John P. Wargo

LISBON — For more than 30 years, John P. Wargo was a key figure in Columbiana County politics.

Between 1961 and 1996, Wargo served as a township trustee, deputy county auditor, county recorder, state representative and county commissioner before retiring in 1996. He twice attempted to make a political comeback — in 2000 and again 2012 — but was unsuccessful.

Wargo died last Tuesday at the age of 79 after taking ill as his home in Franklin Township the week before.

“He was a great public servant and he dedicated his life to public service,” said Sean Logan, a fellow Democrat who served as the county’s state representative in the Ohio House from 1990-2000, the same seat Wargo held from 1970-82.

Although Logan and Wargo did not always see eye to eye, they crossed paths at party events and on the campaign trail. Logan recalled Wargo telling the crowd at a campaign event that he decided to run for office after approaching a trustee for help in addressing a road problem, and the trustee “wouldn’t give him the time of day.”

Wargo was elected a Franklin Township trustee, a position he held for three years, before serving as county auditor from 1964 to 1970. Following his 12-year stint in the state legislature, Wargo decided to run for county commissioner and was elected in 1982 before losing four years later to Nancy Cope. He regained a seat on the board by defeating incumbent commissioner David Halverstadt in 1988 and was re-elected in 1992 before deciding to step down after 1996.

County Republican Chairman David Johnson said Wargo was from a different generation, one that could place personal beliefs above politics.

“John was sort of a maverick politician, which goes all the way back to his days in the state legislature, where he wasn’t afraid to buck the party line,” he said, recalling that Wargo — “at great peril” to his political career — voted in favor of a right-to-work bill opposed by the Democratic leadership and organized labor.

Johnson said he enjoyed a close relationship with Wargo because his father and uncles grew up with Wargo and his relatives. “We were all friends because he was from Summitville, where my family is from. Our families go back three generations” in Summitville, he said.

Johnson last saw Wargo about a month ago when he stopped by his office at Summitville Tiles to chat. “It transcended politics,” he said of their relationship.

That relationship would cause friction with the county Democratic Party, which grew suspicious of Wargo’s loyalties because he would sometimes attend local GOP events hosted by Johnson. Then in 2000, Wargo unretired and ran for state representative against the party-endorsed candidate, leading some to claim he had colluded with Johnson, which both denied. Wargo went on to win the party primary but lost in the general election to Republican Charles Blasdel.

In 2012, Wargo decided to run for county commissioner as an independent because he was passed over by the Democratic Party after he asked to be appointed to a vacant commissioner seat. Republican Tim Weigle won, with Wargo finishing last in a three-way race, garnering 14 percent of the vote.

Johnson dismisses such talk, saying people who accused Wargo of divided loyalties were upset because “he was his own man … There’s no question in my mind John remained a Democrat all of his life.”

During his 2012 candidate interview, Wargo told the newspaper he was most proud of the role he played in securing the federal prison for Elkton and the 600 jobs that were created. “He took a lot of heat for that,” Logan recalled, noting this week officials are gathering to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the prison.

Wargo was also instrumental in the development of the Kent State University campuses in East Liverpool and Salem and co-sponsored Ohio’s first bill requiring strip mines to be reclaimed.

County Commissioner Mike Halleck, a Republican, said he also became friends with Wargo, and he believes it is because they both loved to tell stories and share a laugh. He said Wargo had numerous political connections and never hesitated to use them when it would benefit the county.

“He left quite a legacy and he did a lot of things people don’t even know,” he said.

Halleck learned shortly after being elected commissioner there was another side to Wargo. “John came in one day, and I had not been in office very long, and told me a guy who died was penniless and we needed to bury him,” he recalled.

Halleck did not know until then commissioners had a potter’s field at the county farm to bury indigent people without any family. “I told him I would help, and by the next day John had made all of the arrangements with Russ Loudon (a Salem funeral director).”

Wargo also obtained a bronze grave marker and found a local priest to officiate at the graveside services attended by Wargo, Halleck and Loudon.

“John had a good heart,” Halleck said.

Funeral arrangements remain pending at the Maple-Cotton Funeral Home in Kensington.