CUYAHOGA COUNTY -- "Cuyahoga County voters took a huge step toward a better future on Nov. 3 when they overwhelmingly approved a charter containing a new blueprint for government. But passing Issue 6 was only the first step. Now the new structure has to work for the good of the public.... The partners plan to set up a steering committee and at least nine task forces to oversee the transition to a new government and to delve into every nook and cranny of what the county does -- or could do with its new charter powers. The idea is to develop a set of recommendations for whoever is elected county executive and to the 11-member county council next November. The working groups will try to determine what the county does well, what it does poorly, and how it might do everything that it does more efficiently and effectively.... Here's where the people of Cuyahoga County -- including maybe you, reading this editorial -- come in: Beginning Monday, anyone interested in participating in the transition should be able to volunteer via the county's Web site . New Cuyahoga Now's site is being rebuilt, but will soon be another point of entry for those who would like to help," Cleveland Plain Dealer. Posted Dec 20. Dec 21: Common Pleas court documents available online
COLUMBUS -- "Court papers and lawsuits that had been filed behind the counters at the Franklin County Common Pleas Court are now available online. Clerk Maryellen O'Shaughnessy has added document images to her Web site in the office's continuing efforts toward going paperless. Legal briefs filed in most cases since Dec. 1 are now available online at www.franklincountyohio.gov/clerk.... However, records of most probate, domestic and juvenile court files will not be available online because of privacy issues and the wishes of judges in those courts, O'Shaughnessy said," Bruce Cadwallader, The Columbus Dispatch. Dec 18: Cleveland Clerk of Courts Earle Turner says he has worked more than reported
CLEVELAND -- "Six months after a Plain Dealer investigation revealed how rarely Cleveland Clerk of Courts Earle Turner worked at his office in the Justice Center, Turner says he can account for dozens more work days.
The newspaper investigation published June 7 showed the Democrat averaged about seven hours per week in the office in 2008. He entered the parking garage on 76 days in 2008 and 63 days this year through May 28, records show.... urner, who is paid $95,000 a year while also collecting a public pension worth about $60,000, is responsible for keeping track of about 150,000 criminal and civil cases and 300,000 traffic tickets and collecting millions of dollars in fines that move through Cleveland Municipal Court each year. He manages a $15 million budget and about 180 employees," Mark Puente, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
COLUMBUS -- "This year, the five-member board of the [Franklin County] Veterans Service, which runs the county office that grants small sums to veterans in financial straits, overspent its budget by giving large unbudgeted raises to the agency's executives. Its leaders approached the Franklin County commissioners recently to ask permission to cover the payroll shortfall by taking from money that is intended to help veterans buy groceries or keep their heat on. The commissioners rightly denied that request and instead took the necessary $40,000 out of a county contingency fund.... The commissioners asked the veterans board to prepare a plan to stay within budget for 2010. The response, delivered Monday and signed by all five members, said, 'We have rejected your proposal so that we maintain our authority that is vested in the law.'... The trouble started when, without notifying anyone else, board members decided in 2005 to raise the pay of three staff members: Director Douglas E. Lay, Assistant Director John C. Warrix and Executive Assistant Angela M. Cline. Their salaries have increased over the past four years by 66 percent, 69 percent and 80 percent, respectively. This year alone, their salaries rose by 12 percent.
Their salaries are now more than 50 percent higher than the level a consultant recommended," The Columbus Dispatch. Dec 17: Cuyahoga County officials, backers of Issue 6, collaborate on new government
CUYAHOGA COUNTY -- "The architects of Cuyahoga County's new charter are teaming up with county administrators to get the new government ready to go.
In a meeting at The Plain Dealer Wednesday morning, they outlined eight committees, each of which will be led by a county employee and a private citizen. The committees, which will examine every facet of county government, include:
* Finance and administration
* Human services
* Human resources
* Justice services
* Infastracture andsupportive services
* Economic development andplanning
* County council planning
* Boards and commissions... The new structure, created by Issue 6 on the November ballot, will swap the three commissioners for an elected county executive and 11-member council. The elected offices of auditor, clerk of courts, coroner, engineer, recorder, sheriff and treasurer will be replaced by more-streamlined appointed positions," Laura Johnston, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Dec 15: Update from Ohio Citizen Action
Since the beginning of the year, the Ohio General Assembly has passed 11 bills. One bill is awaiting a concurrence vote. Six of the 11 bills passed were required for state operation. They are connected to the State’s Budget for 2010-2011, which is required by Ohio’s Constitution. 'Our legislators are gridlocked, ' said Catherine Turcer, Ohio Citizen Action’s Director of Money in Politics. 'However, it’s business as usual when it comes to fundraising.' From January 1 to December 10, members of the Ohio General Assembly held 331 campaign fundraisers in preparation for Election 2010. The following are non-budgetary bills signed into law by the Governor: House Bill 67 which permits 16 year olds to donate blood with parental consent; Senate Bill 73 which revises coal mining laws; Senate Bill 79 which changes MRDD Agencies to refer only to developmental disabilities and Senate Bill 93 which creates the War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission," Leontien Kennedy, Ohio Citizen Action.
