City Ethics
Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

FBI Investigation in Cuyahoga County Leads to First Phase of Charges

Anonymous
County Related

A three-year FBI investigation of Cuyahoga County (which includes
Cleveland) appears to have begun with a sting operation involving
building inspectors, where an undercover agent offered bribes, and they
were accepted, according to <a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/05/cuyahoga_county_corruption_inv_…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Cleveland </a><span><a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/05/cuyahoga_county_corruption_inv_…; target="”_blank”">Plain
Dealer</a>.</span> Six building inspectors were charged in May.<br>
<br>
But as with most such investigations, the easy acceptance of bribes, or
other sorts of unethical behavior, by lower-level employees or
officials usually indicates an ethics environment that at least
tolerates, if not encourages, such behavior. The investigation usually
spreads. The arrest of the building inspectors is only, as one article
calls it, the "first phase."<br>
<br>

Last year, the homes and offices of a county commissioner and the
county auditor were searched, and <a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/05/three_cleveland_building_inspe…; target="”_blank”">another
<span>Plain Dealer </span>article</a> says
that "the cases all stem from the investigation of how private
businesses obtain lucrative public contracts."<br>
<br>
It turns out that the Cuyahoga County auditor's office also "has more
than twice as
many employees as Franklin County" (which is 75% the size of Cuyahoga),
according to a state audit reported on i<a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/05/cuyahoga_county_agencies_have.h…; target="”_blank”">n
the </a><span><a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/05/cuyahoga_county_agencies_have.h…; target="”_blank”">Plain
Dealer</a>.</span> There are reports of political appointments in this
and other offices. So there appear to be problems not only with public
contracts, but also with public hiring. Stay tuned.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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