Approach to issues fueled feud

YOUNGSTOWN -- The whole city council president episode is interesting when looking at some of the main figures.
Ill will between John R. Swierz, D-7th, and James E. Fortune Sr., D-6th, has built up in recent months over how each has approached council issues.
The feud culminated in February with a confrontation in which Swierz filed a police report accusing Fortune of threatening him, which Fortune denied.
What Swierz said: Swierz took pains, however, to say Friday that his only interest in the council president case was to make sure the job was filled correctly. It wasn't to make trouble for Fortune, he said.
A constituent -- he wouldn't say who -- raised the question, Swierz said, so he asked the law department. Fortune's rise to the seat followed by a legal challenge would have been a mess, Swierz said.
"There's no personal ax to grind," he said. "I can honestly say that's not the case at all."
Fortune couldn't be reached to comment.