And the winners of this year's awards ...

This is my favorite time of the year.
Exchanging presents, watching Rankin/Bass Christmas specials, and spending time with friends and family are always fun. [Santa, I've been relatively good this year and would love a '70s disco collection CD.]
But just as much fun are the year-in-review programs -- particularly when they show famous and somewhat famous people who died in the past year and I thought they died years ago -- and year-end awards.
I love year-end awards so much that I give them out. For those who get a jab or two below, please remember this column is for entertainment purposes only although everything is accurate.
Oops, I Did It Again and Again: Over the years, state Rep. Slyvester D. Patton Jr.'s campaign finance reports are typically incomplete and have some interesting expenses listed. He filed two amended reports for his failed Youngstown mayoral run this year because he didn't initially list $17,500 he received from J.J. Cafaro of Liberty. That amount accounted for more than 35 percent of the money he raised for the campaign. Patton's answer for this problem is it's easier to file an incomplete report on time than to spend the time gathering the information on a timely basis. Patton is still at it. A designation of treasurer form he recently submitted to run next year for state Senate didn't have the signature of his campaign treasurer, who is his wife.
Should I Stay or Should I Go?: For George Tablack, it was both but done in reverse. Tablack abruptly quit as Mahoning County auditor leaving for a $122,500-a-year position as chief financial officer of the clerk and comptroller in Palm Beach County, Fla. In November, the county commissioners voted to hire Tablack as the county's director of the Office of Management & amp; Budget at about half his Florida salary and much to the surprise of Commissioner John McNally IV.
The Political Revolving Door: On Jan. 1, Struthers Councilman Anthony Protopapa will become the city's council president. If recent history is any indication, don't spend too much time learning his name. Protopapa will be the fourth council president since 2001. Three incumbents were defeated for the job in three consecutive elections.
You Put the Decimal Point Here and Carry the One: Pinning down the cost of the Youngstown-owned Chevrolet Centre is becoming quite the challenge. The project's estimated cost went from $41.25 million to $45.38 million, including three increases in a matter of less than two weeks. Also, the amount of money borrowed by the city for the facility kept growing from $8.15 million to $12.5 million in a short time frame. With change orders still coming in, city officials say it could be late February before a final number is determined. Hey, at least they got the arena built.
Catch a Rising Star: Youngstown Mayor-elect Jay Williams proved he is a tremendous political force with his November victory in a six-person field that included state Sen. Robert F. Hagan, the Democratic nominee. This was the first time Williams ran for public office and pulled what many people, including myself, consider to be a big upset.
The Separation of Church and State or the Lack Thereof: Another award for Williams. More than 100 members of the local clergy publicly endorsed Williams. Also, a conservative political action committee run by a pastor paid for 10,000 fliers that compared Williams to Hagan on "sanctity of life" and "drug policy" issues. The flier wasn't accurate when it came to Hagan's "drug policy."
The Biggest Political Meltdown: This goes to Hagan for his desperate day-before-election press conference tying Williams to every Christian conservative he could find. Hagan's campaign "connected the dots" on a poster board between Williams and the conservatives. He also accused Williams of violating federal law -- saying Williams hired someone to create a federal issues-oriented organization that slammed the state senator -- without any proof.
Putting the Cart Before the Horse: The United Auto Workers Community Action Program Council of Ohio. The CAP council endorsed Capri Cafaro of Hubbard for the 13th Congressional District seat in 2006 even though she hasn't announced her candidacy for the post and doesn't live in the district. This isn't the first time the council pulled this stunt. In 2002, it endorsed Hagan for the 17th Congressional District even though he wasn't a candidate. He subsequently jumped in to the race and then got out. The endorsement then went to Warren Davis, then-UAW's Region 2 director. Davis had a huge falling out with the union, was removed as the head of Region 2, and had the endorsement taken from him. It eventually found its way to Tim Ryan, who won the congressional race.