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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > November > 19
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Democrats to name new leader of divided party tonight
Far from mounting a united challenge against a county commission seat seen as vulnerable, the Butler County Democratic Party has broken out into a struggle for control of the party.
The party’s executive committee will meet tonight, Nov. 19, to elect a new chairman after Matt Von Stein quietly resigned earlier this month.
Von Stein could not immediately be reached for comment, but party officials say he resigned to focus on his studies after receiving a scholarship from Xavier University.
Von Stein took the party reins last year after former chairman Ron Wardrup was arrested on drunk driving charges.
Tonight, the roughly 140-member party leadership will meet at the IBEW Local 648 post in Hamilton and choose a new party leader. In addition to leading the party, the chairman traditionally takes a paid post on the county Board of Elections.
The leading contenders are Frank Cloud, business manager of the IBEW; and Monroe attorney Brian Harrison.
Cloud is popular within the party, but Harrison boasts support from several local non-party-affiliated political action committees.
Those committees sprung up across the county from the remnants of President Barack Obama’s local campaign. They have since grown to pose a major challenge to the existing party structure.
“It’s the greatest degree of factionalism that I have ever seen in the Butler County Democratic Party,” said Central Committee Chairman John Holcomb. “I have to remain optimistic the new party chair is going to be able to bridge these divides.”
Party leaders fear factionalism is particularly detrimental to them this year. Races coming up next year include a county commission race where the incumbent is under an Ohio Ethics Commission investigation and the GOP appears primed for a costly primary.
Republicans control all county-wide offices in Butler County except for one juvenile judge who was re-elected in a non-partisan race after being appointed by the governor last year.
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Furmon questions county payments to company owned by Lang
Butler County Commissioner Charles Furmon is concerned that the county has been paying a company for employee benefits for almost a year without proper approval.
That company is Performance Benefits Solutions, owned by West Chester Twp. Trustee George Lang.
Furmon said in a commission meeting this morning, Nov. 19, that the company was supposed to be providing services at no charge to the county, but was instead charging through another company called Hauser Corporate Solutions.
“I have asked the prosecutor’s office to look into this and see if we can’t get some clarification on the matter,” Furmon said.
Citing poor customer service, a county advisory committee opted last October against keeping the company as the county’s sole manager of flexible spending accounts.
A November 2008 commission resolution allows another company called Chard Snyder to operate that service at a profit, and allows Performance Benefits Solutions to continue doing so “at no charge to Butler County.”
But county records suggest that Hauser, a sister company to Performance Benefits Solutions, charges the county roughly $979.15 monthly for the service.
The issue was the subject of scrutiny last year, when county leaders expressed concern that there was no system in place to determine what companies can offer employees insurance products.
At that time, former Lang business partner Mike Yoakum said Lang used his political contacts and “political pad money” to help secure the contract then stole the deal from Yoakum back in the 1990s. This was the subject of a lawsuit that the two parties settled.
Lang denied he received any preferential treatment from the county. He said he bid for the contract and was chosen by a 20-plus member committee.
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