Paid TV programs warrant skepticism

If you're watching television this morning, and for some inexplicable reason you skipped the paid programming that features hard-bodied women rolling on huge exercise balls or a bronze Adonis bouncing coins off his abs, to take in the David Betras and Cafaro Co. shows, here's something you should know: Those, too, are infomercials. (You also need to have your head examined.)
Betras is not a journalist and his show is not produced by the news department of WFMJ-Channel 21. Instead, his law firm, Betras Harshman LLC, pays for the air time. However, he disguises his electronic ambulance-chasing by having guests on to discuss the "issues" of the day.
The Cafaro Co.'s program is designed to scuttle a deal that would result in its losing 480,000 of taxpayer money a year.
This reality check is being offered so viewers are not lulled into believing that Betras and Cafaro officials are objective when they lambaste the proposal by the Mahoning County commissioners to move the Job and Family Services agency from the McGuffey Plaza on the East Side to Oakhill Renaissance Place on Youngstown's South Side.
Cafaro has sued the commissioners and other officials in an effort to block the relocation of the JFS to the former South Side Medical Center complex.
Betras is one of the lawyers involved in the legal machinations by the Cafaro brothers, Anthony and J.J., the latter of whom, readers will recall, was convicted of a felony after he pleaded guilty in federal court to bribing former Congressman James A. Traficant Jr.
If you pay close attention, you'll see that Betras admits to his relationship with the Cafaro Co. during today's show.
This writer appears as a guest on the program, as does Louie Free, a radio talk show host. Like Betras, Free is not a journalist, and opposes the JFS move to Renaissance Place.
Counterpoint
So, why would a veteran newspaperman accept an invitation to participate in such a show? The simple answer: To provide a counterpoint to the charge from Betras and Free that commissioners David Ludt and Anthony Traficanti are leading county government to economic ruin because they voted to purchase the former hospital complex to house JFS and other county agencies.
Betras and Free ignore the fact that the financial analysis for the purchase was conducted by an expert in government finances, county Administrator George Tablack, a certified public accountant.
They also dismiss the role of the Mahoning County Building Commission, which the commissioners were required by state law to appoint. The four private sector members of the commission are donating their time and providing their expertise to ensure that Mahoning County is not jeopardized financially. These are reputable individuals who do not have ulterior motives.
On the other hand, the Cafaro Co. has a lot to lose with the relocation of the JFS and it is to its advantage to discredit commissioners Ludt and Traficanti.
The Cafaros have bought air time on Channel 21 and WKBN-Channel 27 to broadcast excerpts of Ludt's and Traficanti's depositions. The timing of the broadcast today and on May 6 is revealing.
Voters in Mahoning County will be going to polls May 8 to decide whether a half-percent sales tax should be renewed. Unfounded charges of wasteful spending by the commissioners could influence some residents.
Tablack was also deposed by a Cafaro lawyer, but his answers are not being aired. That's because he was able to speak with authority about the county's finances.
(A link to the Cafaro infomercial and the Tablack deposition is available at The Vindicator's website, vindy.com. Go to http://media2.vindy.com/video/2007/04/cafaro/index.html.)
Building commission members
However, if voters want to know the truth but don't trust what county government officials have to say, they should contact the private sector members of the Mahoning County Building Commission.
They are: Architect Robert Hanahan of Boardman; John Logue of Youngstown, former executive vice president of the Builders Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania; Atty. David Comstock, former president of the Mahoning County Bar Association and member of the Board of Governors of the Ohio State Bar Association and a current member of the Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline; and, Joseph Sylvester Jr., chief executive officer of Joseph Sylvester Construction Co. Inc. of Boardman, a member of the Mahoning County Planning Commission.
These individuals have nothing to gain personally by being involved in the project.