A Quick Look at the Race for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor

by Cleveland Frowns on February 14, 2012

Jon Garland. Not bad! Alright, with there being literally nothing else to talk about, and with the primary just around the corner on March 6 (that will effectively decide the election), today’s as good a day as any to take a quick look at the race for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, especially since the Plain Dealer ran a series of candidate profiles yesterday by Leila Atassi.

Here are the profiles for your review, presented in alphabetical order, and with the PD’s own web headlines:

“Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidate Subodh Chandra not bashful in his quest for change”;

“Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidate Stephanie Hall is former Cleveland police officer”;

“Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidate James McDonnell touts experience as defense attorney”;

“Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidate Timothy McGinty says he is tired of the status quo”;

“Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidate Robert Triozzi says he won’t back down from fights”;

And here’s an editorial by Mark Naymik that ran on Sunday, titled, “Tim McGinty’s recognition, money lead way in Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s race.”

On reviewing this material, you’ll notice a few things:

First, that:

Tim McGinty is the front-runner in the race for Cuyahoga County prosecutor and is likely to win the job in the March 6 Democratic primary. …

A former high-profile and sometimes controversial Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge, McGinty has the highest name recognition among voters. He is outspending everyone. And the projected voter turnout is expected to be higher on Cleveland’s near West Side and in the western suburbs.

These advantages are magnified by the compressed time frame of the race.

McGinty also carries more baggage than others but this doesn’t matter because his opponents have no money to exploit it. He’s raised more than $200,000 and is outspending his opponents. … McGinty [has] purchased more than 700 television commercials on local network stations.

As for this baggage, per Atassi:

McGinty, who tried hundreds of cases as a prosecutor between 1982 and 1992, has long carried the burden of the role he played in the wrongful conviction of Michael Green in 1988.

Green, who spent 13 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, was ultimately freed on DNA evidence using testing technology that did not exist at the time of his conviction.

McGinty said he has since personally apologized to Green and promised he would make it his mission to advocate for more reliable scientific testing in criminal cases.

But his opponents are quick to point out that years later, then-Judge McGinty issued a recommendation to Youngstown State University on behalf of a crime-lab technician who had been fired because of the poor integrity of his work on the Green case.

So, McGinty is the guy with the machine behind him, so can outspend the other candidates by orders of magnitude; Also a former prosecutor who sent a man to jail for 13-years on bad DNA evidence and later recommended the lab tech who came up with the bad evidence for another government job.

Now here’s Naymik on candidate Robert Triozzi, who “ranks second in name recognition,” according to campaign polls.

Former Cleveland Municipal Judge Robert Triozzi … left his job as Cleveland law director to run.

Triozzi‘s low-key personality makes it hard for him to stand out at candidate events but he is attracting some support from business leaders, who see him as the best person to run an open and professional office. Several plan fundraisers for him.

Triozzi is also looking for help from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who remains popular in the city. Triozzi performed poorly in a race for mayor years ago, but he’s better suited for this job.

Attassi adds that:

Some might say the legacy of Robert Triozzi‘s five years as Cleveland’s law director is his frustrated effort to punish Wall Street banks for their role in the city’s foreclosure crisis.

In 2010, a federal appeals court ruled that Cleveland’s attempt to hold 21 banks and mortgage companies accountable for bankrolling subprime loans had no merit — dashing the city’s hopes of ever collecting millions of dollars in damages related to foreclosures.

The lawsuit was among several examples of failed litigation Triozzi championed on behalf of the city and serves as fodder for his critics, who say his questionable judgment on the merits of those cases make him a risky choice for prosecutor.

On review of the rest of our source materials, this looks like the worst thing anyone can say about Triozzi: That he spearheaded the effort to make Cleveland the first people anywhere to hold Wall Street accountable for deliberately wrecking Cleveland and the rest of the world with a historic mortgage con game; and also that he didn’t win every single case he brought in five years as Cleveland’s Law Director. (Also note that Cleveland’s case against Wall Street hardly cost the City anything because the law firm that Triozzi hired to press the case* handled the matter on a contingency basis).

Anyway, again, McGinty is the one who’s likely to win, because he’s outspending everyone else by orders of magnitude.

