The Plot Thickens

According to the crack Massillon Review investigative team, we may have another candidate who is ready to battle Massillon's Mayor for Life for the opportunity to lead our fair city. Who is this usurper ready to challenge King Frank Cicchinelli for his throne?

None other than Massillon Judge Eddie Elum.

Elum and Cicchinelli have been sparring for years, and apparently Elum is tired of the mayor's mismanagement of city finances, as well as how the city's park system has been raided to prop up the failing Legends of Massillon Golf Course. According to state law, Elum would have to hang up his robe before he can run, but Elum is allegedly giving serious thought to resigning as judge in order to challenge our Mayor for Life.

The relatively weak Tim Bryan almost upset the mayor in 2007, losing by a mere 258 votes. Three years later, the city is in worse financial shape, facing monstrous budget deficits, the park system is a mess, and the mayor is less popular than he has ever been.

The Massillon Review believes that if Judge Elum runs for mayor, Cicchinelli gets crushed. If Cicchinelli were honest with himself, he would realize that too.

We still predict that Cicchinelli will announce his intentions to run for a 7th term. We certainly hope so. An Elum vs. Cicchinelli campaign for mayor would produce a lot of fireworks.

Reader Mail

One of our faithful readers dropped us a line blaming us for some of the the negative esteem currently surrounding Massillon's Mayor for Life. Really? It's our fault? We never told the mayor to approve a budget that was not balanced. We never thought he should raid the park tax money to subsidize his golf course. We never thought building a 6,500 seat arena to host a team in a defunct teenage hockey league was a good idea either. We never thought he should approve legislation giving himself an annual, unvoted pay raise. We didn't believe using park tax money to buy a restaurant, with no business plan, was a prudent decision. No, Frank Cicchinelli has only the man in the mirror to blame for his decisions. It was also suggested that we change our blog title to the "Anti-Massillon Review." How witty. We have always been impressed with the razor sharp intellect of the mayor's cronies. That's why we own a failing golf course, a failing restaurant, and are paying the mortgage so someone else can run a hotel. It must have taken days to come up with that line. Sadly, it must have taken days.

Another reader enjoyed the Massillon's Review's exclusive video of Mayor Frank Cicchinelli training and getting into shape for his 7th mayor's race. This reader wanted to know where the mayor was working out. It was, of course, Reservoir Park. Didn't you notice the rubberized walking track lacking a rubberized surface? Must have been Park Vandals.