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Political grudges die hard
On the side
Meeting of the minds: James C. Evans met with Mahoning County Republican Party Chairman Mark Munroe before he delayed his retirement from the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court bench.
While talking about strides made by Republicans in recent months, Munroe told me he worked “behind the scenes with Judge Evans to get him to delay his retirement.”
By moving that date from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1, Evans, a Democrat, eliminated a special election for the two-plus years remaining on his term. The decision meant that Republican Gov. John Kasich’s appointee — Shirley J. Christian, the local GOP’s preferred candidate — filled the unexpired term and avoided an election this past Tuesday.
“In the end, it was [Evans’] decision, but we were in touch with him and discussed the timeline,” Munroe said. “We discussed the benefits, planted the seed and made him aware of how the election calendar works.”
When told of this, Mahoning Democratic Chairman David Betras, angered by the former judge’s decision, said, “So why am I not shocked by this? Obviously, Evans turned his back on the people who put him in office” by not permitting a public vote
When it comes to political grudges, Harry Meshel, former state Senate president and chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, doesn’t forget many of them.
So it was with some glee and a lot of venom that Meshel didn’t hold back when asked about the resignation of state Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern.
In an email sent at 11:48 p.m. Tuesday, after the party’s disastrous — though not unexpected — showing on election night, Redfern resigned in a two-sentence statement.
“Tonight, I offered up my resignation as chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, effective mid-December. It has been an honor and a privilege to build what I believe to be the strongest state party in the country.”
The last sentence is either laughably ridiculous or a sign that the Democratic Party is as relevant as the Socialist Party if Ohio is the “strongest state party in the country.”
When Meshel was party chairman in 1994, Democrats were trounced statewide with percentages even worse than Tuesday’s election.
In 1994, Robert Burch, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, received a record low 25 percent vote.
In this election, Ed FitzGerald, the party’s gubernatorial candidate, received 33 percent of the vote.
After the 1994 election, Redfern, then an Ottawa County commissioner, called Democratic headquarters and left a message for Meshel to resign.
“He’s this pip-squeak from a county with 12 people and a highway,” said Meshel, who stepped down as chairman a year later, but not because of Redfern.
Meshel still has the Redfern phone message written by his secretary. After the 2010 election that saw Democrats, including three incumbents, lose statewide, Meshel sent a copy of the message to Redfern along with a stingy note calling for the chairman’s resignation.
When contacted a couple of days ago about Redfern’s resignation announcement, Meshel said, “He’s responsible for not vetting [FitzGerald], who overnight destroyed the state party.”
Meshel said his 1994 slate wasn’t nearly as strong as what Redfern had in 2010 and 2014 and the results were the same — every statewide Democrat lost.
“He had money, union support, and really good candidates,” Meshel said of Redfern.
Redfern is “a clown who helped ruin the state Democratic Party,” Meshel said. “It can be saved, but they need better leadership.”
As for Redfern, he’s gone into hiding. He hasn’t responded to calls I’ve made. He removed his Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Among Meshel’s criticism of Redfern was the chairman’s high-profile dispute a few months ago with Trumbull County Democrats over secret voting.
“He was fighting over ballots with Trumbull County, one of the best counties in the state for Democrats,” Meshel said.
Dan Polivka, that county’s Democratic chairman, agreed that Redfern’s focus should have been completely on the election and it wasn’t.
“It wasn’t the most professional way to do things,” Polivka said.
Only two Democrats among seven statewide candidates won in Trumbull on Tuesday.
While acknowledging that Redfern had to go after Tuesday’s election, Mahoning County Democratic Chairman David Betras said the results were “not his fault. Many times as chairman we are forced to play the hands you’re dealt even if you don’t have the chance to cut the deck.”
What Betras didn’t say is Redfern played a huge role in selecting the party’s statewide slate.