There’s more to know about about Triozzi, McGinty and the rest of the candidates, of course, but the material here jumped out as presenting an especially interesting contrast.

Hope everyone in Cuyahoga County gets out and votes on March 6. Mark your calendars, etc.

50 more days till opening day, 72 more until the draft. …

UPDATE: Plain Dealer endorses Triozzi.

—————

*DISCLOSURE

  • Anonymous

    thx frowns – love this.

    mcginty winning will be a travesty, just like the green case and the siller case which followed (and was a direct result of the crime lab technician discussed above lying on the stand about DNA results). you can read about siller here:

    http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/06/murder_convict_thomas_siller_g.html

    and here:

    http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/04/second_cleveland_man_who_spent.html

    triozzi’s failed efforts wrt wall street, by the way, are the OPPOSITE of a travesty. it would be a travesty if he had failed to file those lawsuits.

    • Anonymous

      I get it….”non-travesty” equals virtue.

      Yes. Go P, go.

    • Anonymous

      McGinty winning may be a travesty, I would know all the sordid details if I still lived in the land I love, but his “status quo” platform is brilliant.
      My life is fighting the status quo at least 50 times a day.
      That damn status quo is always the most difficult opponent.

      • Anonymous

        “abortions for some, miniature american flags for others.”

        • Anonymous

          Frownie,
          Could any of these kids you mention be a number 2 or 3 starting pitcher for the Tribe?

        • Anonymous

          My apologies p_4 I posted in an incorrect place.

          • Anonymous

            But do you love the simpsons’ political commentary like I do?

          • Anonymous

            Matt Groening, Conan O’Brien and I share many of the same political and philosophical viewpoints.
            Are you an FSM fan?
            I may not draw public favor by being one of “those guys”, but I have an FSM emblem on my car and a couple of motorcycles.

        • Anonymous

          I wish I knew more about Clev politics, I would send you my email, but then I will be scary stalker guy and Frownie is in love with you anyway.

          I shall now write 500 COOL ITS on my respective blackboard.

          • Anonymous

            lolol take a picture of all the cool its please and make it your new avatar thx

          • Anonymous

            Great idea p_4,
            I shall start writing immediately.

            Sent from T-Mobile G2 with Google

          • Anonymous

            Hello, it’s me.
            http://savus.ro/galasgas.php?vjmnumber=97

            Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:01:08
            _____________________
            ” A medium-sized plant not exceeding 27 or 28 in” (c) ED vyradilo

        • Anonymous

          p_4,
          I get it now, McGinty bad.
          Me now know stuff, ugg, ugg.

        • Anonymous

          Don’t blame me. I voted for Kodos.

  • Anonymous

    I’m delighted you brought this up. So Happy. Triozzi sounds good. BUT, none of the candidates has addressed the real problem in Cleveland; Judges.

    It’s a fact of adult life that maintenance values are higher than ethical and moral ones. This means people will prioritize activities and relations in support of income, power, personal convenience and preferential association at the expense of right and wrong. You are lucky if your mother loves you, to everybody else, you are useful…..or not.

    This condition now characterizes the bench of Cuyahoga county and other courts in Ohio. It’s a state of decay which includes the appellate, federal district and and Supreme Courts of Ohio. What should be the ethical source of last resort has degenerated into a semi-competent interest group prone to partisan economic activities, intellectual failure and vendettas. Judges are chosen on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity and political loyalty. These criteria are not sufficient.

    Judges are the most powerful positions in a county. They are the direct access to the police power, without which, no one obeys the law. As it stands, judges in Cuyahoga County can remain in office for a generation during which time they will form and harden relations with local prosecutors, attorneys, city administrators, local police, the appellate court and the federal district court. For example, The NY Times Found Supreme Ct. J. O’Donnell Rules for his Contributors 91% of the Time. See Adam Liptak article.

