The Cuyahoga Rough Writers Blog

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.

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Jail Time? For the Former Democratic County Recorder O'Malley

Former Cuyahoga County Recorder Patrick O'Malley could spend almost a year more in prison than he expected because the material found on his computer was sadistic, masochistic or otherwise violent.

O'Malley pleaded guilty in May to a federal obscenity charge for material found on a private computer at his Chagrin Falls home. His plea agreement included a sentence of 10 to 16 months in prison or just probation, if the judge so chose.

Since then, court officials have found that the material on the computer "portrays a sadistic or machochistic [sic] conduct or other depictions of violence," according to a filing in court Thursday.

They now recommend that his sentence be increased to a possible 27 months. The court's probation department also recommends that probation not be an option.

O'Malley and lawyer Ian Freedman have objected to any increase.

Exactly what was on the computer has not been released by O'Malley or federal officials. Prosecutors will present that at O'Malley's sentencing Oct. 3.

The description of the material came in a ruling by Judge David Dowd of the U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

In the ruling, Dowd scheduled a special hearing Monday to let O'Malley change his plea in light of the longer possible sentence.

Changing a plea is not normally allowed, Dowd noted in the ruling, but O'Malley was not properly informed in May that his guilty plea could not be withdrawn or that Dowd could give a heavier sentence than reached in the plea agreement.

Because the plea agreement does not word sentence terms as just recommendations to the judge, Dowd ruled Thursday that O'Malley's earlier plea was "flawed."

Dowd's ruling calls for O'Malley to be given that warning Monday and to allow O'Malley the chance to change his plea.

Freedman declined to discuss the content on the computer, but said O'Malley will not change his plea. He called Monday's hearing "just a procedure, a formality that we have to go through."

The immediate prosecutors in the case could not be reached for comment late Friday. David Sierleja, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Cleveland, said Judge Dowd still can sentence O'Malley to just probation after the probation department's increased recommendation. He declined to say what sentence prosecutors hope for.

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Cuyahoga FBI Raids: What Does It Mean Nationally

The FBI/IRS Raids on Cuyahoga County Demoratic Officals will have an impact on the Presidentail Race and could be a major factor in determing the election. 

(New York Times) - A federal investigation of Democratic Party leaders in Cuyahoga County could pose problems for Barack Obama's campaign in Ohio, party insiders and political analysts say.

If the party's local campaign operation suffers, some Democrats said, it could cost Mr. Obama votes in a Democratic area where he must win overwhelmingly to offset Republican strength elsewhere in the state.

"There's no question that this is not helpful," said Peter Lawson Jones, a Democrat who serves on the three-member Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners with Jimmy Dimora, the chairman of the county Democratic Party, who is at the center of a federal inquiry.

But representatives of Mr. Obama's campaign in Ohio dismiss the idea that the events in Cuyahoga County will have any effect on the November election. They argue that Mr. Obama has built an effective organization in Ohio that does not need the county party's help.

"The Obama campaign has such a strong network of its own grass-roots people," said Dale Miller, a Democrat and Ohio state senator from Cleveland who is campaigning for Mr. Obama. "Even if the county Democratic Party operation is not as effective because of the investigation, it's not going to affect us very much."

On July 28, F.B.I. and I.R.S. agents raided the homes and offices of Mr. Dimora and Frank Russo, a Democrat who is the county auditor, an elected position. The offices of several construction companies and a consulting business owned by Mr. Russo's son were also searched.

Federal investigators sought documents regarding public construction projects, including a county administration building and a new juvenile court and jail, according to a federal search warrant released by James McCafferty, the Cuyahoga County administrator.

Agents also sought information about home remodeling projects at Mr. Dimora's and Mr. Russo's houses, county government hiring practices and "Cuyahoga County employees working on political party business during normal business hours," the search warrant said.

Both Mr. Dimora and Mr. Russo have declared their innocence. No charges have been filed.

"I know in my heart that I've done nothing wrong to warrant this kind of an investigation," Mr. Dimora said at a county commissioners' meeting after the raid. "I am absolutely confident that when the dust clears my good name and reputation will also be cleared."

No matter the result of the investigation, some Democrats worry that it is hurting their party's efforts to mobilize for the presidential election.

