The federal investigation into possible corruption by Cuyahoga County officials touches on services that are among the chief reasons that governments exist: revitalizing the economy, serving troubled and abused children and possibly even caring for soldiers injured in Iraq and aging veterans.
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.
Much more at link: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/07/cuyahoga_county_raids_sought_r.html#more
Thanks, EBH, for keeping us up-to-date. It’s my old stomping grounds and I’m glad to see some cleanup at last.
Thanks, EBH, for keeping us up-to-date. It’s my old stomping grounds and I’m glad to see some cleanup at last.