Don Hanni’s stories, charm will be missed

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan’s office sent an e-mail recently calling on President Bush to begin releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, a move the Niles Democrat says “would immediately help bring down oil and gas prices and keep the nation from sinking further into recession.” The e-mail states the reserve currently has over 706 billion barrels of oil, the largest amount ever held in reserve. My initial thought was “wow, that’s a lot of oil!” Guess what? It is. The morning after the initial e-mail, Ryan’s office sent another one. At the top of the second e-mail was a note that the amount of oil in the reserve is over 706 million barrels, not 706 billion barrels. One wrong letter led to the loss of 705,294,000,000 barrels of oil. U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, a Republican from Bainbridge Township, finally succeeded on his fourth attempt to get Congress to add Mahoning and Trumbull counties to the Appalachian Regional Commission. How hard was it? “Congressman Tim Ryan and I stood our ground and nipped at the ankles of the Senate like a yippy dog that wouldn’t be ignored,” he said. skolnick@vindy.com

By David Skolnick

I first met Don L. Hanni Jr. in late 2000, well after the Bull Moose’s prime as a political kingmaker in the Mahoning Valley.

It happened shortly after I moved from the newspaper’s Trumbull County bureau to cover politics downtown.

Hanni’s office is next door to the rear of The Vindicator. I was walking by the parking lot east of his building and he called out to me. This startled me a bit.

Of course I knew him — Hanni is a political and legal legend in the area — but I was surprised he knew me. It wasn’t exactly like I was a familiar face. I didn’t start writing my column until January 2001 so Hanni couldn’t have recognized me by my picture.

Hanni started talking about something political, I don’t recall the subject, but I remember three things about that initial conversation:

Hanni knew what he was talking about.

He had an incredible ability to use a certain four-letter word as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb in the same sentence. I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised on Staten Island so I’m no stranger to colorful language. But I was impressed by how the words rolled off Hanni’s tongue with great ease.

He had a disarming smile. It let me know he was just trying to have some fun with me. I’m sure during his heyday, Hanni didn’t flash that smile to his political enemies unless he was exacting a little bit of revenge.

Blunt, straight-forward, someone who cuts right to the heart of the issue, and was never shy about giving his opinion. That’s what Hanni was to me.

With Hanni’s death Wednesday, the area lost the last of the old-school politicians.

I wasn’t around when Hanni ran the Mahoning County Democratic Party, but I’ve heard plenty of stories about how he ruled with an iron grip.

If you went against his wishes by running for a certain office or supported someone he didn’t like, Hanni wouldn’t forget. He would find someone, sometimes it was a guy he barely knew, to run against an officeholder he didn’t like just to give the politician a hard time.

Politics has changed significantly since Hanni’s 16-year term as chairman ended in 1994. Actually the change in politics is probably why Hanni lost control of the party.

Michael Morley along with David Engler and others led a movement to change the county’s Democratic Party in 1994 saying it was archaic and held back the region.

Taking control of a county party is one of the most difficult challenges in politics, particularly when you take on someone as entrenched as Hanni.

You have to field candidates in precinct committee races and have enough of them win because those committee members vote on the party’s chairman. At the time, the county had 412 precincts.

Morley was elected chairman and Hanni, who was 67 years old at the time, faded into the political background.

Hanni was always considerably more successful when it came to backing winning candidates than getting himself elected. His last stab at running for office was seven years ago.

There was an unexpired term on the Youngstown Board of Education and no one filed to run for the seat by the deadline. Hanni was among five who ran as write-in candidates in that 2001 election. He finished third.

During his final years, Hanni took his place as the party’s elder statesman, a position he deserved.

I never got to see him in his political prime, but with his entertaining stories and charm, he’s someone I’ll truly miss.

By David Skolnick(Contact David)