The Observation Deck

Here, Mr. O'Leary whines about $90K in legal fees . . . . .

This is a press release from a city administrations that is proposing to give away the former hospital site (worth $5,000,000) to one of its political cronies.

This is after this city administration "burned" hundreds of millions of dollars in assets of their hospital.

And, who now propose to give $7,000,000 to $10,000,000 to their selected developer.

Now, see the dictionary definition for the word "hypocrisy",

Mark,

I'm sorry, but I object to your "High Comedy" thread title. This is NOT funny.

What you are referencing is shameless character assassination and a political hit on a citizen that is designed to benefit the political future of Tom Bullock. It is posted as "News" on the city's website.

Is this "News"? Do Summers and O'Leary usually release "News" about expenses related to other past and present lawsuits involving the city? There is no mention of wasteful expenses from other lawsuits in which the city is a defendant OR a plaintiff.

This "News" was actually created and distributed by elected officials without attribution to a writer. Fake "News?" You bet. The opinions expressed by Mayor Summers and Council President O'Leary are the equivalent of the worst Trump tweets, and delivered in Sarah Huckabee Sanders style. Must everything go this way now? This is disappointing at best, and is certainly not "High Comedy." How low will they go?

I don't know if this expression of "News" is unlawful (Probably not.) or technically unethical. It would probably take a lawsuit to figure it out. It is, at the very least, not decent, and does not reflect well on the originators or on our city of Lakewood.

Here's a link to the "News" again, in case anyone missed it:

http://www.onelakewood.com/city-of-lake ... ers-90683/

I guess we'll talk about Tom Bullock in another thread.



Steve

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This section of the Ohio Revised Code suggests that the (presumably) publicly funded creation and dissemination of that statement was questionable at a minimum.

(C) Except as otherwise provided in division (A)(7) of section 340.03 of the Revised Code, no governing body of a political subdivision shall use public funds to do any of the following:

(1) Publish, distribute, or otherwise communicate information that does any of the following:

(a) Contains defamatory, libelous, or obscene matter;

(b) Promotes alcoholic beverages, cigarettes or other tobacco products, or any illegal product, service, or activity;

(c) Promotes illegal discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, handicap, age, or ancestry;

(d) Supports or opposes any labor organization or any action by, on behalf of, or against any labor organization;

(e) Supports or opposes the nomination or election of a candidate for public office, the investigation, prosecution, or recall of a public official, or the passage of a levy or bond issue.

(2) Compensate any employee of the political subdivision for time spent on any activity to influence the outcome of an election for any of the purposes described in division (C)(1)(e) of this section.

As Mr. Davis points out, the City of Lakewood does not customarily publish official updates on legal disputes. (Indeed, the customary policy is nearly the opposite.)

So, it seems justified for the community to question "what was special about this instance that motivated a departure from custom."

I recognize your point, Mr. Davis.

We both know that State Senator Mike Skindell fought to save our hospital. That earned my vote, my support and my respect.

Mr. O'Leary, Ms. Madigan, Mr. Bullock, Mr. Anderson, Ms. Marx and Mr. Nowlin all fought to close it. They do not have my respect, my support, nor my vote.

On the Observation Deck and in the Lakewood Observer, I have now written the equivalent of about 50+ newspaper editorials on these topics.

Where you see an outrage; all I see is continuity of improper conduct.

I'm slowing running out of adjectives to use.

They've made the concept of municipal home rule under a charter system a charade of misfeasance and incompetence.

I try not to be sarcastic, but the irony between their public statement and their conduct is laughable. How many tens of millions of dollars have they (and the Mayor) thrown away since 2014. It's simply unbelievable! And, they are not done with the give-away...

It's like I want to drive a bus through this. (No need to file a police report on this statement. It is merely a cliche. I do not own a bus and I am not prepared to buy or steal one. Cliches are no more dangerous than extinguished cigar butts.)

I have done my part here. I filed multiple written complaints with state and federal authorities. I was completely blown-off.

Until these individuals are voted-out, we are stuck with them and their misconduct.

State Senator Skindell and his legal counsel had the moral courage to bring their case to court and were vindicated by court findings that were adverse to the City of Lakewood and its council. Bravo to them!

What was special?

Why Tom Bullock is special! So special he and Team Summers can misuse city time and money and disregard election campaign laws to attack Tom’s opponent, a man totally without stain who has served this city and region honorably for over 20 years without scandal.

Here is Mike’s distinguished background:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Skindell

Meanwhile the political climber Bullock can barely retain his council seat, coming in third in the voting.

He is fighting to keep BSL on the books despite all indications that it is unconstitutional, unsafe, and not favored by residents.

He worked tirelessly to DESTROY Lakewood Hospital rather than work towards a solution that kept a public asset in Lakewood. No, he kowtowed to corporate interests while pretending to be “progressive.” Just like he continues to pretend he’s progressive when he’s in the pocket of the Cuyahoga Dem Machine.

BULLOCK=SWEENEY

Two peas in a pod.

I think Mark Kindt's post and Steve Davis's post are of a kindred spirit but perhaps from different approaches. Matt Kuhns and Bridget Conant just add the spice!

See also, Ohio Revised Code Section 9.03(D)

(D) Except as otherwise provided in division (A)(7) of section 340.03 of the Revised Code or in division (E) of this section, no person shall knowingly conduct a direct or indirect transaction of public funds to the benefit of any of the following:

(1) A campaign committee;

(2) A political action committee;

(3) A legislative campaign fund;

(4) A political party;

(5) A campaign fund;

(6) A political committee;

(7) A separate segregated fund;

(8) A candidate.

Both Mr. Essi and I have previously posted documents here that appear to show other violations of this statute by city officials and city employees.

stephen davis wrote:Mark,

I'm sorry, but I object to your "High Comedy" thread title. This is NOT funny.

