POLITICS Walter bows out of 17th District race
The former congressional candidate says there are two qualified candidates in the race.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
CANFIELD -- Faced with the reality of having little to no chance of winning the Democratic primary for the 17th Congressional District, Randy Walter pulled out of the race.
"It would have been a tough battle," Walter, a Canfield real estate developer, said. "The overriding thing is it's a tough race and there are qualified candidates out there."
Walter ran as an independent for the 17th District seat two years ago and was beaten by U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., a Poland Democrat. Walter spent $476,872 during the 2000 campaign, including $340,000 of his own money, which was more than the three other candidates in the field combined. But Walter finished a distant third, getting less than half of Traficant's votes.
Walter opted to withdraw his candidacy after getting the results of a telephone poll he conducted.
Walter said his name was recognized by about 50 percent of those polled in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, but only by about 7 percent in the district's two other counties, Portage and Summit.
Poll winner: Walter said U.S. Rep. Thomas C. Sawyer of Akron is the clear winner in his poll with state Rep. Anthony A. Latell Jr. of Girard and state Sen. Timothy J. Ryan of Niles neck and neck for second but quite a distance from Sawyer. There is also a large number of undecided voters, he said.
Walter said he is comfortable getting out of the race because Sawyer and Latell are qualified to serve in Congress.
Walter was not complimentary to Ryan, a former Traficant staffer who has 15 months of elected experience.
"He hasn't done a thing," Walter said of Ryan.
Walter, a frequent Traficant critic, said the candidates he opposed in the 2000 election were not qualified to hold office. Traficant is on trial in federal court facing charges including racketeering, bribery and tax evasion.
Walter echoes the sentiments of political experts who say Sawyer, the only candidate not from the Mahoning Valley in the Democratic primary, has a leg up on the others in the field.
The other candidates running in the Democratic primary besides Sawyer, Ryan and Latell are Maridee Costanzo of Warren, Joe Louis Teague of Youngstown and Bryan Taafe of Austintown.