Five interesting facts

• Proud of his Slovenian origin, John kept the Slovene letter "č" in his last name during his political campaign.
• John is a relative of the famous architect Jože Plečnik.
• He participates as a member of the board of directors of the Slovenian American Cultural Association, which publishes the Slovenian American Times newspaper, a member of the Church of St. Vida, SNPJ (Slovenian National Charitable Society), KSKJ (American Slovenian Catholic Federation) and the Slovenian Home Collinwood.
• While studying at Duke University of Law, together with his colleagues, John founded a journal on constitutional law and public policy.
• He became the 79th commissioner of Lake County, Ohio, in 2021 and the vice-chairman of all county commissioners a year later.

An outstanding career in law

John’s father moved from Slovenia to Ohio as a child in the 1950s. John graduated from Belmont Abbey College with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a doctorate from Duke University of Law. During his studies, together with his colleagues, he founded the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy. He also worked as the editor of the university’s oldest journal, Law & Contemporary Problems. The university awarded him an outstanding achievement award for his work in the field of taxes and wealth management. He joined the law firm Thacher Proffitt & Wood LPP in 2006 and afterward worked as a legal advisor to Judge David Gustafson at the US Tax Court. As a law professor, John initially held lectures at Georgetown University and, since 2010, at Cleveland State University. In 2013, he became a Willoughby Hills City Council member and was elected again in 2015 and 2017. In 2018, he ran for Ohio State Representative in Washington. In 2021, he became the 79th commissioner of Lake County, Ohio.

Proud of the USA and Slovenia

John says that as an American with Slovenian roots, he could not be more proud to be a citizen of the USA, which in his opinion, is the best and freest country that God has ever created. He is also very proud of being a Slovenian and of everything that Slovenians have given to humanity, and especially to the United States. He says that all the elected representatives in the US sit on the Prince’s Stone and that even Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers, was impressed by the incredible enthronement of the princes of Carantania, the purpose of which was to remind the princes that their power derives from the people. In this regard, John also quotes former President Bill Clinton: "The Slovenian people gave us the foundation of the Western political tradition denoting that the power of the rulers comes from the consent of the ruled." John wholeheartedly believes in the shared history of Slovenia and the US and in the great freedom that the two traditions created together.

Visit to Slovenia

At the thought of Slovenia, John thinks of good and hard-working people, of an extremely beautiful country and a special part of his past. He was honored when in 2017, he was invited by the Public Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia to hold lectures on tax law and policy in Slovenia. The family often remembers their relative, the great architect Jože Plečnik, who designed a large part of Ljubljana. John is grateful that he had the opportunity to visit the church of St. Jožef, the National and University Library, and many other masterpieces created by Plečnik. He even visited the tombstone the architect made for his relatives in Hotedrščica. When John thinks of Slovenia, he thinks of great beginnings – the beginning of his family, the beginning of the United States, and the beginning of Carantania, a country of the people, by the people, and for the people.