Sunday, October 30, 2011
In Struthers: Stocker
After almost 20 years on city council, Terry Stocker couldn’t have picked a worse time to step up to the mayor’s job. He took office in January 2008, just months before the national economy began its collapse.
Stocker, however, proved up to the challenge.
He is being challenged by Phil DeMarco Jr., 49, an independent, who touts his experience in business as a reason to elect him. And while DeMarco’s resume includes successes in businesses, primarily, food preparation and grocery stores, Stocker, too, has had experience in private business. At 63, he’s retired from Dominion East Ohio and he has run a landscaping company and bar and grill.
Rising to the challenge
If Stocker hadn’t risen to the challenge of keeping Struthers on track during the recent lean years, we’d say so. But he has, going after state and federal grants, seeking new business investment and cracking down on utility delinquencies and nonpayment.
DeMarco’s experience in the public sector consists of a stint in food service working with the state Department of Corrections. There may be an entry point for DeMarco, in public service, but running for mayor of Struthers isn’t it.
Stocker has met the challenges of recent years in a city that has been struggling for decades. He says he has more plans to make Struthers better, and we strongly endorse Stocker’s election to a second term.