‘We’re over-achieving’: Are Ohio’s governments more corrupt than ever?
How rampant is public corruption in state and local governments in Ohio?
With felony charges against Jeff Pastor — the second Cincinnati council member accused of taking bribes in 2020 — along with corruption scandals in both Toledo and the statehouse in
Columbus, Ohio is seeing a wave of elected officials accused of wrongdoing.
Pastor was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents and charged with soliciting and accepting money from developers in exchange for favorable votes, prosecutors said. Pastor has pleaded not guilty,
but local officials have called for him to resign his council seat.
The spate of criminal charges against public officials might lead some to think Ohio has become more corrupt than ever. But experts say government misdeeds ebb and flow – and 2020 is just flush with higher-profile examples.
“Public corruption is always there – when (feds) go looking for it, they usually find it,” said Dean Valore, a Cleveland attorney and former federal prosecutor. “Ohio is no more corrupt, it’s the timing of cases,” indicating that it was a coincidence that charges against some of the latest defendants were announced just months apart.
David Niven, a political science professor at the University of Cincinnati, agreed – though two separate bribery indictments against sitting council members is nothing for the city to brag about. “We’re over-achieving,” Niven said wryly. He added the $61 million scheme former House Speaker Larry Householder is accused of orchestrating is “epic in size and scope” – but also oddly familiar. “It’s a bigger version of a story we’ve heard before,” Niven said, noting that in the end it was all about paying money for favorable treatment by the government. Another former federal prosecutor Henry Hockeimer, now an attorney in Philadelphia, noted public corruption cases often cluster because investigators discover other crimes by other officials after they begin a probe against an initial target.
“When you start to pull the string, one case can lead to another – there can be a domino effect,” Hockeimer said.
Federal prosecutors have convicted 282 individuals in Ohio of public corruption crimes in the 10 years ending 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section. That made Ohio’s convictions the 12thhighest in the nation.
While the recent bribery scandals of former Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard and the unfolding case against Householder are flashy, lower-level officials and their co-conspirators are also routinely charged with acts of dishonesty. Nonetheless, Ohio has had its share of scandals.
Scandal in the statehouse
In the biggest corruption scandal to rock Ohio in years, federal investigators arrested House Speaker Householder and four others with racketeering in July for steering millions in bribes to win a $1.3 billion bailout by the state of two nuclear plants in northern Ohio.
The lawmaker, who lost the speakership days after he was charged, is accused of participating in a conspiracy that steered money from businesses, such as utility Firstenergy, through dark money groups and PACS.
The scheme was to make Householder speaker, shepherd legislation that aided the plants to be paid for with new fees to ratepayers and to fight off a referendum on the bailout. Householder, who was unopposed in his bid for reelection, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Misdeeds in cities
Before Pastor’s charges, Cincinnati had already lost a council member to accusations of bribery.
In June, councilwoman Tamaya Dennard pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud after admitting she took $15,000 from an attorney in exchange for favorable votes on development projects. Dennard continued to solicit additional bribes, saying that “future help relating to official action...was tied to additional payment,” according to court documents. She had been facing charges of bribery and attempted extortion – charges that were dropped as part of her plea deal with prosecutors.
She resigned from her position March 2.
As Dennard’s corruption case wound down in summer, another city bribery scandal erupted in Toledo after four council members were arrested and accused of accepting money from small businesses in exchange for favorable treatment. Yvonne Harper, Gary Johnson, Tyrone Riley and Larry Sykes are all facing bribery and extortion charges. The case is still pending three of the council members have agreed to step aside from their public duties until their cases are resolved.
Sheriffs caught breaking the law
Sometimes the public officials that run afoul of the law are very people sworn to uphold it. Ohio’s corruption cases include top law enforcement officials too. In fall, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader pleaded guilty to theft in office and tampering with evidence and other charges. Prosecutors said Reader fed a gambling habit with money he stole from crime seizures and borrowed from employees. Reader is scheduled to be sentenced next year. He is not the first Ohio sheriff charged with breaking the law instead of upholding it. Last year, former Allen County Sheriff Samuel Crish was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for soliciting and accepting bribes. He was accused of shaking down johns caught in prostitution stings for money as well as others facing gambling or other charges.
Other city and state officials have faced charges
Ohio’s smaller cities and other state lawmakers have been caught taking money. Last year, seven people, including three public officials were charged in Dayton.
h Former City Commissioner Joey D. Williams pleaded guilty to bribery charges for helping a demolition contractor fraudulently execute contracts earmarked for disadvantaged businesses. He was sentenced to a year in federal prison.
h Former state Rep. Clayton Luckie also pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in the scheme. He was sentenced to four months in prison.
h Roshawn Winburn, a former human services official with Dayton, also pleaded guilty to a corruption count in the scheme and was sentenced to six months in prison.
In 2018, a jury found the former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante guilty of 22 public corruption charges, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, multiple counts of evidence tampering and theft in office. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Infante, who was mayor of Niles for 24 years ending in 2015, was accused of running an illegal gambling house and taking bribes in exchange for jobs. Prosecutors said he received nearly $200,000 in unreported cash, income and gifts.
State Rep. W. Carlton Weddington in 2012 was sentenced to three years in prison on bribery and other charges after he accepted bribes and gifts from the FBI in a sting operation. The Columbus Democrat was first Ohio lawmaker convicted of bribery charges in a century.
In exchange for supporting legislation for a wine company, Weddington accepted lavish trips to Miami and California, plus campaign contributions, and a $5,000 bribe. The wine company was a fake set up by federal investigators.
That last big Ohio scandal
While Columbus has been roiled by Householder’s political demise, Ohio’s capital has endured past outrages.
In 2006, Republican operative and Toledo coin dealer Tom Noe pleaded guilty theft, engaging in corrupt activity, money laundering and forgery for stealing from a $50 million rare-coin fund he oversaw as an investment for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. The “Coingate” scandal also led to then-republican Gov. Bob Taft being convicted of ethics misdemeanors for failing to disclose golf outings and other gifts.
Corrupt Congressman
Just to cure you of any misguided nostalgia for the honesty of the “good old days,” Ohio has also had dishonest federal representatives.
In another scandal from the past, U.S. Rep. James Traficant was convicted in 2002 of 10 felony counts including bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion. Former aides said the congressman demanded kickbacks for their salaries and ordered them to work for free on his farm. Local business owners asserted that he forced them into payoffs.
Following his conviction, the House stripped committee assignments and eventually voted to expel him in 2002 – only the second Congressman to be kicked out of the chamber since the Civil War.
He served seven years in prison ending in 2009 and died in 2014.
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