Who Will Get The Blame?

Massillon City Council has actually had the courage to vote down the unbalanced budget presented by Massillon's Extraordinary Mayor for Life, King Francis the Eternal, Lord Sovereign of the City.

It was voted down 5 - 4.

This was the same vote when council voted down the same budget three months ago.

Despite what we believe to be enormous pressure to vote "Yes", Larry Slagle, Donnie Peters, and Gary Anderson did not flip-flop.

The mayor's ingenious strategy of doing absolutely nothing to fix his budget did not appear to work.

The mayor's 'plan,' if you can call it that, was to get a "No" vote to switch and vote "Yes."

Larry Slagle, Donnie Peters, and Gary Anderson acted courageously and stood by their convictions.

We are confident it was not an easy vote to cast in the face of tremendous lobbying from Team Cicchinelli.

We are also confident the mayor will be looking for others to blame his budgetary fiasco on.

As the buck never stops at the mayor's desk in Massillon.

This ball, however, is clearly in his court.

Council rejected this exact same budget three months ago.

The mayor offered no changes, no cuts, no new revenue streams, no budget hearings, and no discussion.

Enveloped by his own arrogance, he was not about to make any changes.

He was going to make council blink.

They didn't.

The blame is the mayor's.

He will, of course, not accept it.

But it is his and his alone.

Arrogance and bullying is no way to run a city.

And tonight proved it.