Sunday, April 23, 2006
It is not unreasonable to expect a two-term county commissioner to have a clear vision of where he wants to take the community and to discuss the pressing problems of the day in a thoughtful way.
And it is not unreasonable to ask "What have you been doing?" when the commissioner cites as priorities issues that have been on the front burner for years.
David Ludt's second term as one of the three members of the board of commissioners has been disappointing.
Four years ago, we endorsed Ludt -- after withholding our support in 1998 -- because we detected a change in him. As we put it in 2002, " ... [Ludt] is no longer preoccupied with the mundane." We also praised him for breaking his habit of talking in soundbites.
Today, however, we find that he has regressed to the point of being irrelevant. Ludt is not deserving of re-election.
By contrast, George M. McKelvey, the incumbent's only challenger for the Democratic nomination in the May 2 primary, impressed us with his insight and knowledge of county government and his willingness to take the lead on such important cost-saving initiatives as the proposed consolidation of the county's 911 emergency telephone service with Youngstown and the relocation of the county Jobs and Family Services offices from the McGuffey Plaza on Youngstown's East Side to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.
We emphasize take the lead because Ludt has been in a position to do so, and didn't. Thus, last week, the community was shocked to learn that the 25 tenants of Renaissance Place have been notified to prepare for the building's closing as soon as April 30. That's because there isn't enough revenue being generated to meet expenses and because financially strapped Forum Health can no longer subsidize the nonprofit group that has been operating the complex since 1998.
During his interview with Vindicator editors and writers Ludt was asked specifically about the 911 consolidation and the Jobs and Family Services relocation. He answered by hiding behind feasibility studies that supposedly are being conducted.
We found this disconcerting, at best.
The only time Ludt seemed passionate was while discussing water, bridge and sewer projects and the return of George Tablack to the county payroll.
Leadership
McKelvey, on the other hand, talked about the need for leadership in county government. He pointed to his eight-year tenure as mayor of Youngstown, during which he erased a $12 million budget deficit, and his eight years as Mahoning County treasurer as evidence of his dedication to give the taxpayers their money's worth and his willingness to make difficult, politically unpopular decisions.
Hard-core Democrats have attempted to make McKelvey's endorsement of Republican President George Bush in 2004 an issue. But it is our hope that the larger Democratic Party constituency would ask themselves this question on May 2: Who is best qualified to lead Mahoning County into an uncertain future?
We believe the answer is George M. Mc-Kelvey.