Here He Comes to Save the Day

The Massillon City budget submitted by Massillon's Mayor for Life, Frank Cicchinelli, is woefully unbalanced. A huge shortfall exists in the salary accounts for police and fire. The budget ships another $524,000 to pay the debt on the Legends of Massillon Golf Course. And $700,000 dollars of bills that should have been paid in 2010 are being pushed into 2011.

This past Monday night was council's last chance to discuss the budget before the scheduled vote on December 20.

The Mayor for Life, who proposed this sham masquerading as a balanced budget was nowhere to be found.

"Cicchinelli was not at council's work session, the final meeting before council votes on the proposed budget" (The Independent, December 14, 2010).

Auditor Jayne Ferrero washed her hands of the situation as well.

"Ferrero insisted council needs to increase revenue or resort to massive layoffs to make actual expenses meet revenue. She said it was not up to her to propose cuts or revenue increases" (The Independent, December 14, 2010).

The Mayor for Life was hiding. The Auditor had washed her hands. Who was left to take on the challenge of dealing with Massillon's budgetary problems? Who would lead the charge to cut costs, or raise revenues to avoid massive layoffs of safety forces? Who would lead Massillon's finances during these dark days?

Massillon's Lap Dog of the Treasury, Paul Manson. That's who.

Paul Manson, who must have studied the budget for weeks.

Paul Manson, who must know the ins and outs of city finances like the back of his hand.

Paul Manson, who must have led council in a vigorous, night long discussion over the finer points of city finance.

The citizens of Massillon have nothing to fear. The Lap Dog of the Treasury, Paul Manson is here.

Let us examine the inspiring leadership Paul Manson brought forth at Monday's council meeting.

"Councilman Paul Manson, chairman of the Finance Committee, said all the information council needs it has and there is no reason to delay a vote" (The Independent, December 14, 2010).

Wow. Inspiring leadership during the city's financial crisis.

One must realize that as chairman of the Finance Committee, Lap Dog Paul sees his role a little differently. His job is to cover the mayor for life's backside. Protecting the city's money and making sure the budget is balanced is not his concern.

He isn't capable of overseeing the city's finances, so he doesn't even bother to try. What makes him qualified to serve as Finance Chairman is his undying loyalty to our beloved Mayor for Life. Competence is not relevant to the conversation.

Defending the budget numbers is not relevant either. The Mayor for Life has his five votes. The unbalanced budget will pass next Monday night. The vote will be 5 - 4 in favor.

Die hard rubber stamps Paul Manson, Taxman Hersher, Ron Mang and Dave McCune will vote yes. They will be joined by either Donnie Peters or Larry Slagle. Our hunch is that Peters will once again provide the winning margin for yet another unbalanced city budget. He seems to be back in the mayor's fold.

Once again, Massillon's Mayor for Life wins the battle.

As he always does.

The budget is a mess. Not Frank Cicchinelli's problem. The buck, once again, stopped somewhere else. It stopped with Lap Dog of the Treasury Paul Manson, who in his role as watch dog of the city's finances did what what he was expected to do. He rolled over and played dead.