BuckeyeBlog

The news that the FBI probe into the actions of Cuyahoga County officials Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo is now expanding with a search of two judges’ chambers is pretty significant and doesn’t really need much commentary. I’d only note that unless you were a faithful reader of the Cleveland Plain Dealer you’d have little idea this probe was even taking place. C’mon, Dispatch, don’t you think that this type of federal investigation is worth covering?

Here is the latest development:

Agents appeared at the courtrooms of Common Pleas judges Bridget McCafferty and Steven Terry between 7 and 8 p.m.

FBI Special Agent Scott Wilson confirmed the searches were linked to the county corruption probe made public in July after FBI and IRS agents raided the homes and offices of county officials Jimmy Dimora, Frank Russo and Kevin Kelley, but he would not say what agents were searching for.

Terry is a political ally of Russo’s. Terry’s former bailiff, Michael Calabrese, 43, is a house mate of Russo’s. The two bought a house together in Mayfield.

A federal grand jury has begun hearing testimony and serving subpoenas to contractors and county officials. Dimora, Russo and Kelley are suspected of trading county contracts for work on their homes.

The investigators are also looking into hiring practices at the county, and whether county employees engaged in political work on public time, according to search warrants and other court documents.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer had an interesting editorial about embattled Cuyahoga County officials Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo:

Politicians aren’t like the rest of us. Take those two walking ATM machines known as Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and County Recorder Frank Russo.

They hired Nature Stone flooring to do some concrete work at their respective pools back in 2002. And like most of us hardworking wage slaves, they paid cash. At least, that’s what Nature Stone founder Russell Masetta says.

Dimora ponied up $10,125. Russo peeled a quick $7,990 off the roll in his pocket. These guys don’t carry wallets. They carry suitcases.

In case you forgot, Dimora and Russo are under federal investigation for a variety of corruption charges. Unless you subscribe to the Plain Dealer you probably wouldn’t have heard of this. There seems to be a distinct lack of coverage from the state’s other newspapers.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer published another article yesterday about the unfolding corruption scandal in Cuyahoga County. It’s too bad that the Columbus Dispatch isn’t doing more to investigate this issue, considering the potential impact this will have on the state.

From the Plain Dealer:

The note in Frank Russo’s office about a $20,000 payment. The paperwork for a downtown condo that Jimmy Dimora might have shared with friends. The meals and trips a county worker received from contractors.

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.

So the feds have been looking at this for years, possibly? There certainly seems to be a strong suspicion among the feds that these two men misused their office. According to Governor Strickland, though, the state shouldn’t investigate, too. While nothing has been proven and no charges filed, I find it hard to believe that there aren’t grounds for the state to at least begin looking into this situation. I wonder what the governor would be saying if these two men had an “R” after their name instead of a “D”?

After the police raid targeting Cuyahoga County officials Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo, David Hansen wondered why the New York Times had spent so much attention on Senator Ted Stevens but didn’t mention this scandal at all. Well, about a week-and-a-half late, the Times did indeed feature an article about the shenanigans in Cuyahoga County, although its angle was about how it would affect Barack Obama’s chance of winning the state.

It’s shameful that it took the Times this long to report on the story and it’s even worse that they chose not to actually delve into the details of the issue. As pointed out in David Hansen’s post on the issue, there are twice as many people who live in Cuyahoga County than live in Alaska. These folks under investigation are responsible for spending over a billion dollars in tax money. This investigation is a big deal. But I guess stories about things like the judging of baked goods at the Marquette County Fair are more important.

Looking through Cuyahoga County’s 2007 financial report, I came across this info:

The County expects to issue up to approximately $167 million of various purpose general obligation bonds in the last half of 2007. Approximately $80.5 million will be used to pay the costs of construction of a new Juvenile Court and Youth Intervention Center which have been incurred and will be incurred through 2008. The property is currently owned by the County and underwent some environmental remediation. The estimated cost of this new joint facility building is $144 million and construction is expected to take three years.

This is one of the buildings of interest to federal investigators in the Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo scandal. From news reports it appears that investigators are looking at whether or not construction companies connected to Russo and Dimora may have obtained their contracts improperly. If so, taxpayers in Cuyahoga County should question if this building could have been built a little more affordably. It looks pretty swanky to me.

With the mess unfolding in Cuyahoga County, I’m unclear why this isn’t getting a little more attention in Columbus. Governor Strickland abdicated his responsibility by claiming “the most proper thing for me and others to do is to do nothing that would be perceived as an attempt to interfere with that investigation…”, as if a state investigation would somehow interfere with the federal efforts.

Although Governor Strickland clearly won’t be the one to do it, it surely needs to be investigated how the county is spending taxpayers’ money. This is a large issue in the investigation, considering that the feds are looking at allegations contending that Commissioner Dimora helped steer construction contracts to his buddies. He and his fellow commissioners help allocate $1.5 billion in spending. Federal and state taxpayers contribute almost 37% of the tax money that pays for that spending. As the county budget office puts it, that’s the “largest source of funding to the County.”

County Auditor Frank Russo must report to State Auditor Mary Taylor about the county’s finances. Considering that Mr. Russo is being investigated along with Mr. Dimora, and considering the large amount of money the state pours into Cuyahoga County, Auditor Taylor should show some leadership where Governor Strickland has failed to do so and start looking into the gritty details of Cuyahoga County’s spending. The taxpayers of Ohio have a right to know if something fishy was going on with the money they have provided to this county.