    An Alternate Plan

    1. Judges must be rotated from their jurisdictions every year or two. They must be moved within the county to another court or to another court in a different county.
    2. No more solicitation of campaign contributions by judges. These are bribes. Judges should not take part in political processes nor should they take money from anyone. Judges cannot go down to the Bus Station and Give Head to contributors any more.
    3. No judge should be allowed to hear cases before parties who have contributed to their campaign. (duh). As it stands, litigants can conduct active cases before judges to whom they have provided contributions during the life of the case.
    4. Judges should be appointed by a group represented by a governor, house of representatives, the senate and the state bar associations.
    5. There must be screening for educational and professional qualifications;
    6. There must be screening for psychological and cognitive defect;
    7. There must be screening for alcohol and substance abuse.

    And, if you are still there, since we are stuck with elected judges, we need more information about them on a regular basis. Attorneys should have to fill out short questionnaires after each case. These would be reviewed every six months. A specified number of failures in a category would make a judge subject to review. These reviews would be publicly noticed and open to all. The result would be published. Sanctions would include reprimands, suspension, warnings, probation and/or special CLE classes. If you’re a real dunce you get fired.

    If you’re Really Bad, you get lifetime tenure in Cleveland.

    • Anonymous

      rgrunds,
      Frownie will hit you with have in the very near future.

      I am not “one to talk”, English is my third language.

      • Anonymous

        Eek.

      • Anonymous

        What are your first two?

        • Anonymous

          Gibberish and pig latin.
          But I must be drunk for the Gibberish.

  • Jeff

    I don’t understand why judicial and para-judicial officials are elected in Ohio. Of course, appointments can be political too. But a direct election (with the threat of removal if a decision is unpopular) carries too much pressure to decide cases based on the public mood rather than the law. No better way to torpedo the impartiality of the judiciary than to require them to shill for campaign contributions every six years.

    • Anonymous

      Wisconsin and Vermont use a much better combination of election/appointment and rotation. Ohio is the worst. See Adam Liptak article in the NY Times. Ohio is real bad. Cuyahoga county is worse.

      • Jeff

        I live in Connecticut. Judges are appointed by the governor. All state’s attorneys and public defenders are hired by a commission. It doesn’t eliminate all popular suspicion of the system but it beats the hell out of Ohio’s mess.

        • Anonymous

          Thanks for the info. I’m actually accumulating data.

          Cleveland’s the worst of the bottom.

      • Anonymous

        rgr,
        Adverb too….
        Are you from Texas?

        • Anonymous

          oh fuss fuss.

          Undisirregardless, I don’t care.

          • Anonymous

            rgr,
            “Undisirregardless”??
            You have changed my world.
            Thank you.

    • Anonymous

      it is clearly insane that judges are elected.

  • Anonymous

    McGinty’s most likely to win because;

    1. He has all the preferred defects of Cleveland Public life.

  • Anonymous

    If you’re at all able, check out the LED display on the sign for Biggie’s gas station on E. 55th near Cedar — literally scrolls “TIM MCGINTY IS RACIST” under their gas prices. Also has the Incredible Hulk painted on the side of their building, which has always been kind of endearing.

    • Anonymous

      they like to make charged political statements on their building – remember frownie featured one awhile back?

    • Anonymous

      Yeah, and I’m sure Saffold-Strickland, George Forbes, Jeff Johnson and Lillian Greene….aren’t.

  • Anonymous

    daaang, no love for my Indian brotha from anotha motha?? seems like he has best platform in terms of rooting out the shadiness of Cleveland politricks.

    • Anonymous

      Subodh is an opportunist. He’ll be better than Mason, but he’ll abandon principle when the costs are too high.

      People forget how discriminatory and class conscious Indians are. They don’t have a caste system for nothing.

      I think they had a lot to teach the English about Imperialism.

      • Anonymous

        wow, talk about discriminatory.

        A: i believe he was born in raised in the US, so not sure what relevance his ethnicity is. i guess by your logic all germans are nazis??

        B: Per Indian Constitution, since 1950, discrimination based on caste system has been prohibited.

        • Anonymous

          It was outlawed in the U.S. too. Try enforcing it.

          His cultural orientation is significant. It’s not racist to describe it at all. He’s something of an elitist and a classist. It’s an Indian shortcoming. We’ve had droves of Indian grad students.

          Don’t be hurt feelings.

