[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 130 (Friday, August 1, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1678-E1679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      DON L. HANNI, JR. REMEMBERED

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                             HON. TIM RYAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 31, 2008

  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay respect and 
tribute to Attorney Don L. ``Bull Moose'' Hanni, Jr., who passed away 
July 16 at the age of 82.
  A lifelong resident of the Mahoning Valley, Don Hanni was born August 
25, 1925 on the East Side of Youngstown. A graduate of East High 
School, he received his bachelor's degree in social studies and history 
and his law degree from Youngstown College. Hanni was a U.S. Army 
veteran of World War II, having served in the Normandy invasion.
  A prominent figure in the community, Hanni was known for his career 
in law as a defense trial lawyer, also serving as a municipal judge and 
as an assistant city prosecutor. A member of the Mahoning County Bar 
Association, Hanni was a powerful political force, serving as Chairman 
of the Mahoning County Democratic Party for 16 years.
  A much respected and admired man, Hanni dedicated his life to the 
devotion and service of others and will long be remembered.
   Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that an article from The 
Vindicator of July 17, 2008 be included in the Record.

                     Recalling Skill, Wit of Hanni

                         (By William K. Alcorn)

       Youngstown.--Attorney Don L. Hanni Jr., who defined some of 
     the best and worst in Youngstown law and politics during a 
     career that spanned more than a half-century, died at his 
     Coitsville home Wednesday morning.
       As a lawyer, Hanni had a reputation as an accomplished 
     student of the law and as a courtroom brawler who was faster 
     on his feet than almost any opponent. As a politician, his 
     own success at the ballot box was mixed, but as a Democratic 
     Party chairman he made and broke more political careers than 
     any chairman before him--or likely any that will follow him.
       Friends and adversaries, sometimes one person being both, 
     depending on the circumstances, talked about Hanni, 82, the 
     lawyer, the politician and the man.
       He was nicknamed ``Bullmoose'' by Julaine Gilmartin, the 
     wife of his good friend Atty. Vincent Gilmartin. Mrs. 
     Gilmartin said Hanni reminded her of a character, ``General 
     Bullmoose, in the ``Li'l Abner'' cartoon, who was always 
     telling everybody what to do, she said with a laugh.
       ``He always had the greatest stories. We're losing all the 
     curmudgeons. It's the end of an era,'' she said.
       ``We were very dear friends,'' said Gilmartin, who had an 
     office in the same building as Hanni at 219 W. Boardman St., 
     after his 16-year stint as county prosecutor.
       ``He was a very honorable sort of person, very 
     straightforward, very alert and kind-hearted,'' he added.
       Gilmartin said he and Hanni faced each other numerous times 
     as prosecutor and defense attorney. ``I found him to be very 
     well-prepared, always knowledgeable about what we were doing, 
     and aware of what the law required. He was a very good 
     attorney,'' Gilmartin said.
       One of Hanni's fiercest political foes over the years was 
     William Binning, who was chairman of the Mahoning County 
     Republican Party at the same time Hanni was head of the 
     county Democratic Party.
       Binning said sometimes their relationship was friendly, but 
     they often were bitter enemies and had nasty fights.
       ``It depended on the issue of the day,'' said Binning, 
     professor emeritus at Youngstown State University and former 
     chairman of the school's political science department.
       ``One thing I would say, his word was always good with me. 
     I had great respect for him because of that. He was one of 
     the great colorful figures of the Mahoning Valley, and his 
     passing is a great loss to the Valley,'' Binning said.
       Another political foe with whom Hanni locked horns was 
     Attorney Michael Morley, who replaced Hanni as county 
     Democratic Party chairman in 1994.
       ``While Don and I had our political differences, we 
     maintained a civil and cordial relationship over the years. I 
     offer my condolences to his family. I visited him in the 
     nursing home a couple of weeks ago and wished him well.
       ``We would see each other at events and he would call me 
     chairman and I would call him chairman, and occasionally we 
     would share a story,'' Morley said.
       ``Don Hanni and I were close friends. We used to have lunch 
     on Fridays together and have a drink or two together,'' said 
     R. Scott Krichbaum, a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court 
     judge and a former defense lawyer.
       ``But he and I battled, too. We were great adversaries at 
     one point. He was Democratic Party chairman and I was the 
     Republican candidate for judge. We had to send the sheriff up 
     to secure the ballots once the voting was done. It was a very 
     close race,'' Judge Krichbaum said.
       On the other hand, however, the judge said Hanni was 
     ``probably as good a trial lawyer as this area ever produced. 
     He was absolutely brilliant in cross-examination. He was much 
     more concerned with the facts than with the law. His method 
     was very effective. He could pretty much take any case and 
     give the defendant the best defense available.
       ``We respected each other as trial lawyers. It causes me a 
     great deal of sorrow that I've lost him as a friend and as a 
     colleague. His death is a tremendous loss to his family and 
     the community,'' Judge Krichbaum said.
       Former Senator Harry Meshel's relationship with Hanni went 
     back to pre-college days when they used to frequent the Ritz 
     Bar on Wilson Avenue on the East Side. They were both World 
     War II veterans--Hanni in Europe and Meshel in the Pacific.
       ``We used to argue about who won the war,'' Meshel said 
     with a laugh.
       They were at Youngstown College and on its student council 
     at the same time. Despite that relationship, they quarreled 
     about politics from time to time. ``He never hesitated to 
     argue, even with his friends, and even ruled against them in 
     court,'' Meshel said.
       ``The last time I visited him, not too many days ago, he 
     was screaming about politics. He said, `You got to run for 
     mayor.' I said, `I will if you'll be my law director,' '' 
     Meshel said.
       ``I think people would remember him for his sense of humor 
     and sense of purpose, and his skill as a lawyer. He was 
     highly respected in the legal profession. The judges will 
     tell you he was prepared and clients got their money's 
     worth,'' Meshel said.

