Remember the bone-crushing letter Holly Hanni sent to Mahoning County Democratic precinct committeemen and women about her brother, Mark, before the May primary?

In the letter, Holly warned of Mark’s attempt to wrest the party away from Chairman David Betras by running a slate of precinct committee candidates. Well, the warning struck a chord because the pro-Hanni forces performed miserably at the polls.

Thus, Betras goes into Wednesday’s party reorganization meeting with a decided advantage in the precinct committee vote count over his political archrival, who has insisted all along that he isn’t running for chairman and has no dog in the fight.

But sister Holly isn’t buying her brother’s protestations, and so she has dashed off another letter to the precinct committeemen and women.

Read it and enjoy.

“May 24, 2010

Dear Precinct Committee Member;

Once again, I feel it necessary to respond to my brother, Mark Hanni’s nasty political tactics.  You may remember in my last letter I implored you not to let the efforts of dissidents working for my brother, prevail.  I want to make sure everyone is aware of Mark’s recent scheme to take control of the Democrat Party.  You may recall Mark stated that he had no plans to run for Chairman himself just like when he failed to take over the Republican Party in 2002 and 2006.  Even though the majority of his precinct candidates lost including Mark himself, it appears he is still at it.  Mark and his band of dissidents are still pathetically plotting and their tactics are almost laughable. 

On May 15, Mark had Georgiann Decenzo, hold a house party so that Ed Aey could announce his candidacy for Chairman.  If you check out Ed Aey recent posting on facebook, you will learn that MARK’S PLAN IS TO

HAVE ED AEY ACCUSE DAVE BETRAS OF MAKING BACKROOM DEALS WITH MARK HANNI.  Now that is funny! 
Meanwhile, the same Mark Hanni is having my sister HEIDI HANNI call committee people to ask them to vote for Georgiann Decenzo for Chairman.  When in actuality they are all Mark’s allies working together to defeat Chairman Betras.  I am told they are planning other dirty tricks too.  The saying goes “Desperate times calls for desperate measures”, and Mark is certainly desperate these days.  Please don’t let them fool you.  A VOTE FOR ANYBODY ELSE EXCEPT DAVE BETRAS IS A VOTE FOR MARK HANNI. 

I would like (to) wish Dave Betras good luck and continued success with the Democrat Party. 

Sincerely,

Holly Hanni”

The patriarch of the Hanni clan, the late Don L. Hanni Jr., a hard-hitting political fighter if ever there was one, must be having a hearty laugh at the way his daughter keeps smacking down his son. When the elder Hanni was chairman of the party, he followed one simple rule: Take no prisoners.