The Observation Deck

1. Below are emails I sent to Sam O'Leary concerning the claim that he is somehow a "prosecutor".
No response yet after 4 days.

2. Also, at around 3:00 pm today, I called Mr. O'Leary and he did not pick up the call. This makes O'Leary's wife look bad as she claimed in his campaign literature that he answers call at "3:00pm or 3:00 am."

3. Also, Mr. O'Leary's campaign website touts his alleged policy of caring about public records requests, yet he has not responded at all after 4 days.

From: Brian Essi <bjessi@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: Public Records Request Re: Serving as a Prosecutor
Date: September 19, 2019 at 2:19:44 PM EDT
To: Sam O'Leary <sam.oleary@lakewoodoh.net>, Kevin Butler <Kevin.Butler@lakewoodoh.net>

Messrs. O’Leary and Butler,

It has been 4 days since I sent the records request below. Could either of you kindly favor me with a reply as to when the Lakewood part of the requests will be fulfilled.

Sincerely

Brian J. Essi
216 346 3434

On Sep 16, 2019, at 8:15 AM, Brian Essi <bjessi@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Dear Mr. O’Leary,

This communication serves as a public records request. Please provide the records responsive to each request to bjess@sbcglobal.net in an electronic medium (i.e. WORD, PDF, XLS, etc.) and at no cost.
Please note that I received your campaign flyer at my home last week in which the claim was made that you a municipal lawyer and "prosecutor.”

It is my understanding that a “prosecutor” is a public official.

Kindly provide the following public records:

PRR SO-1. Your employment file for the City of Lakewood.

PRR SO-2. Your employment file for each municipality, county or political subdivision in which you are or have been employed as a prosecutor in the calendar year 2019.

PRR SO-3. One public record containing the case number and name of the defendant(s) for each legal matter or engagement in which you served as a “prosecutor” during the calendar year 2019.

PRR SO-4. One public record containing the case number and name of the defendant(s) for each legal matter or engagement in which you served as a “prosecutor” during the calendar year 2018.

PRR SO-5. One public record containing the case number and name of the defendant(s) for each legal matter or engagement in which you served as a “prosecutor” during August, 2019.

PRR SO-6. One public record containing the case number and name of the defendant(s) for each pending legal matter or engagement in which you serve as a “prosecutor” during September, 2019.

If you have any confusion concerning these requests, please do not hesitate to contact me by this email or the phone number below.

Sincerely

Brian J. Essi
216 346 3434

He claims on his web page, among other doozies, that he “brought a mobile stroke unit to be based in Lakewood.”



YOU did that?

Where is it, Sam?

Note below Mr. Butler's response of 10:58 PM Thursday night September 19th and my response this morning September 20, 2019.

From: Brian Essi <bjessi@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: Public Records Request Re: Serving as a Prosecutor
Date: September 20, 2019 at 8:02:33 AM EDT
To: Kevin Butler <Kevin.Butler@lakewoodoh.net>
Cc: Sam O'Leary <Sam.OLeary@lakewoodoh.net>, David Anderson <david.anderson@lakewoodoh.net>, Tom Bullock <tom.bullock@lakewoodoh.net>, John Litten <john.litten@lakewoodoh.net>, "Daniel.OMalley@lakewoodoh.net" <Daniel.OMalley@Lakewoodoh.net>, meghan.George@lakewoodoh.net, tristan.rader@lakewoodoh.net

Dear Mr. Butler,

I disagree with your statement below of yesterday (September 19th at 10:54pm) that "We received this request today and will respond within a reasonable period of time.”

My request was sent to and received by Mr. O’Leary 4 days earlier on September 16. 2019 at 8:15 am. Mr. O’Leary is my Ward 2 Lakewood City Councilman and my Lakewood City Council President. As such, Mr. O’Leary is among the highest ranking public officials in the City of Lakewood--presumably he has received training and has experience on his and the City of Lakewood’s obligations concerning compliance with the law and the City’s policy on public records. Accordingly, as pertains to the City of Lakewood, Mr. O'Leary should have acted on my request of September 16, 2019 by immediately communicating with the human resources department (concerning his employment file) and with you as the law director in charge of public records processes and you as head of the law department overseeing the Lakewood City Prosecutors.

