You know that guy who looks exactly like Alex Arshinkoff?
Well, that IS Alex Arshin­koff.
The Summit County GOP leader called me after Tuesday’s column to say the folks in Charles County, Md., are full of it.
Which, as it turns out, they certainly are.
The column mentioned a photograph posted on the home page of the Charles County Board of Elections website. The photo looked for all the world like Arshinkoff.
But on Monday, the director of the Charles County Elections Board insisted the photo is not Arshinkoff but Bill Proper, chief of public facilities for Charles County, and that the fellow in the background, partially cut off, is the county’s budget director, David Eicholtz.
The shot appeared on the site (http://charlescounty.org/boe) as generic artwork next to a blurb that reads, “Board meetings are conducted every third Thursday.”
Says Arshinkoff: “If they told you it’s somebody else, well, there’s not only a guy who looks like me, there’s a guy on their board who looks like Jack Morrison.”
Alex said he is certain the photo is of him and Morrison because it is identical to a shot taken by the Plain Dealer years ago at a meeting of the Summit County Board of Elections.
Right again. A Web search confirms the same photo accompanied a PD story May 1, 2008.
So why did Charles County Election Director Tracy Dickerson tell me point blank Monday that the people in the photo were Proper and Eicholtz? Good question.
She dodged it. When I called her bluff Tuesday, she blamed everything on the webmaster and said the photo would be taken down Wednesday when the webmaster returned to work. (It was.)
In other words, if you think Ohio politicians don’t shoot straight, be glad you don’t live in Maryland.
Inside scoop
Online journalism. Gotta love it.
Cyberspace was tingling Tuesday afternoon when the Lake County Sentinel (no, I had never heard of it, either) reported that former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel was in Akron and was all but a lock to become the next head coach of the Zips.
The website, which bills itself as “Lake County Ohio’s online news source,” cited unnamed sources as confirming that Tressel attended a UA basketball game Saturday night [false] and would meet with school officials within days [false].
“It has also rumored [sic] that the board of donations at the University of Akron are [sic] pushing hard for Tressel to coach the Zips football team, who [sic] went 2-22 under former coach Rob Ianello, who was fired after two years on Saturday.”
The board of what?
Now, I realize that big-money donors can play a significant role in these sorts of decisions, but I’m pretty sure the University of Akron does not have a “board of donations.” So I shot an email to the author, who is identified on the site as “Senior Writer” Justin Lada.
Hi. Quick question on your Tressel story: What the hell is the U of A “board of donations”?
His response, verbatim: “Don’t worry about, I don’t want to get ‘scooped.’ Thanks for you [sic] interest.”
Huh? I tried again.
If you have uncovered a “board of donations,” you already have a major scoop.
His response: “Thank you for your interest in our website. If you need any additional information, feel free to contacting [sic] our owner and editor. ...”
Well, I’ve got a scoop, too, Justin. And feel free to quote it.
I hear the University of Akron Board of Wild Speculation, in conjunction with the UA Armchair Quarterbacking Board, is pressuring the university to bring in Gerry Faust as offensive coordinator, Jim Dennison as linebackers coach and Bob Huggins as sports information director. Sources say it will happen by the end of the week.
Remember, you heard it here first.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.