Political winds of change sweep through Struthers

The results from Tuesday's Democratic primary in Struthers were quite surprising.
Most readers don't live or work in Struthers and probably think they couldn't care less about what happens in the city.
But as I wrote a few weeks ago, politics is a blood sport in Struthers.
Do you think your hometown is too political? It's nothing in comparison to Struthers.
In just the past few years, a city employee was fired by the mayor for winning a primary. Also, a council president left an angry message on the mayor's answering machine hoping the mayor's children would get hooked on drugs.
Candidates spend as much or more space on their campaign literature attacking and criticizing their opponents as they do pointing out their own positive attributes.
For years there have been two political camps in the city.
One is led by Daniel C. Mamula, the city's mayor for the past 16 years. His power was so great that until Tuesday, no one ever challenged him for mayor in the Democratic primary or the general election.
The other doesn't have a clear leader, but those heavily involved include Councilman Terry P. Stocker, Auditor Tina Morell, and Robert D. Carcelli, a former longtime councilman-at-large and council president.
In other words, Struthers politics is a lot of fun if you are a politics writer for a newspaper.
Stocker challenged Mamula in the primary. Morell, fired by Mamula the day after the 2003 Democratic primary, faced Janet M. Elias, who was supported by the mayor.
Also, Mamula's camp included three incumbent councilmen being challenged by the opposition. The two sides also fielded candidates in the 3rd Ward council race.
On paper, it looked to be yet another exciting Democratic primary in Struthers. [Republicans are virtually nonexistent in the city and haven't fielded a candidate in several years.]
Even with all of this happening, there was very little of interest from the Struthers races leading to Tuesday's primary.
A few shots were fired by each camp, but nothing momentous.
So imagine my surprise -- and the surprise of others -- Tuesday night when not only Mamula lost, but essentially every candidate aligned with the mayor met with defeat.
Come Jan. 1, there will in all likelihood be four new council members from the Stocker/Morell/Carcelli camp with Stocker as mayor and Morell remaining the city's auditor.
I wrote in all likelihood because the 4th Ward race is still up in the air. Robert D. Carcelli III, a son of the former councilman, beat incumbent Paul J. Garchar Jr. by 3 votes in the primary. There are 11 provisional ballots that need to be counted and the race will receive an automatic recount.
So as I sit here after the primary with the ability to look at voting trends I'm still greatly puzzled as to what happened.
Turnout in Struthers was more than 40 percent compared to only 19 percent in Mahoning County.
But there's really no trend. The precincts with the highest turnout voted with Mamula and Morell.
Perhaps it was part of the growing movement in the Mahoning Valley to have younger and less experienced candidates run for office. Robert J. Stouffer and Robert D. Carcelli III are both young and had never run for office before.
Perhaps the Mamula camp simply overlooked the opposition because it was such a low-key race. Meanwhile the opposition quietly worked to get their supporters out to the polls to vote for their candidates.
Perhaps Struthers voters weren't happy with the direction of the city and the political infighting and decided to get rid of Mamula and his allies.
Whatever the reasons, there's a big change coming next year to Struthers.