“A reasonable period of time” to provide the requested records pertaining to Lakewood has already expired. I should already have Mr. O’Leary’s employment file. Similarly, if Mr. Mr. O’Leary had fulfilled his legal obligations, the records pertaining to Mr. O’Leary serving as a “prosecutor” in Lakewood, if he has so served, should have already been produced.

Assuming Mr. O’Leary has not served as a “Prosecutor” for the City of Lakewood, a "reasonable period of time” to respond on PRR SO-2 through PRR SO-6 with be less than one day—Surely Mr. O’Leary knows if he did not serve. Likewise, you, as the public records custodian, should have personal knowledge of that fact too and/or could simply ask Mr. O’Leary and/or the other prosecutors in your department if Mr. O’Leary had served in such a capacity. This exercise might take 5 minutes.

Accordingly, I look forward to a full response by close of business today to avoid further action on my part concerning PRR SO-1 through PRR SO-6.

Finally, this communication serves as an additional public records request.

Kindly provide the following public records:

PRR SO-7 all emails from Sam O’Leary forwarding my email of September 16, 2019 at 8;15 am (see below) to any other person.

Sincerely

Brian J. Essi
216 346 3434




On Sep 19, 2019, at 10:54 PM, Kevin Butler <Kevin.Butler@lakewoodoh.net> wrote:

We received this request today and will respond within a reasonable period of time.



Kevin M. Butler, Director of Law
City of Lakewood | Law Department
(216) 529-6036
kevin.butler@lakewoodoh.net


-------- Original message --------
From: Brian Essi <bjessi@sbcglobal.net>
Date: 9/19/19 2:19 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: Sam O'Leary <Sam.OLeary@lakewoodoh.net>, Kevin Butler <Kevin.Butler@lakewoodoh.net>
Subject: Re: Public Records Request Re: Serving as a Prosecutor

CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.

Messrs. O’Leary and Butler,

It has been 4 days since I sent the records request below. Could either of you kindly favor me with a reply as to when the Lakewood part of the requests will be fulfilled.

Sincerely

Brian J. Essi
216 346 3434







On Sep 16, 2019, at 8:15 AM, Brian Essi <bjessi@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Dear Mr. O’Leary,

This communication serves as a public records request. Please provide the records responsive to each request to bjess@sbcglobal.net in an electronic medium (i.e. WORD, PDF, XLS, etc.) and at no cost.
Please note that I received your campaign flyer at my home last week in which the claim was made that you a municipal lawyer and "prosecutor.”

It is my understanding that a “prosecutor” is a public official.

Kindly provide the following public records:

PRR SO-1. Your employment file for the City of Lakewood.

PRR SO-2. Your employment file for each municipality, county or political subdivision in which you are or have been employed as a prosecutor in the calendar year 2019.

PRR SO-3. One public record containing the case number and name of the defendant(s) for each legal matter or engagement in which you served as a “prosecutor” during the calendar year 2019.

PRR SO-4. One public record containing the case number and name of the defendant(s) for each legal matter or engagement in which you served as a “prosecutor” during the calendar year 2018.

PRR SO-5. One public record containing the case number and name of the defendant(s) for each legal matter or engagement in which you served as a “prosecutor” during August, 2019.

PRR SO-6. One public record containing the case number and name of the defendant(s) for each pending legal matter or engagement in which you serve as a “prosecutor” during September, 2019.

If you have any confusion concerning these requests, please do not hesitate to contact me by this email or the phone number below.

Sincerely

Brian J. Essi
216 346 3434

Brian,

I am so glad you kept his campaign literature. His resume on LinkedIn lists no past experience as a prosecutor and I was curious as to where he got this claimed experience as well.

