Jim Pancake: Rabble-rouser, problem-solver, or both?
By Nick Claussen
April 10, 2008
Jim Pancake has overcome an awful lot to become the Democratic nominee for Athens County Commissioner, and he still has a long journey ahead of him if he hopes to be elected in the fall.
The former York Township trustee has been a polarizing Democrat who has his share of strong supporters and strong critics, and he has seen at least one former friend now turn against him. He won the Democratic nomination for Athens County Commissioner after tying Charlie Adkins and winning a coin toss, and is now pushing to win the general election against Republican Larry Payne.
He acknowledges that his campaign for the primary was hampered by his battles against a myriad of health problems, some related to his time serving in Vietnam. But he maintains that he is now healthy and ready to take on Payne, considered by many to be a strong candidate, in the November general election.
Pancake is never afraid to share his opinion, and sometimes that helps him and sometimes it hurts him. On Monday, he answered questions about a wide ranges of topics, including his health, what happened to his friendship with Athens County Commissioner Bill Theisen (the man he is trying to replace), why he decided to run for commissioner, whether he bullies or intimidates people, how he thinks God was on his side in the Democratic primary, and what he hopes to accomplish if he is elected.
NOW 60 YEARS OLD, Pancake grew up in Nelsonville and went to Nelsonville High School, where he played football and baseball in the 1960s. He was a standout athlete, and he was followed in school by his brother, Tim, who helped the high school basketball team become number one in the state.
When the team was state-ranked, though, Pancake said he had already graduated from high school and was serving in Vietnam. He was in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967, serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“My brother is a decorated Marine,” Pancake said proudly about Tim Pancake, who lives in Florida. “I joined the Marine Corps, and two years later he joined.”
After his time in the service, Pancake came back to the Nelsonville area and in 1968 began working for Columbus and Southern Power. He eventually became a union steward and then was elected to the union’s executive board. He served several positions for the company and the union, he said, and also helped other unions organize in Athens and Hocking counties. For the last five years, he has worked in radio, and today works for WLGN radio in Logan.
During much of the late ’80s and ’90s, Pancake was a key participant in efforts by north-county blue-collar Democrats to win control of the county Democratic Party, which they felt was overly influenced by liberal Democrats in Athens. At that time, he was allied with Commissioner Theisen, also from Nelsonville.
Pancake also served as a York Township Trustee for more than 10 years.
“I was president from day one,” he said.
Pancake said he’s proud of the work he and the other trustees did for the township. He cites the flood-mitigation project in Doanville that allowed 133 people to move out of the flood-prone area.
“Everybody who wanted in that project that had damage was able to get in,” Pancake said. The township received commendations from the state about the project, and Pancake said he helped do a lot of good with numerous projects during his time as a trustee.
“If you ask the people of York Township, they’ll say I was the best township trustee they ever had,” Pancake said.
He left his position with the trustees in 2006 because of a family issue, and since that time has been working out his family problems and dealing with health problems as well.
“It’s been hell, I’m telling you,” he said. “I didn’t get to campaign (for the primary) like I wanted to.” His family problems included a divorce after 27 years of marriage, and health problems that date back 40 years to his time in Vietnam.
“I’VE BEEN FIGHTING Agent Orange for a year and a half,” he said about one of his health issues. Agent Orange was a herbicide sprayed in Vietnam during the war, and Pancake said that he has two of the five health problems that have been identified as being related to the spray. His health issues include nerve problems in his arms and legs, and stomach problems, he said.
He also had heart surgery last year because of problems with scar tissue and a leaky valve. He now has arthritis in his neck, and is hoping to get this problem fixed soon.
While the doctors were checking him to find what was wrong, they found something on his pancreas, Pancake said. Asked if it’s pancreatic cancer (which quickly spreads through the body and has a low survival rate), he would only say that it’s a “spot” on the organ.
The doctors are monitoring the situation, and “they’re not too concerned with it,” Pancake said. He added that the spot has not grown, and he is more worried about getting his neck problems fixed. He will continue to have the spot checked, he said, but stressed that he is not worried about it and does not see it as a serious problem.
He also has diabetes, Pancake said.
2007 WAS FRUSTRATING for Pancake because for a long time he did not know what was wrong with him. He traveled back and forth to veterans medical facilities and facilities in Chillicothe, Columbus and elsewhere in the region to find out what was wrong, he said.
“I’ve had every test they’ve ever conceived,” Pancake said. He feels like he is past his health problems now, and promised that they won’t hurt him in the campaign.
“My health is fine. I walk two miles every day,” Pancake said. He lost 110 pounds over the last year with his health problems, and said he does not worry about his health being a concern if he is elected commissioner.
“Hell, I’ll be rebuilt. I’ll be like the Bionic Commissioner,” Pancake said. “I would think I’d be better, now that I found out what’s wrong with me.”
