Dirty little secret bared

Trumbull County Commissioner Daniel Polivka was tripping over his tongue last week as he tried to dissuade his colleague, Frank Fuda, from expounding on the public sector’s dirty little secret.

But there was no stopping Fuda, a retired schoolteacher, from blowing the lid off Trumbull County government’s hiring practices.

In so doing, the commissioner gave public credence to the long-held belief of many taxpayers that getting on the public payroll has little to do with education, qualifications and experience and a lot to do with politics.

Indeed, Fuda’s rant last Wednesday and on May 11 about the unfair hiring practices lent credence to this writer’s contention that local governments at all levels in the Mahoning Valley are largely devoid of the best and the brightest employees because the standard for hiring is “who you know, not what you know.”

What the commissioner, a former Niles city councilman, has done by making public the dirty little secret of government is to again focus attention on the largest expenditure of any public sector’s operating budget – wages and benefits.

“I didn’t know we had files that were labeled Fuda, Cantalamessa and Polivka. We have files here at the county for jobs. Were you aware of that?” he asked his colleagues, Polivka, chairman of the Trumbull County Democratic Party, and Mauro Cantalamessa.

Sparks fly

When the head of a political party is hung out to dry by a long-standing member of the party, sparks will fly. And they did at last Wednesday’s meeting of the board of commissioners.

“This is going on for three weeks,” Polivka shot back at Fuda over his complaints about the hiring practices. “You get everything you want. You don’t get something, you want to be a big baby and be a bully and cry about it. What’s your point Frank? What’s your point? What’s your problem?”

Spoken like a true politician. When you’re cornered, worm your way out.

If Polivka is genuinely interested in knowing what’s at the heart of Fuda’s concerns, he should review the county’s payroll and determine the criteria used in the hiring.

The Democratic Party chairman should also explore the role politics plays in deciding who wins the jackpot (public employment).

During the May 11 meeting, Fuda took to task three department heads for allowing “commissioners” to dictate who gets hired.

While he didn’t name names during the meeting, Fuda later told The Vindicator he was talking about Polivka applying too much pressure to get people on the payroll.

The chairman responded by accusing his colleague as being the one who makes the largest number of hiring referrals.

And so it goes. Elected officials are suddenly at each other’s throats when taxpayers have howled for years about public payrolls being burdened by individuals who wouldn’t stand a chance in the private sector.

That’s why state Treasurer Josh Mandel’s Ohio Online Checkbook is the singularly most important public policy initiative in recent history.

Mandel, a Republican, has attracted statewide and national attention with his website that contains every aspect of the state’s financial transactions, including the payrolls of all departments and agencies.

Spurred by the public’s positive reaction to the online checkbook and the hundreds of thousands of visits to the website, the treasurer decided to turn his attention to local governments and other public entities.

While some local officials were eager to join the treasurer’s transparency campaign, others have had to be “persuaded” – read that shamed by the press – into making their financial records easily available to the folks who keep government in business.

Not all communities have signed up to be a part of Mandel’s initiative.

No.1 ranking

In April, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group announced that Ohio was once again ranked No. 1 for public spending transparency.

“Follow the Money 2016” based the ranking – the second year in a row – in large part on OhioCheckBook.com, the online spending database.

“Ohio is once again the national leader in state spending transparency,” said Michelle Surka, coauthor of the “Follow the Money” report. “But more than just holding the highest spot, Ohio’s commitment to improving their web portal has encouraged other states to join this race to the top.”

In discussing the ranking, Mandel, who has crisscrossed the state selling the idea of transparency, noted that 711 of the state’s 3,962 local governments and schools have signed up.

Together, the 711 entities have over 13.8 million individual transactions, and over $35.7 billion in total spending online.

The website also features the salaries of state employees, teachers and local government workers.

While 711 is a significant number considering that the initiative was launched on Dec. 2, 2014, there are still too many public entities that haven’t joined. The taxpayers of those local governments and schools should hold their public officials accountable.

In Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, only 42 entities have signed up, including Mahoning and Trumbull county governments.

In the dark

But even with that, taxpayers are still in the dark about the salaries of public employees.

According to the Ohio Treasurer’s Office, Beaver Township is the only Mahoning Valley local government that has posted its salary information online.

Why the secrecy on the part of the others? Because, as Trumbull County Commissioner Fuda contended, the hiring practices leave a lot to be desired.

As for the argument put forth by Mahoning County government officials that posting the salaries is a complicated endeavor, local taxpayers should consider this fact: Cuyahoga County government has its salary information for 2014 posted online. This information has been accessible for a number of months.

Local officials must know that secrecy breeds suspicion – and contempt – and after the flap in Trumbull County, there’s every reason for Mahoning Valley residents to be suspicious about the goings on in the public sector.