de SOUZA: Auditor’s record haunts him

Here’s the takeaway from Tuesday’s election battle for Mahoning County auditor: Democratic incumbent Michael V. Sciortino was crushed under the weight of the 16 state criminal charges filed against him and his spitting the hook on a drunken-driving charge.

By electing a political newcomer and a Republican, to boot, the voters took a stand against government corruption that will send shock waves through the Democratic Party.

Sciortino, who was seeking a third four-year term and had the backing of party insiders led by Chairman David Betras, was defeated by Republican Ralph Meacham, who entered the race late, had no political organization to speak of, and literally ran a shoestring campaign. But the challenger had two things going for him: the incumbent’s record in office as laid out in the criminal indictments; and his own impressive resume.

Meacham, a certified public accountant with a master’s degree in business administration, stood in stark contrast to the political insider who got the auditor’s job the old-fashioned way: back-room dealing.

Sciortino had no qualifications to serve as the county’s chief financial officer, and yet he was embraced by then party Chairwoman Lisa Antonini. He was working for the board of elections at the time.

But voters in this predominantly Democratic county elected him to office in 2006 and retained him in 2010 because he sold them a bill of goods. As the criminal indictments show, he wasn’t actually doing the people’s work. He was serving one master, Valley businessman Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., who did not want to lose the county’s lease on the Job and Family Service agency that had long been housed in the Cafaro Co.-owned Garland Plaza on the East Side.

There was a plan to buy the Oakhill Renaissance Place complex, the former Southside Medical Center, and turn it into a government center, with the JFS agency being a major tenant.

Cafaro sought to stop the purchase and conspired with Sciortino, then Commissioner and now Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and others, according to the indictments. Sciortino, McNally and Youngstown Atty. Martin Yavorcik have been charged criminally in the scandal.

The charges include one count each of money laundering and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, two counts each of conspiracy and bribery, four counts of tampering with records and six counts of perjury.

But the outcome of Tuesday’s election can also be a commentary of the public’s disgust with Sciortino for walking away from a drunken-driving charge.

He had been arrested and was sitting in a cruiser handcuffed when a pal from the sheriff’s department arrived on the scene, spoke to the arresting officers and had him released.

The auditor was driven home.

You can’t help but marvel at the Democrats in Mahoning County who still had no qualms about voting for him. They certainly stand by their scofflaws.

Meacham, the political novice, holds out the promise of a new beginning for county politics.