Antonini quits thankless job as Dems chair

POLITICAL GATHERING: The Democrats of the 17th and 6th Districts will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Poland Baseball Association hall on Sheridan Road. Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams is the guest speaker. Also, candidates who plan to run for the vacant Mahoning County Democratic Party chair position are invited to speak to members of the political club. Early entry: While others are waiting to see if U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, decides to not seek re-election so they can run for an open seat, one candidate isn’t waiting. Diane T. di Carlo Murphy of Youngstown says she will run next year for the seat regardless of Ryan’s decision. She didn’t fare well the last time she ran for Congress. In the 2004 Democratic primary for the 6th Congressional District seat, Murphy, who lived in Beaver Township at the time, received only 17 percent of the vote against then-U.S. Rep. and now Gov. Ted Strickland. Ryan is still considering whether to run for re-election to the U.S. House next year or join Gov. Ted Strickland as his lieutenant governor running mate. skolnick@vindy.com

By David Skolnick

You would think the job of chairing the Mahoning County Democratic Party is an easy one.

After all, no Republicans hold partisan elected offices in Mahoning, one of the most Democratic counties in the state. There are judges, school board members and township trustees who are Republicans, but those are nonpartisan races meaning there isn’t a “R” after any of their names on the general election ballot.

But the reality is running the party isn’t an easy task.

Because the county is so heavily Democratic you have a lot of infighting among various factions of the party.

You also have the pressure to always deliver incredibly strong numbers for Democrats in statewide and federal elections.

Regardless of how much success you have, there is always a considerable amount of criticism.

Also, it’s a thankless job.

You don’t get paid for something, that if done correctly, takes up a lot of your time.

There are some perks — such as having enough clout to make job recommendations for appointments to certain county departments — but with the economy in such a mess, that’s disappeared in recent years.

Anyone who takes the position is aware of the demands so there’s no excuse for failing to live up to the job’s responsibilities.

It’s been obvious for some time that Lisa Antonini, who resigned a week ago as party chair after holding the post for nearly seven years, was not doing a good job.

“Over the last six to eight months I wasn’t devoting as much time as I should have to the party,” she said. “I could feel it wasn’t something I wanted to continue.”

Some say Antonini’s commitment to the party ended long before that.

But her lack of commitment isn’t unusual. Her two predecessors — Michael Morley and David Ditzler — lost their desire to serve as chair before they left.

While Antonini was very active in the 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry, the failed Democratic nominee, she was invisible in last year’s presidential election. Democrat Barack Obama won Mahoning County, though with a smaller percentage than Kerry, and, of course, the presidency.

If Obama had lost Ohio because of his showing in Mahoning County, the state party would have been extremely vocal about it.

As it is, she was a nonentity on the state Democratic level.

Antonini said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern cut her “out of the loop” because she voted for his opponent in the December 2005 election for chairman. Redfern said it was Antonini who didn’t “support the Ohio Democratic Party the past 31‚Ñ2 years,” citing her failure to attend any party executive committee meetings since his election. Antonini was a member of the committee until her resignation last week.

There were plenty of other issues involving Antonini that created controversy. She supported her friend, Martin Yavorcik, in his failed challenge as an independent candidate for county prosecutor against Democrat Paul J. Gains, the incumbent.

She waged a war of words with the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus, headed by Capri Cafaro of Liberty, over the selection of Joe Schiavoni, then a political novice, in December 2008 to fill a vacant state Senate seat that includes all of Mahoning County in its district.

The party’s inability to take a consistent position on endorsing candidates was a complete embarrassment. The party reinstated endorsements in 2006 and except for supporting Ted Strickland for governor and Marc Dann for attorney general that year, it never endorsed another candidate. Last year, the party voted to not endorse in the primary.

What little power the party had evaporated with that decision.

“The bills are paid and the rent [on party headquarters] is current,” Antonini said when asked about her biggest accomplishment as chairwoman. She took over a party deep in debt and left it with a surplus of about $20,000.

The person selected to succeed her will have to focus on energizing and uniting the precinct committee members, both major challenges, as well as making the party relevant again, something it hasn’t been for a decade.

By David Skolnick(Contact David)