remove Varian from the vote board and to comply with the wishes of the Summit County GOP and appoint Daley to the job.
Brunner is a talented officeholder who resigned a safe judicial seat in Columbus to seek the job of secretary of state.
And from her Republican predecessor, Ken Blackwell, she inherited an often inefficient, poorly run election system.
So if the Summit County mess was the first time Brunner had played politics with the operation of a county election board, she'd probably earn a pass on any suggestion that she had overstepped her authority in this case. But Brunner's penchant for meddling with local election officials has become habitual.
Blackwell was a big-picture intruder who tried to use issues like gay marriage to influence the outcomes of elections. Brunner has become a micro-meddler with a disturbing tendency to mess with Republicans involved in local election matters. Republicans in Summit, Cuyahoga, Allen, Franklin, Lawrence and Hardin counties have experienced it. And voters throughout Ohio should be worried about it.
In February, Brunner fired Allen County's respected elections director, Keith Cunningham, from the state's Board of Voting Machine Examiners. The reason: Cunningham had the audacity to disagree with her on her proposal to decertify touch-screen voting systems. A few weeks later, Brunner thumbed her nose at the public's right to know by trying to avoid testifying in the Summit County case. Failing that, she tried to keep her testimony private.
Earlier this year, when concerns were first being noted about Brunner's partisanship, Ohio State University law school Professor Edward Foley warned, "Election management is an area where appearance is reality. It's not good enough just to be fair. You've got to be perceived as fair."
Brunner is on her way toward failing the perception test
Alex Arshinkoff supporters seem to still be in an uproar. Nevertheless, why could the majority of the Ohio Supreme Court not even come to a conclusive decision, it was a 2-2-3 decision, as to why Daley should sit on the Board and not Varian? On their own, both concurring opinions would have failed to get Daley seated on the Board.
Nice cut and paste Alex. Why did you not show the Beacon Journal's editorial from the othe day?
LOYAL JUSTICES A 4-3 MAJORITY OF THE OHIO SUPREME COURT OPTS ON ITS OWN TO DIMINISH THE AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
June 19, 2008
Section: A
Page: A8
Alex Arshinkoff offered a revealing assessment in the wake of the Ohio Supreme Court this week ordering the appointment of Brian Daley to the Summit County Board of Elections. The county Republican Party chairman told Jim Carney, a Beacon Journal staff writer: "The party is thrilled that there is order in the universe again and we are able to have two loyal Republicans on the board of elections who will look out for fair elections." Loyal Republicans? That must not include Chief Justice Thomas Moyer and Justice Judith Lanzinger, two Republicans who dissented in the 4-3 ruling, siding with the authority of Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat and the secretary of state. Brunner first rejected the nomination of Arshinkoff to the board and then said no to Daley. She argued, correctly, that Arshinkoff had become a disruptive presence, diminishing board operations through, among other things, his over-the-top partisanship.
How did Arshinkoff and his allies respond? They nominated Daley, loyal to the chairman. More, Daley brings a similarly abrasive temperament. Brunner rightly sized up the situation. Arshinkoff had paid little attention to her concerns.
Such was her sensible reasoning, putting first board performance. After rejecting Daley, she tapped Donald Varian, a respected attorney and a longtime Republican (if not so loyal to the chairman). Arshinkoff took Brunner to court, arguing that she lacked authority to cast aside Daley and then pick Varian.
Unfortunately, the court agreed, holding so narrowly that it created "an absurd result," in the fair words of Chief Justice Moyer, the outcome made all the more dismaying by the presence of Maureen O'Connor in the majority, the justice not far removed from her days as a loyal soldier in the Arshinkoff army. Read the majority opinion, and, in particular, the concurring view of Justice Terrence O'Donnell, and watch the turning of the law on its head.
O'Donnell clings to the notion that nowhere in the law does the secretary of state have the explicit power to reject a second nominee of the local party, let alone appoint on her own a person to the elections board. The dissenting opinions of Moyer and Justice Paul Pfeiffer (another Republican, though far into the wilderness, according to many party faithful) respond persuasively that the majority neglects the essential context. The law says the secretary of state has the power to make appointments to the election board. The members represent her office.
In such an instance as this, deference should be shown to the elected official, the person ultimately accountable for the performance of the board. What did the court majority do? It invented a whole new authority, supplanting the power of the secretary of state, giving local pols the final word, no matter questions of competence and qualification.
The practical result of this spectacular episode in judicial overreach is that the loyal Brian Daley joins the county board of elections, leaving Jennifer Brunner with the prospect of facing the problem she tried bravely and responsibly to solve.
You mean loyal alex Republican. Once again you have shown that we have the best Supreme Court that donors money can buy. The biggest victory is that the tax payer is no longer paying for your health care.
Back to the War: Daley sworn in on his front lawn.
As I said. sounds like a real professional, don't it?
Dennis Robart cannot get this because he does NOT live in this district. You are a complete idiot Keeler. Go recheck your sources.
Quack.
Maybe some relatives are there he live with while he runs?
Actually I have heard the same thing and it is a good move putting Robart in that seat. Instant name id, with even a mediocre campaign he will destroy Colavecchio in that district!
Thanks for the tip!
Alex. You could do to him like what you did to Williams. Talk him into moving to the district and then as you always do, abandone him.
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