GOVERNMENT CONFLICTS, CORRUPTION AND INDICTMENTS

- OHIO -

Date	Individual / State Agency	Who, What, Where?
9/30/03	Lakewood – Eminent Domain	Eminent Domain Screwing The city condemned an entire neighborhood of older colonial homes asserting they were a “blight” because they had small backyards and the homes were built without two-car garages. The city immediately thereafter gave the property to a real estate developer to build expensive condominiums and stores.
03/01/06	Ohio Attorney General	FBI Investigating Ohio Attorney General According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the FBI has opened an inquiry into potential corruption in that the Ohio Attorney General took lucrative state legal work away from two law firms because they refused to contribute to his campaign. The two lawyers voiced their complaint in an article in The Plain Dealer against Attorney General Jim Petro, who has been dogged by complaints that he has used the special counsel program as a fund-raising ATM, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from lawyers after awarding them no bid contracts. Other firms have also come forward and lodged similar complaints against Petro. We’re really in deep trouble when they start investigating and possibly prosecuting the highest law enforcement officer in a state.
03/01/06	Medicaid	Transportation Firms Scam Medicaid out of $4 Million According to The Plain Dealer, at least seven area transportation companies have scammed Medicaid out of $4 million, and other companies remain under investigation. FBI agents started raiding firms after the owners of Lift Medical Transporting Services were put under three months of house arrest and ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution. Assistant U. S. Attorney Richard Blake said, “It’s basically become a federally subsidized taxi service.” So far, twelve people have pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and health care fraud. Note that although Medicaid is a state program again we have the prosecution being accomplished by the feds, as local government seems to have no interest. The scam resulted when poor people who rely on Medicaid to pay their medical bills become eligible for vouchers to and from doctor’s appointments by private ambulette companies, which in turn bill Medicaid $70 per trip. The company officials who pleaded guilty admitted they transported hundreds of people who did not qualify. Finally, federal investigators became somewhat suspicious when more than 100 such ambulette companies sprang up in one county, Cuyahoga County.
03/01/06	Rocky River	Two Mayors to be Prosecuted According to The Plain Dealer, the Ohio Ethics Commission has recommended that two suburban mayors should be prosecuted over the hiring of relatives at a regional sewer plant in Rocky River. Seven of the 19 employees at the Rocky River Wastewater Treatment Plant were related to Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough or Rocky River Mayor William Knoble. The charges recommended by the commission are felony unlawful interest in a public contract and misdemeanor improper use of public office.
03/01/06	Madison	Madison Administrator Takes Buyout to Avoid Possible litigation According to the Plain Dealer, Madison administrator John Sample accepted an $110,000 buyout from the city council after he was asked to resign over highly suspicious dealings in town business. Law Director Michael Murray said state law gives the council the authority to dismiss the administrator, but the council allowed Sample to resign and paid him to avoid possible litigation. Not only did they give him his salary and unused sick and vacation days for the next three years; better yet, he’s still advising village workers on matters from finance to sewage. Only in government! Resident Rich Janco said, “We realize we can’t do anything about the buyout now, but we’re still trying to get the council to be more open and honest about the cost and how long and how much he’s still being paid.”
05/01/06	Rocky River	Rocky River Mayor Reaches Plea Bargain In our March newsletter, we reported that the Ohio Ethics Commission recommended that two suburban mayors should be prosecuted over the hiring of relatives at a regional sewer plant in Rocky River. Between the recommendation of the Ethics Commission and citizen’s outrage, Rocky River Mayor William Knoble has reached a plea deal with authorities in which he will plead guilty to two misdemeanors and resign from his office. He must also fire his son and brother and agree to cooperate with authorities in testifying against the bigger fish, Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last October that Knoble and Clough had a total of seven relatives on the 19-member payroll at the Rocky River Wastewater Treatment Plant, earning nearly $300,000 a year. Although Knoble could get six months in jail, he gets to keep his pension. When are authorities going to change the law so when a public servant is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony, they automatically lose all benefits? Perhaps this drastic action will make the crooked politicians think twice before abusing the taxpayers.
06/01/06	Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation (BWC)	Chief Financial Officer Charged with Racketeering Terry Gasper, the former chief financial officer for the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation (BWC), has been charged with racketeering, money laundering and of violating ethics laws. He was charged with receiving cash, a $485,000 Florida Keys condo and tuition payments for his son. Authorities said he received favors from investment brokers, dealers and marketers and a disgraced coin dealer and Republican fund-raiser who managed a $50 million investment in rare coins he managed for BWC. Prosecutors said, “Gasper defrauded the public, the BWC and the citizens of Ohio of their right to his honest services by using his position and influence” to help brokers obtain and keep state investment business.
07/01/06	Rocky River	Rocky River Development Director Buys “Cheap” Deli Rocky River Development Director Kory Koran used his position to purchase a deli at “rock bottom” prices. He bought the property in May for $150,000. It wasn’t as if he was the only buyer. He was in competition with two other potential buyers who were willing to pay far more for the property, up to $300,000, but they were advised that city agencies would block their ownership. One of the potential bidders, Dennis Rzyczycki, told investigators, “He [Koran] is the economic development director. He knows everything going on in town, I personally believe that he stole it from me.” Rocky River Law Director Andy Bemer initially cleared Koran of wrongdoing until facts relevant to the case were splashed across the Plain Dealer’s news pages. Now that same individual has requested an independent investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission, obviously after he could not longer hide these ominous facts.
07/01/06	Rocky River	Republicans Pay Tribute to Rocky River Mayor In our May newsletter, we reported that Rocky River Mayor William F. Knoble reached a plea bargain, no doubt with his buddies whom he had shared offices with, in which he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and agreed to resign from his office for the illegal hiring of his relatives at a sewage treatment plant. Knoble could have gotten six months in jail. But instead of jail, as a very severe penalty he received a $500 fine. If you or I had committed the offense, we would be sharing a jail cell with Big Bubba. Even though Knoble pleaded guilty to an offense against the very people he was elected to serve, there are still people who want to reward the former mayor for his “public service.” In a case of sheer stupidity, the Rocky River Republican Club (www.rockyriverrepublicanclub.org) plans to hold a tribute to the man on August 3^rd. What must the severity of the crimes be before concerned citizens stop supporting these self-serving egotistical politicians -- conviction for multiple murders? The outlandish behavior of committed Democrats and Republicans has always amazed the Apathetic Voter. He has listened to demented supporters of both parties praise political officeholders regardless of the crime’s those individuals may have committed against society. I am sick and tired of listening about the praises of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, a man whom women love and is repeatedly elected to office, even though it doesn’t seem to bother Democrats that the man probably should have been convicted of murder (or at least manslaughter in the case of Mary Jo Kopechne), is a wife beater and admitted alcoholic. But I guess it’s OK since he’s a Kennedy.