Some in Media Asking About Cuyahoga County
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 By Marc KilmerWhile the state’s main papers seem oblivious to the scandal unfoding in Cuyahoga County, at least some members of the media are asking why Governor Strickland is treating this differently than the Marc Dann episode. From the Hillsboro Times Gazette:
Shortly after former Attorney General Marc Dann held a news conference in May to answer questions about a sexual harassment scandal involving a top aide, the response from Democrats was quick and forceful: resign or be impeached.
Yet two weeks have passed since the FBI in Cleveland raided the offices and homes of Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy DiMora and Auditor Frank Russo, and the Democratic Party’s response has been muted.
The party issued an initial statement that the two men should be held accountable if there was wrongdoing, but has not supplied the almost daily pressure it did with Dann.
The FBI seized documents related to fundraising, travel and deals with contractors in the searches, which were also conducted at local businesses with county contracts.
What explains the differences in the party’s reactions to the developing scandals? After all, neither Dann, who did eventually resign, nor DiMora or Russo, have been charged with any crimes.
The answer? Politics:
While Dann had staunch allies within his own office, he had few elsewhere in state politics. That made him more expendable.
Russo and DiMora, conversely, built the most powerful political party in the state’s largest Democratic county, often hiring friends and allies into jobs. …
While famous and powerful in Cuyahoga County, DiMora and Russo aren’t widely known to voters around the state.
Another difference: Democrats had time to pressure Dann to resign, then find a candidate who could run a solid statewide campaign months before the November election.
Pressuring DiMora or Russo to resign, on the other hand, would create turmoil in Cuyahoga government roughly 90 days before the party desperately needs local elected officials to turn out the vote on Nov. 4.
All these factors combined make staying silent about DiMora and Russo the only conceivable tactic for Democrats, said Grant Neeley, political science professor at the University of Dayton.
The Dann scandal began in the realm of politics and will end with the completion of a formal legal investigation.
The situation with DiMora and Russo is beginning in the legal realm, when not much can be said, and could end up being political.
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said many facts were known in the Dann case – that a top aide was accused of sexually harassing two female subordinates, and that Dann admitted he was ill-prepared for the job, for example – that distinguished his case from the Cuyahoga situation and enabled the party to move forward with a response.
“Rather than a rush to judgment we will take a look at the facts as they become available and respond accordingly,” Redfern said. Redfern also brushed off Republican criticism of his party’s response to DiMora and Russo, ticking off a laundry list of recent instances in which the GOP was mum when scandal developed.
Why aren’t reporters from the Columbus Dispatch, the Akron Beacon Journal, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and other papers asking these questions of Chris Redfern or Governor Strickland?
Tags: Accountable Government, Democrats, Dimora, Strickland
