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Cuyahoga County’s corruption scandal has touched almost every corner of county service except the Prosecutor’s Office. That will change in the coming weeks, according to sources with close ties to county politics. Mason is expected to resign by the second week of October, the sources say. Federal charges against him are expected within the next two months.

“There’s a reason why they’re not included [in the federal indictments] at this point,” says one of the sources, who spoke with Scene on condition of anonymity. “They’re collecting more information.”

Last week, County Auditor Frank Russo pleaded guilty to 21 corruption charges. Commissioner Jimmy Dimora pleaded not guilty to 26 corruption-related charges. Mason, asked why he did nothing to combat the wave of corruption unfolding all around him, told a Plain Dealer reporter that he knew nothing about it.

But according to Scene sources, Mason played his own role for years, using his political power to rally support for himself and his favored candidates, basing hiring decisions on volunteer efforts, and keeping shadow employees on the county payroll.

According to sources, “team players” on Mason’s staff — those who routinely shilled for the prosecutor’s pet candidates and causes — were the first in line for advancement and pay raises. Such efforts were always conducted off county resources such as e-mail, unlike the more brazen fund-raising campaigns of disgraced Sheriff Gerald McFaul. “And it was always insulated from Bill himself,” one source says, adding that campaign managers and other volunteers coordinated the efforts. “Is it corruption? No. But it’s definitely not right.

“This is a storm he’s seen coming. He’s had people in place, and he knows the FBI is watching.”

Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Cleveland office of the FBI, declined comment on the ongoing corruption investigation or Mason. The federal prosecutor’s office also declined comment through spokesman Mike Tobin.

Mason’s office did not return Scene’s calls seeking comment.

This article appears in Sep 15-21, 2010.

34 replies on “Sources: Bill Mason Expected to Resign Soon, Face Charges From Feds”

  1. Dream on. It took them two years to build a case against the more brazen Russo and Dimora, and they’re going to catch a sharp customer like Mason in two weeks? And he’s going to resign? I wish.

    I don’t buy it — and I wish I did. For years, he’s been running his own people for the county central committee to lock down control of the county party. The first thing any precinct captain asks when they find themselves with an unexpected opponent is “Does he/she work for Bill Mason?” Mason was acknowledged by the Plain Dealer to have launched the county charter reform/Issue 6 campaign following a meeting with powerful Lake County Republican Ed Crawford. How often did you hear the PD point out that the Issue 6 charter — unlike other county reform proposals such as the Abbott Commission in 2008 — eliminated every county elected office and therefore every political power base — except for prosecutor. How convenient. Of course, the PD was shilling for Issue 6 so they had to keep talk of any negatives — and this was a huge negative — to a minimum.

    You could also open a whole kettle of worms with the issue of a prosecutor influencing the slating of judges and hence control of the legal system. You could look into other ways he might have trying to tilt the system against defendants, who already have limited power and resources in the face of the government and the prosecutor’s office. Mason’s fingers are in a lot of pies, many of which should raise questions. However, given that a huge, flashy raid in 2008 only yielded routine charges over two years later, and there’s been no indication that the F.B.I. has gathered evidence in Mason’s office, I regretfully have to doubt Mason is going down any time soon.

  2. Oh, and also — Mason’s claim of having absolutely NO IDEA what Dimora and Russo were doing is laughable. Mason was actively accumulating his own sometimes competing, sometimes cooperating power base in the county Democratic party. It’s an open secret he worked to build up his vote total on the central and executive committees. Anyone who is building power has knowledge in minute detail about what his opponents are doing i.e. how many central committee members are loyal to Dimora etc. It’s simply impossible that Mason didn’t know what was going on. You can say many things about him, but not that he is stupid.

  3. Gee maybe they found something wrong with the way Mason makes you get your political printing done at his (business partner in Hiding) favorite printshop Questcom Graphics. If you want his political support it’s Questcom or nothing. What could be wrong with that?

  5. You don’t think that they may have been investigating him all along? That this just started two weeks or ago or started today and will conclude in two weeks? Get real. With th epolitical machine he built up in every city. With the money he charged his staff to fill tables at his fundraisers . This guy will go down. The biggest benefit though may be a derailed FitzGerald campaign. And I am a life long democrat!

