Youngstown mayor says he expects opponents to go after him on his criminal convictions

January 6, 2017 at 12:02a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Mayor John McNally files for second term

Mayor John A. McNally turned in petitions with 142 signatures to the county elections board Thursday, Jan. 5. He needs 50 of them to be valid to qualify for the Democratic primary on May 2.

Mayor John A. McNally said he expects his opponents to go after him on his criminal convictions, but added voters are more interested in his administration’s accomplishments during his first term running the city.

“I think folks want to talk about how we continue to move forward in a positive way,” McNally, a Democrat, said Thursday as he became the first person in Mahoning County to file nominating petitions for an elected position this year.

The mayor turned in petitions with 142 signatures to the county elections board. He needs 50 of them to be valid to qualify for the Democratic primary May 2.

McNally said he is focused on his administration’s accomplishments during his first term as mayor, including a reduction in crime, an increase in demolitions and more economic-development projects.

McNally pleaded guilty in February 2016 to four misdemeanors: two counts of falsification, and one count each of unlawful use of a telecommunications device and attempted disclosure of confidential information. He was given a year’s probation in March 2016 and allowed to remain in office. He was facing 18 felonies and seven misdemeanors when he took the deal.

He was accused of being part of a criminal enterprise that conspired to illegally stop or impede the relocation of the Mahoning County Job and Family Services Department from a building owned by a subsidiary of the Cafaro Co. to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center. McNally was a county commissioner when the county, over his objections, purchased Oakhill in 2007.

“We made a decision in 2016 to put the issue to bed for me permanently, and I’m very happy we did that,” he said.

McNally added, “Folks are concerned about what’s happening in the city now and we’ll continue to move the city forward. That’s going to be my message.”

And how will voters react?

“Come May 2, we’ll have a determination from voters on how they feel about things, but, quite frankly, the sense I get is people feel very positive about the direction the city is moving in.”

McNally expects some others to get into the Democratic primary before the Feb. 1 filing deadline.

“Anybody else interested in the race, I think: the more, the merrier,” McNally said.

Others interested in seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor include Jamael Tito Brown, a former council president who lost the 2013 primary to McNally by 142 votes; former Councilwoman Janet Tarpley of the 6th Ward; and Harry Turner, who unsuccessfully ran in 2015 as an independent candidate for 5th Ward council.

Brown said earlier this week of McNally’s convictions: “We deserve better in the city of Youngstown from our leadership.”