[[Page E1679]]

       ``He was one of a kind. People don't know the things he 
     did,'' said Joyce Kale Pesta, deputy director of Mahoning 
     County Board of Elections and a longtime Hanni associate.
       When he found out people who lived in the old Pick Ohio 
     Hotel had no place to eat in downtown Youngstown, he fed them 
     out of his office on Boardman Street. ``Sometimes he would 
     cook and sometimes I would cook,'' Pesta said.
       ``He always said `Don't kick anybody when they're down, 
     because you never know when you'll be down.' Even his worst 
     enemies he'd stick up for when they were down. That's how 
     [former county sheriff and U.S. Representative James] 
     Traficant and he became friends after being enemies for many 
     years,'' she said. He served in the Army during World War II 
     and was with the Allied Forces who landed on Normandy beach 
     on D-Day on June 6, 1944. He said it was horrific, but he 
     never talked about it much, Pesta said.
       The Rev. Lonnie Simon, pastor emeritus of New Bethel 
     Baptist Church on Hillman Street, said Hanni was ``Mr. 
     Democrat in Youngstown as far as I was concerned.''
       ``He was very well-liked in the black community, and I got 
     along with him well,'' said the Rev. Mr. Simon, who, when he 
     came to Youngstown in 1946, registered as a Republican.
       Hanni was a mentor for Attorney Alan R. Kretzer in his 
     early days and a client in a high-profile case when Hanni ran 
     his car into the post office building in downtown Youngstown 
     in 1985. Hanni was charged with driving under the influence; 
     however, it was dismissed because of lack of evidence, but a 
     charge of reckless operation was allowed to stand.
       Kretzer said Hanni took that case and all cases seriously, 
     but always had a sense of humor.
       When they were considering how the case might go, Kretzer 
     said Hanni told him that if he had to spend a few days in 
     jail, at least he wouldn't have to listen to his telephone 
     ring all day long.
       Other local lawyers and government officials remembered 
     Hanni as a widely respected giant in local legal and 
     political circles.
       Kathi McNabb Welsh, chief deputy Mahoning County clerk of 
     courts, remembered well her days as an assistant county 
     prosecutor in the 1990 murder trial of Christopher W. 
     Magourias, who was defended by Hanni and Attorney J. Gerald 
     Ingram and acquitted in the stabbing death of Kenmore Drake.
       ``It was quite a legal education for me to watch his 
     mastery of the rules of evidence and his control of the 
     courtroom,'' she said of Hanni.
       ``He will best be remembered as a great lawyer, a very 
     zealous litigator, a person who really went out of his way to 
     advocate his client's position and did a wonderful job of 
     that,'' said Attorney Vincent Wloch, a magistrate in Mahoning 
     County Probate Court.
       ``There was nobody better here locally with regard to 
     cross-examination. He thought quick on his feet,'' said 
     Wloch, who shared an office with Hanni from 1979 to 1985.
       Wloch said he learned a great deal from his experience as 
     co-counsel with Hanni in the defense of Steven T. Masters, 
     whose 1980 murder trial lasted 10 weeks. Masters was 
     convicted of killing his wife, Jodi, in what was then the 
     longest criminal trial in Mahoning County history.
       ``He was just a Democratic giant in our field of 
     politics,'' said Lisa Antonini, Mahoning County treasurer and 
     Democratic Party chairwoman. Hanni's humor and ability to 
     ``get a message out on Democratic Party politics'' will be 
     missed, she said.
       ``What a historian. We'll miss him for that. He always 
     taught me that you have to understand your history to move 
     forward into the future. He never shied away from calling me 
     when he thought I needed a history lesson,'' she recalled.

     

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