"People are skittish," Mr. Jones, the county commissioner, said. "When there's a federal investigation under way, friends and acquaintances scatter."

Cuyahoga County is the most populous and Democratic-leaning county in Ohio. In one Congressional district in the county, John Kerry won 81 percent of the vote in 2004. But even that large margin of victory could not overcome strong Republican majorities elsewhere in Ohio. President Bush won the state that year by about 118,000 votes out of 5.6 million cast.

"Kerry won big in Cuyahoga County, but it wasn't enough," said David B. Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron. "Which means Obama needs to win even bigger."

That may prove difficult with top leaders of the local Democratic Party under investigation. Over three decades in public office, Mr. Dimora has built a broad political coalition, with many allies working as ward leaders, City Council members and mayors across the county.

In June, Mr. Russo told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland that he used the county auditor's office to hire his friends and family members, who also serve as the core of his political organization. Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Russo declined to comment for this article.

"Both Jimmy and Frank have their loyal networks with hundreds of people who are beholden to them, who are on the public payroll," said Subodh Chandra, a former law director for the City of Cleveland and a part-time fund-raiser for Democratic candidates, including Mr. Obama. "Given that they're both under investigation, one would imagine they'd be distracted from the campaign."

Meanwhile, Republicans see the investigation as an opportunity to narrow the Democratic Party's traditionally large majorities in the area.

"The backbone of their operation is being taken out because so many of their volunteers are public officials and public employees," said Jim Trakas, the former chairman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, who is running against Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, a Democrat. "That will make it very difficult for them to campaign."

Given Mr. Bush's slim margins of victory in Ohio in the 2000 and 2004 elections, and polls showing that last month John McCain had cut Mr. Obama's six-point lead in Ohio to a statistical dead heat, even a small drop in the Democratic voter turnout in Cuyahoga County could have an impact statewide.

"This investigation could hamper voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts in the fall campaign because typically local parties are instrumental to those efforts," said John C. Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron. "Cuyahoga County is a very important element in the Democratic effort nationwide."
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See Full New York Times Article

Cuyahoga FBI Raids: Years Of Investigation

The FBI does not swing and miss.  The current investigation into public corruption in Cuyahoga County government most likely took years before the raids two weeks ago.  If the FBI has been investigation for years, public corruption inside the local Democratic Party and county officials was a reality long before the FBI even started to ask questions. 

How long did our region suffer because of the self-interest of the current public officials?  Will the public send a message this November, in the form of real leadership?

View "Winds of Change" 

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(Plain Delaer) Federal agents knew what to look for and where to find it during raids last week on Russo, the county auditor, and Dimora, a county commissioner and Democratic Party chief, and several contractors.

The details of how the investigation began and what it was based on may not come out for months -- if not years -- as investigators have to plow through thousands of boxes of paperwork taken in the raids. No criminal charges have been filed.

But former prosecutors and federal agents who have worked public corruption cases in the past -- and defense attorneys scrambling to answer grand jury subpoenas for their clients' records -- said the documents give a glimpse of how the investigation may have unfolded to this point.

They said the minute details found in records -- the note in Russo's office, pictures of Dimora with county worker Rosemary Vinci, gifts, campaign literature and casino chips -- show the investigation probably started years ago and included informants close to the men, some of whom probably recorded conversations.

It is impossible to know such details about the men's offices without someone who routinely goes in there, according to the former agents and defense attorneys in the case.

Many have wondered whether Patrick O'Malley, the former county recorder who was convicted of obscenity charges, helped authorities. His attorney, Ian Friedman, said O'Malley did not help the government in the Dimora-Russo probe.

Officials also said it is clear that agents followed Russo, Dimora, county employee J. Kevin Kelley and other employees for long periods of time. Agents sought records of workers who were driving Dimora around when they should have been on the job.

Agents also looked for records of Russo's employees handling his personal business during working hours...

The camera and the wiretaps would have needed monthly approval from the U.S. attorney general's office, and would have required agents to listen around the clock to any call they believed involved corruption.

In order to get approval for such devices, federal prosecutors must convince a judge there is no other way for them to get evidence of wrongdoing. They must show that undercover agents or informants cannot get close enough to the suspects.