What you are referencing is shameless character assassination and a political hit on a citizen that is designed to benefit the political future of Tom Bullock. It is posted as "News" on the city's website.

Is this "News"? Do Summers and O'Leary usually release "News" about expenses related to other past and present lawsuits involving the city? There is no mention of wasteful expenses from other lawsuits in which the city is a defendant OR a plaintiff.

This "News" was actually created and distributed by elected officials without attribution to a writer. Fake "News?" You bet. The opinions expressed by Mayor Summers and Council President O'Leary are the equivalent of the worst Trump tweets, and delivered in Sarah Huckabee Sanders style. Must everything go this way now? This is disappointing at best, and is certainly not "High Comedy." How low will they go?

I don't know if this expression of "News" is unlawful (Probably not.) or technically unethical. It would probably take a lawsuit to figure it out. It is, at the very least, not decent, and does not reflect well on the originators or on our city of Lakewood.

Here's a link to the "News" again, in case anyone missed it:

http://www.onelakewood.com/city-of-lake ... ers-90683/

I guess we'll talk about Tom Bullock in another thread.



Steve

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Mr. Davis,

Great to hear from one of the 50,000 Lakewood's!

May I suggest that comparing Team Trump to Team Summers/O'Leary/Bullock is a low blow to even Team Trump. In Lakewood----Summers, O'Leary & Bullock combined to give away public assets to the private sector (a $150M hospital) that represented almost half of the total assets owned by the city of Lakewood citywide.

To match that stupidity on a Federal level, Team Trump would have to give away 1/2 of the US Treasury, 1/2 of Fort Knox, 1/2 of the entire US military, 1/2 of all Federal Parks, etc. all for nothing!

The rest of your points were spot on!

Brian Essi wrote:To match that stupidity on a Federal level, Team Trump would have to give away 1/2 of the US Treasury, 1/2 of Fort Knox, 1/2 of the entire US military, 1/2 of all Federal Parks, etc. all for nothing!

Brian, pay attention.

Mark Kindt wrote:Here, Mr. O'Leary whines about $90K in legal fees . . . . .

This is a press release from a city administrations that is proposing to give away the former hospital site (worth $5,000,000) to one of its political cronies.

This is after this city administration "burned" hundreds of millions of dollars in assets of their hospital.

And, who now propose to give $7,000,000 to $10,000,000 to their selected developer.

Sam O'Leary , against all odds, has found a new low in which to wallow.
Sleazy, cynical, dishonest politics.
His comments should not be forgotten nor forgiven.

m buckley wrote:

Mark Kindt wrote:Here, Mr. O'Leary whines about $90K in legal fees . . . . .

This is a press release from a city administrations that is proposing to give away the former hospital site (worth $5,000,000) to one of its political cronies.

This is after this city administration "burned" hundreds of millions of dollars in assets of their hospital.

And, who now propose to give $7,000,000 to $10,000,000 to their selected developer.

Sam O'Leary , against all odds, has found a new low in which to wallow.
Sleazy, cynical, dishonest politics.
His comments should not be forgotten nor forgiven.

Sam O'Leary's Negative Personal Politics Divide Lakewood.

Sam O'Leary's lies under oath and his dishonesty in public office cost Lakewood over $100M and will result in the suffering of Lakewood's underserved population to be dragged out for decades to come.

Sam O'Leary as a boy mayor would DOOM Lakewood.

Typical of this lying gang of thieves, they accuse others of doing exactly what they were doing-costing the city $. Only, the administrations give-away was to the tune of $150 million, not $90,000.

Oh, and they neglect to mention that it was their actions that caused the lawsuit to be filed in the first place! Skindell's action cost the city a pittance compared to the action's of Summer's, O'Leary, Bullock etc.

They are probably most upset that we're talking about $90,000 that can't be given away to one of their friends!

In terms of legal fee costs (and public revenues retained), it would have been more prudent and effective for the City to enforce its contract with LHA and require LHA to complete its obligations to operate Lakewood Hospital through the contracted lease period (2026).

(That could have been accomplished with a single two-page letter from Thompson Hine, if not from the Law Director himself.)

A pronounced additional benefit of this would have been considerably fewer violation of Ohio by the City and less of a conflict-of-interest minefield.

This is what is wrong when we have secret government.

Mark Kindt wrote:This is what is wrong when we have secret government.

Mark

Was has really taken me in recent days is the number of residents, that 1) still are aware of the facts, though they could just want to remain ignorant as a form of self defense. 2) The number of people that either believe the city has turned over "all of the documents" when in fact less than 10% have been made public. and/or believe they will show nothing.

What is even more odd when you explain what less than 10% of the documents had shed light on. That the courts found City Hall guilty of Sunshine Law violations and you ask them "What would City Hall waste hundreds of thousands of dollars hiding from the residents?" they look down and say, "I really has to be pretty bad doesn't it?" When you then tell them factually, Mayor Summers, Ed Fitzgerald not only steered the entire process but ended up with all the benefits it slowly hits them.

We have been played, we have been lied to and we have been used.

And as that emerges, the enablers, the sycophants come forward to cover up the truth. While many compare this to Trump, I see it being more aligned with the secrecy of the Catholic Church, and how it was enablers, and low level uneducated believers that allowed the atrocities to continue.

It is a sickness that has suddenly appeared in Lakewood. It is deemed better to follow, than question. Better to listen to those uneducated and inexperienced than those, like you, with decades of experience and knowledge. And far more simpler to ignore, than to recognize and change

Lakewood A city once known for intelligence, putting millions into things that made us smarter, now working overtime to dumb the city down.

Pretty wild.

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