‘Tis the season. The jolly man has arrived in ol’ Froggy Bottom. He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice. That’s right, it’s another round of “replace that Council member” and former Toledo Mayor Smilin’ Jack Ford tops the list seeking the appointment to the vacancy. Caught you off guard, didn’t we? That other Decemberish jolly man can hang on a minute or three. The real fun is about to begin over at One Guvmint Centah!
Musical chairs
Here’s the background. Toledo City Council
members Phil Copeland and Georgie Sarantou are both prevented from keeping their public pay checks by term limits. Both refuse to sink softly back into the trials and travails of the private sector and so they ran against each other for the safer environs of the County Recorder’s office.
Copeland emerged from the recent election as the victor, meaning he will be sworn into an office where the basic job description includes ensuring sufficient paper to supply the copying machine. We’re confident he can handle the task. We’re also certain he’ll sleepwalk through this 19th century office relic until he maxes out his public pension. This will force him to vacate his Council seat come January. The remaining members of Council will appoint his replacement.
Eager beavers are already lining up to fill the void. This is a common scene in the Swamp, as Democratic council members frequently seek other offices and leave vacancies. Democrats have always held a firm majority on council, at least in the memory of anyone living, so it is always assumed a D will fill the open seat. Rs on council usually place some poor slob into nomination, but their chances of winning a majority are the same as an ice cube’s chance of survival on Carty’s throbbing temples.
That D embarrassment of riches means it’s a perfect opportunity to tear themselves apart. This has certainly been the case in recent years. Indeed, the A vs. B team rift, always smoldering beneath the surface, often bubbles into the light of day during appointment battles.
Examples abound. After Pete Gerken was elected to his seat on the County Commission in 2004, Ds on Council appointed Phil Copeland over the B team choice, Mark Sobczak, in January 2005. Wade Kapszukiewicz was elected in the same election to replace Ray Kest as LC Treasurer; Kest resigned in early 2005 bathed in the light of questionable use of campaign funds. Who was appointed by the then-B team dominated Dem Party Central Committee to fill the seat? Of course, not the duly elected Kapszukiewicz, who wouldn’t take office for several more months, but instead building tradesman Dennis Duffey.
By this time the split was so deep two entire slates of Ds were on the November ballot, one headed by incumbent Jack Ford and the other by Carty Finklestein. They even had two separate party headquarters. The battle continued into October of oh five over who would replace Kapszukiewicz on council. That battle got so smarmy that a place holder who didn’t want the seat permanently, John Henry Fullen, was appointed.
The 2005 November election changed the complexion of council, as B teamer Sobczak ousted A teamer Karyn McConnell Hancock, A teamer Bob Vasquez lost his bid at a seat, and Republican Joe Birmingham replaced Fullen. B teamer Bob McCloskey was elected to an at-large seat, vacating his District 3 seat, which was promptly filled in January of 2006 by B team choice Taylor Balderas. When McCloskey resigned later in 2006 under indictment for charges of accepting bribes, the B team got to appoint Lourdes
Santiago as his replacement.
A teamers had taken enough on the chin. They backed Mike Craig to run against Balderas in the ensuing special election, and Craig won. Likewise, Santiago lost to Joe McNamara in a special election run off.
By 2009 the party had struggled to heal the rift, running a single slate and sharing a single headquarters. When Sobczak resigned in July, the party screened candidates, and then-School Board President Steven Steel was appointed without fanfare. He won the seat that November.
Damage control
That was a short respite, it would seem. The new vacancy has renewed the struggle, and with a familiar cast of characters. Ford wants the seat, but the building trades want Shaun Enright, a member of Duffey’s old union, who ran against Craig in 2011. School Board member Bob Vasquez reportedly is interested, as is current Prez Lisa Sobecki. The current D Party Chair Ron Rothenbuhler is an old tradesman, and McNamara is now President of Council. Will either show the leadership necessary to figure out this mess, craft a compromise, and keep the D boat rowing together? Or will it be 2005 déjà vu all over again?
Hang on, kidz, we’ll find out right after the holidaze!
