Manning only legitimate choice in Trumbull County
We begin this editorial on the commissioner's race in Trumbull County with a personal message to James Tsagaris, the incumbent seeking re-election next month: You can run from us, but you can't hide.
Tsagaris' decision not to meet with The Vindicator's editorial board, after he had specifically scheduled an appointment, demonstrates just one reason why the voters of the county should give him the boot. Tsagaris doesn't have a mind of his own, is afraid to defend his four-year record in office, and obviously doesn't want to talk to us about the ongoing federal investigation of government corruption in Trumbull County.
By choosing not to keep his 1 p.m. Thursday appointment, and then not having the intestinal fortitude to call us and explain why, the Democrat has squandered any opportunity to make his case for a second, four-year term.
By contrast, Don Manning, his Republican opponent, met with Vindicator editors and writers and leveled some pretty serious charges against Tsagaris -- charges that we find credible.
Manning, an accounts manager for a rental company and a former member of the Mecca Community Park Board, is running on the issue of honesty and integrity in government, which should strike a responsive chord with the voters.
For the past several months, Vindicator reporters have been investigating the county's practice of purchasing supplies without seeking competitive bids, and in their digging uncovered Tsagaris' personal involvement in Acme Steak Co. Inc. of Youngstown securing or attempting to secure contracts to supply food to the county jail and the juvenile justice center.
We posed the following question in an editorial published in August: "Why would a county commissioner care so much about the food supplied to the jail and juvenile justice center that he would personally lobby for one company to get the contracts?"
Tsagaris chose to ignore our inquiry, just as he chose to ignore his appointment with the editorial board.
Lucrative contracts
Acme Steak received $159,000 worth of food service contracts -- even though it had never done any business with Trumbull County. Tsagaris and purchasing agent Tony Carson told reporters that the prices Acme was willing to charge were lower than what the county had been paying.
How would they have known that without competitive bids?
We also wondered in the August editorial who made the decision that competitive bids were not required. Was Tsagaris acting on his own, or did he consult with his colleagues, Michael O'Brien and Joseph Angelo?
It is important to note that Juvenile Court Judge Pamela Rintala has said that her employees found mistakes on the list circulated by Tsagaris and Carson comparing Acme's prices to those of other suppliers. The judge also pointed out that the products Acme was offering were not comparable to what the court had been receiving.
Given this newspaper's persistence in delving into the no-bid system, and given the amount of money Trumbull County has lost by not ensuring that it was getting the biggest bang for the public's buck, Tsagaris' decision not be meet with The Vindicator is understandable.
We're told that several people advised him not to keep the appointment. He owes them a debt of gratitude -- because he was spared the embarrassment of sweating profusely and having dry mouth as we peppered him with questions about his performance as a county commissioner.
Of course we would have asked questions about the no-bid contracts. One would have regarded his response to a reporter's question that suggested it was more the reporter's job than the commissioner's to find out why two companies collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the county didnot have business addresses or warehouses.
The commissioner's nonchalance with regard to this important issue leads us to believe that a) he doesn't care if he is re-elected, or b) he is so confident of the voters' blind loyalty to the Democratic Party that his victory is in the bag.
Manning has charged that Tsagaris offered him a job in return for his dropping out of the race and that he was so troubled by the offer that he immediately related what had occurred to the chairman of the Trumbull County Republican Party, Craig Bonar. The chairman reportedly contacted the FBI and Manning says he has talked to a federal agent.
Questions
Tsagaris has denied his Republican opponent's allegations, but we had several questions we wanted to ask him about this situation: Have you received any notice from the FBI that you are a target of an investigation? Have you been contacted by the FBI about Manning's allegations? Have you had any conversation with Manning that would have led him to conclude that you were making him an offer pertaining to his candidacy?
Four years ago, we did not endorse Tsagaris and bemoaned the fact that he had no substantial opposition in the general election. This year, we believe that the voters of Trumbull County do have a choice: Manning.
Manning is of the opinion that Trumbull County's image needs to be improved and that Tsagaris isn't the one to lead the effort. That is an understatement.