The Observation Deck

Since my previous thread dealt more with Fitz and Budish and this thread has more to do with Budish, I thought I would make a new thread. For campaign contributions to Fitz & Budish, see http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... =7&t=22624

In doing more research, it appears that Budish has turned around and given some high-rollers from CCF and CCF campaign donors positions on some of his “advisory groups” for the county.

See http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-count ... cia_f.html


Beth Mooney, a CCF Board of Trustees member and a heavy campaign contributor to Budish, was named chair of the Economic Growth and Opportunity Group for the county.

Toby Cosgrove, CEO of CCF, was named a member of the Quality of Life Group.

David Wondolowski, the Executive Secretary of the Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council, was named a member of the Economic Growth and Opportunity Group. This council also donated funds to the political campaigns of Mike Summers, Armond Budish, and Mark Schneider. This is the union that told me they could not wait to tear down Lakewood Hospital.

Finally, Ronald Richard, President of the Cleveland Foundation was named chair of the Quality of Life Group. The Cleveland Foundation gave Jay Foran’s company $ 1 million to spend on business attraction in Europe, China, Spain, and Canada. See

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index ... oal_f.html

I recall Ken Haber and Tom Gable speaking at a COW meeting. I believe I heard Haber say that the Cleveland Foundation would be a good place to move the LHF money to.

It is also noteworthy that in 2015, Armond Budish personally invited Fred DeGrandis of CCF to be the Chief Administrative Officer for the Global Center for Health Innovation. See

http://executive.cuyahogacounty.us/en-U ... r-CAO.aspx

Budish also presented CCF CEO Toby Cosgrove with a proclamation congratulating him for receiving the 2015 International Service Award. See

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anTliTj0pW0

Furthermore, Budish recently extended a pilot program and contract with Ohio Guidestone to expand a workforce training program for CCF employees. See

http://executive.cuyahogacounty.us/en-U ... ining.aspx

Out of curiosity, I went into the website for the Global Center for Health Innovation (which Fred Degrandis was invited to head up by Budish)

Albert Ratner is on their board of directors. He is the relative of a CCF Board of Trustees member and was a heavy contributor to Budish.
Ronald Richard is also on the Board of Directors. Richard is the CEO of the Cleveland Foundation.
Joseph Cabral, the Chief Human Resources Officer at CCF, is also on the board of directors.

See http://globalcleveland.org/about/leader ... -directors

When Budish ran for State House of Reps., it appears that one of his fundraisers was held at the home of Deborah and Ronald Ratner. Ratner is a member of CCF's Board of Trustees and has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Budish's campaign.

See https://certifiedcare.org/index.php/com ... Itemid=101

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories ... 9CNA6.html

While it may have been an oversight, it is interesting that Budish and/or his campaign management forgot to list the employers/occupations of some of his top contributors during his state representative race. One of these top contributors was Ronald Ratner, a CCF Board of Trustees member whose house Budish hosted at least one campaign fundraiser at.

I feel that SLH and their attorney's should look into this. Just an idea.

I thought that Thompson Hine was supposed to be an outside, independent law firm hired by council.

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-count ... enter.html

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