The Cuyahoga Rough Writers Blog

State of the State

Earlier this afternoon, Governor Ted Strickland delivered his annual State of the State address.  You can pick you poison to either read or watch the speech.

Once you have done that, be sure get your State of the State reality check at www.twitter.com/TurnaroundTed.

During his speech Strickland kept saying "I believe" this and "I believe" that.  He capped it all off with:

"I believe in Ohio and I believe in Ohioans.

I believe in Ohio because everything we've done today will help us  thrive tomorrow.

I believe in Ohio, because, with God, all things are possible."

But the question that has to be on his mind is.....Who do Ohioans believe in??

County Recorder Greene Continues O'Malley's Patronage Practice

When sitting judge Lillian Greene was handed the appointment of Cuyahoga County Recorder in June, she promiesed to "restore credibility" to a office that was marred by rampant patronage and the unethical leadership of Patrick O'Malley. (Cleveland.com)  Yet, news surfaced today that the State Of Ohio, not the Democrat Recorder Greene, will have to step in to cut out the irresponible patronage and governement waste.

(Plain Dealer) The state auditor is expected to report today that the Cuyahoga County Recorders Office has too many workers and needs to cut positions.

County Administrator James McCafferty, who reviewed a draft of the report, on Monday said Auditor Mary Taylor recommends eliminating 17 positions from an office that employs about 100 people.

Taylor declined to comment Monday, but has scheduled a news conference today in Cleveland.

County commissioners asked Taylor for the administrative audit in May, a week after then-Recorder Patrick O'Malley pleaded guilty to a federal obscenity charge and resigned.

In April, The Plain Dealer reported that O'Malley had given three dozen patronage jobs in 2007, hiring former mayors, the son and daughter of a judge and the wife of a councilman.

As of April, the newspaper also reported, his office employed 103 workers -- nearly twice as many employees as in the recorder's office in Franklin County, which has slightly fewer people than Cuyahoga County.

County recorders are responsible for the filing of real estate transfers and other county documents.

O'Malley could not be reached Monday for comment.

McCafferty and other county officials -- including current Recorder Lillian Greene -- were told of Taylor's findings earlier this month.

Greene declined to discuss the findings, but McCafferty said she already has cut some of workers she inherited. More workers could leave through the county's early retirement incentive package offered to employees next year.

"Her intent is not to put anybody out of work," McCafferty said.

Greene's chief deputy, John Kandah, said the recorder is committed to restoring the office's credibility.

Greene "doesn't believe in gray areas and playing politics," Kandah said.

Personnel costs have been the office's top expense since at least 2003. Salaries were more than $3.8 million this year. The 2009 county budget, which was adopted earlier this month, calls for reducing payroll to $3.1 million. But Cuyahoga's elected officials, such as the recorder, have the authority to outspend their budgets and occasionally do so.

***

See Full Plain Dealer Article

Cuyahoga Commissioner's Blunder The Budget, Again

(Plain Dealer) Cuyahoga County commissioners were surprised Thursday by a six-figure legal bill for medical mart negotiations that they thought was already covered.

The $100,000 charge is part of an estimated $175,000 in legal fees that commissioners will pay in trying to land the combined medical mart/convention center.

Commissioners thought that last year they had set aside $161,000 in leftover money from a defunct convention center organization to pay Cleveland attorney Fred Nance to deliver the medical mart project downtown. But the money has been spent, and none of it went to Nance...

Commissioners wondered aloud why the money had not been paid. Then, they wondered where the money went.

"Our understanding was this was being paid by Positively Cleveland," said Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones.

County Administrator James McCafferty answered that Positively Cleveland, the region's tourism bureau, thought it could use the money on a wide range of medical mart expenses.

Contacted after the meeting, agency President Dennis Roche said it had been made clear to the county that the $161,000 would be spent determining the best place to locate the medical mart.

A handful of companies, including Squire Sanders, were hired to complete what would be a $350,000 study to place the complex.

The study recommended building at Tower City, but Merchandise Mart disregarded the report. The company is doing its own site and cost study and in turn is delaying completing a development agreement with commissioners to launch the project that many hope will be an economic boon to the area.

