Y’town’s black eye getting worse

The disappearance of a prospective candidate for mayor of Youngstown – or any community, for that matter – is in and of itself headline news. But when the individual eyeing the highest office in the city has a criminal record going back more than a decade, it’s “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” time.

Zack Howell, 40, has been missing for several days, but his sport utility vehicle was found burning early Monday morning. Police discovered a body in the car, but it was burned beyond recognition.

Youngstown detectives have an idea as to the identity of the victim but are awaiting the dental-records report from the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office.

The SUV was found behind a vacant home on Edgar Street.

The occupant was shot twice in the head and was dead before the vehicle was set ablaze.

Although Howell had not formally declared his candidacy for mayor, he had been circulating petitions to run as an independent and had even come up with a campaign slogan “Real Change, Right Now.”

Given the long acceptance of public corruption in the Mahoning Valley, it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that Howell would have run as the law-and- order candidate.

After all, his relationship with the criminal justice system goes back at least to the year 2000, when he was charged criminally with weapons and drug possession.

Familiar face

Indeed, when Howell made known his intentions to run for mayor, the reaction on the street was one of disbelief. Not only was he known to law enforcement, he also was a familiar face in the illegal drug trade in this region.

While his whereabouts remain a mystery at this time, it’s clear that the politics of the city of Youngstown have reached a new low.

Mayor John A. McNally, who is seeking a second four-year term this year, is sporting his own criminal record after he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from his participation in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal conspiracy.

But not only has McNally remained undaunted about the black cloud hanging over his tenure as mayor and his candidacy, he was endorsed by a majority of the Youngstown members of the Mahoning County Democratic Party’s Central and Executive committees.

McNally faces one challenger in the May 2 Democratic primary: Jamael Tito Brown, a former member of city council who four years ago lost his bid for mayor by about 140 votes.

Brown has been hitting McNally hard on the public- corruption conviction, but last week he had another bombshell issue dropped in his lap.

More than two dozen Youngstown Water Department employees, including three supervisors, are accused by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office of receiving additional pay under false pretenses.

The environmental unit of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigated the crime and concluded that the employees falsified their credentials to boost their pay.

The employees attended only part of a training class for a state certification, a source told The Vindicator for a Page 1 story Friday. The workers’ partial – or in some cases, total fabrication – of class attendance occurred in 2013 and 2014.

Veteran Reporter Michele Nicks of 21-WFMJ TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, first reported on the state investigation, and since then the story has snowballed.

Some of the water department workers will plead guilty Monday in Franklin County Municipal Court to misdemeanors. They will pay a fine and make restitution to the city for the money they improperly received.

The Vindicator contacted Mayor McNally on Wednesday, but he declined to comment.

It’s impossible to claim the moral high ground when you have a criminal record of four misdemeanors.

Therein lies the problem for the city’s chief executive and for the voters who will be casting ballots in the May 2 primary.

What is the standard of behavior that is acceptable not only for elected officials but for all public employees? Unfortunately, residents of the Mahoning Valley have shown a willingness to turn a blind eye to the public corruption that has existed for such a long time.

Indeed, for many, white-collar crime is not such a big deal.

The decision by Democratic Party officials from Youngstown to endorse McNally speaks volumes. The endorsement is even more disconcerting in light of party Chairman David Betras’ public repudiation of the mayor.

Indeed, before the endorsement vote, Brown and his backers tried to persuade the central and executive committee members not to take a position on the mayoral race.

Thus today, McNally has a right to all the benefits that derive from being the endorsed candidate.

And that puts Betras in a bind.

The chairman is well aware that his call for McNally to resign shortly after he pleaded guilty has angered the mayor’s supporters.

Betras, who is a lawyer, did suggest a compromise of sorts, saying that if McNally chose to remain in office, he should not seek re-election when his term was up.

The chairman was not only ignored, but the endorsement vote showed that political honesty isn’t the best policy in the Valley.

Thus the question: What will Betras do in the primary?

He should resign rather that besmirch his reputation by supporting the party’s endorsed candidate for mayor. But he won’t.

Or, he should publicly announce that while the party apparatus would be at McNally’s disposal, the chairman will be notable by his absence. But he won’t.

Why? Because Betras has decided to run again for chairman in 2018 and he expects to be challenged.

Here’s what he said in a text to this writer on the night before the Democratic Party’s endorsement meeting:

“I’m getting an opponent (in 2018) because of what I stood for. His supporters attacked me when I gave you my quotes.”

It’s unfortunate that the line between right and wrong in Valley politics has been blurred.

Betras is probably right that he will have an opponent when he seeks another term as chairman next year. Thus, he has nothing to lose by turning his back on McNally.