Yellow Journalism? So, When Did Wendy Summers Resign?

[marklingm]

Team Summers and Build Lakewood must never have read Jim O'Bryan's "Mayor Summers Receives Advisory Opinions From The Ohio Ethics Commission" article because they keep asserting that the article contains statements that Jim's article simply does not state.

The only "fact" that is not in Jim's article is when Wendy Summers resigned ... and nobody seems willing to disclose that date.

Just so we are all on the same page, Jim's article reads as follows:

Mayor Summers Receives Advisory Opinions From The Ohio Ethics Commission

by Jim O'Bryan


Wendy and Mike enjoying LHF's Starry Night Celebration in 2012.

On May 1, 2015, the Ohio Ethics Commission sent Law Director Kevin Butler an advisory opinion based, in part, on Butler’s hypothetical question of: "Can the Mayor participate in decisions regarding the closing of Lakewood Hospital if his wife serves on the board of the foundation?" In response to Butler's question, Ohio Ethics Commission Staff Advisory Attorney John Rawski opined that, "If the proposed agreement with the Cleveland Clinic would result in the dissolution or alteration of the foundation from its present form, the mayor cannot participate in decisions regarding the closing of Lakewood Hospital."

A second Ohio Ethics Commission advisory opinion dated May 8, 2015, clarifies that, as long as Wendy Summers remains Mayor Summers' wife and on the Lakewood Hospital Foundation Board, Mayor Summers is forbidden from participating in any discussions regarding the closing of Lakewood Hospital.

And, yet, Mayor Summers has not only participated in discussions surrounding the closing of Lakewood Hospital in the past and present, Mayor Summers has been on record as leading the discussion, and recommending the closing of the Lakewood Hospital.

So what role does the Ohio Ethics Commission have in addressing potential ethics violations?

The Ohio Ethics Commission has many functions. One function is to address "hypothetical” questions like the two Butler submitted on behalf of Mayor Summers and his wife in the form of advisory opinions, which are intended to help individuals such as Mike and Wendy Summers avoid ethics violations in the future. These advisory opinions are not intended to address prior or current ethics violations.

In order to address prior or current ethics violations, someone must first file a "charge or allegation of unethical conduct" with the Ohio Ethics Commission. These charges/allegations can be filed anonymously and the investigation process is explained further on the OEC's website at http://www.ethics.ohio.gov/investigation/index.shtml.

According to the Ohio Ethics Commission's website, conflicts of interest "are first-degree misdemeanor criminal offenses, punishable by a fine of up to $1000 and/or a maximum of 6 months in jail." Likewise, having an unlawful interest in a public contract is either a “fourth-degree felony criminal offenses, punishable by a fine of up to $5000 and/or a maximum of 18 months in prison" or a “first degree misdemeanor criminal offenses, punishable by a fine of up to $1000 and/or a maximum of 6 months in jail."

The Ohio Ethics Commission does not address issues of "incompatible positions" as those issues are addressed by the Ohio Attorney General as explained at http://www.ethics.ohio.gov/education/factsheets/authority_of_the_ohio_ethics_commission.pdf.

The May 1, 2015 and May 8, 2015 Ohio Ethics Commission advisory opinions only address issues relating to the Lakewood Hospital as submitted by Butler. Neither decision addresses any hypothetical questions relating to Mayor Summers serving on the Board of Directors for First Federal Lakewood or as an At-Large Member for LakewoodAlive.

The purpose of this article is to provide the facts as known at the time of submission relating to both ethics opinions regarding Mayor Summers and his wife. Additional ethical issues are reserved for future articles and discussion.

The two letters submitted to the Ohio Ethics Commission by Butler, as well as both responses, can be viewed at:
2015.04.24.LawDept.Butler-OEC.Nick.Ltr
2015.05.01.01.Rawski-Butler.Ltr
2015.05.01.02.Butler-Rawski.Ltr
Ethics OMG 2015.05.08.Rawski-Butler.Ltr

Questions, comments or concerns regarding the various ethics issues facing public officials and employees should be directed to the Ohio Ethics Commission, which can be contacted at http://www.ethics.ohio.gov/index.shtml.

On August 29, 2015, at 4:03 p.m., Jay P. Foran of Team Summers/Build Lakewood wrote the following on the Build Lakewood FB page:

Mr. Wallace - Mrs. Summers is and has never been on the Lakewood Hospital Board. She was a member of the Lakewood Hospital Foundation (a fundraising organization), which has had no connection with the decision making about the hospital. She resigned that position some time ago to insure there would be no perceived impropriety. However, Jim O'Bryan chose to write a slanted article that purposely left this (and other) important fact(s) out. That is why his article is widely considered as yellow journalism, manipulative and disingenuous. I can re-post the Mayor's response if you would find it helpful. There is no need continue to perpetuate Jim O'Bryan's misleading effort.

