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Area Politics … Or Why You Can’t Tell the Players Without a
Scorecard
By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor
Lucas County Commissioner Ban Konop’s last
minute announcement a week ago that he would not seek
re-election to the post he has held for four years brought
about a flurry of activity that forced candidates to
scramble in order to meet last Thursday’s filing deadline.
When the dust had settled, 10 candidates had entered the
race for the vacated seat.
Among the prospective candidates are two
African-Americans, both Democrats: Art Jones and Earl Murry.
Konop made his announcement on Sunday
February 14 leaving candidates four days to file. Prior to
that surprise, it had been widely anticipated that Konop
would handily win the Democratic primary on May 4 but then
face stiff opposition from Toledo City Councilman George
Sarantou, a Republican, in November’s general election.
Konop defeated Sarantou in 2006 but has since found himself
isolated on the Board of Commissioners and soundly defeated
in last year’s Toledo mayoral contest. His earlier
pronouncements that he would serve his full four-year term
and his repeated clashes with colleagues apparently did not
serve him well in that primary.
The Democrats who have filed to replace Konop
are Jones; Murry; Carol Contrada, an attorney and Sylvania
Township trustee; Ben Krompak, a political strategist who
has worked recently with mayoral candidate Keith Wilkowski
and Councilman Joe McNamara (who will be running for a State
Senate seat); Tim Porter, retired public health
administrator of Sylvania Township and Michael Zychowicz, an
attorney and Sylvania Township resident.
Republican candidates include Sarantou; Andy
Glenn,, a Springfield Township trustee; Pamela Hanley, a
former Sylvania Township trustee and Dan Steingraber, a real
estate businessman from Oregon.
Jones, a former Toledo City Councilman, is a
retired long-time City of Toledo employee who served as an
assistant to Mayor Jack Ford during Ford’s four-year term.
Most recently, Jones was a volunteer on an advisory
committee to the Board of Commissioners for the Lucas County
Arena project in order to help set and meet goals for
minority inclusion in contracting and hiring.
Murry, a retired University of Toledo
professor and administrator, has long been active
championing causes for those in the minority community. This
will be his first run for elective office.
The scramble to fill the commissioner’s seat
follows on the heels of the political musical chairs game to
fill vacated seats on the state and, possibly, the city
level.
That game started in earnest when State Rep.
Peter Ujvagi, a Democrat, who represents District 47, was
named by the Board of Commissioners to replace Mike Beazley
as county administrator. Beazley is moving to Oregon to
become administrator there.
Not the least of Ujvagi’s concerns was the
fact that he was term-limited – prevented from running for
another term in the House of Representatives.
So State Senator Tereso Fedor, also
term-limited, has filed to run for Ujvagi’s
soon-to-be-vacated seat and will be seeking an appointment
to the position at the moment it becomes available.
Now comes state Rep. Edna Brown, of the House
District 48, who is term-limited as well, seeking to gain
the appointment for the vacated Fedor Senate seat. She has
filed to run for election to the Senate and is expected to
face stiff opposition from McNamara who covets that job as
well.
And if Brown is successful in gaining the
appointment to the Senate, Councilman Michael Ashford will
be seeking the appointment to fill her spot and is already
planning to run for the seat in the May primary.
Ashford represents Toledo District 4. If he
moves on, WilliAnn Moore, a longtime Democratic Party
activist, retired teacher with Toledo Public Schools,
president of the Toledo Chapter of the NAACP and chairman of
the board for the ONYX community Development Corporation,
has made it known that she would like to replace Ashford.
Got all that? Good. But be warned, we’re just
getting started here, folks. |
