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Reblogged from BFD

Jill Miller Zimon passed along this post to me. It underscores how far Cuyahoga County public employment is out of whack.

One of the best ways to compare public employment levels is to evaluate the number of public employees per 100,000 population. When you do that, you can see that Cuyahoga County has higher than the national average in public employment in most categories.

You can view a spreadsheet here.

Where is Cuyahoga County heavy in public employment overhead?

Hospitals: (Most places don't have a public hospital like Metro Health)

Public Health

Public Welfare

Transit

Water and Sewer

Judicial and legal

Firefighters

Housing and Community Development

Elementary and Secondary School Administration

It's not chump change

Here's how you can use these number to get a ball park of the additional costs from a relatively inefficient public sector. Let's take the Judicial and Legal employment in Cuyahoga County.

Compared to a national average the county (all units of government) employs 148 employees per 100,000 population more than the national average. That's equal to a head count of 1,919 above the national average. (Cuyahoga County's population is 1.3 million.)

If we assume that the average wage is $50,000 and the payroll burden is 35%, the additional overhead in the judicial and legal function of government is costing county taxpayers about $130 million a year. The water and sewer inefficiencies impose a bloat tax of about $80 million a year. That's about the same bloat tax we pay for inefficiencies in our fire department. (This includes only head counts and not the costs of duplicate, expensive equipment.)

A top heavy school system costs about $36 million a year. Inefficiencies in regional transit cost us about three times that: $110 million a year. Inefficiencies in housing and community development cost us $50 million a year. (These inefficiencies may be offset by the benefits every neighborhood having a community development corporation, but these corporations can also act as fiefdoms or "door keepers" closing down innovation.)

The lost benefits of scale

We should expect Cuyahoga County to realize some savings from scale. The county is one of the largest in the country. But that's not happening. (You can see the slightly downward sloping line on page 14 of the REI report listed below. There's not much of a scale advantage -- government is a service business, after all -- but there are some. Cuyahoga County falls way above the line. It's leaders are leaving a lot of productivity penalties for the rest of us to pay.)

Cuyahoga Costs to Compete

More on the cost of government

Here's the web site developed by The Fund for Our Economic Future's consulting team (data through 2002). You can read through their report here. You can read through the report we prepared a few years ago at the Center for Regional Economic Issues here.

Finally, there was a recent report on reorganizing Cuyahoga County government, but that report does not really address the underlying cost of government in the county. Their web site is here.

You can view their report here.

The conclusion: We are paying too much for the government we are getting

The iron triangle: Map the Mess

In my view, this situation reflects the insular politics of Cuyahoga County. There's an "iron triangle" that has allowed this situation to get out of control.

The business community, led by the Greater Cleveland Partnership, turns a blind eye to political excess (and the corruption potential of patronage out of control) in exchange for public sector support of leading real estate developments, such as the the Forest City's relentless steering of the convention center/Med Mart.

These connections have led to a lot of speculation about the connections. But don't forget Browns stadium, the goofy Cleveland casino "learn and earn" initiative, the Juvenile Justice Center land deal with Forest City, the Jacobs deal on the Ameritrust Tower. The list goes on. Roldo and otehrs have chronicled the abuses. It's a convenient quid pro quo and a sad consequence of a business leadership controlled by commercial real estate interests. (The shift away from manufacturing leadership started in the 1970's with the collapse of the steel industry.)

The Plain Dealer, meanwhile, has largely turned a blind eye to the abuses, bowing to pressure and too close connections to the business community under the previous publisher. (Weak-kneed editorial decisions have not helped the PD's reputation.)

That might all change now that the PD editors get a brief whiff of a Pulitzer for their coverage of the county corruption scandals. Bloat taxes power the corruption in the county.

The best antidote is transparency and an aggressive corp of professional journalists focusing on big issues.

Meanwhile, we're steadily putting together the connections over at Map the Mess. We welcome your contributions.

The PD reports on Russo's ties to workers comp firm, 1-888-Ohio Comp.

Read the story here.

Downloaded on November 16, 2008 at

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/11/cuyahoga_county_corruption_pro_1.html

Cuyahoga County corruption probe moves into City Hall, documents show

Posted by Amanda Garrett, John Caniglia and Rachel Dissell/ Plain Dealer Reporters November 16, 2008 06:00AM

Categories: FBI raids Cuyahoga County, Real Time News

Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer The ongoing federal probe into corruption in Cuyahoga County has touched City Hall. Federal investigators are examining the relationship between Council President Martin J. Sweeney and two Berea construction comapanies.

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A tentacle of the federal corruption probe gripping Cuyahoga County reaches into the highest levels of Cleveland City Hall, the office of the council president.

The Plain Dealer last week obtained documents showing that agents are investigating the relationship between Council President Martin J. Sweeney -- one of the two most powerful men in Cleveland government -- and two construction companies that share a building in Berea.

