COLUMBIANA CO. Dem chief defends actions

A Columbiana County commissioner says he's shocked by the party chairman's conduct.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County's Democratic Party chief says he did nothing wrong in speaking to law enforcement officials several years ago on behalf of a party contributor about a pending criminal case.
Party Chairman Dennis Johnson, 60, of Salem, testified earlier this week in the racketeering trial of James Vitullo of North Jackson and Russell Saadey Jr. of Austintown, who is known as Champ.
The trial in federal court in Cleveland includes allegations of bribery in a criminal case heard in the 1990s in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.
Johnson, who's been party chairman since 1991, is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Saadey's request: In court, he said he called county Prosecutor Robert Herron and then-East Palestine Police Chief Gary Clark in the mid-1990s after speaking with Saadey, whose family contributed to the county Democratic Party.
Johnson said Saadey told him a criminal case involving the December 1994 robbery of a coin-operated laundry in East Palestine may have been mishandled by Columbiana County authorities.
The case involved a robbery charge with a gun specification against Richard Silvestri of Warren.
Johnson testified that Saadey said the gun specification shouldn't apply because it involved a police officer's gun that fell into Silvestri's lap during a scuffle that occurred while Silvestri was being arrested.
Johnson said in an interview Friday that he simply relayed the claim about the gun to Herron and Clark and asked them to review the case.
"I don't believe I crossed the line because I didn't ask for anything to be changed," Johnson said of his contacts with Herron and Clark.
Johnson refused to discuss other aspects of the ongoing case, including a claim by one witness that Johnson received part of a case-fixing bribe in the Silvestri matter.
Strong reaction: Fellow Democrat and Columbiana County Commissioner Sean Logan said he is disgusted by Johnson's making telephone calls to Herron and Clark on Silvestri's behalf.
"That's way across the line," Logan said. "That's why a defendant has an attorney, to make contacts.
"I'm very concerned about the appearance of impropriety" Johnson's phone calls could create, Logan added.
Prosecutor's response: Noting that the federal trial is ongoing, Herron declined to discuss Johnson's claims about contacting him on the Silvestri matter. But Herron stressed that nothing about Silvestri's case was fixed.
Johnson had no influence on the case, nor did anyone else, said Herron.
The gun specification against Silvestri was proper because he grabbed an officer's gun while he was being arrested and pointed it at police, Herron said.
The specification was eventually dropped, however, as part of an agreement with prosecutors that resulted in Silvestri's pleading guilty, Herron explained.
In March 1998, Silvestri was sentenced in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court to an eight-to-25-year prison term for robbery and attempted bribery.
Johnson's background: Besides serving as Democratic Party chairman, Johnson, originally from Lisbon, also works as an aide to U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. of Youngstown, D-17th.
He is on a leave of absence from a job at the General Motors plant in Lordstown.
Before being elected party chairman he also worked as a road supervisor in Columbiana County for the Ohio Department of Transportation.
He was a barber in Lisbon in the mid-1960s.