Commissioners want a site picked and an agreement in hand by Jan. 15.

Jones said commissioners will pay Squire Sanders using sales tax money being collected to pay for the medical mart, then recoup the legal costs by siphoning some of the monthly bed-tax disbursements that make up part of Positively Cleveland's funding.

***

See Full Plain Dealer Article

FBI Probe: More Details On Council Pres. Sweeney

(Plain Dealer) Sweeney was a rising council star in 2002 when he made plans for a two-story addition to his family's Cape Cod-style home on West 133rd Street. He served as the council's majority leader, one step below then-Council President Frank Jackson, who is now the mayor.

A friend recommended that Sweeney hire Solomon & Associates to manage the addition, Sweeney said. The company, according to marketing materials from around 2001, specialized in retail and other large-scale commercial projects, such as renovations to a downtown hotel.

Solomon obtained a building permit for Sweeney's house in August 2002.[mst: 2001 or 2002? It's 2002, Henry confirmed: ]that year. Doan Pyramid pulled a permit to handle the electrical work the following month.

In December 2002, Solomon applied to become a lead contractor for the city's sound-insulation program for homes near Hopkins, records show.

Three months later, a panel of city administrators accepted Solomon's $831,000 bid for the job. In August 2003, Solomon received a similar contract, this one for an additional $500,000.

The company previously had been a subcontractor for the city's sound-insulation work at a West Side Catholic school, a job worth $472,000.

"We were pleased with the work they did for us," said Keith Tolliver of Gene's Refrigeration, the Medina company that served as lead contractor on that project.

The soundproofing program, which uses federal dollars, had been one that Sweeney had championed as a West Side neighbor to those frustrated with the noise of airplanes flying overhead.

Council members have no vote in awarding such contracts. But, when asked if he had put in a good word for Solomon & Associates, Sweeney replied: "I don't recall."

Other documents show that Roger Solomon of Solomon & Associates and Doan Pyramid President Michael Forlani each presented Sweeney with gifts worth more than $75 in 2002.

The forms, which elected officials must file with the Ohio Ethics Commission, do not specify the nature of the gifts. Sweeney said neither gift relates to his home addition, but he declined to disclose what he received from either businessman.

Solomon, who has since closed his company's downtown office, did not return messages left for him this week at his Valley View home. A lawyer for Forlani declined to comment.

Who hired whom

Sweeney said it was Solomon's choice to hire Doan to do the electrical work at the house.

John McCaffrey, an attorney representing Doan, confirmed that Solomon hired his client as a subcontractor, perhaps "on a suggestion from Mr. Sweeney. That was likely the case here."

Doan, McCaffrey added, billed Solomon $1,700 for its electrical work. He said Doan officials are confident that Solomon paid. He also believes that Solomon, as the project manager, ultimately charged Sweeney for those costs.

Sweeney is not the only elected officeholder to have employed Doan. The company once did electric, furnace and air-conditioning work at the home of Russo, the county auditor.

But Doan specializes in large-scale commercial and government projects, including at Hopkins airport. In 2001, the year before Doan was hired to help at Sweeney's, the company worked on an airport expansion project.

Doan returned to Hopkins in April of this year as a subcontractor on a $4.2 million taxiway relocation project led by Blaze Construction, another focus of the federal corruption probe.

Both of the subpoenas that seek information about Sweeney also seek information related to a project or prospective project at Hopkins sometime around April. One of those subpoenas was served on Blaze Building Corp., which shares a Berea address with Blaze Construction.

Like the soundproofing contract awarded to Solomon, city administrators, not council members, voted on the taxiway contract. Sweeney said he had no role in selecting the winners.

***

See Full Plain Dealer Article

Council President Sweeney And Others Named In County Corruption Probe

Cleveland Council President Martin J. Sweeney Named In Investgation

A tentacle of the federal corruption probe gripping Cuyahoga County reaches into the highest levels of Cleveland City Hall, the office of the council president.

The Plain Dealer last week obtained documents showing that agents are investigating the relationship between Council President Martin J. Sweeney -- one of the two most powerful men in Cleveland government -- and two construction companies that share a building in Berea.