"It's certainly conceivable of using electronic surveillance, such as bugging phones or using cameras," said Geoffrey Mearns, dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. "Those are extremely valuable. But they are not easy to get."

A review of federal public corruption cases across the country in the past few years indicates jurors want to see and hear public officials on tape.

Last month, a federal jury convicted John Ford, a maverick Tennessee state senator who received hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from contractors. Ford also was convicted last year in a separate investigation dubbed "Operation Tennessee Waltz" in which FBI agents set up a phony company that used bribes to gain state contracts.

The second conviction came shortly after jurors were allowed to review hidden FBI tapes of Ford bragging about how he took money in exchange for helping with a deal.

"Generally, jurors want to hear tapes," said Eli Richardson, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Ford. "It's compelling."

The FBI also used wiretaps in "Operation Wrinkled Robe," which led to the convictions of two New Orleans judges who offered lower bonds in exchange for meals and favors from bail bondsmen.

Those cases, along with the Dimora-Russo probe, come at a time when the FBI has made public corruption a top priority.

"It does not matter if it is millions of dollars, or merely hundreds," FBI Director Robert Mueller said in a speech during the spring. "There is no level of acceptable corruption. The violation of trust is the same."

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Cuyahoga FBI Raids: DAS, Peter Lawson Jones, Dimora, Russo & More

(Plain Dealer)Grinning and rubbing shoulders, a group of men is pictured at a celebration of the 20-year ascent to success of D-A-S Construction.

There to party in July 2006, at the Pickwick and Frolic cabaret and martini bar in downtown Cleveland, were employees, clients and friends.

Friends like Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, county Auditor Frank Russo, Parma school board member J. Kevin Kelley.

Friends who are now being investigated by the federal government.

Federal search warrants executed this week seek information on the relationships between the county and company officials and raise questions about just how cozy they were.

From Dimora's office filing cabinets, agents took "cards and notes" having to do with D-A-S as well as with documents dealing with other contractors.

Agents also seized paperwork from the Garfield Heights offices of D-A-S and from Chief Executive Steven Pumper's home in Broadview Heights.

No records are available of what they were looking for or what they took...

D-A-S Director of Business Development Matt Ambrose said in an e-mail that the July 2006 party was attended by more than 200 guests and dignitaries, including Russo and Dimora. Cleveland City Council President Martin J. Sweeney also attended.

Snapshots taken at the event show Russo and Dimora on the cabaret stage hamming it up next to silver mylar "DAS" balloons.

For 10 minutes, the elected officials passed a microphone back and forth, effusively congratulating the Pumper family, who started the company in 1986, according to one party-goer.

Russo even smooched family patriarch John A. Pumper on the cheek.

Dimora presented the elder Pumper, the company's founder, with a six-paragraph resolution bearing the computer generated signatures of all three county commissioners that recognized the company for its growth, customer service and "honor and honesty."

Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones said that while the ceremonial resolution -- tossed around like confetti -- is ironic, it isn't very meaningful.

He said the D-A-S resolution was most likely requested by Dimora, since he is close with D-A-S and Steven Pumper. And the wording may not be inaccurate, Jones said.

"I'm sure that the vast majority at D-A-S value honor and honesty," he said.

Dimora's attorney said the commissioner did nothing wrong in giving the resolution and the fact that D-A-S has been named in the federal investigation is a coincidence.

Frank Russo presented a certificate of recognition to the family and company from his office commending them for "introducing honesty and integrity to the industry."

Sweeney said he attended the party in his role as council president.

He also said he knows Steve Pumper, the chief executive officer of the company.

Sweeney said he was unsure whether the city had any construction contracts with D-A-S.

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FBI Raids Cuyahoga: Ameritrust, Juvenile Complex, VA Hospital

More news from the Plain Dealer on which major county construction projects were targets in the FBI raids this week.

Stay Tuned To Cuyahoga Rough Writers Blog For Complete Coverage

Ameritust Tower

(Plain Dealer) - Last fall, Cuyahoga County commissioners scuttled plans to build a new headquarters on the site of the old Ameritrust Bank complex, saying they didn't have the money to finish the $200 million-plus project.

The county bought the asbestos-riddled Ameritrust complex in 2005 from the Richard E. Jacobs Group with plans for a new county complex.

The first and arguably most important hire was the project construction manager.

