Cook's Trumbull commissioner campaign gets new life

WARREN — The candidacy of David Cook for Trumbull County commissioner got new life today, as one of the two Republican members of the Trumbull County Board of Elections changed her vote on whether Cook’s “bad penmanship” should remove him from the ballot.

Following a hearing, board member Cathi Creed, along with fellow Republican Ron Knight, voted to allow Cook on the March 15 ballot, while Democrats Mark Alberini and Ken Kubala upheld the earier decision to remove him from the ballot.

The split vote means Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, will break the tie.

After the hearing, Cook said he felt Kubala should have abstained from voting, which would have put Cook back on the ballot. Cook, a Democrat who hopes to run against incumbent county commissioner Dan Polivka, said Kubala’s friendship with Polivka should make him ineligible to vote on the matter.

The board decided against having a hearing on the complaint written by incumbent Trumbull County Treasurer Sam Lamancusa regarding the candidacy of Syreana Harris, a Republican. A Democrat cannot file a protest of the primary-election candidacy of a Republican, Alberini explained.

Harris listed the wrong date on petitions for when her term would begin if she is elected, but the board decided earlier that the problem should not prevent her from being on the ballot.

A hearing regarding the candidacy of Joseph O’Grady, who had hoped to run for sheriff begins at 3 p.m.