Tsagaris way off base criticizing prosecutor

Trumbull County Commissioner James Tsagaris is the last person who should be passing judgment on the county prosecutor's office. After all, Tsagaris' involvement in a no-bid contract for food supplied to the county jail has put him in the middle of Prosecutor Dennis Watkins' investigation of the Trumbull County's purchasing procedures.
The commissioner's claim that Watkins, whose reputation for honesty and hard work is well deserved, and his staff are taking too long to investigate what the prosecutor has called excessive purchases by the purchasing department rings hollow.
Indeed, given the fact that Tsagaris was directly involved in helping a Youngstown company, Acme Foods, get the jail's business, any criticism by him must be viewed with a great deal of skepticism.
We applaud Commissioner Michael O'Brien for dismissing his colleague's rant against the prosecutor's office and urge the third member of the board of county commissioners, Joseph Angelo, to do likewise.
"We have an excellent prosecuting attorney and an able prosecutorial staff with years of experience," O'Brien said. "I can't think of an issue in county government that our prosecutor's office hasn't seen before."
Our sentiments exactly.
Private attorney
Tsagaris says the time has come for the commissioners to consider firing Watkins as the commission's lawyer and hiring a full-time private attorney to represent the board. And the reasons for this inexplicable move? Tsagaris says the prosecutor's office takes too long to provide opinions, it represents all county elected officials, which is a conflict of interest, and there has been confusion about an opinion the office rendered.
He says he intends to discuss the matter with O'Brien and Angelo. When he does, we would hope that Tsagaris is required to provide evidence to support his claims.
As for the conflict of interest issue, state law requires the county prosecutor's office to serve as the lawyer for all county government departments and agencies, but also makes provisions for external legal representation should a conflict arise.
Tsagaris is grasping at straws.
Regarding his contention that the prosecutor's office takes too long to provide opinions, O'Brien disagrees. Tsagaris should offer specific examples to back up that claim.
And as for the commissioner's charge that the prosecutor's office gave conflicting opinions regarding the state's competitive bidding requirements, assistant prosecutor Jim Misocky says he has been very clear as to what the law requires. He says he always told commissioners that they were required to seek competitive bids for any contract of more than $15,000.
If Tsagaris has any proof of Misocky's contradicting himself, he should make it public.
We have no doubt that if the prosecutor's office did, indeed, tell commissioners that they weren't required to seek competitive bids for the $200,000 contract to provide food for the county jail, O'Brien would have raised a red flag. As a former member of Warren City Council and an experienced commissioner, he is well schooled in bidding procedures.
Tsagaris is clearly off base in his criticism of the prosecutor's office.