In April 2006, Commissioners Jimmy Dimora, Peter Lawson Jones and Tim Hagan unanimously ranked a team led by the R.P. Carbone Co. as their top choice after less than 50 seconds of public deliberation. Earlier, they discussed the issue in private, in violation of Ohio's public-meetings law. Commissioners approved a $10 million construction management contract in October 2006.

But the county had problems with Carbone, many of them centered on the firm's small-business partner, the McTech Corp.

The county paid the Carbone-led team more than $1.2 million for the costs of personnel before abandoning the project.

Last summer, the commissioners awarded another major contract to Precision Environmental Co. of Independence despite the fact that Precision's bid was $915,000 more than the lowest bidder.

Dimora and Hagan said at the time they voted to award the $7.4 million contract to Precision based on advice from their experts, who weren't convinced that rival bidder Missouri-based Midwest Asbestos Abatement Corp. had sufficient experience.

Jones cast the dissenting vote and said he had the impression that Midwest was capable of doing the work.

Because the commissioners halted the headquarters project, the work of the Carbone team and architecture firm Robert P. Madison International was suspended. Precision continues to work on asbestos removal in the tower. And Stephen J. Sebesta & Associates Inc., an environmental consultant, and The Sanchez Group, a project consultant, remain on the job.

See Full Plain Dealer Article

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Vetern's Administration

(Plain Dealer)- At stake was a $130 million construction project in Cleveland and 102 acres of prime development land near Interstate 77 in Brecksville, both part of a plan by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to consolidate its two area campuses.

Veterans Development LLC won the job. But sometime in the nearly three years that have passed, the merger of the VA's Wade Park and Brecksville complexes drew the attention of FBI and IRS agents investigating possible corruption in Cuyahoga County government.

Agents who searched Commissioner Jimmy Dimora's county office on Monday were looking for any documents related to the project. Other agents raided the Bedford Heights office of Doan Pyramid Electric, whose president, Michael Forlani, also runs Veterans Development.

The interest in the VA deal is unusual because it is a federal project with little or no county involvement... 

Investigators are looking into whether Dimora, the Democratic Party chairman, and county Auditor Frank Russo, his top lieutenant in the party, steered construction contracts to businesses that provided free improvements to their homes. Doan, under the name Northeast Ohio Electric, did electrical work at Russo's Mayfield home.

The Cleveland Cuyahoga County Port Authority, with three of its nine board members appointed by the county commissioners and the other six by the city, did agree last fall to finance Wade Park construction in Cleveland by selling up to $132 million in taxable bonds. The bond sale has not happened yet...

He said Forlani has spent millions of his own money on the project, razing buildings near the Wade Park campus and preparing for construction of a parking garage, office building and a 122-bed facility for homeless veterans.

Charek, who also works for federal contractor LDV Inc., said he met Forlani through Doan's work on another VA deal in 1999. He said Forlani is known for being able to negotiate the politics of Cleveland City Hall in order to get things done.

"I've done an awful lot of work with him and I've got to tell you, if there's one guy in town that I can count on . . . if he tells me 'I can make this happen' or 'I can do this,' I can take that to the bank," Charek said.

An attorney for Doan Pyramid, through a spokesman, said company officials had no idea why investigators are interested...

In all, four developers submitted proposals to the VA after the agency announced it wanted to merge the two campuses using an arrangement federal officials call an enhanced-use lease. Essentially, the VA agreed to give Veterans Development and Brecksville a long-term lease on the Brecksville property to allow for its redevelopment.

In return, Veterans Development agreed to build the three facilities at Wade Park. 

See Full Plain Dealer Article

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Juvenile Justice Center

(Plain Dealer) - After more than 20 years of haggling over a site and a $135 million dollar leap in the price tag, the skeleton of a new Juvenile Justice Complex finally is rising at East 93rd Street and Quincy Avenue.

But it doesn't look like the controversy about the complex is over.

The $160 million project is prominently mentioned in search warrants that give a glimpse into what federal agents were looking for during a raid Monday of the offices of Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and county Auditor Frank Russo.

Agents took letters and memos about the complex from three of the public offices they searched.

The center, which has been discussed since the 1980s, is to house a new county detention center and courthouse.

