Mayor Summers' Deposition In Its Entirety

[Jim O'Bryan]

Law Director Kevin Butler speaks as Mayor Michael P. Summers looks on. (photo by Alex Belisle)

Mayor Summers' Deposition In Its Entirety

http://media.lakewoodobserver.com/media ... 805574.pdf

Don't believe spin, don't believe bullshit. READ IT FOR YOURSELF.

Through this entire project, we have always asked the reader, and the Observer to draw conclusions and share their thoughts. We still ask that from everyone, and as everyone has found out. the Deck, the Paper, and the project is without bias. We alone trust the reader to look at facts and see how they apply to them, and what they think.

People ask for facts, here you go...

Take the time and read it, compare to what has been said.

Discuss it with your friends and here.

WHO CARES WHAT OTHERS THINK OR SAY, the ball is in your court.

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[Brian Essi]

Summers admits in his deposition that LHA spent charitable public money on the campaign.

Question: Did the Lakewood Hospital Association expend any funds to attempt to influence the outcome of that election?
Mayor Summers' Answer: They did.

Question: Okay. And how did they expend funds?
Mayor Summers' Answer: They made donations to a nonprofit.

Question: And what was the name of the nonprofit?
Mayor Summers' Answer: I can't remember. No on 64? I can't remember the name of it.

Question: And who was the treasurer of that nonprofit?
Mayor Summers' Answer: Ron Petrie.
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Question: What about, were you aware whether or not there were advertising campaigns or public information activities on the part of Lakewood Hospital Association to attempt to influence the outcome of that election?
MS. STRATFORD: Objection.
Mayor Summers' Answer: No, I think -- no, the Hospital Association did not directly do that.

Question: Okay, what about as far as direct mails to citizens in Lakewood?
Mayor Summers' Answer: I'm not aware of that.

Question: Were there any authorizations that were made to spend money to send mailers to Lakewood residents?
Mayor Summers' Answer: Not from the Association.

Question: Okay. Were you aware of whether or not the Cleveland Clinic was spending money to affect the outcome of this election?
Mayor Summers' Answer: I saw some advertisements.

Question: Okay. And that advertisement that you saw was generated by the Cleveland Clinic?
Mayor Summers' Answer: I presume so, yeah.

Question: Were you aware that they were spending money, or notifying residents on this matter?
Mayor Summers' Answer: I was hoping they would, yeah.

[Amy Martin]

Once again, Ron Petrie's name comes up in this whole debacle. Let's see - treasurer of Build Lakewood, officer of Lakewood Democratic Club, father of Emma Petrie-Barcelona. This web of deceit and underhanded influence MUST COME TO AN END.

I hope his ass gets put on the stand next.

[Lori Allen _]

SLH attorney’s asked a lot of really great questions. By Summer's answers, it appears he did not know much about this hospital deal at all. How then was he able to agree to the deal with CCF? Seeing as he is a business owner, I would think that he would have understood the importance of not entering into an agreement if he did not know or understand the agreement. In my opinion, I beleive he has a selective memory.

[Jim O'Bryan]

SLH attorney’s asked a lot of really great questions. By Summer's answers, it appears he did not know much about this hospital deal at all. How then was he able to agree to the deal with CCF? Seeing as he is a business owner, I would think that he would have understood the importance of not entering into an agreement if he did not know or understand the agreement. In my opinion, I beleive he has a selective memory.

Lori

As he had sold off the family business, one would think he would want to know the value of the property he had before doing anything. The fact he claims to have never sought out values of what he had is incredibly troubling, and maybe, we should consider the "I hear he is good in business" talking points.

His singular job from the moment he was sworn in on Council and Mayor, was to be our fiduciary agent. It appears that through his entire career he was working for others not the citizens. He assured me and others he was the best person to handle this deal, what we are finding out not only was he the worst possible choice, but he entered it with personal agendas that took precedent over his oath of office.

It is a wild story, a wild ride, and yet another chapter in Lakewood's world of dirty and bad politicians.

[Kristine Pagsuyoin]

Once again, Ron Petrie's name comes up in this whole debacle. Let's see - treasurer of Build Lakewood, officer of Lakewood Democratic Club, father of Emma Petrie-Barcelona. This web of deceit and underhanded influence MUST COME TO AN END.

I hope his ass gets put on the stand next.

Ron Petrie is not an officer of the Lakewood Democratic Club although he is a member.

[Lori Allen _]

I would concur that he was working not for us and with a personal agenda.

I am still confused as to who owns what with the Summers Rubber Company. While there is a possibility he sold the business itself, it appears that he did not sell the actual building. Rather, it appears that he sold it to himself for $775,000 back in 2003. The building to this day appears to still be owned by Tiger Properties LTD. The tax mailing address for the building goes to the mayor's home address and Summers is listed as the agent/registrant of Tiger Properties with the Ohio Secretary of State.

Summers claimed he sold the business to Singer Equities. According to records, this company is located in Houston, Texas. When you call the telephone number listed under "contact" on the Singer Equities website, it goes straight to voicemail for a company called SBP Holdings, also located at the same address as Singer Equities in Houston. The address actually traces to a Bishop Lifting Products.

Apparently, Bishop Lifting Products, Singer Equities, and SBP Holdings are all located under one roof. Who owns the actual company? At this point, who the heck knows? It does appear that Summers still owns the Summers Rubber building, however, and still pays taxes on it.

I called the county fiscal office about this a few months ago and the guy told me that it was "very bizarre" and that he "had never seen anything like it".