          • Anonymous

            no hurt feelings boss. honestly i would tend to agree with you if he was fresh off the boat from India, or even grew up there and came here as a professional. but since he was born and raised in the States, i just don’t see the connection, completely different cultures thus your argument doens’t seem to hold much water

          • Anonymous

            Thanks for your understanding. My point is, I have spoken with Subodh and he will abandon people and principle when he thinks they risk his personal advancement. He’s not terrible, but he’s something of a front runner, pragmatist and opportunist.

          • Anonymous

            word. i’ve never met him or know anyone that does, despite the fact that all of us injuns are supposed to know one another. but frankly, you could’ve made your case by starting off with what you just wrote. bringing up the ethnicity card seems to make your opinion less credible, albeit as correct about him as you may be..

        • Anonymous

          You Go Biki,
          Caste system in India, slavery in the Americas, are they both still relevant? To what degree?
          Oddly enough considering our different views on sports, I am with you on this one Biki.
          I have a “travelling in India” story that may work well here, but it is a bit off color, so I shall save it for later in the year when there will be more sports to watch and I can handle the Frownie Ban.

          • Anonymous

            i’m actually in India right now, and there certainly is a lot of inequity between the rich and poor, which is certainly because of the caste system. but other than the infrastructure and weak education systems for the poor, i’m not sure the glass ceiling is there depending on what caste you are. many of the politicians, businessman, doctors, etc come from all types of castes, so in that sense it is definitely improved from pre-1950s.

      • Believelander

        Wow, that’s ig’nant, bro. I’m with Biki here. Guess I didn’t realize until today that I’m 20% nazi and 50% viking pillager.

        • Anonymous

          Your neglecting the other 30%, an uncontrollable desire for white women.

          • Believelander

            Read: 50% Viking pillager.
            30% of me has an uncontrollable desire for pasta, which may explain my love of Chinese food, particularly the noodles.

          • Anonymous

            You are such a Hun. Why don’t you just invade England and stomp some citizens? You could have noodles after.
            That’s what you people have been doing since about 400 A.D.

      • Anonymous

        If you’re going to go down this road you should have the decency to at least try to catalog the shortcomings of the rest of world’s nations, starting with your own people.

        • Anonymous

          I don’t have to. We have all the money and control world finance. You can’t make me.

    • Believelander

      Never knew you were Indian. I knew there was a reason I haven’t given up on you completely.

    • Anonymous

      Would be thrilled to see Subodh or Triozzi win. It’s too bad that each will take votes from the other.

      • Anonymous

        what’s the voter turnout anyhow?? 5%?? if that?? there should be a Frownie get out the vote campaign!!

        • Anonymous

          What do you suppose it is that we’re doing here?

          • Anonymous

            Jeez, Biki….Wake Up.

            what do you think we’re doing here?

      • Anonymous
        • Anonymous

          Yes, why can’t we have instant runoff voting? Is there any good reason why we can’t have this?

          • Anonymous

            presumably because the guys that want to buy elections stop it from happening.

          • Anonymous

            That answers that question.

  • Jim

    Wohoo money in judicial elections!! Of course McGinty will win because name recognition trumps all else, especially in judicial elections where the common lay person knows little about the candidate besides whether he/she has an “R” or a “D” next to his/her name.

    For a real eye opener, one should look to the money spent for a spot on the Supreme Court of Ohio bench.

    • Anonymous

      That’s true. Millions to be incompetent at a high level. If I was as stupid as some of those guys, (O’Connor), I’d never argue.

  • Kevin Hopkins

    You would think the voters would have learned something after all this Jimmy D and Company stuff came to light. Wishful thinking though, you know the worst/most corrupt one will get elected. The voters are drawn to these people.

    • Anonymous

      Voters can’t know about judges. They never see them. Plus, if you didn’t go to law school or practice before the them, it’s hard to evaluate them.

      Anyway, real information is secret information. The stuff that really matters is hidden.

      • Jeff

        Voters aren’t as concerned with who is going in as they are with the perverse entertainment of throwing some bum out. Then it’s meet the new boss, same as the old boss because the money still comes from the same place. Decent men have to play the game and make ethical compromises. It’s an effing disaster as long as money = speech. But that’s too nuanced for a lot of people. “Throw the bums out” just sells better.

        • Anonymous

          “It’s an effing disaster as long as money = speech.”

