The Observation Deck

While a host of Lakewood residents wring their hands and complain that SLH has no "Plan" and no "Answers", the 5 Lakewood resident Plaintiffs in the taxpayer lawsuit and their 2 hardworking lawyers are actually doing something very important for the FUTURE OF LAKEWOOD!

Yesterday they laid out a strong case that CCF may have engaged in Criminal Theft and Fraud under Ohio Revised Code Section 2913--at Lakewood's expense.

That CCF and LHA (which includes Summers, Madigan and Bullock) are concealing evidence of their wrongdoing and engaging in a cover up is now beyond debate. It should be noted that the Plaintiffs have made the case with Summers and Butler fighting them along side of the alleged criminals. Is it any wonder why Summers has pled the Fifth in recent weeks?

So, its time for folks like Kevin Butler, Jen Pae, Jay Carson, Jim Kenny, Tim Moran, Todd Heckeler, Ted Nagel, Jay Foran etc. to come to terms with reality and address the substantial facts uncovered in the lawsuit. I challenge each of them to directly answer a core question:

Why are you so eager to pursue a new agreement regarding the "future of healthcare in Lakewood" and rely on a potentially criminal enterprise that has clearly abused the City in the existing agreements before seeing all the evidence of what has actually happened and is happening?

It is just not wise or sound business practice to make a $150 million business decision without having a grasp of the relevant facts.

Here is the Court filing made yesterday:

Part 1 of 4

http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/i_ ... 9OA-TeiZU1

Part 2 of 4

http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/i_ ... 9OA-TeiZU1

Part 3 of 4

http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/i_ ... 9OA-TeiZU1

Part 4 of 4

http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/i_ ... 9OA-TeiZU1

Mayor Summers and the Clinic and Tom Bullock are engaged in a fast and furious round of negotiations to come to some kind of agreement that can be forced through Council. The unspoken but real intent of those negotiations is NOT to secure adequate health care for the people of Lakewood and NOT to save the Hospital but to

STOP THE DISCOVERY PROCESS AND
STOP THE LAWSUIT.

The election of Skindell and like minded people is now more important than ever.

Brian Essi wrote:That CCF and LHA (which includes Summers, Madigan and Bullock) are concealing evidence of their wrongdoing and engaging in a cover up is now beyond debate. It should be noted that the Plaintiffs have made the case with Summers and Butler fighting them along side of the alleged criminals. Is it any wonder why Summers has pled the Fifth in recent weeks?

In politics, rarely is it the crime, it's almost always the cover-up...

The other day I had a long conversation with a young democratic lawyer, he asked about
the lawsuit, and I told him, no idea I have nothing to do with it, he asked about Save
Lakewood Hospital and Build Lakewood and said I am not a member of either. He said, "My
fear is that when people start to distrust government it takes decades to repair."

"The First Amendment rejects red tape, cover-up and double-speak."
Roy Barnes

I too fear the loss of credibility at City Hall and with the government. As with the
presidency, the Mayor has the bully-pulpit, or maybe we should say, had the Bully-Pulpit
but he squandered that on day one, telly mistruths from it. Council President Madigan
squandered hers out of the box, echoing mistruths at the first step into the cover-up.

"The fact of the Watergate cover-up is not nearly as interesting as the step into making
the cover-up. And when you understand the step, you understand that Richard Nixon lied.
That he was a criminal."
Bob Woodward

"The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses
and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the
forms of democracy."
Woodrow Wilson

The best way to keep people's belief in government positive and supportive is not through
various charades, puppet shows, mistruths and treasure hunts, but through honest discussions, with facts, reasons, and transparency. No one at City Hall understands that. The very real feeling permeating much of this now is, "The discourse is terrible, let's get this behind us and move on."

That will not restore belief in government.

Right now, on the eve of the biggest change in Lakewood's history, and one that could have
a long and far reaching impact on our economy, safety, health and sustainability, we are being told "trust us, we had to do it" while ethical issues, legal issues, and now
criminal issues are being uncovered.

The Mayor that has brought us into this civil war, and is promising jobs at City Hall and to
any non-profit or resident that will listen, "What is your dream?" Dream big, no bigger,
no even bigger!" While handing us mistruth after mistruth as the cover up builds with
over $1 million spent on spin and crisis management.

On the other side, we have what the Mayor and others describe as an opportunistic, and only politically motivated response. His promise, honesty and transparency at City Hall.

To my young democrats around the city, spin, cover-ups and buying votes are not the way
to protect honesty and trust in government. Standing with the people demanding to see all
the facts in the light of day, until all questions are answered truthfully, is.

Running a city is not difficult, until you start to get tricky, then it becomes a house of cards.

.

I have been noticing that one of the attorneys for the City of Lakewood and Summers is John Brzytwa. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Brzytwa is the husband of Mary Ellen Brzytwa, an LHA Board of Trustees member. LHA is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. This seems like a conflict of interest to me. What else is new? Can anyone weigh in on this?

Thanks.

According to the docket John Brzytwa withdrew as counsel on September 11. By the way if you want to see the docket, the case is Civil, 2015, 846212. This case needs to see the light of day while the hospital is still standing.

Thanks for clearing that up, Kate.

Steve Dever, an attorney for the Plaintiffs, spent 25 years as a Cuyahoga County Prosecutor. He and co-counsel, Chris Devito wrote the Motion and assembled the facts--I don't think that either would risk their reputations by making things up. I've read their stuff and examined the evidence they have assembled. It is very compelling.

For example, the documents and facts uncovered in the lawsuit so far shatter Summers' narrative of "market trends."

1. CCF created the Lakewood Hospital "Decanting Plan" and then actively covered it up by reffering to it as "Market/System Impact"--that's right in Exhibit 18 attached to the Motion.

2. Likewise, Summers July 3, 2014 letter proves he knew it was deliberate and "unilateral" actions by CCF causing serious damage to the hospital's "sustainabilty" yet he, like CCF, changed his narrative to "market trends."

These facts are why the Plaintiffs allege that Summers is part of a civil conspiracy with CCF and LHA--but Summers has committed to both actors--indeed he cannot deny his role a major actor.

Summers' recent silent spell underscores the slippery and ongoing COVER UP--

1. He controls Butler as his mouthpiece in the litigation siding with CCF in attempts to end the litigation and suppress discovery thereby covering the trail of deception.

2. Simultaneously, in the public relations campaign, surrogates Butler and Pae engage in futile attempts to distance Summers from his legal power and influence over LHA and CCF through increasingly strained false narratives, e.g. "Lakewood does not own the hospital" "We have no rights under the agreements" "There are no other partners to negotiate with" (even though they are not looking for any)

As Summers continues down that crooked road, he graduates from documented misdemeanor ethics violations into a dangerous world of potential felonious charges.

The four dockets above contain some incredible information and a good look into the modus operandi of the CCF. I urge everyone on both sides of this issue to review the information provided here, uncovered during the discovery process by the plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit.

If you thought that the CCF was playing it straight with Lakewood's citizens and government, think again.

As far as I am concerned, the ex officio members of LHA (Madigan & Bullock) have a clear and affirmative duty to recuse themselves from any public decision-making on the Lakewood Hospital.

Maybe the TV producers of Law and Order Criminal Intent could use this what appears to be illegal hospital issue for one of their episodes. It would probably have to be labeled a documentary.

This lawsuit was filed on May 28, 2015---Kevin Butler & Jay Carson said it was frivolous. They was over 13 months and the case is still pending despite some of the most powerful corporate interest and perceived most powerful law firm interests fighting to dismiss it.

Frivolous?

"Hmmm" Steve Davis