IS MAYOR COLEMAN IN LEGAL JEOPARDY?

I’ve taken a pretty long break from this blog----life changes as we move forward and it can be a challenge keeping up old routines when the cosmos shifts underfoot.

But it’s hard to ignore the buzz arising from this recent Cleveland.com story.

Treasurer embezzled money from Rep. Dave Joyce’s campaign, says letter to FEC. https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/02/treasurer-embezzled-money-from-rep-dave-joyces-campaign-says-letter-to-fec.html

Basically, according to the reported story, this is the deal:

• Until recently Mayor Scott Coleman acted as treasurer for Representative Dave Joyce’s campaign committee.
• The campaign organization filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing Coleman of a list of improper actions, including:

• making $80,000 worth of improper ATM cash withdrawals; 
• shorting bank deposits; and 
• submitting false campaign report records that over-reported campaign expenses and under-reported donations/campaign receipts.

Wow!!!

Before you say, “Well that kind of record-keeping can be hard for a layperson,” remember this:

Coleman is an accountant who works as a tax manager for Progressive Insurance.

Given his professional background as an accountant and his own repeated runs for office, Coleman certainly understands both how to keep, and the importance of keeping, accurate campaign finance records. 

That’s what makes his alleged actions so egregious.

        What is even more fascinating about this story, however,
        is the fact that it got this far, into public view.

Bad publicity like this is anathema to politics and politicians. Normally I would expect this kind of thing to be worked out behind the scenes if at all possible… perhaps through reimbursement of unaccounted-for funds and the filing of an amended campaign finance report.

For whatever reason, that didn’t happen.

Instead the campaign committee contacted a local prosecutor and filed a complaint with the FEC (whose stated mission is “Protecting the integrity of the campaign finance process“). 

It might have been a necessary self-preservation move on Joyce’s part, to preserve his own integrity and that of his campaign.

So, is Coleman in legal jeopardy? My guess would be “yes”.

There is both a civil and criminal component here.

The FEC is a civil agency charged with overseeing compliance with federal election laws. It can investigate, make findings and assess hefty civil penalties for campaign law violations.

Criminal prosecutions, on the other hand, are initiated by prosecutors. We will have to wait and see if criminal charges are brought against Coleman arising out of the alleged behavior.

I would hope Coleman would be criminally prosecuted if he did what the Joyce campaign alleges.

What confidence can we have in the legal system otherwise?

SO LONG SUMMER

I spend too many hours in front of a computer every day, working as an online legal analyst.
Because of that you are likely to spot me power-walking through my neighborhood in the middle of the day, almost every day.
Walking helps clear away the mental cobwebs and unstiffens my legs.

I always enjoy seeing what's going on in my neighborhood, and I have to say there are a couple of spots I always look forward to reaching.
One of them is along Radford Drive, near the intersection with Kenbridge.
The house has a tiny decorative bench in the front yard, near the sidewalk, that's always decked out for the season.

I expect to see a fall theme shortly, now that the kids are back in school and we're about to hit Labor Day.
But not yet. 
Here's this year's summer bench.
Hope you enjoy seeing it as much I do, every day, on my daily rounds!

POOL DECK: DISAPPOINTING DECISION.....ONCE AGAIN

I have to say as a lawyer I get very disappointed when courts appear to fall down on the job.
 Despite hopeful signs during oral argument, the 8th District Appeals Court ended up giving the City a pass on the massive Rutland Drive deck.

The court noted, and then blithely dismissed in a footnote, the significant flaws in the permitting process that led up to the after-the-fact issuance of a permit for the deck.
It also shrugged its shoulders at the fact that the owners ended up erecting a deck 74% larger than the one actually permitted by the City.... even though city ordinances make doing that a punishable offense (a misdemeanor carrying a $500 a day fine).
No matter.
Essentially the court's message was:

The City didn't follow or enforce its own permitting rules and regulations?
No problem!
Since the permit wasn't rescinded...everything's Jake.
Right?

No, not all right.
It is absolutely stunning to me that a court would think it's okay for a City not to obey it's own laws....and put its stamp of approval on such conduct.
Essentially residents have been given permission to do whatever they want....

As long as they have enough political clout with the Mayor and the Law Director to get away with it.

Once again, enforcing City code is left to the intrepid neighbors.
Hopefully the Ohio Supreme Court will be willing to right the many wrongs in this case.
As always, I'll keep you posted.

DOES THE CITY EVER ENFORCE ITS ORDINANCES?

SETTING: Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, downtown Cleveland, Wednesday July 6, 2016.
WHAT: Oral argument in the Neighbors’ appeal, challenging the retroactively-permitted, gigantic Rutland Drive deck placed11 feet from a rear property line.

IN ATTENDANCE: Several of the neighbors, the neighbors’ attorney, the deck owners’ attorney and Highland Heights Law Director Tim Paluf.

According to a neighbor in attendance, the judges were well prepared.
They had obviously read the submitted briefs and demonstrated good familiarity with the relevant facts.

As frequently happens during oral argument, the judges almost immediately interrupted the attorneys’ canned presentations and peppered them with questions, zeroing in on the crux of the case.

Quite telling, one judge’s kick-off question to Paluf:

Does the City ever enforce its ordinances?

Paluf responded:

Yes

He then stood there in silence.....

The Court of Appeals keeps its own timetable, but the neighbors think a ruling might issue sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed…..and you posted

HIGHLAND ROAD WATER MAIN REPLACEMENT A GO

On June 21^st Council discussed and approved Engineer Brian Mader’s recommendation to award a $3,327.958.00 Highland Road Water Main Replacement contract to Fabrizi Trucking & Paving Co., Inc.

The project involves installing a temporary by-pass line while the existing water main, which runs along the north side of Highland Road, is dug up and replaced.
According to Mader, the project will start late this year and extend through most of the next construction season:

It will have 5 phases: the western City line to Bishop Road, East of Bishop to Miner Road, East of Miner to the eastern City line, and the Bishop/Highland and Miner/Highland road intersections….

The order (of construction) just depends on how the contractor wants to approach the project.

Mayor Scott Coleman was pleased that the project was finally going forward.
He also complimented Mader on the accuracy of his construction estimate.
Mader had projected the cost as $3.4 million.
Coleman said:

We have been talking about this for at least 6 years and had 1 unsuccessful attempt at getting Issue 1 funding.
We are effectively getting 74% of the project financed by an interest free loan, which will cost us $85,000 a year, and the rest is a grant. 
Our pocket money up front amounts to a little over 25% of the entire cost…

I am excited to get it started although it will be alot of inconvenience to residents.

Some inconvenience, for sure, but the benefits will be great.

Homeowners along the north side of Highland Road will receive new driveway aprons as part of the project and Highland Heights residents in general will be spared the nightmare of a catastrophic failure, which would end up costing much more to fix.

HAPPY GARDENING TO ALL

This year’s warm weather has made a huge difference for this year’s Community Garden participants.

This is what my beginning garden looked like this year:

With all the warm weather---and also thanks to the generosity of the City, which provides water for the Community Garden---everything is growing like crazy.

Just to give you an example.
Last year I had to wait until mid-July to pick my first zucchini.

This year I’ve already resorted to making zucchini bread from the abundant crop I’ve picked so far.

It’s a good thing that I love broccoli....
I've got a couple of giant heads that should make for great eating, if the pesky groundhogs don't get there first.....

 

SUMMERTIME BEACH VIEW

Florida has some lovely neighborhood beaches.

The residents living near one of my favorites have gone out of their way to provide places for rest and enjoyment to all of the local inhabitants....

 Happy Summer, everyone!