'Friends with benefits': The Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo way of governing Cuyahoga County

AKRON, Ohio - The popular phrase "friends with benefits" typically refers to two good friends who have casual sex with no commitment. But according to five weeks of federal court testimony, it also describes how then-commissioner Jimmy Dimora and then-auditor Frank Russo are said to have governed Cuyahoga County.

Russo admitted earlier this week to selling dozens of county jobs, often at the price of several thousand dollars per job, to his friends and their family members seeking public jobs with health care benefits. He told jurors of one instance where a father once put an envelope with $2,000 cash in Russo's pocket during a fundraiser in hopes of buying his son a county job.

Michael Gabor, a co-defendant in the trial with Dimora, also sought out a county job for which prosecutors said he paid Russo thousands of dollars.

Federal prosecutors said Dimora helped a contractor friend's daughter get three public jobs within less than a decade and worked to get a pay increase for the county-employee wife of an inner-circle friend. They also accused Dimora of using his influence to get people county and state jobs with benefits.

And in at least one case, federal authorities said sex and health care benefits crossed paths. Prosecutors charged that Dimora, in exchange for sex, used his influence to land Gina Meuti-Coppers a full-time job at Bedford Municipal Court specifically so she would have a full-time government job with health care benefits.

So why would a person be willing to risk federal prison time spending several thousand dollars of their money to bribe a public official for a job paying between $30,000 and $40,000 per year?

Part of the answer rests with discounted group rates government employees pay for health care benefits. The savings from what some people would have to pay on their own for health care premiums is as important, and in some cases more important, as the salary of the job itself.

Long-gone for many public employees are the days when their employer picks up the entire tab for their health care, although the free ride still occurs in some organizations and for select individuals employed in top level government positions offering premium perks. It is safe to say, however, that most public employees pay more towards their health care costs today than persons in the same position paid ten to twenty years ago.

For example, depending upon the plan a Cuyahoga County worker selects today, he or she still could pay $400 to $500 per pay period for family health insurance coverage. While that amount is a big chunk of money, a self-employed person or small business owner outside of government may pay two to three times that amount for a comparable plan.  

Add in the other major perk mentioned time and time again in the trial - the Ohio Public Employment Retirement System benefits - and the pot gets even sweeter. But unlike most of the characters brought to life for jurors in the county corruption trial, many public employees work long and hard to earn the retirement and health benefits they receive from government employment.

Cuyahoga County Chief Executive Ed FitzGerald and the new County Council members are working to instill greater credibility and public confidence to the county government. Although politics and patronage by no means has been eliminated from the county, part of their effort has focused on weeding out some of the remaining political jobs and job-holders of the Russo and Dimora era.

While far from perfect, in a little over a year, the new county administration is also working to be more open and responsive to all of the public, not just an inner circle of friends who benefit at a great cost to the citizens of Cuyahoga County as a whole.

One small example was that in less than 40 minutes and after regular business work hours on Thursday, FitzGerald's communications director produced via electronic mail a two-page 2012 rate sheet breaking down all of the county's employee health care plans. Five years ago such information may have not been readily available and as jurors heard on federal wiretap calls, a request by a reporter could have triggered more nervousness and cover-up than cooperation.

Many residents hope the closure of the Dimora trial will help the county government become one geared more toward benefiting the public, rather than one that exists for providing friends of those at its top with benefits.

The county corruption trial will continue on Friday with procedural hearings. The defense is expected to begin presentation of its case next Tuesday morning.

Dimora and Gabor have maintained their innocence of all federal charges.

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