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Three vie for commissioner’s seat
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County voters will have a choice of candidates for just one county commissioner’s seat on the Nov. 6 election ballot.
Democratic incumbent Anthony T. Traficanti is unopposed for a third consecutive four-year term as a commissioner.
The contested race is for a four-year term to succeed Democrat John A. McNally IV, who has served eight years as a commissioner and is not seeking re-election.
The Democratic candidate, David C. Ditzler, is well-known in local politics, having served as an Austintown trustee since January 1994.
Two other candidates are newcomers to local politics: Republican David V. Rossi, a retired deputy sheriff and crime-scene investigator, who returned to Mahoning County last year after 30 years in Houston; and Green Party candidate Howard Markert, a self- employed landlord, who moved to Youngstown in April 2009 from Berkeley, Calif.
Ditzler said his qualifications for county commissioner include nearly 19 years as a trustee of Ohio’s eighth-largest township and 30 years of successful business experience, including management of more than $40 million in annual sales.
“I found ways to cut costs and make sure that the customer services are still satisfied,” Ditzler said, referring to his business experience.
“You have to find ways to run government like a business,” as much as possible, especially during troubled economic times, Ditzler said.
“We’ve been able to accommodate the needs of the community with a reduced budget for many years in Austintown,” Ditzler said.
He said his experience as an Austintown trustee included dealing with many of the same issues he’ll face as a county commissioner: balancing multimillion-dollar budgets, passing state audits, job creation and economic development, roads and infrastructure, zoning, parks, senior services, labor negotiations and public safety.
Law enforcement and criminal justice are Rossi’s top priorities.
“Law enforcement should be the very last thing to be cut,” Rossi said. Rossi lamented the layoffs of sheriff’s deputies, closing of parts of the county jail, and emergency inmate releases brought on by the county’s budget woes in recent years.
Rossi said he’d like to develop blighted areas of the county, start community activity programs with the help of local churches and civic organizations and maintain the county’s employment and business opportunities.
“Our kids need to be doing things other than fighting, dealing drugs and shooting each other,” Rossi said.
The hallmarks of Markert’s campaign are the creation of a county central bank using the State Bank of North Dakota as a model and imposing restrictions on oil- and gas-well drilling to protect the environment.
Markert said the county bank would stimulate job growth by offering micro mortgages, home-improvement loans and micro business loans to spur new business startups and improvements to homes and blighted properties.
The bank’s profits would go into the county’s general fund, thereby reducing the need to raise property taxes, Markert said.
“We’ve had a history of having one-party rule in this county,” Markert said, referring to the Democratic Party. If voters aren’t satisfied with this, “It’s time to vote for someone else,” he said.
Independent candidate Edward L. Goldner Jr. of Berlin Center did not complete a candidate information form or appear for an interview by The Vindicator’s editorial board.
In another race, Democratic incumbent county Recorder Noralynn Palermo of Youngstown is being challenged by Green Party candidate Jim Villani of Boardman.
Palermo, who has been with the recorder’s office for 37 years, became recorder seven years ago after 14 years as deputy recorder and 16 years as an administrative assistant in that office.
Villani is owner and operator of Pig Iron Press in downtown Youngstown, where he edits, designs and produces books and other promotional materials. He teaches writing at Stark State College in Canton and Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pa., near Pittsburgh.