Federal investigators say Frank Russo's long-time top aide, Sandy Klimkowski, helped funnel more than a million dollars in cash bribes to Russo. Court documents say the money came from the firm Russo hired to conduct appraisals of commercial and industrial property in the county. In one indication of the brazenness of the scheme, the feds allege that Russo kept collecting the bribes even after agents raided county offices more than a year ago.
Callers and emails to the Sound of Ideas expressed their anger and a feeling that taxpayers had been duped out of a lot of money. Catherine Turcer, Director of the Money in Politics Project in Columbus, said that's exactly what the allegations indicate.
TURCER: There's significant costs to taxpayers when you think about the cost to our children's education. If houses and business aren't being audited properly then that stream of money isn't coming in.
The Plain Dealer has led the reporting on the crisis in county government. Early on it identified Russo and other top Democrats, such as County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, as prime targets of the federal investigation. PD Metro Editor Chris Quinn said today though that there's a lot more at stake catching a few crooks.
QUINN: There've been lot of people arguing over the years that one of the reasons for our economic decline is they don't want to do business in a corrupt environment. If you can finally clean this up, "remove the entire cancer," you have a chance then to make it work again and get people to come back to this county and believe in it.
And Tim McCormack, himself a former auditor of Cuyahoga County, said the latest revelations are the most significant yet.
MCCORMACK: I was thrown to the floor by what I read over the weekend. This is multiple persons, multiple regional agencies. I have never, ever in the history of Ohio seen anything as widespread, as deep.
Another guest on the call-in program, Pat Sweeney, a Democrat and former state house minority leader, echoed that view.
SWEENEY: I think we all should stand back and applaud the investigation itself because its really exposing, not a pattern, but a pervasive disease of corruption that goes on.
One huge question that remains is how could such long-time bribe-taking go on without lots of people - hundreds, perhaps - knowing about it. Did others who worked, for example, in the county auditor's office where those appraisals were handled know they were tainted? Tim McCormack suggested that --maybe they did--- but he said they may not have been in a position to point the finger because of another form of alleged corruption.
MCCORMACK: So many of those employees are suspected having to have paid thousands of dollars either to gain the position or to remain within those positions.
And then there was this: A call from former Cleveland Port Authority Chairman, Michael Wagner who made this defense of officials like him who, he said, may have turned a blind eye to corruption.
WAGER: There's been benign complicity about corruption in government. It wasn't to garner favor for ourselves but to advance the interests of organizations on whose boards we sat.
MOULTHROP: Do you really think the complicity is benign?
WAGER: I really do because I think a lot of people who sit quietly and watch, they realize that if they take strident opposition to things that have been part of the system for decades, they won't be called to participate in any regard."
The conversation about the costs of corruption continues Wednesday at 9 here on 90.3 I'm David Molpus.