Candidate Cindy Marx: Where Do You Stand on Government Transparency?

[Brian Essi]

It happened in Chicago earlier this year and the Law Director resigned.

http://wgntv.com/2017/01/16/aldermen-ca ... epartment/

Public records recently released reveal that Law Director Butler has kept certain of his dealings with the Clinic and LHA secret from City Council and the public.

In a recent Court filing, Mr. Butler wrote "tens (and possibly hundreds) of thousands" of records have not been produced. Many of these public records concern Mr. Butler's dealings and interactions with the Clinic, LHA, Huron Consulting and others. Has she made City Council aware of these records and his dealings?

How much more taxpayer money will Lakewood City Council allow the Law Department to spend to defend the Clinic and keep Summers' and Butler's dealings with the Clinic, Huron Consulting and LHA secret from City Council and the citizens of Lakewood?

Mr. Kindt recently suggested write Council to have them ask for an independent investigation of the Law Department.

Does anyone on Council have the courage to speak up and call for an investigation or reign in an out of control Law Department spending public money to defend itself?

Dan O'Malley, where do you stand on Lakewood's Law Director withholding public records?

Mr. O'Malley, Silence is complicity. I still hope for a response from my city councilperson but until then let's move on...

Cindy Marx, where do you stand on Lakewood's Law Director withholding public records?

Mr. Buckley,

Your appropriate question to candidate for re-election, Cindy Marx, prompted me to ask the broader question as the topic of this post. So, Thank You for your persistence on the other thread as to your specific question.

Public records reveal that Mrs. Marx complains both publicly and privately about the alleged "negativity" of the Observers.

Here is her chance to "bring the community together" in a "positive" way.

Mrs. Marx,

Where do you stand on government transparency?

Please be specific and definitive, so that your answers are as positive and clear as the refreshing Spring sunshine.

Let's Progress Forward Together Positively for all of Lakewood.

[Jim O'Bryan]

With Ed FitzGerald fighting all the way to the State Supreme Court, and Lakewood City Hall fighting all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court to keep tax payers and residents in the dark. The single biggest issue at the ballot box, should be where do they stand on transparency and accountability.

Our Mayor completely ignored his fiduciary duties to the residents of Lakewood and many from Council and the School board signed off on his negligence and dishonesty.

Time to fix government in Lakewood.

.

[Lori Allen _]

I can't believe that this woman has the nerve to run again. Ms. Marx was quite proud of the fact that she works in the health care field. Still, she sat silent and watch the alleged illegal and immoral hospital deal go down. Do we really think that she would help us retrieve our stolen public records?

She appears to have made a deal with the devil and Summers and Extended company. I hope she is able to live with the consequences.

[m buckley]

[quote "Brian Essi"]

Mrs. Marx,

Where do you stand on government transparency?

Please be specific and definitive, so that your answers are as positive and clear as the refreshing Spring sunshine.

Let's Progress Forward Together Positively for all of Lakewood.[/quote]

" Where do you stand on government transparency"

Ms. Marx, that's not a rhetorical grenade Mr. Essi has lobbed into the room. Pretty straight forward stuff. Your inability or your unwillingness to provide an answer is concerning.

You're running for re-election. You've exhibited a predilection for back room politics and now an aversion to answering questions concerning government transparency and Lakewood's Law Director withholding public records.

Ms. Marx, What do you stand for? Who are you representing? And how is it you can't bring yourself to answer Mr. Essi's question?

[Lori Allen _]

If Ms. Marx wishes to let the sunshine in, it would behoove her to make a public statement concerning her apparently special relationship with Mr. James W. Kemp Jr., Managing Director of Huron Consulting. If Ms. Marx's memory escapes her, I will remind her that she accepted a campaign contribution in the amount of $1,000 from Mr. Kemp Jr. of Huron Consulting and then proceeded to conduct very sensitive and city-changing business with Huron Consulting. Very few seem to see this as any big fish, but it clearly raises questions concerning ethics, conflicts of interest, and cronyism.

I will pose the questions directly: Ms. Marx, what is your relation to Mr. James W. Kemp Jr., Managing Director of Huron Consulting? If you choose to deny any relationship, could you please explain the reason for this sudden writing of a $1,000 check to your campaign? Why did you not recuse yourself from any City Council business concerning Huron Consulting, the "Huron Report", and the like?

Finally, I second Mr. Essi and Mr. Buckley's calls for you to take a stance on Law Director Kevin M. Butler's chronic refusal to release public records when requested. As it currently stands, it would appear that the City of Lakewood has a sitting law director, lawyer, officer of the court, and public servant "sitting" on public records requests. Not only does this call into question his morality, but also his basic competence as a lawyer and officer of the court.

Folks, this is your time to really get your hands dirty and demand accountability, by firing some of our council members at the ballot box this fall.

Assign polling place and Board of Elections spotters/observers ahead of time. It is your right and can be done easily.

If you notice irregularities or suspicious behavior, notify the Board of Elections and Secretary of State Jon Husted's Office immediately.

At the risk of upsetting a certain subculture of Lakewoodites, I will say that I will be combing through all registered voters in Lakewood prior to this upcoming election, to scout out dead people, fake addresses, non-existent streets, vacant lots, duplicate voters, and, you get the picture. Once I have compiled a list of suspicious entries, I will be forwarding them to both the Board of Elections and Secretary of State Jon Husted's Office.

If Ms. Marx doesn't come up with a really good excuse for many of her actions, send her packing in November.

[m buckley]

Brian Essi wrote:

" Mrs. Marx, Where do you stand on government transparency."


Ms. Marx, who is seeking re-election to city council, apparently is unable to answer that question.

Tristan Rader, you're seeking election to city council, care to step up and answer Mr. Essi's question?

[mjkuhns]

Tristan Rader, you're seeking election to city council, care to step up and answer Mr. Essi's question?

Hi, for those who don't know, I am helping Tristan Rader with his campaign. I sent him a note about this thread, but in the meantime I can probably address this issue in a reasonably official capacity, since he wrote about government transparency last month (and I can just copy and paste).

Tristan's suggestions:

• Our city should implement timely online publishing of meeting minutes—and complement it with consistently publishing meeting agendas online, ahead of time.
• Public officials should responsibly disclose conflicts of interest, and recuse themselves from all votes where they face a conflict.
• We should answer records requests using a broader definition of valid public records, and eliminate months-long delays before providing responses.
• Given the holes which public-private partnerships can leave in the public record, we should make transparency a condition of any public-private partnership which Lakewood enters.
• We should extend the city’s record-keeping period, which is now just two years for some records, including many electronic documents which we can preserve for pennies.
• Public property should be disposed of, and public money spent, through careful open processes. Public officials should never conceal or suppress proposals, which is not only exclusionary, but places our city in potentially costly legal jeopardy.

I don't know if these are the kind of specifics which Mr. Essi had in mind, but I can say that open government is one of the Rader campaign's major themes. So I think he will be closely interested in any proposals for putting "Transparency in Government" into real practice.

Hope this offers a general idea, at least!

[Stan Austin]

Matt-- good and informative post.

[m buckley]

Matt-
Thank you for the response. It was indeed an informative post.

Ms. Marx- A bit of advice.
The next time you find yourself fumbling for an answer to that befuddling question, "Where do you stand on government transparency?",
just try to remember... TRANSPARENCY/ GOOD.

[Bridget Conant]

Thanks for the info.

Tristan Rader has my vote.

A vote for honesty, transparency, and responsive government!