2017: A year of firsts

For the first time in the history of government corruption in the Mahoning Valley, there will be a candidate for office with a resume highlighted by a criminal record.

And for the first time in this region’s long affair with illegal gambling, there will be a former mayor who goes on trial for alleged bookmaking.

Those are just two of the many firsts that promise to make 2017 such an enjoyable experience for anyone who isn’t looking at life through rose-colored glasses.

According to the Chinese calendar, 2016 was the year of the monkey – and we certainly were treated to a whole lot of “see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil” from politicians on the local, state and national levels.

Indeed, it might be said that the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal conspiracy case that defined Mahoning Valley politics for so long ultimately made a monkey out of all the honest, law-abiding residents.

Only three of the co-conspirators were charged criminally with participating in the enterprise aimed at blocking Mahoning County commissioners from buying Oakhill Renaissance Place, formerly Southside Medical Center.

Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally, a county commissioner at the time of the Oakhill Renaissance scandal, former county Auditor Michael Sciortino and Youngstown Atty. Martin Yavorcik faced a long list of criminal charges for which they paid an extremely low price. They weren’t sent to prison – confirming the belief of many that crime does pay in the Valley.

How well does it pay?

Consider this: Not only was McNally given a tap on the wrist, but he was allowed to keep his job as mayor of Youngstown. And if that wasn’t enough of a kick in the pants, McNally was given the green light to run for re-election this year.

After the mayor walked out of the Cuyahoga County Courthouse with a sentence of probation, he brazenly announced that he would seek a second four-year term.

He ran in 2013 and despite the cloud of corruption hanging over his head won the Democratic primary and the general election.

McNally, Sciortino and others, including the mastermind of the criminal conspiracy, Valley businessman Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., had originally been charged in the case, but those charges were dismissed.

During the 2013 election McNally was asked if he would step down as mayor if charges were re-filed. He responded with an unequivocal “no.”

Thus today, McNally is eyeing another election, but this time he will have the distinction of being the only mayor in recent Youngstown history to have a criminal record on which to run.

Indeed, given his demeanor since his conviction, McNally can be expected to wear his criminality as a badge of honor. After all, he had kowtowed to one of the most politically influential and richest men in the Valley, Cafaro Sr., which makes him a hero in the eyes of the morally challenged.

Here’s the bottom line of the story of Oakhill Renaissance: If you’re a politician who has no qualms about selling your soul, make sure the buyer is someone with standing in the community. There are a goodly number of Valley residents who consider what Cafaro did as nothing more than a businessman protecting his interests.

Cafaro did not want the county to buy Oakhill Renaissance Place because the two commissioners who voted in favor of the purchase, Anthony Traficanti and David Ludt, had said they planned to relocate the county’s Job and Family Services agency from the Cafaro-owned Garland Plaza on Youngstown’s East Side.

Cafaro Sr., the retired president of the Cafaro Co., did not want to lose that lucrative lease.

McNally, as county commissioner, carried Cafaro’s water during the debate over the Oakhill purchase, but that obviously did not hurt his political standing. Thus, he will again be on the ballot.

How will the voters of Youngstown react to a candidate with a criminal record? Considering that the political bar has been set so low for so long in this region, McNally could win by a landslide.

Another first will be played out in Trumbull County when former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante, his wife, Judy, and a Niles city employee are put on trial for a slew of criminal charges related to government corruption.

Of particular interest to illegal gambling aficionados in the Valley are the gambling allegations leveled against Infante. They relate to an illegal operation Ohio’s attorney general says Infante and his wife ran out of their club, ITAM 39, on North State Street, Niles City Hall and at his home.

The gambling operation, which began in 1992 and lasted until 2016, involved Infante taking bets on the Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament and NCAA football bowl games.

Now that’s a first. One can just imagine Mayor Infante sitting at his desk in Niles City Hall taking a call from a regular customer:

“Hey, Ralphie, hows ’bout laying the points for three dollars in tonight’s game?”

“Anything for you, my man. Always a pleasure doing business with you. By the way, if you lose and don’t pay up, I’ll send some of my boys round to crack you skull. Just kiddin’.”

By the way, a “dollar” is a $100 bet in gambling lingo.

According to documents filed by the assistant state prosecutor, Infante deposited a total of $59,620 into a bank account from 1992 to 2015. His tax records show that he never declared any of the money as income.

The amount of bets was from $10 to $300, and Infante kept written records of the transactions in cigar boxes. Talk about predictable.

Finally, 2017 will also provide a first on the national level: the first billionaire, non-politician to be sworn in as president of the United States on Jan. 20.

Republican Donald J. Trump, a real estate developer from New York City, shocked the political world by first winning the GOP primary and then defeating a veteran politician, Democrat Hillary Clinton, in the general election.

Trump has already broken with tradition on so many levels that this year promises to be a political rollercoaster ride that will require the American people to hold on for dear life.