It’s heartening, we suppose, that O’Malley is vigilantly guarding against unethical behavior at the county, but if these indictments represent a new bar for impermissible conduct, many more heads ought to be rolling.
Chief Talent Officer Douglas Dykes, former jail director Ken Mills and general counsel for the county’s IT department Emily McNeeley were indicted on a number of criminal counts.
“Ten years ago, County government drowned in a sea of corruption,” O’Malley said in a press release. “Citizens rightly expected that the new form of County government would usher in an era of high ethical behavior and effective governance. Sadly, today’s indictments demonstrate that our new form of government has not met those expectations. Our investigation continues.”
Is that what these indictments demonstrate? Let’s take a closer look at them:
McNeeley is indicted for steering contracts to Hyland Software, where her wife works and has an ownership stake, which she never disclosed. She also appeared before county council to recommend a $9 million contract for a firm called Ciber Inc. But she “failed to disclose that her father, as Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissioner, was convicted of being bribed by Ciber and that Ciber had a record of defrauding other states with whom they had contracted.”
Mills is indicted for lying to council about blocking the hiring of necessary nursing staff at the county jail, and then lying to investigators about “interactions with a high-level county official.” What a tease!
Dykes is indicted because he paid $15,000 to Chief Information Officer James Hay as a “signing bonus.” Evidently, he didn’t receive authorization to redesignate Hay’s “improper moving expenses” as a signing bonus, so he lied and said that then-law director Robert Triozzi had given him the okay to do so.
On the Dykes issue, State Auditor Dave Yost had already ruled that these signing bonuses, which were hatched and implemented by both Dykes and Budish, were illegal. Hay agreed to repay the $15,000 last year. The issue seemed to have been resolved. So why a criminal indictment? And why Dykes, but not Budish? (Is the central issue that Dykes lied? That he threw Triozzi under the bus? Or maybe we’re to believe that it was Dykes, and not Budish, pushing for the county’s selective personnel perks all along?)
Mills was a bad jail director whose lying to investigators is pretty much par for the course. But he’s already been canned — that is to say, he “abruptly resigned“, as he should have. So why the criminal indictment? Are we headed toward a fuller investigation of corruption as a cause of inhumane conditions at the jail?
Only McNeeley’s charges, as presented, seem worthy of pursuit. But given former city councilman Joe Cimperman’s recent slap on the wrist for a version of the same thing — he had to pay a $10,000 fine and perform some community service for 26 counts of “unlawful interest in a public contract” — voters shouldn’t hold their breath for a day of reckoning.
Perhaps, as O’Malley has suggested, these are only the first in a longer series of indictments. Could Budish’s former Chief of Staff Sharon Sobol Jordan be next? Could Budish himself?
This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2019.
Sadly, ten years later County government is STILL drowning in a sea of corruption!!!!
How does everyone like their massive, 40% average increase in property tax bills that are going to be due on Thursday??? All this so Budish and his cohorts can waste even more millions on ridiculous pet projects!!!!
Until Budish is recalled from office along with Taxin Jackson, nothing will change, other than more and more taxpayer money being squandered and misused!!!!
After both of these thieves are recalled from office, their next step should be to be sent right to jail for their constant shenanigans!!!!
Thank you for questioning O’Malley’s trumpet of justice. This is all wrong and it should be exposed, but will he go after Sharon Sobol Jordan and Budish? Highly unlikely. Will ANYONE in Cuyahoga County question the set-up known as the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation? It has been set up to apparently to evade any scrutiny by design. It was incorporated by former County Treasurer Jim Rokakis, who is consistently given a pass on every evil kick-back scheme he cooked up. The vast network of HUD funded CDCs, Housing Court, federal and county HHS monies towards Cleveland Housing Network, Neighborhood Housing Services, Centers for Ohio have grown to bloated proportions hiring friends and relatives, who are paid six figure incomes. The network grew out of his time in Cleveland City Council and now he is protected by his benefactors – like Dan Brady, Dale Miller and, his former BOR employee Cheryl Stephens on Cuyahoga County Council. Expect them to rubber stamp $30 million dollars to hand out to their CCLB friends. It is a repulsive network of parasitism that we continue to vote into office.
Laura McShane for County Executive! Please!
The failing schools not make sense. Jackson/Budish want failing schools, better to manipulate their way into office without oversight. So disgusting.
Actually, what is playing out may be the internecine warfare that was typical inside the Jimmy Dimora political machine — when those appearing not completely loyal or greedily eyeing a bigger slice of the pie were kicked to the curb; typically with compliant local media members leading the charge by heralding the party line.
When you have ignorant, gullible voters and slick unethical politicians combined with a manipulative press whod rather mislead as opposed to educate voters you get reform like the boondoggle like one man leadership. We need to break this model and return to the 3 commission form of government which worked for decades.
In the beginning there was One Community. It bagat Ms. McNeely, Mr. Scott Rourke, and Ms. Sari Feldman.
Anybody seen any free broadband?
Screw you all! We are smarter than You! Going to vacation on your tax dollars! And I have a site about privacy too! Youe all too dumb and I am smart! I BCC d hyland on this comment.