I also looked at Meghan George's resume on LinkedIn. Looking at them side-by-side Meghan has much more experience than Sam with none of the months-long gaps between jobs that Sam has.

This underscores why I support and will work to pass Councilperson Rader’s ethics legislation on city council. I have spent many years working, and currently work, in the Federal sector. All Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIA) from the public are legally required to be responded to within 20 days. In addition to this, all requests, by internal process standards, must be acknowledged by letter within 3 days of receipt. This letter must, by law, outline the timeline for response to the request as well as a reiteration of the requested items and the legal language that enumerates the civil right to the information. It must also indicate the legal recourses available to the information requester should they want to appeal a denied request for information. I believe a similar process to this needs to be enacted in Lakewood. Since we are dealing with local and not national government, a 2 day turn around time is a completely appropriate expectation for public information requests by the public.

Laura Rodriguez-Carbone, Candidate for Lakewood City Council Ward 1

lrodriguezcarbone wrote:This underscores why I support and will work to pass Councilperson Rader’s ethics legislation on city council. I have spent many years working, and currently work, in the Federal sector. All Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIA) from the public are legally required to be responded to within 20 days. In addition to this, all requests, by internal process standards, must be acknowledged by letter within 3 days of receipt. This letter must, by law, outline the timeline for response to the request as well as a reiteration of the requested items and the legal language that enumerates the civil right to the information. It must also indicate the legal recourses available to the information requester should they want to appeal a denied request for information. I believe a similar process to this needs to be enacted in Lakewood. Since we are dealing with local and not national government, a 2 day turn around time is a completely appropriate expectation for public information requests by the public.

Laura Rodriguez-Carbone, Candidate for Lakewood City Council Ward 1

This is exactly what I have been looking for in Lakewood for years! As a former state and federal public servant this is exactly my experience! Openness and ethics in government have been standards for decades!

Ms. Rodriguez-Carbones clearly states here her understanding of government ethics and transparency.

She gets it! I thank her for posting!

For my part, I second Mr. Kindt's praise. Thank you, Laura.

Folks,

I’m out if the country for the weekend, but I wanted you to know that at 12:26 pm today, Mr. Butler appeared to comply with my requests re: The City of Lakewood. I am limited to my iPhone today but it appears that Mr. O’Leary failed to forward my original to anyone at Lakewood City Hall to fulfill the requests, including Mr. Butler.

Also, Mr. Butler was definitive in his response that Mr. O’Leary has not served as a prosecutor for the City of Lakewood.

Mr. O’Leary remains silent as to all public records request emails as well as to all public records requests regarding jurisdictions other than Lakewood.

I will provide all public records provided by Mr. Butler as soon as I return to the USA.

Good Night, and Good Luck...

If a candidate lies on his campaign literature, why would anyone think he wouldn’t continue to lie in his elected position?

O’Leary falsely claims he has prosecutorial experience, or was a prosecutor. So far, there is no confirmation of this.

He also falsely claimed he was the endorsed candidate of the Lakewood Dems. That group has not yet even voted on the endorsements they will make!

Did he boldly LIE or was he promised the endorsement and figured it would arrive before too long?

Should a candidate be required to present a current Drivers License or an equivalent identification?

Stan Austin wrote:Should a candidate be required to present a current Drivers License or an equivalent identification?

Only if running for governor.

Only the quote from the campaign literature cited refers to O'Leary as a "prosecutor".
It is possible that whoever wrote the campaign literature did not know whether O'Leary was a prosecutor, or know what a prosecutor is.

ryan costa wrote:Only the quote from the campaign literature cited refers to O'Leary as a "prosecutor".
It is possible that whoever wrote the campaign literature did not know whether O'Leary was a prosecutor, or know what a prosecutor is.

It's reassuring to know that Councilman O'Leary has no idea what's going on in his own campaign.

It's too late to save the Hospital and the City's $75 million and cash and investments. It's not too late to have honest government.