COLUMBUS -- "'I think it comes down to politics,' said Catherine Turcer, director of the Money in Politics Project for Ohio Citizen Action.
Turcer released a study in October showing that lawmakers from Jan. 1 until then had held 243 fundraisers, canceling just three. Meanwhile, during that same time period 40 of 92 legislative sessions were canceled.... Turcer isn’t an innocent bystander in the stalemate. She’s also an advocate who’s been working for more than a decade to change how Ohio draws state legislative and congressional districts to replace the current gerrymander-friendly process that usually favors one party or the other," William Hershey, Dayton Daily News. Posted Dec 12.
WASHINGTON DC -- "The White House released a series of wide-ranging mandates Tuesday designed to make agencies more transparent and cooperative in the public's requests for information about the inner workings of government.
Among other things, federal agencies have until the end of January to post three 'high-value' data sets on Data.gov, the online home of such government information.
The Open Government Plan delivers a victory to open-government groups that have long sought to transform how the government presents and shares information with the public,'" Ed O'Keefe, The Washington Post.
COLUMBUS -- "Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers aren’t supposed to wait until the holidays to do good things for the Ohio taxpayers who pay their salaries.... Strickland has signed just nine bills into law since January, the lowest total in four legislative sessions.
The current legislature doesn’t go out of business until the end of next year, but that’s misleading," William Hershey, Dayton Daily News. Posted Nov 26.
According to a study released by Ohio Citizen Action, the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate have cancelled nearly half of their 92 scheduled sessions.
'We have a full time legislature and the people’s business shouldn’t be put on the back burner,' said Catherine Turcer, director of Ohio Citizen Action’s Money in Politics Project.
'There are 132 members of the Ohio General Assembly and the process of creating legislation will cost taxpayers more than $55 million this year,'" Catherine Turcer, Ohio Citizen Action. Nov 17: Secrecy surrounding Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority's buyout of former CEO is troubling to watchdog groups
CLEVELAND -- "The secrecy continues at the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority with the agency reporting that it has no public records to explain why it is paying more than $300,000 to be rid of its top administrator.... Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action said the port authority's secrecy has left a cloud of suspicion over Wasserman's departure.
'It's hard to hold government officials accountable if the process isn't open,' Turcer said. 'We can't allow them to sweep things under the carpet.'
'If there are records they need to hand them over. If they insist on saying that no records exist then they must have a policy of putting nothing into writing, which means they are circumventing the process,'" James F. McCarty, Cleveland Plain dealer. Nov 13: Blog: Lawmaker says legislature needs to work more
COLUMBUS -- "One veteran lawmaker says he worries that if new lawmakers get used to the current pace of legislating, the Ohio General Assembly is on its way to becoming a part-time body.
The 128th General Assembly has passed far fewer bills through this point of the year than any other in modern history. This is on the heels of a slow-starting 127th General Assembly.... House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, said the legislature has been productive, pointing to a number of initiatives placed into the two-year budget," Jim Siegel, The Columbus dispatch.
According to a study released by Ohio Citizen Action, the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate have cancelled nearly half of their 92 scheduled sessions.
'We have a full time legislature and the people’s business shouldn’t be put on the back burner,' said Catherine Turcer, director of Ohio Citizen Action’s Money in Politics Project.
'There are 132 members of the Ohio General Assembly and the process of creating legislation will cost taxpayers more than $55 million this year,'" Catherine Turcer, Ohio Citizen Action. Oct 6: Blog: Hilliard, New Albany seek new closed doors
COLUMBUS -- "Voters in two central Ohio communities will ask voters in November to decide when to restrict public access to official meetings.
State law allows officials to exclude the public from discussions about personnel, litigation and real-estate transactions, although they're not supposed to come to a decision or vote.