Investigators also are asking questions about whether some public officials have financial ties to contractors, the same contractors they awarded hundreds of millions of tax dollars to for work at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the county's 800 miles of roads. The airport is in Sweeney's council ward and is operated by the city. He once was responsible for oversight of the airport as chairman of council's Aviation Committee.

The documents show for the first time that the corruption probe does not stop at the doors of Cuyahoga County government.

The investigation was revealed to the public July 28, when 175 federal investigators fanned out across the county to raid the offices and homes of government officials and contractors, seizing computers, hundreds of cartons of documents and other materials. Since then, agents have searched other offices -- of contractors and two judges -- serving a total of about 200 subpoenas.

But even the latest subpoenas obtained by the newspaper -- served on July 28 -- show that the focus of the probe remains on the two men who run Cuyahoga County and the county Democratic Party -- Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo.

***

See Full Plain Dealer Article

Plain Dealer List More Names Being Investiaged

Last week, The Plain Dealer obtained several more court documents that included new names and companies that have caught the attention of federal agents. Among them:

Marty Sulzmann is the yard-equipment clerk at the Cuyahoga County engineer's office. He began working for the county in 2001. A message left at his office was not returned.

Mike Dever, former head of construction for the county engineer's office, is the deputy to the sanitary engineer. He is not sure why he is named in a subpoena, though he said he once accepted a campaign contribution from Blaze Construction owner Ferris Kleem as a Lakewood councilman.

Ohio Lottery. Subpoenas served on Russo's house sought records of the Ohio Lottery. Michael Dolan, lottery director, said, "I've spoken to no one involved in the investigation."

Rudy Stralka is treasurer of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party and a member of the Ohio Lottery Commission. He was subpoenaed to produce documents from Dimora's and Russo's political committees. Investigators also subpoenaed financial records, job recommendations, information about hirings and other records.

Marous Brothers Construction is a developer. The Willoughby construction company and its president, Chip Marous, were listed in a federal subpoena and search warrant for Russo. But County Administrator James McCafferty said the county has no major projects involving Marous Brothers Construction. Cleveland has paid the company $5.9 million since 2001.

Lopat Development Co. is at 151 Lou Groza Blvd., in Berea. That is the same address listed for Blaze Construction and Phoenix Cement, which have received millions of dollars in public contracts. State records do not indicate who owns Lopat.

Johnson Controls Inc. is a publicly traded, Milwaukee-based company that specializes in energy efficiency in buildings.

The Parma School District has awarded the company $19.8 million in contracts since 2000. J. Kevin Kelley, a school board member and employee in the county engineer's office, is under federal investigation for ties to companies that do business with the district.

Johnson Controls, in many of its deals with Parma schools, selected as a subcontractor another company under federal investigation -- Doan Pyramid Electric.

The company also has done business with Cuyahoga County, which has paid the company at least $3.3 million since 2004.

Joe Gouker is the project manager for the Parma School District. He said he is not sure why he is named in the Blaze subpoena. He said Blaze has bid, unsuccessfully, on one Parma schools project.

Oracle Corp. is a software company that is tied to a computerized Cuyahoga County mapping system developed by Kelley. Based on Kelley's recommendation, the county hired Michael Baker Jr. Inc. to help build the system with Oracle software.

Federal investigators are checking into that $4 million project.

The county has spent more than $422,000 on Oracle's products since 2006. Cleveland has had contracts with Oracle since 2001 totaling more than $7.5 million. Parma schools have done $14,000 worth of business with the company since 2002.

Dick Corp., now known as dck Worldwide, is based in Pittsburgh and is one of the country's largest construction and construction-management firms. Federal agents raiding Russo's home sought documents about the company. Company lawyer Mike Ambroso said he had no knowledge of the subpoena. A database of county payments to vendors shows the company has received at least $438,775 since 2005.

Woolpert Inc. is a national design and engineering firm based in Dayton. The company provides services including engineering, information management services, construction administration and airport design services. Cuyahoga County has paid about $1.2 million to the company this year.

