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David Skolnick

Don’t count on any fast move of Mahoning elections board

For the past two years, Mahoning County Board of Elections officials have vocally complained about the conditions at its offices at Oakhill Renaissance Place. There’s been a lot of talk. There’s even been singing as board Chairman David Betras performed in front of the county commissioners. Could action finally be forthcoming? That’s difficult to determine, but things have progressed more in the last six weeks than they have at any other time during the past two years. All involved parties agree on one thing: Getting the board of elections and other county offices out of ...

Low primary turnout is the norm in Mahoning Valley

As has been the case for years, turnout for this spring’s primary is expected to be poor. It should be between 23% and 25% in Mahoning County, according to Tom McCabe, director of its board of elections. Stephanie Penrose, his counterpart in Trumbull County, expects turnout to be around 25% in her county. The predictions are in line with what the two counties have seen in the past few years. In the May 2022 primary, when the governor’s seat was on the ballot, turnout in Mahoning was 23.24% and 25.83% in Trumbull. In the 2018 primary, which had contested governor’s ...

‘Naked Niki,’ Trump endorsement dominate GOP US House primary

There’s more to U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce than his endorsement by President Donald Trump and more to his Republican primary challenger Niki Frenchko than her attention-grabbing photos to draw people to her “OnlyFrenchko” website. With early voting starting Tuesday and the May 5 primary a month away, each campaign has its focus. I will be writing an article shortly detailing the platforms of the two Republicans as well as the three Democrats running in the 14th Congressional District race. But first I wanted to expand on what Joyce and Frenchko are doing. Joyce is running ads that ...

Rulli opponent’s ballot wins heighten her profile for voters

Jullie Kelley, the lone Republican challenging U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli in the GOP primary for the latter’s congressional seat, has two victories over the incumbent’s campaign in the past few weeks. But wins in front of the Stark County Board of Elections and the Ohio Supreme Court to remain on the ballot is unlikely to translate into success for Kelley during the May 5 Republican primary. It’s understandable that Rulli of Salem, a congressman since winning a special June 2024 election for the 6th District seat, would want to avoid a Republican primary though realistically his ...

Ramaswamy proposes Ohio university consolidation

Asked about his goal to eliminate the state’s income tax, Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican front-runner for governor, proposed consolidating Ohio’s universities. It was a curious response. Ramaswamy said: “The reason (eliminating the income tax is) possible is that you look at certain areas of excess spending where we can not just cut costs, but improve effectiveness. Look at the number of universities in our state. I love the universities in Ohio. I want us to have the best universities. But we have too many of them. They need to be consolidated. And when you consolidate them, ...

DeWine missed opportunities to address key issues for Ohio

During his final State of the State address this week, Gov. Mike DeWine declined to discuss in detail — and not at all in some cases — the main issues that are important to Ohioans today: property taxes, the electric grid, rising utility costs and the economy. But that came as little surprise as DeWine, who is serving his eighth and final year as governor, has a different agenda than his fellow Republicans, who control the state House and Senate. DeWine took an active role in property tax reform after vetoing four items in the state budget dealing with it last year. After some ...