Note: The article that ran today on post-general election finance reports in Mahoning County incorrectly stated Jeffrey Rudzik gave another $20,000 to the campaign of Geno DiFabio, commissioner-elect. The Vindicator regrets the error and is publishing this corrected version.

YOUNGSTOWN – Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler, the incumbent Democrat, loaned $30,000 to his unsuccessful campaign.

Republican Geno DiFabio beat Ditzler 50.9% to 49.1% – 54,679-52,681 – in the Nov. 5 election.

It was incorrectly reported today that DiFabio received a second $20,000 contribution from Jeffrey Rudzik, owner of Rudzik Excavating in Struthers. Instead, DiFabio filed an amended pre-general election campaign finance report the same day as his post-general report that showed the original $20,200 in contributions from Rudzik. There wasn’t a second Rudzik contribution.

Post-general election finance reports, for the period between Oct. 17 and Dec. 6, showed Ditzler of Austintown, who served three four-year terms as commissioner, loaned $10,000 to his campaign on Oct. 25 and then $20,000 on Nov. 8, three days after the general election.

Ditzler raised $12,600 from contributors in the post-general period so the candidate’s loans made up 70.4% of the money he raised during that time frame.

DiFabio of Youngstown raised $14,856 in the post-general period.

Overall for the campaign, Ditzler raised $210,552, which includes the $30,000 in loans, to $93,970 for DiFabio.

The Rudzik contributions made up 21.5% of the total money DiFabio raised during his campaign.

Rudzik’s company had the apparent low bids in July on a couple of county projects: a Lake Milton water line replacement and a Poland Township sanitary sewer replacement.

But the commissioners unanimously rejected the bids because Rudzik wouldn’t agree to have a project labor agreement on the two projects, which are required for work with engineer estimates of at least $1 million in the county. A PLA is a collective bargaining agreement between construction unions and construction employers that outline the terms and conditions of employment for a project, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Rudzik’s company filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the commissioners and other county officials days before the Nov. 5 election.

DiFabio said he never heard the term PLA before meeting with union officials for endorsement interviews. He said he learned more about them, decided they don’t benefit Mahoning County residents and then heard from Rudzik, who told him his company could do the jobs for less money without using a PLA. The contractor subsequently supported DiFabio’s campaign.

During the post-general period, Ditzler spent $63,891 to $16,432 for DiFabio.

Ditzler’s largest expenses were $21,921 to City Printing of Youngstown for printed campaign materials, $10,000 to R Strategy Group of Cleveland for consulting services, $10,000 to WYTV for television ads, and $7,200 to Tabbara Productions of Youngstown for production work on media advertising.

DiFabio’s largest post-general expense was $9,552 to RMH Creative of Youngstown for media advertising.

As of Dec. 6, Ditzler had $9,928 in his fund to $7,821 for DiFabio.

PROSECUTOR

The prosecutor’s race was the most expensive in Mahoning County for this election cycle with $484,328 raised between the two candidates, incumbent Democrat Gina DeGenova and Republican Lynn Maro. It is likely the most expensive race in history of executive branch seats in Mahoning County.

Maro raised $249,798 to $234,530 for DeGenova.

It was also the closest countywide race during the Nov. 5 election with Maro winning 50.4% to 49.6% – 54,461-53,643.

Little was raised in the post-general period with DeGenova receiving $3,450 and Maro collecting $1,375. Of the money Maro raised, $1,000 came on Nov. 26, 21 days after the election, from David Betras of Boardman, an attorney and former county Democratic Party chairman who heads the county board of elections.

During the post-general period, Maro spent $33,230 to $7,320 for DeGenova.

Maro’s biggest expenses in the period was $18,927 to RMH Creative while for DeGenova it was $2,500 to WKBN for television commercials.

DeGenova had $6,364 in her campaign account as of Dec. 6 while Maro had $5,035.

POLITICAL PARTIES

The Mahoning County Republican Party raised and spent more than the county Democratic Party did during the post-general period.

The Republicans raised $35,975 with the largest contribution being $4,900 from Alex Benyo of Austintown.

The Democrats raised $10,123 with $5,000 from Ditzler’s campaign for the party’s coordinated campaign for candidates.

The Republicans spent $28,774 compared to $17,263 for the Democrats in the period between Oct. 17 and Dec. 6.

The Republicans largest expenses were $12,500 to The Embassy of Struthers for an Oct. 30 fundraiser with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, and Bernie Moreno, the senator-elect from Ohio, and $5,177 to iHeart Media for radio commercials.

The Democrats largest expenses were $2,846 to Cumulus Broadcasting and $2,150 to iHeart, both for radio commercials.

As of Dec. 6, the Republican Party had a $60,680 surplus compared to $6,282 for the Democratic Party.