Ditzler loans his unsuccessful campaign $30,000 | News, Sports, Jobs

Note: Today’s article on post-general election fundraising reports in Mahoning County incorrectly stated that Jeffrey Rudzik donated an additional $20,000 to Commissioner-elect Geno DiFabio’s campaign. The Vindicator regrets the error and publishes this corrected version.

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

Republican Geno DiFabio defeated 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 contribution of $20,000 from Jeffrey Rudzik, owner of Rudzik Excavating in Struthers. Instead, DiFabio filed an amended pre-general campaign finance report on the same day as his post-general report that showed Rudzik’s original $20,200 in contributions. There was no second contribution from Rudzik.

General post-election financial reports, for the period Oct. 17 to Dec. 6, showed that Austintown’s Ditzler, who served three four-year terms as commissioner, loaned his campaign $10,000 on Oct. 25 , then $20,000 on November 8. , three days after the general elections.

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

Youngstown’s DiFabio raised $14,856 in the post-overall period.

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

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

Rudzik’s company got apparently low bids in July on a couple of county projects: a Milton Lake water main replacement and a sanitary sewer replacement in Poland Township.

But commissioners unanimously rejected the bids because Rudzik would not agree to a working agreement on the two projects, which are needed to work with engineers’ estimates of at least $1 million in the county. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a PLA is a collective bargaining agreement between construction unions and construction employers that sets forth the terms and conditions of employment for a project.

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

DiFabio said he had never heard the term PLA before meeting with union officials for endorsement interviews. He said he learned more about them, decided they weren’t benefiting Mahoning County residents, then heard from Rudzik, who told him his company could do the work for less money without use PLA. The entrepreneur later endorsed DiFabio’s campaign.

During the post-general period, Ditzler spent between $63,891 and $16,432 on DiFabio.

Ditzler’s largest expenditures 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 advertisements television and $7,200 to Tabbara Productions of Youngstown for media advertising production work.

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, compared to DiFabio’s $7,821.

PROSECUTOR

The race for district attorney was the costliest in Mahoning County this election cycle with $484,328 raised between the two candidates, incumbent Democrat Gina DeGenova and Republican Lynn Maro. This is likely the costliest race in history for executive branch seats in Mahoning County.

Maro raised $249,798 to DeGenova’s $234,530.

It was also the closest countywide race in the Nov. 5 election, with Maro winning 50.4% to 49.6% — 54,461 to 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 was received Nov. 26, 21 days after the election, from David Betras of Boardman, an attorney and former county Democratic Party chairman who heads the county election board.

In the post-general period, Maro spent between $33,230 and $7,320 on DeGenova.

Maro’s biggest spend during the period was $18,927 on RMH Creative, while for DeGenova it was $2,500 on WKBN for TV ads.

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’s Democratic Party during the post-general period.

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

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

Republicans spent $28,774, compared to $17,263 for Democrats between October 17 and December 6.

The biggest Republican spending was $12,500 at the Struthers embassy 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 advertisements.

The Democrats’ largest spending was $2,846 for Cumulus Broadcasting and $2,150 for iHeart, both for radio ads.

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