Green-Source Products LLC is affiliated with D-A-S Construction of Garfield Heights. Green-Source makes insulated wall panels and has a manufacturing plant in Collinwood. The company has been served a subpoena for documents and is cooperating, lawyers said. The business is part owned by John Pumper, father of Steve Pumper. Steve Pumper is CEO of D-A-S and authorities are investigating whether he did work for Dimora in exchange for public contracts.

***

See Full Plain Dealer Article

Chairman Frost Questions Lawson Jones' and Dimora's Blaze Co. Vote

(CLEVELAND) Peter Lawson Jones, President of the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners, yesterday allowed his political godfather, Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, to vote on a contract award of nearly $2 Million Dollars to Blaze Construction.  Dimora and Blaze Construction, whose owner Ferris Kleem has donated to Jones’ campaign fund, are at the center of an ongoing FBI and IRS investigation of alleged government corruption. Jones and Dimora, joined by fellow commissioner Tim Hagan, unanimously awarded a contract for $1.98 Million to Blaze today for the Rockside Roadbridge replacement contract.

“The people of this county look to Commission President Peter Lawson Jones to protect taxpayer money, and he has let them down. Jones not only voted to award nearly $2 Million to a campaign contributor of his who is under federal investigation, he failed to prevent Jimmy Dimora from exerting direct influence on the decision.” according to Republican Party of Cuyahoga County Chairman Rob Frost.

Dimora has been under the cloud of the federal investigation for over two months, but Jones still has not called for Dimora to resign.  Quite the opposite, Jones has defended Dimora, explaining that “Dimora told him that he (Dimora) did not believe he had done anything wrong.” 

Chairman Frost suggested a different explanation.  “The Republican Party called upon Peter Lawson Jones nearly two months ago to release his personal financial records and assure voters that he has no conflicts of interest of his own in this matter, yet to this date he has refused to do so.  Perhaps, with the IRS among those investigating Dimora, and Jones' own continuing problem of unpaid federal taxes, he would rather avoid the subject of the inquiry altogether.”  Jones had a federal tax lien placed on his property in 2001, and to this day still shows the IRS as a creditor on his Financial Disclosure Statement¹

“When Commission President Jones doesn’t even pay his own taxes, can we really expect him to keep Jimmy Dimora honest?” asked Frost.

   

¹ Source – Cuyahoga County lien record and Ohio Ethics Commission Financial Disclosure Statements of Peter Lawson Jones, 2001-2007, with the latest filed February 4, 2008.

***

Presidential Debate Moderator, Obama Supporter?!

Today, we will take a step away from the "bailout" talks and get into the next presidential debate.  The liberal media bias is at an all time high and it is directly effecting this election.  We found the article below, just shocking. 

(Real Clear Politics)My dictionary defines "moderator" as "the nonpartisan presiding officer of a town meeting." On Thursday, PBS anchor Gwen Ifill will serve as moderator for the first and only vice presidential debate. The stakes are high. The Commission on Presidential Debates, with the assent of the two campaigns, decided not to impose any guidelines on her duties or questions.

But there is nothing "moderate" about where Ifill stands on Barack Obama. She's so far in the tank for the Democratic presidential candidate, her oxygen delivery line is running out.

In an imaginary world where liberal journalists are held to the same standards as everyone else, Ifill would be required to make a full disclosure at the start of the debate. She would be required to turn to the cameras and tell the national audience that she has a book coming out on Jan. 20, 2009 -- a date that just happens to coincide with the inauguration of the next president of the United States.

The title of Ifill's book? "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama." Nonpartisan my foot.

Random House, her publisher, is already busy hyping the book with YouTube clips of Ifill heaping praise on her subjects, including Obama and Obama-endorsing Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick. The official promo for the book gushes:

"In 'The Breakthrough,' veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama's stunning presidential campaign and introducing the emerging young African American politicians forging a bold new path to political power... Drawing on interviews with power brokers like Sen. Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the 'black enough' conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history."

Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama/Biden win to buoy her book sales. The moderator expected to treat both sides fairly has grandiosely declared this the "Age of Obama." Can you imagine a right-leaning journalist writing a book about the "stunning" McCain campaign and its "bold" path to reform timed for release on Inauguration Day -- and then expecting a slot as a moderator for the nation's sole vice presidential debate?

