Hanni escalates party fray by calling for investigation
A sheriff's department official says determining wrongdoing will prove to be difficult.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mark A. Hanni wants the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department to investigate accusations that supporters of Republican Chairman Clarence Smith improperly used county time to recruit precinct committee candidates.
Hanni's recruitment of Republican precinct committee candidates is already the focus of a probe by the sheriff's department at the request of the board of elections.
In a letter to Maj. Michael Budd of the sheriff's department, Hanni wrote that Smith supporters at the board of elections recruited Republican poll workers during work hours by telephone.
Response: Mark Munroe, elections board chairman and a member of the Mahoning Republican executive committee, said the suggestion that a poll worker who is running as a precinct committee candidate must have been recruited on county time is simply wrong.
"It's almost funny that Hanni would raise charges like this against the board," Munroe said. "When the Hannis were in charge, they turned taking advantage of the system into a new art form."
Budd said he has received documents from Hanni and the elections board, which voted two weeks ago to investigate every Hanni-supported precinct candidate, but has not started the legwork on the probes. Determining criminal wrongdoing in these probes will be difficult, Budd said.
Hanni also mailed letters to dozens of Smith supporters notifying them that their names have been forwarded to the sheriff's department about how they were recruited, and urging them to withdraw from the race. The letter came with the identical form Smith supporters mailed to candidates urging them to get out of the race because of their affiliation with Hanni.
Obtaining a majority of precinct committee members is vital to Smith and Hanni because the precinct winners in the May 7 primary will vote for party chairman.
Change in bylaws: But Hanni said a recent change in the party's bylaws that prohibit him from running probably spells the end of his candidacy. Hanni said he has several people in mind who qualify for chairman and one of them will probably take his place.
The bylaw change makes only those who are precinct committee members and have voted in the two proceeding Republican primaries eligible to be party officeholders. Hanni is running for precinct committeeman, but has not voted in the two most recent Republican primaries.
If Hanni's supporters capture a majority of precinct committee seats, they can change the bylaws to permit Hanni to run for chairman. But Hanni said he doesn't expect that to happen because his supporters would first have to select a chairman, then change the bylaws at a follow-up meeting, get the first chairman to resign, and then vote him in as chairman.
skolnick@vindy.com