Commissioners bought the land in 2000, paying $2.7 million to Forest City Enterprises for about 13 acres...

The day agents raided county offices, the homes of public officials, and construction businesses, work by several dozen companies continued on the project.

One of those offices federal agents raided was in a Berea building shared by Phoenix Cement Inc. and Blaze Construction. Ferris and Loriann Kleem and John Mayer Sr. are owners of both companies.

Phoenix has a $4.6 million contract for concrete work at the complex.

Blaze Construction has handled more than $20 million in road contracts across the county since 1998 and co-owner Ferris Kleem has given nearly $20,000 to Dimora and the Democratic Party since 2003.

Attorney David Cuppage, who represents both companies, said Phoenix Cement won the contract through the public bidding process and that the company's bid was about $500,000 lower than its competitors.

See Full Plain Dealer Article

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FBI Raids Cuyahoga County Offices: Construction Contracts Revealed

More Breaking News from the Plain Dealer's on going series - "County In Crisis," detailing Cuyahoga County Contracts to companies involved in this week's FBI raids.   

(Plain Dealer) • Before the merger of Doan Electric and Pyramid Electric, Michael Forlani owned Pyramid Electric and received $1.18 million. Since the merger, Doan Pyramid Electric has received $1.34 million. The release does not indicate the nature of the work. The county also provided a $350,000 economic development loan to Deep Three Partners LLC, which is solely owned by Forlani.

• D-A-S Construction CEO Steve Pumper is a 25 percent managing member of Allerton Apartments, which received a $1 million brownfield redevelopment loan. The loan supported the cleanup and renovation of the 199-unit Parkview Apartments on East 13th Street in Cleveland.

• Pumper's and Forlani's companies are current with their loan payments and performance requirements.

• Blaze Construction received $17.9 million of work, up from $17.5 million reported earlier.

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No records released on any county deals with Vincore, LLC which was raid by FBI/IRS officails.

FBI Raids: Dimora, Russo, DAS, & Cuyahoga Democratic Party

More news from the Plain Dealer on the connections of  Russo, Dimora, DAS Consturtion, the County Juvenile Justice Center and more.

Stay Tuned to Cuyahoga Rough Writers Blog, for all breaking news as this story continues to unravel.

(Plain Dealer) - The FBI and IRS have taken aim at recent lucrative construction projects designed to improve those services while providing a shot in the arm for the region's economy, through thousands of construction jobs.

Investigators are examining whether Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo steered the construction contracts to businesses that provided free improvements to their homes.

The investigation is much bigger than that, though.

Records obtained Tuesday show that agents want to know whether Dimora and Russo offered jobs in exchange for favors or used their influence in judicial proceedings, decision-making at the top levels of county government and determinations of how much taxes people and companies should pay.

The records also reveal some interesting specifics about what agents were looking for when they spread out Monday morning to conduct raids:

• Handwritten notes about a $20,000 payment involving Russo and four ongoing projects, including the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Justice Center. The records do not go into detail about who paid or received the money.

• More than $2,000 in cash in Russo's personal office and records describing where it came from or how it was to be spent.

• Records pertaining to the use by Dimora or county official Kevin Kelley of a private luxury condominium in the upscale Stonebridge development overlooking the Flats, near the offices of both men.

• Evidence that public employees did personal work for Dimora and Russo during working hours, including serving as Dimora's driver, and handled Democratic Party business during office hours. In 1998, Russo was convicted of a misdemeanor for doing political work on county time.

• Photographs in Russo's personal office of Dimora and employee Rosemary Vinci, a former strip club manager. Vinci was the center of a political storm this spring when The Plain Dealer reported she was on the county payroll without having clear duties or time sheets showing she reported to work.

Sources with detailed knowledge of the case said the investigation into the two men began years ago, but it was jump-started in the past few months when the FBI latched onto Steven Pumper, the chief executive officer of D-A-S Construction in Garfield Heights, which authorities said did work on Dimora's home in Independence...

Besides looking into Pumper and D-A-S, federal agents raided the offices of Blaze Construction in Berea and Doan Pyramid Electric in Bedford Heights, poring over the contents of file cabinets and carrying away boxloads of paperwork.