Investigators also are asking questions about whether some public officials have financial ties to contractors, the same contractors they awarded hundreds of millions of tax dollars to for work at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the county's 800 miles of roads. The airport is in Sweeney's council ward and is operated by the city. He once was responsible for oversight of the airport as chairman of council's Aviation Committee.

The documents show for the first time that the corruption probe does not stop at the doors of Cuyahoga County government.

The investigation was revealed to the public July 28, when 175 federal investigators fanned out across the county to raid the offices and homes of government officials and contractors, seizing computers, hundreds of cartons of documents and other materials. Since then, agents have searched other offices -- of contractors and two judges -- serving a total of about 200 subpoenas.

But even the latest subpoenas obtained by the newspaper -- served on July 28 -- show that the focus of the probe remains on the two men who run Cuyahoga County and the county Democratic Party -- Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo.

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What we know

Federal agents have raided at least 22 locations and served about 200 subpoenas as part of the Cuyahoga County corruption probe.

We knew before last week that federal agents:

• Want to know whether Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, Auditor Frank Russo or county employee J. Kevin Kelley offered jobs in exchange for favors, got personal work in exchange for public contracts, or tried to influence the outcome of judicial proceedings.

• Searched offices and/or served subpoenas on D-A-S Construction, Doan Pyramid Electric, Blaze Construction, Siemens Building Technologies, Reliance Mechanical, MetroHealth Medical Center and the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority.

• Searched the chambers of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judges Bridget McCafferty and Steven Terry.

We now know that federal agents:

• Want to know if Cleveland City Council President Martin J. Sweeney has links to construction companies that got work at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

• Sought information about companies that got contracts to work on hundreds of miles of county roads.

• Sought information about Russo's ties to the Ohio Lottery.

• Seized documents about Dimora's and Russo's political campaign funds.

• Wanted information about county Sheriff Gerald McFaul, although it's unclear why federal agents are interested in him.

SOURCE: Court documents, search warrants, subpoenas

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The newly obtained documents add names to an increasingly odd cast of characters the feds are interested in: from the county's top cop, Sheriff Gerald McFaul, to felon Rosemary Vinci, the former strip club manager turned county employee who earns about $48,000 a year for doing a job that no one, not even her boss, can quite explain.

Only about a dozen of the subpoenas seeking records and testimony are public record. Several obtained last week by The Plain Dealer went to private businesses or to homes.

Dimora's home and offices were raided during the initial sweeps in July. His lawyer offered for the first time Friday an explanation for why the feds are on the hunt, but he portrayed the investigation as a wild goose chase.

"The federal government received bogus information from an unreliable informant," attorney Richard Lillie said. "I think they are finding that out."

Lillie declined to speculate about the identity of the informant, but said he has had months to analyze the subpoenas and has found innocent explanations to debunk the government's suspicions.

For example, in one of the subpoenas obtained by the paper, the feds want information about a 42-inch plasma TV, a wristwatch purchased from a Strongsville jeweler and a trip to Las Vegas.

According to Lillie, Dimora bought the TV for his home and the watch for one of his sons and gave investigators canceled checks to prove both purchases. Dimora did take a trip to Vegas with about 15 or 20 others, but it was just "a bunch of guys who went to Vegas and that's all there was to it."

Focusing on contracts

Although investigators are scrutinizing everything from Dimora's Big Bucks Investment Club to county Recorder Frank Russo's side real estate business, the documents obtained last week show that much of the probe focuses on the relationship between contractors and officials.

Two of the subpoenas went to two Berea companies -- Lopat Development Co. and Blaze Building Corp. -- that share space with other companies on Lou Groza Boulevard.

Company officials were ordered to appear before a federal grand jury in August and bring any records showing financial relationships with a half-dozen officials from the county and city, including Marty Sulzmann, an equipment-yard clerk with the county engineer's office, and Cleveland Council President Sweeney.

Sweeney has said he has not been served with any subpoenas. He was surprised to hear that the government wants to know about his relationship with companies that have become a focus of the probe.

Company officials also had to turn over documents connected to county roadwork and to a project or prospective project at Cleveland Hopkins from April.

Blaze Construction, which is at the same address as Blaze Building and Lopat, has won more than $20 million in contracts through the county engineer's office since 1998. It landed its largest project -- $14.8 million for the Pleasant Valley Road reconstruction -- in January 2004.

Sulzmann could not be reached. His boss, Engineer Robert Klaiber, called Blaze Construction's work satisfactory.

At the airport, Blaze Construction won a $4.2 million contract to relocate the taxiway in April. Sweeney said he did not help Blaze obtain the job.

When asked Friday whether he had a financial relationship with either Blaze or Lopat, Sweeney replied: "I don't know who Lopat Development Co. is."

When asked about Blaze specifically, he said: "No, but I'm not going to comment anymore."

