Stocker drops out of county race

By David Skolnick | January 13, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

Stocker

STRUTHERS

Struthers Mayor Terry Stocker is out as a Mahoning County commissioner candidate after he failed to win the county Democratic Party’s endorsement for the seat.

“I want to honor the decision made by the committee,” Stocker said Thursday, the day he withdrew from the race. “I’m disappointed. It’s never easy to withdraw, but I felt it was in the best interests of all.”

Members of the party’s central and executive committees voted Saturday to endorse Austintown Trustee David Ditzler for the commissioner seat currently held by John McNally IV, who isn’t seeking re-election this year.

Ditzler received 137 votes, or 53.94 percent. Stocker finished second among four candidates seeking the endorsement with 93 votes, or 36.61 percent. Four other candidates in the March 6 Democratic primary did not seek the party’s endorsement.

“It would be a contradiction to my beliefs ... that all Democrats would stand together and be represented with party unity countywide in this election,” Stocker wrote in a letter to party Chairman David Betras.

Betras called Stocker “a solid mayor and one of the greatest office-holders in Mahoning County.”

The chairman added that he appreciated Stocker’s “standing for party unity.”

With Stocker out, there are seven Democrats vying for the party’s nomination for the commissioner seat.

Besides Ditzler, the other Democratic candidates are former Youngstown Councilman Jerry McNally, Domenic Delmonte of Austintown, Richard “Oz” Ouzounian of Boardman, Walter Pishkur of Boardman, Joe Louis Teague of Youngstown and Patrick M. Chrystal of Youngstown.

The winner will face Republican David V. Rossi of Boardman and Howard Markert of Youngstown, the Green Party candidate, along with any independent candidates who file by March 5, in the November general election.