Unfit for Office
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 By Marc KilmerThis is just amazing:
Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo’s attorney has subpoenaed 32 people who signed a request for a citizens review of the auditor’s office and is seeking political and tax information about them.
Members of the group called the subpoenas harassment, an attempt to intimidate them into dropping their plan for a three-person panel that would examine Russo’s books. They are also upset their tax money is being used to pay the lawyer representing Russo’s office $195 an hour. They say Russo, a Democrat, has turned the request into a political donnybrook by attacking Republicans for starting the petition.
“It is uncalled for,” said Ronald Finnerty, a Garfield Heights Democrat, who signed the petition with his wife, Karen, also a Democrat. “Whoever heard of attacking a person for signing a petition?”
So Russo, who is under investigation for public corruption, is using taxpayer dollars to intimidate those who think his actions as auditor should be investigated. Whether or not Russo is guilty of anything criminal will be sorted out by the judicial process. But using a taxpayer-funded attorney to wage a personal vendetta against those who want greater accountability and transparency for the use of taxpayer dollars is reason enough to conclude Russo is unfit for office. Of course, I guess I can now expect a subpoena for saying this.
BTW, where is the Columbus Dispatch on this story? I haven’t been able to find any evidence where that paper has mentioned this case at all recently. This public corruption investigation is something that certainly deserves the attention of the capital’s paper.
