MAHONING COUNTY Assistant prosecutor resigns to run for judgeship

Smith said he would have resigned even if there were no such department policy.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- When Tim Franken unsuccessfully ran for a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judicial seat last year, he didn't have to resign from his job as an assistant prosecutor.
But Wade W. Smith Jr., an assistant prosecutor who is running for juvenile court judge in the March 2004 primary, had to resign to seek the position.
County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said that after Franken ran, he changed department policy to require all employees seeking political office to resign.
"I don't want my staff engaging in politics," Gains said. "Politics doesn't have a place in my office. When you have an assistant prosecutor running against an incumbent, who we also statutorily represent, it's a major source of problems, and it inhibits the ability of this office to function."
Smith will file Friday as a Democrat for juvenile court judge, a seat held by Judge Theresa Dellick, a Republican who plans to run for re-election.
As an assistant prosecutor, Smith was assigned to represent the county's Children Services Board.
"He works very closely with juvenile court in that position," Gains said.
Smith voluntarily turned in his resignation, effective Thursday.
Time to campaign
"I knew there was some kind of an in-house policy after Franken," Smith said. "But none of that really mattered. First of all, I can't be running against Judge Dellick and going up and practicing in juvenile court. I'm up there every day. Secondly, she's an incumbent, and I guess she's got a lot of money. I need the [time] to go campaign. I knew when I made the decision to run that I was going to resign."
Gains said he doesn't regret not requiring Franken to resign last year when he ran for the Democratic nomination for a common pleas court seat held by Judge Robert Lisotto, a fellow Democrat who won the primary.
But it is the reason Gains created the policy.
Franken and Smith are the only county prosecutor employees to run for political office during Gains' administration, which began in 1997.
Gains seeks re-election
Gains is up for re-election in 2004 and filed his nominating petitions Monday. He will face Brad Gessner of Austintown in the March 2 Democratic primary. Martin E. Yavorcik of Youngstown is considering a run as a Republican -- he would switch parties if he runs because he is a registered Democrat -- for county prosecutor.
"Amazing," Gains said in response to Yavorcik as a possible general election opponent. "How come the Republicans never ran anyone against [James] Philomena?" he asked. Philomena is the imprisoned former county prosecutor whom Gains defeated in the 1996 election.
There has been a change in Mahoning Republican Party leadership since Gains was first elected prosecutor.
skolnick@vindy.com