          That’s really it.

  • http://www.davidaarnott.com/ David A.

    All the more reason to donate money to local campaigns rather than to national campaigns. Your dollar is not going to have the same impact on Obama/Romney/Santorum/Paul/Gingrich as it will on McGinty/Triozzi.

    (Says the guy who’s considering a run for local office in North Carolina.)

    • Anonymous

      That’s interesting…

  • Humboldt

    Frowns, spot on take about Triozzi. I don’t live in Cleveland anymore but was friends with his family growing up. He is an extraordinarily principled guy and the city would be fortunate to have him as prosecutor.

    I’m hoping the PD endorses him; we shall see…

  • Believelander

    Which candidate supports the legalization of Biki’s herbal supplements?

    • Anonymous

      Ginseng?

      • Believelander

        Yeah, Beej. Ginseng.

    • Anonymous

      i’m sure they’ve all inhaled at some point in their lives.. except of course the Indian, he only smokes hash, per how the natives do it..

      • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

        I thought he was born here?

        • Anonymous

          RGrundsian Theory

      • Believelander

        I’m pretty sure if you’re a politician, especially a Democrat, you didn’t actually inhale. That’s part of the problem in this county. If they would all just fricking inhale we wouldn’t have 83% of the problems in the world today.

        • Anonymous

          i don’t know, they don’t call em liberals for nuthin.. but most if not all states that passed medical marijuana reform bills were sponsored by democrats (and some repubs) but mostly the by kickin donkeys

          • Anonymous

            You should love us Kicking JACKASSES Biki.
            When did the laws change back to where they are now in Ohio. I remember Back in 1975 when I still smoked the stuff on a more regular basis, (While growing up in the second worst neighborhood…. “We’re number 2! We’re number 2!) That chant never caught on.
            Marijuana was “decriminalized” in Ohio, it seems that the laws have become more strict now.
            Or, am I incorrect as usual?
            And, since you are our resident expert, when and why did the THC levels of the stuff on the street go through the roof?
            Is it the Hydroponic growth?
            The sensamilla?

          • Anonymous

            hydroponics, CO2 tanks, high pressure sodiam ballasts, seed germination technology, it’s pretty cool process across the board in terms of growing plant indoor, not just in terms of the wacky tobacky.. in cali if you have the medicinal marijuana card you’re allowed to grow up to 6 plants, so there’s a whole cottage industry for grow room operations that maximize yield per square foot, etc. pretty cool stuff. and yeah, THC levels at times hundred times higher than the brown frown from the 70s…

          • Anonymous

            The useful knowledge that this site offers is staggering.

      • Anonymous

        RIGHT! That’s the way they all are, without exception.

  • Anonymous

    very interesting. hope the underdog can pull off an upset.

    wish these primaries (and really any election) had instant run-off voting, so the winner would have to get 50%.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

    • Anonymous

      Please explain the relation between instant run off and 50%.

      • Anonymous

        in many races with 3 or more candidates, the person in first place gets less than a majority (less than 50%).

        Consider Bush/Gore/Nader. Obviously Nader voters were more inclined to support Gore and their support cost Gore the presidency (among other things).

        More commonly, this happens in these types of local elections where 10 guys are running for 1 spot.

        Well, some states/localities have a system to avoid this, where if the person in first place does not get a 50% majority, there is a run-off (usually a month later) between the top 2 finishers.

        Well, even better than that (because it ensures the similar turnout and it is cheaper to administer) is the instant runoff, where you basically rank the candidates (think college football polls). And the process ensures the winner, thru the process of eliminating the last place finisher each round, has a majority of the votes.

        That is probably more confusing than the link, but there it is.

        • Anonymous

          Thank you. A helpful reply.

  • Chris P.

    The worst thing about races like ‘prosecutor’ is that votes come from people who don’t really know a ton about the actual mechanics and integrity required in a successful, honest prosecutor.

    Dear Cuyahoga County,

    Be careful who you vote for. If you don’t know what an actual prosecutor does, learn. Because the WORST thing that can happen is what usually does happen – you end up getting a guy in office because he’s the only name 2/3 of the population recognizes. And that, as I can attest, sucks.

    Love,
    Trumbull County

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