Dems should back Tony Dimacchia for commissioner

The Chronicle-Telegram Editorial Board

Feb 29, 2024 5:00 AM

Democrats need a candidate who can throw political haymakers if they want to win the Lorain County commissioner’s seat held by Republican Michelle Hung.

Of the four candidates in the Democratic primary March 19, the one best equipped to land that kind of punch is at-large Lorain City Councilman Tony Dimacchia.

The 49-year-old Dimacchia demonstrated his propensity for political combat during his time on the Lorain school board when he was one of the loudest voices pushing back against a disastrous state takeover of the district.

Such experience would serve Dimacchia well if he’s elected because he would be stepping into a county government that has been beset by scandal and infighting ever since Hung and her fellow Republican Commissioner Dave Moore took office nearly four years ago.

Even if Democrats manage to win Hung’s and Moore’s seats, the three-member board remain divided politically. Commissioner Jeff Riddell, a Republican, has another two years left on his term.

The commissioners have a lot on their plates, including figuring out what to do about the aging county jail and dealing with the fallout of a messy fight over a new public-safety radio system that many first responders oppose.

There’s also the lingering impact of the scandal that has made Hung a ripe target for both Democrats and even a fellow Republican. We endorsed Avon Lake businessman Marty Gallagher over Hung in the GOP primary.

To recap quickly: Hung voted to hire Harry Williamson as the county’s 911 director when she first took office without making public that the two were romantically involved. When Moore and then-Commissioner Matt Lundy found out about the affair in the summer of 2021, they fired Williamson. Lundy and Hung later joined forces to oust then-county Administrator Tom Williams.

Then there are the lawsuits, misconduct allegations and petty sniping that have further undermined public faith in county government.

We haven’t always agreed with Dimacchia, but he has shown he can win elections in the county’s largest city. He spent 12 years on the school board and was reelected to a third term on Council last year.

Dimacchia is the director of operations for Lorain Schools after previously serving as its director of communication and marketing. He’s also been a coach and worked at Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio.

Dimacchia isn’t the only qualified Democrat in the race. Both at-large Amherst City Councilman Martin Heberling III and former Sheffield Village Councilwoman Carolyn White have the makings of good commissioners.

White, 69, served two terms on Lorain City Council in the 1990s in addition to 12 years on Sheffield Village Council. She also served as acting mayor of Sheffield for 45 days in 2018 when then-Mayor John Hunter was hospitalized.

White, a retired bank executive, ran against Hunter in 2019, but didn’t come close to winning. She was briefly a write-in mayoral candidate last year after Hunter opted against running for reelection, but left the race early.

We were impressed with White during an endorsement interview.

She was well-versed in the issues facing county government and offered nuanced explanations for her positions, including on economic development projects such as Midway Mall. She was particularly keen on improving the county’s public transportation system, which is a worthy endeavor.

Heberling, 47, is a middle school language arts and social studies teacher for Lorain Schools. He also is heavily involved in the Lorain Education Association as a building representative and serves as the treasurer for the Lorain County AFL-CIO, which has endorsed him.

We found Heberling to be sincere in his desire to serve and knowledgeable about the issues, but we aren’t persuaded he’s ready for the rigors of a countywide campaign, given his lackluster performance when he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2022.

Heberling won in Lorain County, but he lost the Democratic primary to Craig Swartz of Upper Sandusky, who went on to lose to U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, in a district that overly favors Republicans.

The final Democratic candidate is 66-year-old Charles Brown of Elyria, but Democrats should not entertain him as a serious candidate. Brown doesn’t appear to be running much of a campaign, and his slogan — “Let’s Make Lorain County Great Again” — doesn’t have much appeal in a Democratic primary, for obvious reasons.

Another complicating factor for Brown is a criminal case in which he was sentenced in 2018 to 14 months in prison after a jury found him guilty of attempted sexual battery and attempted child endangering based on comments he made to one of his daughters about teaching her how to have sex.

In 2019, the 9th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction after concluding no crime had been committed because Brown never touched the girl. Brown suggested to us that the charges against him were part of a conspiracy to derail his future political career, an allegation we found hard to believe.

Although Brown’s conviction was overturned, it would hurt him on the campaign trail.

We also found Brown to be the least informed of any candidate we interviewed on the complex issues facing the county. For example, he told us he wasn’t familiar with the controversy surrounding public-safety radios.

We have no such reservations about Dimacchia, Heberling and White, all of whom are worthy of their fellow Democrats’ consideration.

Dimacchia, however, has the best chance of delivering the knockout blow in November.