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Ed FitzGerald: Just another corrupt Cuyahoga County politician

Those of us who live in Northeast Ohio know the name Jimmy DiMora all too well. Other Ohioans may not, so what follows is a very compressed version of the last four years.

Jimmy DiMora on his way to jail – Plain Dealer Photo

Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, had been the subject of rumors of corruption for years. Roughly 4 years ago, it was revealed that the FBI had begun an investigation. The highest level culprit was Commissioner Jimmy DiMora, but literally dozens of county office holders and staff were arrested, including the County Auditor and a sitting judge. DiMora was recently sentenced to 28 years in prison for 33 corruption-related charges.

The stench of corruption, kickbacks and payoffs in Cuyahoga County was so bad, that the voters didn’t just kick people out of office, they voted to completely overhaul the entire structure of county government. No longer are there three commissioners, but a county council and a county executive.

Ed Fitzgerald was elected to serve as the first County Executive, and promised to bring change and honesty to a county riddled with scandal. (It’s worth mentioning that Cuyahoga County was, and is still run almost completely by Democrats.)

Ed Fitzgerald – Plain Dealer Photo

Unfortunately, he has already shown that he is not much different than the crooked former commissioner.

The county jail needs a new kitchen badly. Last year, bids were received for the project and the best bid came in at $5.5 million. But Fitzgerald rejected it and pushed back the project. He claimed that the price tag was too expensive, and that he thought it could be done for less.

A month ago, the county announced that the project was back on track and construction was poised to begin. So, Fitzgerald found a better deal, and saved the county taxpayers some money, right?

Wrong.

The project is now going to cost almost a million dollars more.

What happened? The $5.5 million bid from last year, which Fitzgerald said was too expensive, was from a non-union contractor. The $6.4 million job he wants to proceed with now is with a union shop. Democrats doing favors for unions, and sticking the taxpayers with the increased cost. Typical Cuyahoga County Democrat politics. One wonders what the unions promised.

Of course, Fitzgerald can’t say he did it to favor unions, so he came up with other explanations. Then the Plain Dealer exposed that he was lying and he was forced to change his story. Check out the comments on the link. Cuyahoga County residents are realizing that Ed is just a non-obese and more polished version of Jimmy DiMora.

Ed Fitzgerald wants to run for Governor in 2014. And if Ted Strickland decides not to, you’ll most likely see Chris Redfern line up behind him.

We don’t need the corrupt stench of Cuyahoga County politics, which Fitzgerald has shown hasn’t changed at all, reeking in the governor’s office. It’s much better to keep it confined to Cuyahoga County, where the voters who keep electing nothing but Democrats get the government they deserve.

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Third Base Politics is an Ohio-centric conservative blog that has been featured at Hot Air, National Review, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and others.

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