Earlier Mayor Mike Summers issued the following statement to his campaign supporters which includes a letter/statement that Kevin M. Butler authored, in his official capacity as "Director of Law, City of Lakewood," on behalf of Team Summers:

Dear supporter,

Over recent weeks, we’ve heard and read mistruths about me in the local media and online. I want to make sure you are given correct, factual information. Below is a response made by the city’s law director to an article recently published on the front page of the Lakewood Observer involving my wife Wendy’s service on a local nonprofit board:

Jim O’Bryan’s Observer article “Mayor Summers Receives Advisory Opinions From the Ohio Ethics Commission” (Aug. 18, 2015) is entirely misleading and factually inaccurate.

Here’s the truth:

Mayor Summers wanted to ensure that he avoided any real or even apparent conflicts of interest as discussions around the hospital moved forward. In May 2015, I asked the Ohio Ethics Commission to help the city evaluate any actual or potential ethical conflict between our elected officials and the various boards involved in the Lakewood Hospital situation.

The Commission made no findings of any existing conflicts. The Commission did help us identify a situation that could have given the appearance of a potential conflict in the future. For many years, long predating his term as mayor, Mayor Summers’ wife Wendy had served as a volunteer on the board of the Lakewood Hospital Foundation.

The foundation is completely separate from the hospital or the Lakewood Hospital Association. It raises funds to support the hospital but is completely unconnected to any hospital decision-making. Moreover, Wendy Summers was a board volunteer, with no operational role within the foundation.

Nevertheless, to avoid even the possible appearance of any conflict in the future, Wendy stepped down from the foundation board.

In its story, the Observer neglected to write that the city contacted the Ohio Ethics Commission to make completely certain that there are no ethical conflicts; that the commission advised the city only on potential conflicts; and that to avoid even the perception that there could be a conflict, the Mayor’s wife Wendy stepped down from the volunteer charitable work she had been doing for many years.

You could be forgiven for reading the Observer’s article and not coming away with these core facts, especially if relating these facts doesn’t seem to have been the purpose of the article to begin with.

Kevin M. Butler
Director of Law
City of Lakewood

There are great things happening in Lakewood but we have lots of work ahead of us. I hope that as a community, we can tune out untruthful campaign noise, and stay focused on moving Lakewood forward. Thanks for all the support you’ve given to our city, to the reelection campaign and to Wendy and me.

Sincerely,

Mike Summers

http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13786&start=15

Now, I am sure that Wendy Summers did resign at some point since Team Summers and Build Lakewood keeping stating that she did.

But when?

Can someone produce the resignation letter, please?

Or at least state when she resigned?

Was it after May 1, 2015, when the OEC issued its first letter to Butler?

Was it after May 8, 2015, when the OEC issued its second letter to Butler?

When was it?

Thanks.

[Brian Essi]

On August 29, 2015, at 4:03 p.m., Jay P. Foran of Team Summers/Build Lakewood wrote the following on the Build Lakewood FB page:

Mr. Wallace - Mrs. Summers is and has never been on the Lakewood Hospital Board. She was a member of the Lakewood Hospital Foundation (a fundraising organization), which has had no connection with the decision making about the hospital. She resigned that position some time ago to insure there would be no perceived impropriety.

WOW!

Jay Foran told Mr. Wallace a couple of whoppers there.

First, Jay knows that LHF does have "a connection with the decision making about the hospital." Actually, Jay, Mrs. Summers, and other LHF trustees voted to enter into the LOI in January prior to LHA voting for it. Also, Ken Haber is LHF's President and LHA's Finance Chair. LHF works closely with the Hospital concerning capital requirements and other needs of the hospital. So Jay is either misleading Mr. Wallace or he has no idea about what is going on at LHF even though he is a trustee with the legal fiduciary duties to be engaged and knowledgeable about LHF's mission and operations--including overseeing Mr. Haber and others at LHF who interact with LHA, i.e. the hospital.

Second, its safe to say that Mr. Summers was an LHF trustee in May, 2015 at the time Butler wrote the letters because Butler refers to her as a trustee of LHF. Butler was pretty busy at that time so he wasn't just speculating and wasting his time. So its safe to say that Mrs. Summers resigned after the responses from the Ohio Ethics Commission indicated that her husband was violating criminal laws by lobbying for his plan to transform LHF and demolish the hospital. She did not resign to avoid "perceived impropriety"---she resigned to end the ongoing ethics violations & criminal behavior of her husband--Mayor Mike Summers.

Mr. Wallace,

Please don't hesitate to come to the Deck for your facts or call me if you need more facts on the hospital affairs, LHF or a host of other City Hall shenanigans that might concern you.

Brian 216 346 3434.

[Bridget Conant]

Time to review here.

When you don't like the truth, just call it "yellow journalism."

More on the way.

[T Peppard]

Time to review here.

When you don't like the truth, just call it "yellow journalism."

More on the way.

LHF definitely had a connection with the decision making about the hospital.

I wonder where they will find another $50k for the next round of yellow journalism and false advertisements? ...to my knowledge, there are no more public funds to take from.

[Bridget Conant]

Well, I heard Ed Fitzgerald has a newspaper he'd like to send you.

And, he's got $150,000 in "leftover" campaign funds that he can use to support candidates and causes he believes in.