Blaze has handled more than $20 million in county highway contracts since 1998 and became a strong contributor to the Democratic Party. Doan Pyramid did work at Russo's home under the name Northeast Ohio Electric, according to building permits.

Agents spent eight hours searching Dimora's office. They seized notes about Pumper and D-A-S, as well as a voice-mail message from Pumper. They also grabbed notes from Dimora on Ohio's public records law and a PowerPoint printout on ethics.

They took spreadsheets of political contributors along with letters from people seeking support and jobs, including an application from a grandson of Sheriff Gerald McFaul.

In Russo's office, agents found documents on Vinci, political fund-raising papers and landscape information, as well as banking records, mortgage papers and personal retirement information.

Agents also seized folders filled with information on various construction projects from each office.

Investigators went after and found documents on some of the county's most ambitious and expensive projects and the commissioner's role in the decision-making.

They want to know Dimora's role in the now-defunct $240 million plan to consolidate county offices at the old Ameritrust Building on East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue. They also sought information about Dimora's involvement in the county's $160 million Juvenile Justice Center at East 93rd Street and Quincy Avenue. Construction has just begun...

In the warrant for Russo's office, agents sought anything showing his role in the Juvenile Justice Center, as well as the county's new online mapping and information system. Kevin Kelley, whose Parma home was raided Monday, helped launch the system, which includes county tax maps, records and photographs of property.

They also sought information about a regional center designed for various city, county and state agencies to share information and communications deemed critical to preventing another terrorist attack.

Another project they sought information about is "The Cuyahoga County Property Tax System," although it's unclear specifically what they are investigating.

Unavailable Tuesday were records showing what agents sought at the homes of Dimora, Russo and Kelley and at the offices and homes of contractors. The reason the warrants for the county offices were available is they are in the possession of county government and are public record.

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County Democratic Party, Part Of FBI Raids On Cuyahoga

CLEVELAND -- The search warrant executed for Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora's office and his private home in Independence was released Tuesday morning. Dimora is also chairman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

Channel 3's Senior Political Correspondent Tom Beres detailed and summed up the contents of the warrant as follows:

All Cuyahoga County Democratic Party banking records in his possession; campaign income and expense records for Dimora's personal political campaigns;

Any and all documents that show any effort to influence any judicial proceedings or administrative agency proceedings;

Any and all documents showing involvement in the juvenile justice center, the Ameritrust project; and/or the Veterans Administration project;

Any and all documents or information on Vincore LLC;

Anything pertaining to income and income tax returns; all banking records and records of loans;

All records of living expenses, house payments, mortgage payments, home improvement payments, landscaping payments, maintenance, travel, food, recreation and beverage payments;

Any and all stocks, bonds and real estate holdings;

All telephone logs, calls and messages;

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See Full WKYC Article

FBI Raids Cuyahoga County Offices - Time For Change?

See All Development Below and Stay Tuned to Cuyahoga Rough Writers Blog For More

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Plain Dealer by Phillip Morris

Now is the time for taxpayers to demand change and accountability.

Now is the time for county residents to decide whether they are content with the inefficiencies of the hiring hall atmosphere of the county or whether they deserve a government that promotes regional efficiency and smartly works to revive an economic future.

Now is the time for voters to decide whether they trust the current commissioners to spend a half-billion dollars of our money on a convention center.

Now we have the ammunition: The raids carried out Monday by FBI and IRS agents at the homes and offices of Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and County Auditor Frank Russo, as part of a public-corruption investigation, make it clear that things are far from well in the administrative offices of Ohio's largest county.

Possibly, things have never been worse. We didn't need federal raids to drive that point home.

With scores of federal agents executing search warrants at the homes and workplaces of public officials and businesses that received public county contracts, never has the need for public scrutiny and sweeping change been more obvious.

If we're interested in surviving as a region and giving our children something on which to build, no longer can we afford to ignore the inefficiencies, incompetence and possible criminality that ooze from county government.

Patrick O'Malley's forced resignation in May as county recorder on an obscenities conviction was only a harbinger. Now, with a multipointed federal investigation into at least two of the county's leading Democrats, this is the time for county residents to redefine their expectations of county government.

It would be hard to find a period when trust in county government has been lower in modern times, and that includes the SAFE fiasco in the early '90s, when the county treasurer lost millions in risky investments.

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