  6. His best buds were Pat O’malley and Pat Coyne what did everyone expect? Surprised nobody looked into how all kinds of Dems like the above got jobs at Tri-C and the non producing consultants list at that place looks like a who’s who of out of work local politicals over the years Oakar ,Senagara et al.

  7. Anyone that works Dtown knows exactly what he was doing. If you play in the pig pen, you always end up getting dirty. Mason knows exactly what is coming. I really dont think the average Clevelander knows how things work in the county. Sadly, once the bums get thrown out, I am sure the voters will just vote in more democrats and nothing will change.

  9. Dirty, dirty, dirty. All these top county officials are being exposed as thieves, frauds, and liars. This has come about because the lopsided nature of county politics, and the quite predictable myopic nature of voters in this county. Labor union goons throw support behind anyone with a D next to their name, no matter what they say or do. “Community Organizers” (Aggitators) are only concerned with their own power base and not whats best for the county as a whole. Unfortunately for all of us the stupidity will continue and this region will continue to shrink and sink.

  10. You’ve got to ask yourself why the Plain Dealer hasn’t reported on much of this corruption sooner. They just started reporting this in the last couple of years since they’re becoming irrelevant and are losing their advertisers. They must be trying to sell more papers in order to save themselves. Isn’t Connie, “I may lean left” Schultz, married to Sherrod Brown, another democrat?

    You can lay the destruction of Cleveland, as a viable and thriving American city, directly at the feet of the corrupt, incompetent political (Democratic) machine. Jail is too good for these people…

  13. Bill Mason also used the office of prosecutor and the power to prosecute as a common mugger would use a gun. He basically mugged people in broad daylight. I am not a lawyer, but I have to believe that there is a law in America that prohibits prosecutors from unethical abuse of position and office and using the power that they have been entrusted with to prosecute, as a tool to extort money. This abuse had to have been pervasive in his office as were the illegal leaks and disinformation spread through the Plain Dealer, whenever they felt like shaping public opinion, and in effect controlling public opinion through the Plain Dealer.

  14. How could anyone accuse Mason of using his office and position to engage in illegal and unethical activities when he was the Plain Dealer’s endorsed candidate in the 2008 election even though there was a highly qualified candiate opposing him? The PD should know who is qualified for office and who is not, shouldn’t they? (Pardon me while I take my tongue out of my cheek).

  16. A clear sign of defiance is that he refuses “open discovery.” Please, his office is a joke, build with a bunch of fund raising, golf outing drunks that are more concerned about their own agenda than the law.

  18. I GUESS MASON REALLY IS AS DUMB AS HE LOOKS IN HU+IS PROFILE PICTURE!!
    BILL “I DIDN”t KNOW ANYTHING WAS GOING ON ‘ MASON

  19. I hope Bill Mason ends up behind bars with at least 50 of the falsely accused men that have went to prison while unethical and unprofessional judges played Russian roulette with prison sentencing while deferring to their “favorite” attorneys in the prosecutor’s office. You reap what you sow. And I hope that he has to forfeit his pension. Do not collect. Go straight to jail.

  20. I worked for the City of Cleveland Law Department years back, and there is more to this then the FBI is of course leting us know. We all need to start with Mike White and Tubb Jones, those who are falling now came late to the game and thought they could not get caught. There are a lot of things people know about who work for the city and the county and have been afrad to come forward.

  21. This is a good case for changing the laws. If you work for the City, County, State or Federal Government in any capacity, and you’re as dirty as these guys, YOU ALSO LOSE YOUR PENISON AND ALL BENENFITS THAT MAY HAVE BEEN PROVIDED. rEALLY, GETTING PAID WITH TAXPAYER MONEY, AND DOUBLE-DIPPING AT THE SAME TIME IS THE REAL CRIME…

  22. One can condemn those Democrats, shout at those elected sleaze-bags, register his disgust with othe councilpersons, shake one’s head when he hears the ignorant utterances of Franck, like we done be in charge, Jackson. It is we, however, who are really the guilty party. We elected theses folks. They are Democrats and we elect Democrats.