Proponents say the closed meetings allow officials to speak freely about sensitive subjects. Critics say they can be abused to conceal decisions," Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch. Sep 17: J. Kevin Kelley went on disability weeks after guilty plea in corruption case
CLEVELAND -- "Just weeks after J. Kevin Kelley pleaded guilty to fleecing Cuyahoga County taxpayers out of more than $570,000 in bribery scams, he became eligible for disability benefits, according to a document obtained by The Plain Dealer.... Catherine Turcer, a spokeswoman for the watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action, struggled to stop laughing when told that Kelley was receiving benefits.
'I would be depressed, too, if the law was on my tail,' Turcer said. 'We want a proper spanking when someone is convicted of a crime. And that includes the depression that goes along with it. You don't want to give someone a cushion to fall back on,'" John Caniglia, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Aug 21: New Albany wants new closed doors
COLUMBUS -- "New Albany voters will be asked Nov. 3 to give village council the authority to meet behind closed doors on a new topic -- economic development.
If approved, the charter amendment would allow council to declare an executive session to secretly discuss moves to retain existing businesses or bring new ones to the community.
Ohio law restricts the reasons for which public bodies can meet in executive session, such as to discuss personnel matters or pending lawsuits," Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch. Jul 28: Summit County's push for government reform in 1979 akin to Cuyahoga's today
CUYAHOGA COUNTY -- "It was 1979 and voters in Summit County were fed up. Efforts to reform county government earlier that decade failed, but a group of corporate leaders, Akron Beacon Journal editors and elected officials got together and tried again.... Sound familiar?
Cuyahoga County voters must decide in November whether to overhaul their own government amid an ongoing federal corruption investigation aimed at top county leaders," Amanda Garrett, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Jul 27: More Northeast Ohio elected officials 'double dip,' collecting pensions while getting a paycheck
CUYAHOGA COUNTY -- "An exclusive fraternity of Northeast Ohio politicians who collect from their state pensions while cashing a paycheck from taxpayers could gain at least three members this year, all of them longtime elected officeholders.
One definite newcomer will be Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis, who quietly retired and then, as permitted by state law, returned to his job after being re-elected last November.... More than a dozen other elected officials in Greater Cleveland take advantage of the perk, The Plain Dealer has found. The list includes Cuyahoga Commissioners Jimmy Dimora and Tim Hagan, Sheriff Bob Reid, Recorder Lillian Greene and Cleveland Municipal Court Clerk Earle Turner," Henry J. Gomez and Joe Guillen, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Jul 27: Editorial: Nursing homes win again State's out-of-whack policy on senior care is expensive, denies choices to elderly
COLUMBUS-- "A Page One story in Friday's Dispatch illustrates once again what a mess Ohio and its leaders have made of care for Ohio's elderly.
The story, headlined, "Elderly Services: Cuts in budget shut out seniors," details how the state's recently passed two-year budget could leave up to 8,000 older Ohioans without access to less expensive in-home and community-based care. As a result, many will be forced into nursing homes, even though this form of care is three times as expensive as in-home options and most seniors would prefer to remain in their own homes as long as possible.
This is not a new problem. For years, Ohio lawmakers have been in thrall to the nursing-home lobby. In return for lavish campaign contributions, legislators ensured that nursing homes received more than a reasonable share of state spending on long-term care," The Columbus Dispatch. Jul 23: New Video: What is the Midwest democracy Network?
CHIGACO -- "The Midwest Democracy Network is an alliance of political reformers and policy researchers committed to improving democratic institutions in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. 'The Midwest Democracy Network is working to create good, open, responsive government' said Catherine Turcer, Director of the Money in Politics Project of Ohio Citizen Action. 'We want to make sure that we get good representation in Ohio'.
This video tells the story of these regional alliance of groups. 'The value of the Midwest Democracy Network is that you have a bunch of different groups coming at the same problem but from different perspectives... You can't build a movement with just the same people doing the same thing, you need that cross-polination of ideas.' Said Dan McGrath of TakeAction Minnesota," Leontien Kennedy, Ohio Citizen Action.
COLUMBUS-- "Our front page has been dominated by coverage of the state's budget crisis for the past few weeks.... We were forced to dribble out story after story because we didn't have access to the budget before it was approved.
