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JFS probe shown not to be a witch hunt
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Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti
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Paul Gains
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Lisa Antonini, democrat, Mahoning County Treasurer and former Chairwoman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party
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Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally IV
Four special prosecutors and two investigators are looking into the behavior of current and former Mahoning County government officials in order to answer this over arching question: Did the officials use their positions of power on behalf of a private company embroiled in a legal battle with the county?
If the investigation finds that Ohio ethics laws were violated, there could be criminal charges filed.
If, on the other hand, the probe comes up empty, those public employees and the Cafaro Co. will be able to claim victory.
Regardless, the continuation of the investigation vindicates commissioners Anthony Traficanti and David Ludt, Prosecutor Paul Gains and Administrator George Tablack, who had been accused of conducting a political witch hunt.
Paul M. Nick, chief investigative counsel for the Ohio Ethics Commission, Dennis P. Will, Lorain County prosecutor, and Anthony Dean Cillo and Billie Jo Belcher, assistant prosecutors in Lorain County, came to the conclusion that there is merit in pursuing the case.
Based on depositions and court testimony stemming from the Cafaro Co.’s lawsuit to block the county’s purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place, the targets of the probe are: Commissioner John McNally; Treasurer Lisa Antonini, who also is chairwoman of the county Democratic Party; Auditor Michael Sciortino; former Treasurer John Reardon; and, John Zachariah, former head of the Job and Family Services.
The JFS was located for many years in the Cafaro-owned Garland Plaza on Youngstown’s East Side when the decision was made by the commissioners to relocate the agency because of the poor condition of the offices in the plaza.
Legal roadblocks
Cafaro officials pulled out all the stops to prevent the relocation, including putting up legal roadblocks. In the end, however, the county won in court, the purchase of Oakhill took place and Job and Family Services is one of the growing number of government agencies and departments located in the complex.
But the more than 200 calls between the Cafaro headquarters and McNally, Antonini, Sciortino, Reardon and Zachariah and the dozen meetings with the folks from the company and county officials raised more questions than were answered during the trial.
Despite his belief as prosecutor that ethics laws had been violated, Gains chose to separate himself from the case. He sent all the pertinent documents to the ethics commission, where they were reviewed by chief investigative counsel Will. Based on that review, the decision was made to launch a full-scale investigation. Again, Gains did not want to give the appearance of impropriety and, therefore, asked the common pleas judges to appoint the four special prosecutors.
The two investigators are from the sheriff’s department and the FBI. The federal government is involved because JFS receives federal money.
McNally et al insist they were only doing their due diligence as county officials in opposing the purchase of Oak-hill Renaissance and that their numerous telephone calls and meetings with Cafaro Co. types were just part of their duties, The goal, they said, was to gather information from one of the nation’s leading shopping center developers.
Ring, ring
Antonini, the party chair, has contended that the 28 cell phone calls between her and the Cafaro headquarters from August 2006 to March 2007 had nothing to do with the Oakhill Renaissance case. She has yet to publicly explain what was discussed with, among others, Anthony Cafaro, the company’s chief executive officer.
As for the other county officials, investigators will undoubtedly go over the time line of the 200 or so telephone calls with Cafaro officials.
For instance, on Aug. 7, 2006: Sciortino sends a building assessment to commissioners; Cafaro calls McNally at 9:10 a.m.; McNally calls Cafaro at 9:17 a.m.; Cafaro calls McNally at 9:23 a.m.; Cafaro calls McNally at 3:15 p.m.; Zachariah calls Cafaro at 4:40 p.m.; Cafaro calls Sciortino at 9:05 a.m.; Cafaro calls Sciortino at 3:05 p.m.; taxpayers lawsuit is filed by the Cafaro Co. to block the JFS move. (Emphasis added)
Bottom line question: Which master were McNally and the others serving?