    Am I suggesting that Republican are the panacea. NO. A two party system, however, does keep watch.

    We need our print media to do its job. Support both Republicans and Democrats.

  23. Seems to me there is a changing at the guard of the whole County. I find this cronyism between County Employee’s, City Officials, friends and family to have their own set of rule or order and laws. Everybody these days has a family member who is a Police Officer or has a Father or Brother and that is fine. But when you have family members starting bar fights, drinking and driving or committing traffic offenses. If they are related those charges are never pressed or if they are they are reduced down to a fine. These people are White Coat Gangsters. You have bad guys and you have good guys everywhere. It seems to me the good guys are becoming fewer and fewer and many of them are a wolf in sheep’s clothing. At the end of the day we are all human and some of the stories I hear about what cops get away with I believe some people take those jobs for the perks. If I go into Starbucks I pay a $1.95 for my coffee if I wear a Police Uniform I get it for free. Is this corruption? It’s not fair every bum on the street or high roller has to pay the cost of life and Police Fire Ems and Politicians get a free ride one way or the other. These people are so insecure about their own lives they take that self guilt and end up beating up on people with inside their powers. If it’s a Police officer you may find yourself in a pool of blood on the side of the road on a traffic stop after questioning why are you stopping me? If you are a prosecutor coming from Bill Masons Office you may find yourself in an orange jumpsuit facing 100 count indictment for anything he can charge you with. Ever notice what happens when I Police Officer gets charged. He gets that little punk Patrick Di Angelo they have a trial to the Judge and he is found not guilty almost every time. Is that corruption? So there is a lot of things Mason did to Botch the county government these ridiculous indictments sending the wrong convictions to the Bureau of Criminal Identification. Make sure if you get in trouble you get a copy of your record the prosecutor will send down the more serious charges that were thrown out and they may end up on your record if at some point you were indicted. When I spoke to someone at the State of Ohio they said Cuyahoga County was named the mistake by the Lake for a reason.

  24. Nothing will ever happen because the hole is too deep – deals have touched everyone and some are not even mentioned in the digging. So sad that the citizens have to suffer and be afraid to speak out.

  25. Ok so it is now the end of October and Bill is still in office sooo ummm yeah any update to this story?

  27. It is now November 10th and still nothing and I do not see Cleveland Scene making any more comments on Bill Mason resigning. If your gonna be a source of information then you need to follow up on stories and not just let them sit and mold when they dont go the way you thought they would. So whats going on? Wheres the update on whats taking so long for Bill to step down since you all were so confident before when you wrote this story.

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  30. It is now December 16th and guess what? Bill Mason is still in office. Scene has of yet to do a follow up on why Mr. Mason is still in office. So Scene whats up?

  31. Hahaha. Queeniez71, your waiting in vain. No update will be forth coming until a major break in this situation. You can keep pointing out the date and how long it has been since the original story but what good is it gonna do? What kind of follow up do you expect?

  32. I expect for them to retract their story thats what I expect. Not saying they will cuz I am positive that they wont but I still think its the right thing to do but its Scene and shotty journalism is their thing. I am neither a fan or hater of Bill Mason personally I just dont think its right for Scene to put out a story like they did about Mason and when what they say in their story does not happen they just sweep it under the floor like the never said it. I would think better of them if they aknowledged that they were wrong and apologize to the readers for their incorrect story. But I suppose shotty journalism will win out once again.

  33. Bill Mason also used the office of prosecutor and the power to prosecute as a common mugger would use a gun. He basically mugged people in broad daylight. I am not a lawyer, but I have to believe that there is a law in America that prohibits prosecutors from unethical abuse of position and office and using the power that they have been entrusted with to prosecute, as a tool to extort money. This abuse had to have been pervasive in his office as were the illegal leaks and disinformation spread through the Plain Dealer, whenever they felt like shaping public opinion, and in effect controlling public opinion through the Plain Dealer.

  34. It has been almost 2 years to the day since you published this article and now Bill Mason is stepping down but not because of legal trouble as your headlines blared but because he is taking a position as a partner in a law firm. I don’t see any big story to this or apology either. Won’t either I am sure unless of course its to try and spin it into something that there are no facts to support just like last time.

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