Following the money

Another name to surface in the subpoenas is Rudy Stralka, the county Democratic Party's treasurer, who was ordered to turn over party financial records.

Stralka, of Garfield Heights, said Friday that he provided agents with everything he had.

"I was kind of surprised they even asked for that. It's all at the Board of Elections," Stralka said. "I don't know what their intent was. All I know is that I had to follow the law."

Among other things, agents wanted records connected to the Jimmy Dimora Boosters Committee and the Friends of Frank Russo Committee.

The political war chests, which often collect more than $100,000 a year, are largely built on donations from business owners and other politicians at soirees.

Much of that money is passed on to chambers of commerce, churches, and all sorts of groups, from Italian-American Veterans to the East Tech Robotics team.

They also recycle their donations to scores of other Democrats across the county, from fellow county officeholders in tight races to first-time candidates for suburban city council and school board seats.

Both men also donate generously to the county party, in increments of thousands, sometimes splitting the proceeds of events with the party.

Investigators appear interested in whether any of the contributions were given to Dimora and Russo in exchange for public contracts or jobs. The feds ordered Stralka to turn over all records related to job recommendations, raises, bonuses or transfers of county employees.

They also want any records connected to people or businesses asking Russo's office to reduce property valuations -- which reduces their taxes.

Sheriff puzzled

Perhaps the biggest mystery contained in the newly obtained subpoenas is why McFaul's name appears on one of them. McFaul, 74, is the oldest and longest-serving public official whose name has surfaced thus far in the probe.

McFaul does not appear to have connections to any of the projects that federal agents are scrutinizing.

When contacted Friday, he said he had no idea why his name is on a subpoena given to Frank Russo.

"I've been in office for 40 years. I've been doing business with Jimmy Dimora and Frankie for about 10," he said.

They talk about county business.

When the probe started, McFaul said he talked to the FBI and an agent there told him "everything was fine."

Plain Dealer reporters Henry J. Gomez, Joseph Guillen, Peter Kraus, James McCarty, Gabriel Baird and Ellen Kleinerman and news researcher JoEllen Corrigan contributed to this story.

The Cleveland.com site is virtually worthless when you want to search past articles. So, to make it easier for citizens to help us connect the dots, the Archive of Map the Mess is now searchable. You can complete searches and access articles through the Search page.

A MtM reader contributes:

• Koula Celebrezze wife of Judge Frank Celebrezze big bucks working for Klaiber
• Heather Keel at the engineers via Dan Gallagher
• Amy Benedict at the Engineers via the Detorre's and J. K. Kelly
• Margot Schmitt at the Engineering via Patty
  Gouker
• Shelly Reed daughter of Frank Russo at the engineers
• One of these "ladies" has no GED and dropped out of the 10th grade. She works as a copy clerk making $42k a year. Isn't a GED the minum you need to have as far as education to work for the County?

A MtM reader speculates on the Sewer District and the positing policies of the PD.

The sewer district paid $1.55 million for land from Sam Miller/Forest City that forest City paid $200,000 for according to Cleveland Scene. I posted several comments at Cleveland.com including questioning why Scene was the only newspaper covering this. I was immideiately banned from commenting on "PD.com".

An MtM reader contributes:

Patty Gouker and Kevin Payne hiring at least 6 people since she became Human Resources Director that are covered by civil service, all entry level jobs and not one of the jobs was ever posted. They just appeared one day and started working. One is the wife of a judge, one calls the former Chief of Staff her "almost father-in-law", one live with Tommy Lenehan and worked at the Tree House, and one is very tight with J. Kevin Kelly and the Detorres. I belive the ORC calls for the posting of any civil service position.

A MtM reader contributes:

Who was the real estate agent for all of the homes on Johnson's Island, Patty Gouker? Did she really to with Kelly, Petro and her husband to something in Florida that the school board paid for so she could assist one of them in a vacation home purchase?

Another MtM reader contributes:

The connection between the law firm of Johnson and Colaluca, specifically Gary Johnson and the City of Parma should be looked at. Gary contributes large amounts of money, and gives his employees money to give to the candidates and employees (elected) and then turns around and has open checkbook to run labor negotiations. Mr Johnson has collected almost 500,ooo in pay the last few years from the City of Parma. He downgrades the employees in negotiations, and challenges rulings in order to pad his pocket. he works for so many cities, he bills for more hours than there are in a year.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been busy with my professional work. I've not been able to spare the time to work on Map the Mess. Now, things are  easing up, so I will catch up with some of our posts. At the same time, we are continuing to work on developing maps of the connections within Cuyahoga County.

The FBI searched the offices of two Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judges Tuesday night as part of the county corruption probe.

Feds search judges' chambers in corruption probe

New article on Med Mart and the Convention Center...A lot of people ducking the hard questions.

Read more.