CITY COUNCIL Officials reflect on Boles situation

A Vindicator questionnaire asks candidates about criminal acts.
By PATRICIA MEADE
and ROGER G. SMITH
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
YOUNGSTOWN -- "Don't they wonder when is the knock on the door gonna come?"
That's how Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains summed up what convicted felons must go through when they hide their past and get elected to public office.
He said they must know that, eventually, their past will surface and they'll be forced to resign.
The most recent officeholder, Clarence Boles, resigned after The Vindicator, acting on a tip, discovered his felony convictions.
Boles' resignation as 6th Ward councilman took effect Wednesday, roughly 16 hours after the newspaper asked him about his criminal background when he lived in Cleveland.
In one case that involved a 1-year-old girl, he was convicted of aggravated assault and endangering children; in the second case, he was convicted of defrauding a garage keeper.
Convicted felons cannot hold public office. If they have one felony conviction, it can be expunged. Boles had two.
"How can they live like that?" Gains mused. "How many others are there? I don't know."
Lisa Antonini, Mahoning Democratic Party chairwoman, said she didn't agree with Boles on many things. She credited him for fighting for the city but also said his manner hurt him.
"Maybe he didn't always articulate that in the best way," she said.
Antonini had a brief encounter with a quiet Boles on Wednesday morning. She said he hand-delivered his resignation and told her there were some things 20 years in his past that would prevent him from continuing to serve. Antonini asked if he wanted to explain, but Boles said he didn't have time, she said.
Precinct committee to meet
Antonini expects to call a meeting of 6th Ward precinct committee members in 10 days to two weeks to pick a successor.
Nine or 10 people are eligible to make the choice. There are 10 precincts in the ward, nine of which are represented.
Antonini said she doesn't want to wait very long but doesn't want to rush the decision either. Committee people need time to think about their choice, she said.
The party has between five and 45 days to make the pick under state law.
Antonini said she will forward r & eacute;sum & eacute;s or highlight sheets of accomplishments to committee members from candidates interested in filling the three-plus-year term.
Former Boles opponent
One potential candidate mentioned is Paul Pancoe, who lost to Boles in the May 2003 party primary 431 to 307 votes, or 58 percent to 42 percent.
Pancoe said Wednesday he is interested in the seat.
He said he thinks the seat should have been his considering Boles never should have been eligible for office.
"Let's try to get it right this time," he said.
Pancoe said he hopes the fact he was willing to run before will make an impression on precinct committee members. That separates him from others who may express interest, he said.
Other candidates are likely. Appointments to vacant city council and school board seats typically generate many more candidates seeking the seat than elections draw.
Gains said the Law Enforcement Automated Data System cannot be used to check candidates' criminal backgrounds because running for office isn't a criminal matter.
"It's not a crime to run for office -- even if you're disqualified," Gains said. "It's incumbent on the person running to know the law. Here's a man, Boles, who shouldn't have run for office. At least he did the right thing and resigned."
Had Boles not resigned, Gains would have filed a lawsuit to remove the 55-year-old Idlewood Avenue man.
Gains said the state Legislature might consider enacting a law that would require anyone filing to run for office to answer this question at boards of elections: "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?"
Newspaper questionnaire
Unlike the Mahoning County Board of Elections, Vindicator questionnaires ask candidates who come in for endorsement interviews if they've ever been convicted of a crime and, if so, what?
The question was added to questionnaires for the March 2004 primary. Part of the reasoning was that, before Boles, three convicted felons had been elected in Mahoning County in recent years.
"Here's the shame -- you shouldn't have to ask that," Gains said of the newspaper's question about convictions. "You shouldn't run if you're a convicted felon."
Several city council members suggested Wednesday that elections boards do background checks and questioned why they aren't done.
Municipalities would have to be the ones to do any background checks, however, said Thomas McCabe, deputy elections board director.
Even if elections boards conducted checks and found such information, candidates who meet the criteria still would be certified to take office after an election, McCabe said. That's because a felony record doesn't prevent certification, he added.
Votes still stand
Gains said Boles' votes on city council and the Youngstown Board of Education are not affected because his criminal background was unknown at the time. The Ohio Secretary of State's office confirmed that, saying once a public official is seated, their actions in office are valid.
Boles was elected to council in November 2003 and took office in January. Before that, he served two years on the school board.
Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, was shocked like others to hear about the resignation. Atkinson said that Boles raised some relevant issues and that his pot-stirring style wasn't such a bad thing. "It brought some punch."
Boles' aggressive methods, however, didn't work, he added. Atkinson pointed out that Boles didn't succeed in gaining approval for any of the items he pushed. With time, Boles might have learned to be more effective, he said.
meade@vindy.com
rgsmith@vindy.com