Today, he and his daughter live in the Frog Hollow area of Nelsonville, and Pancake said he is pleased to be past the problems of the last year, including a conviction for disorderly conduct last July in connection with a fracas at a bar in Glouster (he pled no contest).
“It hit all at once, my divorce, the health, everything,” Pancake said.
PANCAKE CAMPAIGNED FOR Theisen and the late Broc Irwin in 1992 when they were first elected, and campaigned for them again in 1996, he said.
“I had no plans of running except I did think that if Bill Theisen ever retired, I would run for his seat,” Pancake said. So when Theisen announced last year that he would not run for re-election, Pancake announced his candidacy.
“It was probably the worst time in my life that I could run,” he said.
Some were surprised that Theisen did not support Pancake in his campaign, but both men explained their side of the story this week.
Pancake said he worked closely with Theisen and Irwin, and said they made a good team.
Things fell apart for him and Theisen, Pancake said, when he decided to support Republican Larry Householder in his 2000 campaign for state representative against Democrat Lisa Eliason of Athens.
“Bill was really pissed when I backed Larry Householder,” Pancake said. “I still like Bill Theisen, I really do.”
Pancake said he also differed with Theisen on the issue of the piggyback license-plate tax. Pancake has been saying since the 1990s that the annual fee should be removed.
He backed Householder because the Perry County Republican was in line to become the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, making him the third most-powerful political leader in Ohio, Pancake explained. By supporting him, he thought it would be good for Athens County.
“I thought my friendship and talking to Larry, which I found out he was lying through his teeth to me… we’d get some stuff done,” Pancake said. “The only thing is I made all the sacrifices, and he stabbed me in the back.”
THEISEN TELLS a different story about his relationship with Pancake.
“He double-crossed me,” Theisen said. He recalled how he supported Pancake and even helped served on his campaign for state representative in 2002, but then Pancake went on the radio in 2004 and campaigned against Theisen because he did not want to remove the piggyback tax.
“They ran a 10-month campaign against me trying to kill me on the piggyback tax,” Theisen said. “He had two Debbie Williams (Theisen’s opponent in the 2004 primary) signs in his yard that I had to drive by and look at every day.”
He said he told Pancake that he felt like he stabbed him in the back and said Pancake knows why he does not support him now.
“He wants me to forget that?” Theisen asked.
Theisen also questions how Pancake won this year’s nomination over Adkins, and said he’s upset that the voting machines apparently did not count a few ballots that had slashes or “x” marks inside the ovals that were supposed to be filled in. Board of Elections officials explained that Adkins and Pancake each lost one vote because of this, but Theisen is upset that some people’s votes were not counted.
“I think a hand count is in order,” he said.
Pancake said the fact that he and Adkins tied in the official count and the recount, and that he won the coin toss shows he may have gotten a little help from above with the election.
“The good Lord wanted me in there to help the poor and help this county,” he said. “I’ll do a hell of a good job.”
ALONG WITH REMOVING the piggyback tax, Pancake wants to make changes in the Athens County Engineer’s Office.
Removing the piggyback tax will take between $5,000 and $7,000 away from the townships, but they are already receiving an additional $43,000 from the gasoline tax to make up for this, he said. The townships could also vote to put their own $5 piggyback taxes in place, and they would receive more funding from this than from the $15 tax, he said.
Removing the tax will also withdraw funding from the engineer’s office, but that office is also receiving a great deal of funding from the gas tax, according to Pancake.
“With the $15 (piggyback tax), we still have some of the worst roads in the G**damn area,” Pancake said. He added that he does not dislike County Engineer Archie Stanley and that he grew up with him and feels a kinship with him since they both served in Vietnam.
“He did a hell of a job as a county commissioner… for a while,” Pancake said. He blames Mike Canterbury, deputy engineer for operations, for the problems he sees in the department.
“All he does is run around with a cell phone,” Pancake said. He added that he wants to sit down with Stanley and go over his budget with him, and look for places where money can be cut and more work can be done.
“I’m not the only one that has had problems with the engineer’s office. I’m the one that’s been the most vocal,” Pancake said.
CANTERBURY RESPONDED Tuesday by explaining that the license-plate tax helps both the townships and county, and also allows the county to receive more than $1 million in grant funding. The county engineer’s office is allowed to have one third of its budget paid for by the county’s general fund, but under Stanley the office has not had to request any money from the county because of the permissive tax and other funding sources, Canterbury said.
He added that he disagrees with Pancake’s assertions that the office is top-heavy with administrators and that changes need to be made.
Pancake is a “loudmouth” who makes a lot of noise about different issues but doesn’t have the facts to back up what he is saying, Canterbury charged.
“I think he’s a joke,” he continued. Canterbury said Pancake has been disrespectful to other elected officials, especially Stanley, and is not a viable candidate for county commissioner.
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