Yeah, I just registered 6.4 on the Snicker Richter Scale, too.

Despite the protestations of her colleagues that she will be fair, Ifill has appeared on numerous radio and TV talk shows over the past several months to cash in on her access to the Obama campaign. She recently penned a fawning cover story on the Obamas for Essence magazine that earned much buzz. The title? "The Obamas: Portrait of an American Family." A sample of Ifill's hard-hitting investigative journalism, illustrated with Kennedy-esque photos of the Obamas and children posing at home on the back porch and by the piano:

"Barack Obama is sitting in the back of his rented luxury campaign bus with its granite counters and two flat-screen TVs. The Illinois senator's arms are wrapped around his wife, Michelle, whom he doesn't get to see much these days. At this very moment he is, of all things, singing."

During the Democratic National Convention, Ifill offered her neutral analysis on NBC News before Michelle Obama's speech: "A lot of people have never seen anything that looks like a Michelle Obama before. She's educated, she's beautiful, she's tall, she tells you what she thinks and they hope that she can tell a story about Barack Obama and about herself."

During the Republican National Convention, the PBS ombudsman fielded numerous complaints about Ifill's coverage of Sarah Palin's speech. Wrote Brian Meyers of Granby, Ct.:

"I was appalled by Gwen Ifill's commentary directly following Gov. Sarah Palin's speech. Her attitude was dismissive and the look on her face was one of disgust. Clearly, she was agitated by what most critics view as a well-delivered speech. It is quite obvious that Ms. Ifill supports Obama as she struggled to say anything redemptive about Gov. Palin's performance. I am disappointed in Ms. Ifill's complete disregard for journalistic objectivity."

Like Obama, Ifill, who is black, is quick to play the race card at the first sign of criticism. In an interview with the Washington Post a few weeks ago, she carped: "[N]o one's ever assumed a white reporter can't cover a white candidate."

It's not the color of your skin, sweetie. It's the color of your politics. Perhaps Ifill will be able to conceal it this week. But if the "stunning" "Breakthrough" she's rooting for comes to pass on Jan. 20, 2009, nobody will be fooled.

See Full Real Clear Politics Article

More Details on Steven Terry & FBI Raids

(Plain Dealer) Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Steven Terry, whose office was searched this week as part of a public-corruption investigation, once headed a Cuyahoga County department that obtained millions in federal grants for a computer-mapping project spearheaded by J. Kevin Kelley, a focus of the probe.

Federal agents declined to say what they looked for Tuesday night in the offices of Terry and Judge Bridget McCafferty. But they have said they are looking at Kelley's handling of contracts in the county engineer's office. The computer-mapping project was also mentioned in federal search warrants for county administrative offices raided in July.

Terry's lawyer, Angelo Lonardo, on Thursday said the search had nothing to do with his client's tenure as director of the county Judicial Affairs Department or any other time prior to his appointment as judge in April 2007. But Lonardo declined to say what agents sought in their search warrant.

"I can tell you in all good faith that it had nothing to do with that agency," Lonardo said. "Kevin Kelley's not even mentioned in this thing."

Agents went public with their probe in July, when they raided the homes and offices of county Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, Auditor Frank Russo and Kelley, an administrator in the engineer's office. The three are suspected of trading county contracts for work on their homes, according to search warrants and other court documents.

Terry, a political ally of Russo, was appointed to the bench by Gov. Ted Strickland and is running this year for election.

The judge's lawyer vowed Wednesday to release the inventory of what was taken by federal agents. He reneged on that promise Thursday.

Lonardo said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Rowland advised that the decision whether to release the documents was up to him.

"As a defense lawyer you don't want to do anything to jeopardize the investigation," he said. "But I really don't think that if it is disclosed it will be a big deal."

Henry Hilow, lawyer for McCafferty, also declined to release the documents, which are under seal in federal court.

The day after the July raids on the other four public offices, county officials released the documents showing what investigators sought and inventories of what the agents seized.

