Marx and Nowlin Knew of Crooked Bullock's Political Use of Huron for Smear Campaign

[Brian Essi]

Records released just Tuesday--July 25, 2017---requested March 15, 2016---show that Incumbents Marx and Nowlin knew that Crooked Bullock was using Huron Consulting for political smear purposes in the "back rooms" of City Hall and LHA.

Check out pages LKWD-PRR167_000001 & LKWD-PRR167_000004 as to how Bullock works the "backroom" with Council Council, the Administration and LHA Trustees.

According to one city employee, it was Bullock who ultimately altered these public records that Summers then gave to the Plain Dealer editorial board for a political endorsement. So when Bullock wrote: "I'd like to share this with the public somehow but haven't thought through what means would be effective."
he apparently found a backchannel way of doing so, but only after he altered the record.

So, Crooked Bullock's dilemma is how to share information he improperly manufactured with the public so that the public cannot see him behind the curtain?

And Incumbents Marx and Nowlin remained silent about Crooked Bullock's political use of a public consultant for a smear campaign.

LKWD-PRR 167-29830.pdf

(657.24 KiB) Downloaded 166 times

[Lori Allen _]

bump!

[Mark Kindt]

We can now draw a number of troubling conclusions from these documents and others recently posted:

1. City officials were using city email for partisan purposes;

2. City officials were using the services of a paid city consultant for partisan purposes;

3. City officials have misrepresented to citizens and bondholders that the paid city consultant was acting independently;

4. City officials knew that the paid city consultant was a prior and current vendor to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation;

5. City officials knew that the paid city consultant was assisting or willing to assist the Lakewood Hospital Association in political activity;

6. City council never had an independent professional review of the Letter of Intent.

[Brian Essi]

We can now draw a number of troubling conclusions from these documents and others recently posted:

1. City officials were using city email for partisan purposes;

2. City officials were using the services of a paid city consultant for partisan purposes;

3. City officials have misrepresented to citizens and bondholders that the paid city consultant was acting independently;

4. City officials knew that the paid city consultant was a prior and current vendor to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation;

5. City officials knew that the paid city consultant was assisting or willing to assist the Lakewood Hospital Association in political activity;

6. City council never had an independent professional review of the Letter of Intent.

Attached is a public record that a city employee said Bullock "doctored"---the record was then given to Summers to give the Editorial Board of the Plain Dealer during Summers' effort (successful) to get the paper's endorsement for mayor against Senator Mike Skindell .

Compare how Bullock falsified the public record below from the original that was produced this Tuesday.
Doctored public record given to Palin Dealer Editorial Borad:

Doctored Document.pdf

(958.83 KiB) Downloaded 192 times

Original Record Produced Tuesday July 26, 2017:

LKWD-PRR 167-29830.pdf

(657.24 KiB) Downloaded 178 times

Note also that Butler withheld these records for a year and a half even though he was a party to the email chain.

On July 16, 2016, (prior to a Court Order to produce the records) Butler denied the public records request claiming "Because these each of these records requests fall within the description of improper requests under the foregoing law, to that extent they are denied."

So, Mr. Kindt,

You are spot on in your crystal clear summary above--and Law Director Butler was a participant in and oversaw this wrongdoing.

Additional records are emerging that suggest Crooked Bullock had criminal intent with respect to falsifying other records---and Butler was a party to that as well.

[Lori Allen _]

Brian,
Wow! I would like to say that this is shocking, unfortunately, it is not.
Are there any laws that were broken by taking this document and changing it?

[Brian Essi]

Brian,
Wow! I would like to say that this is shocking, unfortunately, it is not.
Are there any laws that were broken by taking this document and changing it?

I only provide legal advice to clients who have retained me and I have no client related to these matters.

I am acting as a citizen journalist exercising my First Amendment rights to investigate and report on these matters which I believe the public has a right to know.

[Jim O'Bryan]

I am acting as a citizen journalist exercising my First Amendment rights to investigate and report on these matters which I believe the public has a right to know.

Brian

Thank you for this tireless work on this. And all of the others helping to sort through everything while putting this disgusting puzzle together.

WHAT IS CITY HALL HIDING, more lies, more cover-ups.

These people ask to be trusted and re-elected by us the residents?

.

[Mark Kindt]

There are two other problems in the documents that Mr. Essi has posted with this thread:

1. The communication fails to disclose that LHA and/or the City of Lakewood rejected a $100,000,000 investment proposal ($10M per year for 10 years) from Metro Health Systems to run Lakewood Hospital as a going-concern and, therefore, continues to misrepresents the availability of health-care partners for Lakewood Hospital. This continues the charade that the Subsidium proposal solicitation and review process was legal or meritorious and that its weaknesses were minor, when, in fact, it has all the hallmarks of a federal Sherman Antitrust Act violation. Complaints were made to the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice on that basis.

