ICYMI: Akron Beacon Journal: Maple Heights mayor seeks Ohio seat, focuses on helping cities in crisis

June 8, 2026

COLUMBUS, OH - Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell is running for Auditor with experience pulling a city out of a fiscal emergency, uncovering waste, fraud, and abuse and addressing those issues to get Maple Heights back on track to grow communities. Blackwell also touts her commitment to working across the aisle, as the Akron Beacon Journal notes she has "done numerous times as mayor."

In case you missed it, read more on Annette Blackwell's message to Ohioans about how she "would focus on problem-solving, advising and relationship building," including to catch corruption, mismanagement, and fraud early if elected Auditor:

Akron Beacon Journal: Maple Heights mayor seeks Ohio seat, focuses on helping cities in crisis

• When Blackwell became mayor of Maple Heights 10 years ago, the city was struggling with finances.
• The city entered fiscal emergency in 2015, before she became mayor, when it failed to make payments on three loans for sewer projects, Ideastream reported. Four years later, the city was released from the emergency.
• Blackwell said this was one year early. It took a lot of effort to turn things around, but that effort came with little help from the auditor's office.
• Blackwell recalled having a "war room" in her home full of papers and documents. There, she found many problems. The city was paying for health care for retired or dead employees and overpaying for a reduced law department, for example.
• If elected as the auditor, Blackwell said she would focus on problem-solving, advising and relationship building. The latter, she said, could help prevent corruption and mismanagement before it spirals. It also means catching fraud.
• She said her time working with the auditor's office as mayor and her time as a consultant separate her from LaRose. She's also willing to work across the aisle with Republicans, which she has done numerous times as mayor.
• "I don't mind being the first person to cross the aisle, because we do our best work together," she said.

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