Marty Murphy, who served as assistant director of Justice Affairs under Terry, said the director had no hands-on involvement with dispensing grants for the mapping system.

Murphy, who remains an assistant director in the department, said Terry's role would have been to prepare a resolution asking county commissioners to accept the grants....

Of $6.5 million in grants targeted for the mapping project from about 2003 to 2007, a little over $5.7 passed through the engineer's office under seven different contracts. Murphy said the engineer's office was likely chosen because it is responsible for retaining and updating all county maps.

***

See Full Plain Dealer Article

FBI Raids More County Offices, Judges Offices Raided

(Plain Dealer) The FBI searched the offices of two Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judges Tuesday night as part of the county corruption probe.

FBI Special Agent Scott Wilson confirmed federal agents searched the chambers of Judges Steven Terry and Bridget McCafferty between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wilson would not disclose what the agents were looking for.

McCafferty said no one searched her office last night and has been doing hearings all morning. McCafferty said she knew nothing of the search until a reporter told her.

The searches at the Justice Center are related to the county corruption probe, Wilson said. FBI and IRS agents raided the homes and offices of county officials Jimmy Dimora, Frank Russo and Kevin Kelley in July.

It remained unclear how the judges became a part of the probe.

Federal agents are believed to be investigating whether Dimora, Russo and Kelley traded county contracts for work at their home. Projects under the microscope include the proposed juvenile detention center near East 93rd Street and building the Veterans Administration complex near University Circle, according to federal search warrants.

They are also investigating whether Kelley tried to influence traffic cases in Berea Municipal Court, according to court documents.

***

See Full Plain Dealer Article

Dems Get Early Start On Blame For Obama Loss

WASHINGTON (CAP) - The Democratic Party has gotten an early jump on determining who to blame for losing the upcoming presidential election, according to several top Democratic analysts.

"Typically the Democrats don't start assigning blame until several weeks before they lose the election - a month, tops," said Bob Monks, a senior analyst at New School Communications. "The fact that they're starting this early is reflective of the party's new sense of determination, albeit a losing sense."

According to Monks and other analysts, the Democrats' self-flagellation process actually began even earlier, perhaps as early as Sept. 5, immediately after the Republican National Convention. As evidence, they point to several recent Huffington Post headlines: "Wait, what happened?" (Sept. 5); "OMG, we're gonna lose this frickin' thing" (Sept 8); "Why does this always happen to us? Why?" (Sept. 10); and "We hate ourselves and we wish we were dead, again" (Sept. 13).

But this week, the party seems to have wasted no time in trying to shift blame for the inevitable loss away from themselves and onto other sources.

"I'll admit it's a challenge determining exactly where to place the blame," said West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, chairman of the Democratic Governors' Association (DGA), citing election fraud and "swiftboating" as two likely possibilities. "And of course with this election, we also have racism," he added. "We're feeling we really may have a winner with that one."

Several Democratic operatives who declined to be named also pointed to the possibility of blaming the loss on an offensive remark that vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is bound to make in the coming weeks. "It's only a matter of time before he compares Sarah Palin to a Hooters Girl," said one operative.

Several observers have pointed to Republican vice presidential candidate Palin as an obvious source of blame, but DNC chairman Howard Dean declined to comment on Palin's role in his party's upcoming loss, preferring instead to emit a frightening, high-pitched scream.

Republicans, for their part, are following the Democrats' lead by getting a jump on taking credit for their upcoming victory.

"My campaign advisors really did a terrific job," said presumptive Republican President John McCain. "But I really give credit to the American people, who realize that I'm going to wrest power from the old, big-spending, do-nothing, country-second Republicans, and give it to us, whoever we are."

According to several high ranking GOP officials, the Republicans also plan to start next week on blaming the Democratic Congress for everything they won't be able to get done while in office.

For his part, presumptive Democratic loser Barack Obama expressed consternation at the turn the process has taken. "This is exactly what we're trying to change - the politics of cynicism. The American people know that this isn't over until it's over," said Obama. "That being said, it's over."

IN OTHER NEWS
Memo Reveals Miley Cyrus As Original McCain VP Pick