2. These documents illustrate the continuing nature of conflicts-of-interest between LHA and Lakewood public officials. An LHA board member (Bullock) using a paid city consultant to assist an LHA board member (Summers) in his re-election campaign, while keeping other LHA board members apprised of the effort; all with a goal of advancing LHA's Letter of Intent. Let's not forget that, from the Ohio Ethics Commission opinions, we know that the Letter of Intent was negotiated under conflict-of-interest conditions.

[Mark Kindt]

Here are some guidance documents, one from the Ohio Auditor of State, that govern the use of public funds for political purposes. Relevant text has been highlighted.

[Mark Kindt]

The posted documents speak loud and clear to the following potential criminal issues:

1. City officials were using city email for political purposes related to the 2015 campaign against State Senator Skindell;

2. City officials were using the services of a paid city consultant for political purposes to provide opposition research/rebuttal to State Senator Sknidell's campaign materials.

These are potential violations of Ohio law. See the posted copy of the Ohio statute (O.R.C. Section 9.03(D) and the opinion of the Ohio State Auditor (above).

As I have done in the past in print and on the Deck, I continue to urge all City of Lakewood public officials to consult with private legal counsel with regard to:

1. Ethics compliance;

2. Conflicts of interest;

3. Campaign finance law;

4. Laws regarding false statements or false documents;

and,

4. Use of public funds or property for political purposes.

As public officials, there is an absolute duty to comply with the relevant laws. Non-compliance is not an option.

[Lori Allen _]

Mark,
It would be nice if city hall would heed your advice. Unfortunately, it appears that Summers and council have used their "friends" at some of these agencies to get them out of trouble.

I believe that they all are in so deep at this point that there is no turning back.

[Brian Essi]

The posted documents speak loud and clear to the following potential criminal issues:

1. City officials were using city email for political purposes related to the 2015 campaign against State Senator Skindell;

2. City officials were using the services of a paid city consultant for political purposes to provide opposition research/rebuttal to State Senator Sknidell's campaign materials.

These are potential violations of Ohio law. See the posted copy of the Ohio statute (O.R.C. Section 9.03(D) and the opinion of the Ohio State Auditor (above).

As I have done in the past in print and on the Deck, I continue to urge all City of Lakewood public officials to consult with private legal counsel with regard to:

1. Ethics compliance;

2. Conflicts of interest;

3. Campaign finance law;

4. Laws regarding false statements or false documents;

and,

4. Use of public funds or property for political purposes.

As public officials, there is an absolute duty to comply with the relevant laws. Non-compliance is not an option.

There is really no better way to underscore the importance of this post and Mr. Kindt's analysis.

Every voter in Lakewood needs to know that the 3 incumbent Council At Large candidates combined to participate and condone criminal activity.

What information could be more relevant to a citizen's vote?

[Lori Allen _]

Brian,

I could not agree with you more. Every voter in Lakewood needs to know of this activity.

[Lori Allen _]

If Ms. Marx and Mr. Nowlin did indeed have knowledge of Mr. Bullock's activity, that would remind me of the old expression: aidin' and abettin'.

[Brian Essi]

As I proceed with my review of thousands of pages of heretofore withheld records, I can say with the requisite degree of certainty that Bullock, Marx and Nowlin were part of a secret Council agreement to conduct a "communications strategy" in violation of open meetings laws which strategy, among other things, was coordinated with LHA (i.e. the Clinic), and designed to defend "the rollout of the transition plan" i.e. the Master Agreement. The "communication strategy" concerning "the rollout of the transition plan" was agreed to and implemented at a time when members of Council were representing to the public that nothing had been agreed to and negotiations were ongoing. The "communications strategy" is far more pervasive tan the simple smear campaign outlined above.

In other words the transition plan was agreed to and the negotiations were a sham.

Ironically, some of the most damning evidence of this secret agreement and unlawful activity comes from two attorneys who professed to understand Sunshine Laws---Butler and O'Leary who were both present in Court on December 21, 2015 and denied such violations of sunshine laws existed.

I would again call on Bullock, Marx and Nowlin to reconsider their continued bids for public office to save Lakewood further division caused by their bad acts--which are apparently ongoing as I write these words.

Messrs. Butler and O'Leary should seek counsel as to whether they should resign forthwith.

I fear that government in Lakewood will soon become very much more dire as certain facts of the government's secret wrongdoing are "laid bare" for the first time.