Frenchko vs. Polivka
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WARREN -- An acrimonious campaign that ended in the defeat of a longtime Democrat officeholder at the hands of a Republican woman who boasts a resume of public service, is being challenged in a Trumbull County courtroom during 2020's final week.
The decision about who will become county commissioner will be decided by a retired Stark County judge after a hearing Wednesday in the courtroom on Courthouse Square.
Trumbull County commissioner and Democratic Party leader Dan Polivka's bid for a fifth term provided the backdrop to a new political success story in the county that became the fourth top story of 2020.
On Nov. 3, Republican Niki Frenchko upset Polivka with more than 52 percent of the vote to become the first female and Republican to hold that office in decades. The vote tally was the culmination of weeks of insults, charges of dirty tricks, and hearings questioning Frenchko's residency.
A Sept. 8 hearing resulted in the Trumbull County Board of Elections deciding that Frenchko was indeed a Trumbull County resident despite spending some time with her partner in Mentor, where her youngest daughter goes to school.
That decision was the basis of two lawsuits filed by a Columbus attorney, the first one in Franklin County on behalf of a Warren bail bondsman and the second in Trumbull County filed after the election when Polivka and 66 county voters petitioned the court to overturn the Nov. 3 vote and either call a new election or declare Polivka the winner.
Franklin County Judge Kimberly Cocroft in late November dismissed most of the defendants -- including Frenchko and her partner Joseph Szeman -- in a suit filed by bondsman Thomas Cool challenging Frenchko's residency. On Wednesday, Stark County retired Judge Judge John Haas will preside over a 9 a.m. hearing about the second lawsuit. Haas should render a decision fairly quickly since the term for commissioner is to begin Jan. 2.
During the campaign, Frenchko boasted that she had the perfect resume to become county commissioner, pointing to her bachelor's degree in social work, a master's of public administration and her real estate agent training.
She worked as a graduate intern at the Trumbull County Planning Commission from 2001 to 2003 and as a community development and housing rehabilitation specialist with CT Consultants from 2003 to 2008. In those jobs, she said she learned how to apply for grants to fund projects like sewer systems and bridge rehabilitations.
Frenchko easily beat challenger Rex Fee in the Republican primary, setting up a showdown with Polivka, who has a long political career that began as a Warren councilman back in the 1980s.
Frenchko criticized Polivka's handling of the commissioners' job, accusing him of being part of the "good old boys" network of political favors and corruption that has plagued Mahoning Valley politics for decades. Polivka, on the other hand, claimed he has long been fighting against this type of corruption as commissioner and party leader.
Polivka's longtime Democrat colleague on the board, Frank Fuda, opted into the campaign on the side of the Republican challenger. He could be seen driving around Warren displaying Frenchko signs on the side of his car.
Fuda, who has long criticized Polivka's style of not keeping regular office hours, said he was upset he had to send county bills to Polivka's home during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown to get checks signed to pay them.
In one police report, Frenchko claimed that Polivka was behind an effort to remove her political signs, which showed up in extensive numbers throughout the county. She also claimed political operatives were taking pictures of her Kenilworth Avenue SE neighborhood and placing roofing nails around her driveway.
Late in the campaign, Frenchko who was a member of the U.S. Army Reserves in the 1990s, had enlisted the comments of a veteran in a political ad that claimed that Polivka was behind a bid to block the building of a new county Veterans Service Center. Days before the election, Polivka held a press conference in front of that very same East Market Street building surrounded by a group of veterans to vigorously deny the charge.
Countdown
We are looking back at 2020's Top 10 stories, as chosen by the newspaper staff, for our countdown to New Year's Eve. This is No. 4. Here's the list so far:
10: Fans and supporters worked to save the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
9: Two big Black Lives Matter rallies took place in the Valley over the summer.
8: Liberty firefighter death prompts investigation.
7: Rockwell paintings find a home in Howland.
6: Diocese of Youngstown loses its shepherd; new bishop named.
5: Fife family still seeks justice 35 years after murder.