[Amy Martin]

Ron Petrie is not an officer of the Lakewood Democratic Club although he is a member.

This would be the same Lakewood Democratic Club that endorsed Summers for Mayor . . . .

[Michael Deneen]

Ron Petrie is not an officer of the Lakewood Democratic Club although he is a member.

This would be the same Lakewood Democratic Club that endorsed Summers for Mayor . . . .

Yes, this is the Lakewood "Democratic" Club that endorsed Republican Mike Summers for Mayor.

Its members include not only Mike Summers but also Ron Petrie. This is the same Ron Petrie that mocked, belittled, and heckled Democratic legend Dennis Kucinich throughout his press conference at Lakewood Hospital last fall.

This spotlights the basic farce that is "The Lakewood Democratic Club"....it has absolutely no principles or commitment to actual liberal or progressive ideas. It is nothing more than a cynical device that sells "endorsements" to be used on candidates' campaign literature. If 50 Trumpies pay their $20 each to join the club, they could buy its endorsement for The Donald. Then Donald could run around and say "I'm so popular that I've been endorsed by a key democratic group in Cuyahoga County".
(Ironically, Donald is more of a Democrat than Mike Summers, but that's another story)

[Amy Martin]

As far as Mr. Petrie is concerned, all I have to say is . .

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

[todd vainisi]

I am still confused as to who owns what with the Summers Rubber Company. While there is a possibility he sold the business itself, it appears that he did not sell the actual building. Rather, it appears that he sold it to himself for $775,000 back in 2003. The building to this day appears to still be owned by Tiger Properties LTD. The tax mailing address for the building goes to the mayor's home address and Summers is listed as the agent/registrant of Tiger Properties with the Ohio Secretary of State.

Lori, I often disagree with you but dang, lady, you are tenacious. I applaud your efforts to reveal information.

[Marguerite Harkness]

Lori, That was a good piece of research (Summers Rubber). So he's still the landlord, gets rent (in Cleveland). You are doing a lot of awesome investigating, thank you.

[Brian Essi]

I called the county fiscal office about this a few months ago and the guy told me that it was "very bizarre" and that he "had never seen anything like it".

It was not unusual for Summers to sell his grandfather's business and not the real estate, and then lease the real estate to the buyer of the grandpa's business as a condition of a sale.

What was unusual was for him to liquidate a business like Lakewood Hospital without inventorying or valuing any of the assets or the going concern value or even testing the market for what it was worth.

He testified: "We weren't selling this hospital." So he admits they never tried to sell it, i.e test the market.

He didn't do that with Summers Rubber.

Why did he liquidate and give Lakewood Hospital away without any valuation of the business or assets?

His testimony and inability to explain the $78M in fabricated wind down costs suggest that when he steered the "deal" to CCF and himself and friends on LHA he did not want a valuation to measure the amount of the theft. The problem is, there was a valuation of $120M. So it is a crooked deal no matter how you look at it.

[Lori Allen _]

Thanks Marguerite and Todd. I really loved listening to Summer's Deposition. I had to give a Deposition years ago after someone rear ended me. I will say that I found it to be very intimidating. I believe an attorney usually advises you to give short answers and to not ramble on and on. It appears to me that the Mayor had much more to say other than what was asked for. I love the way he kept calling neurology "brain health". Great work done by the SLH attorney's. They pressed on and kept repeating the questions for him. They made sure that he would not weasel his way out of answering. Good Lord, this Deposition is an embarrassment!

[todd vainisi]

Folks, I'm on page 120 of this deposition. I'm not a lawyer or in any way versed in the law, but I've got to say, this deposition, so far, reinforces what I've believed all along about Mayor Summers. That he was thrust into the drivers seat of a car crash already in progress and his choices were to steer the vehicle into a ditch on the side of the road, plow into the car in front of him, or veer into oncoming traffic. I have so far seen none of the so called malicious or greedy intent that has been thrown around.

The whole premise that Lakewood Hospital could be owned by Lakewood but run by CCF seems foolish and disastrous, to me, in retrospect. Of course CCF will value Lakewood Hospital the least, it doesn't control it. Of course the experienced team from CCF got a deal done in the 90s that was only to their benefit and included nothing that could force them into anything.

I've been very interested in getting to the bottom of this decanting plan, and that first 120 pages of deposition goes into it in quite a bit of detail. SLH has led me to believe that CCF moved these services out of the hospital in order to make the hospital less viable. The mayor's testimony suggests something totally different - that these services were money losers. Even the early removal of the cardiac unit - Lakewood was only doing 70 surgeries a year. Is that where you want your heart surgery done - in a hospital where a surgery like that only happens 6 times a month - or someplace where they do them almost every day?

The mayor even seems to validate my very first reaction to the hospital closing - my thought, which I was taught by SLH was totally erroneous, was that nobody wants to go there and that doctors don't want to refer their patients there either, they would prefer a shiny new hospital or at least a bigger one. The mayor points out that LH was short 5,000 patients a year and that the only way to get those patients back is if doctors send patients there. Are these lies?

I'm going to read this whole thing. I'm somewhat shocked at how different my takeaways have been from what's being said here. Maybe some of you can help clarify some of those points. Maybe the next 150 pages of deposition will change my mind. Maybe the bidding process will be the sticking point that shows how badly the mayor did for us or his selfish/evil intent to grab LHA's trustee millions. So far, I'm feeling rather tricked by SLH.