Friday, October 31, 2014

PART III - A MULTI-PART "ANALYTICAL" SERIES ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE ON KEY "STARK COUNTY" RACES: THE SHERIFF CONTEST


As a child it dawned on me, that the general public thought Republicans were in a political party of the rich and Democrats were the party of the working class.

My family was working class.

So the question I posed to my father?

"Dad, why are we (the Olson family) Republicans?

Dad, would get red in the face and say:  "Son, don't believe that bunk.  The Republican Party is the party of Abraham Lincoln and there wasn't a more common man who has ever been president of these United States of America!"

Being considerably older now, it is now apparent to me that neither political party's province is of any economic class.

They both have rich and poor and to the degree to which it exists due to he "dumbing down" of America's wage structure - the middle class.

So it has been "eye opening" to me (switched to the Democratic Party in 1976) and out of both main political parties (with the initiation of the SCPR, March 2008) as to how "out-of-touch" both the Republican and Democratic political parties are vis-a-vis huge segments of the American public.

Not sure what is going to replace them, but I am convinced that over the longer course we are in for a political convulsion the likes of which this great country has never seen.

Both political parties have become about themselves and empowering and enriching those who man the party posts of leadership by which the parties commandeer (in the sense that ordinary people are not buying) our institutions of government at the national, state and local levels (thereby excluding most of them from "meaningful" participation) and consequently are sowing the seeds of the parties' demise over the long haul.

Okay, Martin, it's time:  "Off the soap box!" and get on to the Dordea campaign finance report and DO IT NOW!

THE DORDEA CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORT

The SCPR uses the Nixonian "Republican Cloth Coat" (LINK) analogy to set up this blog's discussion on:
  • the Dordea campaign, 
    • its structure, 
    • the level of contributions, and 
    • the campaign not focusing, as far as The Report can tell, on seemingly benefiting a specific person or company with ties within the Republican party structure (contrast:  Kody Gonzalez and the Democrats) in terms of campaign expenditures on the part of various campaigns
First, there are really no Big Kahunas apparent in the Dordea CFR as there are in Maiers (LINK to yesterday's blog).


Compare the Dordea list with Maiers:


Hmm?

Two to one, Maier trumps Dordea.

And Maier's list of high end donors is quite a bit longer than Dordea's.

Interesting, no? for the political party who likes to portray Republicans as "the party of the rich."

It could be that the Maier Political Machine is much more comfortable with the "hob-nob" crowd than local Republicans?

Remember, former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr has had a fight or two or maybe even three over the past decade or so?

The evidence is there for one to think that perhaps the brothers Maier do not feel all that comfortable with the so called "working class?"

Maybe that is part of the "unstated reason" why former Democratic sheriff Tim Swanson has endorsed Dordea?

And it could be that George (in his political sophistication; largely at the schooling of brother Johnnie, Jr.) did not appreciate the decorated American military hero, no-nonsense, day-in, day-out, working class 27 year sheriff deputy named Dan Altieri?


Maybe Swanson is right?
  • (remember though, he merely recommended Dordea as being the only candidate "qualified under Ohio's sheriff qualification law" to be sheriff)
The SCPR is speculating as to what else may have been in Swanson's mind as he mulled over whether or not to endorse a Republican.

For lifelong Democrat Swanson to endorse a Republican and have his picture taken with him, had to be one tough process for this staunch Democrat, no?


Given what is revealed by the Maier CFR,  for many rank-and-file Democrats, the candidate of choice on Tuesday might be Republican Larry Dordea as a personification of what most ordinary Stark Countians want in the sheriff's office?

Other differences in the Dordea CFR as contrasted to Maier's is that there is "NO!" list of employees under his management who have contributed to his campaign.

There was no solicitation like this:


Yet another difference is the complete absence in union contributions to Dordea.

To the SCPR this is a sad thing.

The Report's heart goes out to the working men and women of America.

Democrats like the brothers Maier - The Report thinks - use unions for their personal political aspirations but appear to want nothing to do with them when it comes to "hob-nobbing" time.

And, to boot, most organized/elected Republicans work them over big time.

More than any other factor, the SCPR sees unions has the key American phenomenon that made the middle class what it was in its heyday in the 1950s, 1960s and even into the 1970s and is a sort of "Custer's Last Stand" for the middle class nowadays.

Republicans who are anti-union should be ashamed of themselves.  They should find ways to work with them.

As sheriff, if elected, Republican Larry Dordea will have the opportunity to be a model for Republicans in working with unions.

Doing such could be a way for him to get re-elected in 2016.

The election of 2016 will be "a whole kettle of different fish," in that it is a presidential election year.  Republicans have a tough time winning countywide in Stark County in presidential years.

The SCPR's overall assessment of Dordea campaign finances is that he has raised enough to put on a campaign that might well turn out to be the winning campaign.

Dordea has been able to get by on significantly less than Maier because the overall political environment favor him, to wit:
  • Republican governor John Kasich is going to politically obliterate Democrat Ed FitzGerald on this coming Tuesday,
  • Dordea will benefit because many Democrats will stay at home in the face of the expected onslaught,
  • While some Republicans will likely vote for Maier (the SCPR thinks a Republican Stark County commissioner will be one of them), the number of those doing so should be washed out if not surpassed by Swanson/Ferrero/Darrow Democrats (who opposed Maier's appointment on February 5th and December 11th of 2013) who vote for Dordea
Despite the disadvantage that Dordea has in having been significantly out fundraised; in the 2014 political Republican landslide environment, he might still surface as Stark County's next "elected" sheriff.

One acquaintance of the SCPR thinks Dordea will win comfortably.

The Report does not share that sentiment.

If Dordea wins, the SCPR thinks it will be relatively close.

As in the Maier Campaign Finance Report blog, the SCPR has transformed the BOE filed paper reports ("Hey! Representative Schuring, let's get into the 21st Century with Ohio's campaign finance information") so that you, the SCPR reader has an easy way to find out who is supporting Dordea/Maier that either speaks well for him or not so well.

To the SCPR, it looks like Dordea is wearing a CFR that is tantamount to him donning a "Republican cloth coat."

In this election, it appears that Democrat George T. Maier is wearing the "mink coat."

Here is a LINK to the report.

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