Political stench of 2015

The rotting fish in Mill Creek Park’s Lake Newport in June were the manifestation of a major environmental crisis, but the stench served as a metaphor for the putrid politics of the Mahoning Valley.

And while the overflow of the combined sewers in the city of Youngstown that resulted in sewage bacteria polluting Lakes Newport, Cohasset and Glacier will be corrected, there is little chance of cleaning up the region’s politics. That’s because public corruption is part of our DNA.

Year after year, the list of inductees into the Mahoning Valley Hall of Shame grows, and with it the disillusionment, disappointment and cynicism of law-abiding citizens.

Thus, as 2015 comes to a close, another chapter is added to the ongoing saga of government corruption in this region. And while many of the characters are left over from previous years, there are several new ones.

Topping the list is veteran Democratic officeholder Ronald V. Gerberry, who resigned in August from the Ohio House of Representatives and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unlawful compensation. As part of the plea deal, Gerberry, who was a political fixture in Mahoning County for decades, agreed not to run for elected office for the next seven years.

So, what did the former state lawmaker, county recorder and Austintown school board member do that sparked his political demise? The cheapskate cooked up a scheme to stick it to the Ohio Democratic Party, which requires each Democratic House member to pay an annual assessment. The money is generally used to help run campaigns.

Political consultant

Gerberry took money out of his campaign fund, overpaid vendors and funneled some to two Youngstown political consulting firms owned by Harry Strabala of Youngstown. The lawmaker was thus able to show the caucus that he could not come up with the amount he was assessed.

But when the dust settled, he got the money back from Strabala and the vendors. In so doing, he violated a state law relating to campaign finances.

Strabala’s involvement with Gerberry was intriguing because of what was revealed about him during one of the numerous court hearings in preparation for the start of the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal conspiracy trial in March.

Strabala is to be a key witness for the prosecution in the trial, stemming from his decades-long role as an FBI informant. He secretly recorded individuals in and out of government in the Valley suspected of corruption.

Strabala, a self-styled political consultant, was welcomed into the circle of the corrupt because of his own criminal background. In August 2002, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge R. Scott Krichbaum sentenced the then 50-year-old Mount Vernon Avenue resident to 90 days in jail and five years’ probation for stealing $33,835 from the 7th Ward Citizens’ Coalition playground project at Ipe Field.

Strabala recorded his daily conversations with politicians and others as part of the FBI’s ongoing investigation of government corruption in the Valley.

One of the officeholders he recorded was then-Auditor Michael Sciortino, a defendant in the Oakhill conspiracy trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. The other defendants are Youngstown Mayor and former county Commissioner John A. McNally and Youngstown Atty. Martin Yavorcik.

The three face more than 80 criminal charges, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, bribery, conspiracy and money laundering. The charges are related to the grand scheme masterminded by Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., retired president of the Cafaro Co., to block county commissioners from buying Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Southside Medical Center. McNally, as commissioner, opposed the purchase, but his colleagues at the time, Anthony Traficanti and David Ludt, voted to buy the complex. They then moved the county’s Job and Family Services agency from the Cafaro-owned Garland Plaza to Oakhill. Cafaro was determined to block the relocation. He was unsuccessful.

In addition to spending a lot of time with Sciortino and recording their conversations, Strabala also had a close relationship with former Mahoning County Probate Judge Mark Belinky, who left office with his holier-than-thou attitude between his legs after he pleaded guilty to a tampering with records charge and other criminal acts. He has agreed to turn state’s evidence in the ongoing investigation of government corruption.

Belinky admitted to a special agency of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation that he stole money from people who could not care for themselves.

BCI Special Agent Ed Carlini stated in an affidavit that Belinky “has admitted to stealing money from people that he was a Guardian over and further admitted to altering Probate Court documents to further such theft and has further admitted to using a Mahoning County Probate Computer, to create false Probate Court records.”

Belinky’s misdemeanor plea certainly does not reflect the seriousness of his crimes, which suggests he also is sharing information with investigators in their campaign to clean up politics in the Mahoning Valley.

But if you think that the March trial is the beginning of the end, think again. Just this month, it was revealed that a criminal investigation of government officials and others in the city of Niles has been going on for a while.

And so, the stench of rotting political fish will be around in 2016, highlighted by the long-awaited Oakhill Renaissance conspiracy trial in March.