And So This is Christmas

There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago

-Andy Williams, It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Christmas is here in the city. The Holiday Parade has come and gone, the Thanksgiving turkey has been eaten, and by now everyone is tired of the left overs.

The good citizens of Massillon are shopping, decorating, and busily preparing for Christmas. We don't have time for civic life during the hectic Holiday Season.

And our Mayor for Life knows it.

People aren't paying attention to what council is doing around Christmas.

And Christmas seems like the perfect time for Santa Frank and his merry elves to take care of business without public backlash.

On December 21, 1995, Santa Frank's merry elves voted to give our Mayor for Life, themselves, the council president, law director, auditor, and city treasurer annual unvoted pay raises for life.

Santa Frank had just been elected to his third term as mayor for life, and needed a pay raise. Council passed, and he approved, a scheme to give himself an immediate 21% increase, and an unvoted raise every year after that.

Here is how this unvoted raise scheme works. Every year, the mayor, city council, city council president, law director, auditor, and treasurer receive an automatic, unvoted pay raise tied to the consumer price index. This ordinance is open ended, meaning it goes on forever. It is also uncapped, meaning there is no ceiling to how high the increase can be any given year.

It was Santa Frank's merry Christmas present to himself and his faithful council elves.

Christmas of 2002 brought the citizens of Massillon another Yuletide gift, the hijacking of our park income tax to subsidize the failing city golf course. The week before Christmas, Massillon City Council voted 7 - 2 to merge the Legends of Massillon golf course with the Parks and Recreation Department. The two Republicans on council, Jim Filhour and Claudette Istnick voted no. The yes votes included former councilman, and now Safety Service Director Mike Loudiana, Glenn Gamber, Ron Mang, and former councilman, now city treasurer, Paul Lambert.

Our Mayor for Life assured everyone this was merely a plan to "streamline city government" and was "not a big scheme to have the parks department cover the golf course's expenses" (The Repository, December 17, 2002).

Of course, it turned out to be a big scheme to use park dollars to subsidize the golf course.

And so, we turn to Christmas of 2010. What surprises could Santa Frank and his merry elves have for the people of Massillon this year?

How about an unbalanced city budget that deliberately shorts salaries for police and firefighters under the city's Christmas tree?

Lap Dog Paul wants the city's budget voted on at council's December 20th meeting.

"Councilman Paul Manson, chairman of the finance committee wants council to pass the budget when it comes up for a third reading on Dec. 20" (The Independent, November 5th, 2010).

The last budget wasn't passed until March. Why the rush?

Firstly, Santa Frank wants this odious business over as soon as possible, so it is not an issue when he is running for election to his seventh term and campaigning for the Democratic nomination in the May Primary.

Secondly, the December 20th council meeting is perfect, only days before Christmas, when once again, no one will be paying attention.

Will he have the votes? Of course he will!

Santa's elves always make sure that Santa's work gets done in time for Christmas Eve.