Sheriff’s race outpaces others in terms of cash

By DAVID SKOLNICK

and TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS

YOUNGSTOWN — The most contentious race in Mahoning County is shaping up to be the most expensive one.

Sheriff Randall A. Wellington of Youngstown raised $18,957 in 2007 that he added to the $23,123 he had before last year, according to campaign financial reports for the year 2007. Thursday was the deadline for candidates and officeholders running this year to file their annual reports with county boards of elections.

David P. Aey, Wellington’s Democratic primary contender, raised significantly more than the incumbent. Aey, of Boardman, received $45,825 in contributions last year, nearly all of it at Sept. 12 and Nov. 18 fundraisers.

Of the $17,527 Aey spent, $8,500 went for expenses related to the fundraisers. His campaign also paid $1,500 to the Brunner Firm of Columbus for legal work to determine his eligibility.

Wellington filed a protest with the Ohio Supreme Court claiming his challenger doesn’t meet the minimum supervisory experience requirement. The county board of elections voted last month that Aey has the experience and kept him on the ballot.

Nearly all of the money Wellington spent last year on his campaign went to Keynote Media Group of Youngstown for campaign consulting, developing his Web site, campaign literature and photographs.

As of Dec. 31, 2007, Wellington had $27,238 in cash on hand compared with $28,298 for Aey.

Howard Faison, a retired assistant warden with the sheriff’s department, filed paperwork to run as an independent candidate for sheriff. Wellington beat him in the 2004 election.

Both Wellington and Aey received and contributed money to county Commissioner Anthony Traficanti’s re-election campaign.

Wellington received $240 and contributed $150 to Traficanti. Aey received $500 from Traficanti, of Poland, and contributed $100.

Traficanti received $26,660 in contributions last year compared with $5,000 for his challenger, Eric C. Ungaro of Poland. The $5,000 for Ungaro was a loan to the campaign given by his father, Pat, the Liberty Township administrator and former Youngstown mayor.

The only person in the Mahoning Valley to raise more monetary contributions — not including loans to their campaigns — last year than Aey was Lou D’Apolito, who is challenging Judge Timothy Franken for the common pleas court.

D’Apolito, of Boardman, raised $48,375 and contributed $10,000 of his own money to his campaign. In comparison, Judge Franken, of Beaver Township, raised $21,125 last year and gave $30,000 of his own money toward his effort.

In Trumbull County, the most money being spent is in the races for county engineer and sheriff.

With the retirement of incumbent Engineer John Latell, those seeking to get the Democratic nod in the March primary are Randy Smith of Hartford, Latell’s chief deputy, and David DeChristofaro of Niles, Niles city engineer who is employed at the Cafaro Corp.

Based on campaign expense reports, DeChristofaro has the largest war chest by far with $50,723. He started with $31,088 and has received $19,360 in contributions while spending $22,900.

Smith has $13,329 to spend. Starting with no money, he has received $22,035 in contributions and spent $10,305.

In the race for sheriff, incumbent Thomas Altiere of Howland, who started with $8,392, has received $9,475 in contributions and has spent $14,712. He also has $29,960 in outstanding loans.

His challenger, Joseph P. Consiglio of Weathersfield Township and that township’s police chief, began with nothing in his coffers and received $27,000 in contributions. He has $15,084 but has $7,955 in outstanding loans.