There are none so blind as apologists
Let's not be na & iuml;ve about the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District lawsuit. Defendants Edward A. Flask of Poland and Frank DeJute of Niles, both former directors of the water district, and the Gilbane Building Co. of Rhode Island, want to see the suit go away because they can't risk waiting until January 2003.
The state of Ohio has sued Flask, DeJute and Gilbane to recover $2.4 million in water district -- read that public -- money Ohio Auditor Jim Petro says was improperly spent. While on the two-member MVSD board of directors, Flask and DeJute hired the Gilbane Co. to serve as construction manager on a $50 million capital improvements project.
A special comprehensive audit of the MVSD conducted by Petro's office concluded that Gilbane was paid for work it never performed. Indeed, a federal judge confirmed that finding.
However, to date the state of Ohio, represented by the attorney general's office, has not had much success in court in making its case stick against the three defendants. Nonetheless, Attorney General Betty Montgomery insists that her office is not going to let them off the hook and will keep the lawsuit going.
But why are Flask, DeJute and Gilbane and their apologists -- the altruistic pabulum being spewed by some is nonsense -- so eager to get the case resolved this year?
General election
The answer lies in the November general election. Montgomery has served two four-year terms as attorney general and is prohibited by law from seeking a third term. She is, therefore, running for state auditor on the Republican ticket.
Petro has served two four-year terms as state auditor and he, too, is prohibited from seeking a third term. Therefore, he is running for attorney general as the Republican nominee.
And given the Republican Party's iron grip on state government -- the GOP controls all non judicial statewide offices -- Montgomery and Petro should have little trouble defeating the Democrats in their races.
Having Petro as attorney general must be keeping Flask, DeJute and executives of the Gilbane Co. awake at night. Why?
Because if the current attorney general is determined to recover the $2.4 million, Petro as the state's chief lawyer will be downright pitbullish.
Remember it was his persistent public criticism of the hemming-and-hawing emanating from the AG's office when the performance audit findings were released that forced Montgomery to take on this important public policy case.
As Petro has said on many occasions, if Flask, DeJute and Gilbane are permitted to walk away without being penalized for mishandling public dollars, then other irresponsible individuals in positions of public trust will be emboldened to play fast and loose with the people's money.
Make no mistake about it: the dollars spent by the MVSD come from the 300,000 or so residents of Mahoning and Trumbull counties who get their drinking water from the cities of Youngstown and Niles and the village of McDonald. Youngstown and Niles are the only member cities of the MVSD and buy drinking water in bulk for their residents and their suburban customers. The rates they and McDonald pay to the MVSD is public money.
Evidence
When -- not if, but when -- Petro becomes attorney general, there should no doubt that Flask, DeJute and Gilbane will be confronting a dedicated public servant who knows the MVSD case like the back of his hand. In 1998, Petro offered some friendly advice to the three defendants: settle this case. Of course, he wasn't the one handling it for the state, but he knew what evidence existed.
It is noteworthy that Petro never once suggested that the state should throw in the towel after the first legal setback.
"There's too much damn money in this state that's paid and it's not earned," Petro said four years ago in a moment of frustration and anger. He's still firmly believes that to be case. Indeed, the numerous special audits conducted around the state since that time has strengthened the auditor's belief that the taxpayers must be protected from irresponsible public officials and companies that do business with government.
Thus, when some Valley residents whine about the amount of money the state has spent in going after Flask, DeJute and Gilbane, and when they argue that the initial legal defeats should convince the attorney general to drop the lawsuit, they should sit back and let the auditor's words wash over them.
With Petro as AG, watch out.