Race for Mahoning prosecutor heating up

If their recent verbal jousting is any indication, Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains and his challenger in next year's Democratic primary, Brad Gessner, will be going for the jugular before their candidacy petitions have even been certified by the board of elections. With every public slam, their disdain for each other grows. Why the bloodletting? Because each thinks the other isn't fit to hold one of the most important offices in county government.
It doesn't matter that Gains is completing his second four-year term; Gessner, an assistant prosecutor in Summit County, charges that the incumbent has been AWOL since the day he was first sworn in. For his part, Gains suggests that there's a stench of corruption emanating from Gessner by virtue of his having served as an assistant prosecutor under prosecutor-turned-jailbird James Philomena. Philomena is serving time behind bars after pleading guilty in federal and state courts to selling justice while in office.
But Gessner counters that 12 members of Gains' staff, including Nick Modarelli, his right-hand man, served under Philomena. Are they all guilty by association? he asks. Are they all corrupt?
Character
It is clear that character will be as much of an issue next year as each candidate's record and experience. Gessner isn't pulling any punches and has already shown a willingness to talk about Gains' personal life. And he isn't intimidated by the fact that in previous elections the prosecutor has talked about "taking a bullet for the community" -- a reference to his being the target of a mob hit in December 1996, just days before he was to be sworn in. Gains had defeated Philomena in the Democratic primary.
If Gains thought he would bully Gessner by linking him to Philomena, he misread his challenger's willingness to confront the issue.
Indeed, in response to several questions posed in this space on Aug. 31 -- the column also dealt with former employees of congressman-turned-federal inmate James A. Traficant Jr. who have their eyes on public office -- Gessner submitted a letter in which he tackled the issue head on.
To the question, "If you had learned that Philomena was selling justice, would you have gone to the FBI and the press with the information?", he wrote:
"Yes, absolutely. I had experience prosecuting law enforcement officers for violating the law before I ever returned home to serve as a prosecutor in Mahoning County. You cannot stand before a jury to ask them to convict someone who has violated the law if you know that your office has turned a blind eye to other law breakers. I take it as a great honor to serve as a prosecutor. A prosecutor is the only person in the justice system that has the duty and right to stand each day as being a symbol of the truth. To "sell justice"" cannot in any way be accepted by those who swear under oath to uphold the law and stand before a jury to say they will prove the truth."
Gessner's willingness to risk alienating any supporters or friends of the former prosecutor stands in sharp contrast to the reaction from Linda J. Kovachik, who had worked for Traficant and is now running for Boardman Township trustee. Here's what she wrote:
"How dare you put me on the front burner for public corruption and include me in a criminal cabal just because of my close ties with James A. Traficant Jr.
"Just who do you think you are to judge all of the staff of Jim Traficant's, that is in the running for political office and condemn us."
Former Traficant aide Anthony Traficanti is thinking about seeking the Democratic nomination next March for Mahoning County commissioner.
Loyal
"I worked with Anthony for three years and I respect him and I also admire him for his outstanding work he has done under all the pressures he was under at the office," Kovachik wrote. "Of course, I do not expect you would understand that Bertram. I get the impression from reading your column that you do not understand how people on Traficant's staff could stick by him at a time of crisis. It's called being loyal, Bertram, something I do not think you would understand."
Traficant is serving an eight-year sentence in federal prison after being found guilty of 10 criminal charges stemming from his tenure in Congress, including racketeering, bribery and tax evasion.
Talk about blind loyalty.
While it is true that no employee is his or her employer's keeper, the sins that Philomena and Traficant committed are so egregious as to warrant indepth inquiry of those who worked for them.