The final 3,120-page, $50.5 billion budget wasn't available for public inspection online until Thursday. The 1,879-page amendment that finalized the changes in the budget surfaced Monday -- the same day lawmakers voted it out of committee and passed it in the Senate and House, sending it to the governor," Benjamin J. Marrison, The Columbus Dispatch. Jul 20: Editorial: Cuyahoga County commissioners decide to divide and confuse issue of reform
CUYAHOGA COUNTY-- "For months, those with a stake in preserving the status quo in Cuyahoga County seemed smugly certain that the movement to restructure county government would never amount to much.... Maybe they assumed that once the reform coalition finally settled on a plan in mid-June there would not be enough time or money to gather the 45,458 signatures needed to put it before the voters this November -- especially once some of those who had helped draft the final plan were promptly pressured to disown it.... Confused? You're supposed to be," Cleveland Plain Dealer. Jul 16: Editorial: Jimmy Dimora rants. Cuyahoga County and the region rot Toleration of a pay-to-play mentality damages all
CUYAHOGA COUNTY-- "It's not looking so hot for Jimmy Dimora, the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chairman and county commissioner who keeps popping up as ''Public Official 1'' as federal prosecutors continue a wide-ranging investigation of public corruption in the Cleveland area. Public Official 1, prosecutors say, is the recipient of cash and other favors from those looking for county work.... 'I'm not an angel, but I'm not a crook,' Dimora also said. Then came this slip: 'I have not done anything that any other public official hasn't done.' Like pal Frank Russo, the county auditor, known as Public Official 2? The ongoing investigation could prove Dimora right, but not in the way he meant.
Dimora is now radioactive. Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern wants him to resign as Cuyahoga County party chairman. Dimora has performed a sort of lateral arabesque, with Patricia Britt, county party vice chair and clerk of the Cleveland City Council, taking over as acting chairwoman," Steve Hoffman, Akron Beacon Journal. Jul 2: Blog: Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan complains about stories on secret meetings, then goes into secret meeting
CLEVELAND -- "The newspaper examined minutes from the last nine months of meetings and found that the commissioners,[Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan and fellow Commissioners Peter Lawson Jones and Jimmy Dimora] citing one exemption after another to the state's open-meeting laws, went into executive sessions during 33 of 38 meetings.... For the story, Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, said commissioners should handle more business in public given that Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo are focuses of a sweeping public corruption investigation of county government.
'I'm surprised they didn't attempt to create as open a process as possible at that point,' Turcer said. "It shows a lack of shame,'" Joe Guillen, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Jul 2: Editorial: Cuyahoga County politicians unwittingly bolster case for reform
CLEVELAND -- " The news that in recent months the Cuyahoga County commissioners spent twice as much time doing the public's business behind closed doors as they did in public fuels the imperative for a sensible change in how the county's leadership operates.
The Board of Commissioners suffers from overlapping and sometimes conflicting roles: It makes policy and allocates money like a legislative body, and also functions as an administrative body, handling things like personnel and legal matters, or real estate transactions. One result of that duality is a habit of long executive sessions and relatively perfunctory public meetings.
A coalition of bipartisan reformers has drafted a charter that would restructure county government for the better: A single elected executive would handle administrative matters, with an 11-member elected council functioning as the legislative branch, Cleveland Plain Dealer. Jul 1: Former U.S. Attorney Greg White denies politics played role in Cuyahoga County corruption probe
CUYAHOGA COUNTY -- "'Political considerations were never an issue,' said [Former U.S. Attorney Greg] White, now a federal magistrate judge. 'No one ever tried to steer an investigation to any individual. The history of the U.S. attorney's office is well documented for its public-corruption cases.'
White's words came a day after Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, a Democrat, called for a federal investigation into what he called a vast conspiracy to sabotage the Democratic turnout in Ohio, a key swing state at one time in the 2008 presidential election.
Dimora said at a news conference Monday that he believes the Bush White House pushed the Justice Department to investigate Cuyahoga County Democrats in an effort to discredit the party. He said federal prosecutors went after other Democrats in similar rust-belt cities," John Caniglia, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
COLUMBUS -- "Court papers and lawsuits that had been filed behind the counters at the Franklin County Common Pleas Court are now available online. Clerk Maryellen O'Shaughnessy has added document images to her Web site in the office's continuing efforts toward going paperless. Legal briefs filed in most cases since Dec. 1 are now available online at 
WASHINGTON DC -- "The White House released a series of wide-ranging mandates Tuesday designed to make agencies more transparent and cooperative in the public's requests for information about the inner workings of government.
Among other things, federal agencies have until the end of January to post three 'high-value' data sets on Data.gov, the online home of such government information.
The Open Government Plan delivers a victory to open-government groups that have long sought to transform how the government presents and shares information with the public,'" Ed O'Keefe, The Washington Post.
COLUMBUS -- "Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers aren’t supposed to wait until the holidays to do good things for the Ohio taxpayers who pay their salaries.... Strickland has signed just nine bills into law since January, the lowest total in four legislative sessions.
The current legislature doesn’t go out of business until the end of next year, but that’s misleading," William Hershey, Dayton Daily News. Posted Nov 26.
