Another election, another dark cloud

Once again the election season in the Mahoning Valley has a dark cloud of criminal investigations hanging over it, and once again voters are left to wonder if any of the candidates they support could end up taking an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, rather than an oath to uphold the law.
In Mahoning County, a federal investigation of the sheriff's department is entering its sixth month. A grand jury in Cleveland has been hearing evidence since last fall, and Sheriff Randall Wellington has said that he is aware of several deputies who have been subpoenaed to testify. Documents from the department were taken by the FBI last summer.
There is no indication that Wellington is the target of the investigation, but the sheriff is running for re-election this year while the probe is continuing. And given that Wellington's predecessor, Phil Chance, is serving time in the federal penitentiary in Milan, Mich., after he was found guilty of racketeering, some voters will be left to wonder just what the current investigation is about.
In Chance's case, federal prosecutors established that Chance took campaign contributions from mobsters and then used his position as the county's top cop to do favors for them.
The FBI's practice of not commenting on ongoing probes makes it difficult for the public to determine if an officeholder is a target.
Traficant
Indeed, the federal government's refusal to reveal whether James A. Traficant Jr. was the subject of a criminal investigation enabled his careless supporters to re-elect him to a ninth term as the 17th District congressman. It was only after the 2000 election that he was indicted and put on trial for 10 criminal charges, including racketeering, bribery and tax evasion. He is serving an eight-year sentence in a federal pen in Pennsylvania.
It is instructive that during the 2000 campaign, Traficant publicly acknowledged that he was the target of a federal investigation and expected to be indicted. If only the FBI had concluded its investigation before the election. The Mahoning Valley would have been spared the national embarrassment of having the crooked congressman on the ballot -- and of his winning another term.
In Trumbull County, an investigation into government's purchasing practices has been going on since September 2002, when the state attorney general's office and state auditor's office joined forces with Prosecutor Dennis Watkins to delve into irregularities uncovered by Vindicator reporters. The newspaper ran a series of stories based on the reporters' findings. To date, five people, including former maintenance director Tony Delmont have been indicted. Prosecutors say Delmont stole more than $400,000 from the county since 1998. Delmont's wife, Karen, has also been indicted.
Last month, the FBI announced that it was taking an active and ongoing role in the investigation.
Just how far up this high-powered investigation will go is anybody's guess. Prosecutors aren't talking.
But eyebrows have been raised by the fact that the campaign finance records of Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere, commissioners Joseph Angelo and James Tsagaris and former Commissioner Michael O'Brien have been turned over to an auditor with the Ohio attorney general's office.
Altiere and Angelo are seeking re-election this year. O'Brien began a four-year term as mayor of Warren in January.
Political?
Angelo, who declined an invitation from The Vindicator's editorial board to be interviewed for the newspaper's endorsement, contends the request for campaign finance records is political.
"Of course it is because of the election," he said.
Altiere noted that the records have been looked at before. "I have no idea why they would want them," the sheriff said.
The FBI's presence in Trumbull County is not recent. After its success in convicting more than 70 Mahoning County officeholders, including judges and lawyers, mobsters and others in its crackdown of government corruption and organized crime, the agency turned its sights on Trumbull.
There have been persistent reports that elected officials will be among those indicted, but to date no discernible progress has been made to end the investigation.
Thus, voters are left to wonder whether any candidate in this year's election may follow in Traficant's footsteps.
Many Valley residents have a penchant for embracing crooked politicians. The FBI should help them break that habit.