New clever, catchy and crude quotes from the Jimmy Dimora county corruption trial

AKRON, Ohio - Although more than a month has passed since the start of the federal corruption trial of former county commissioner Jimmy Dimora and co-defendant Michael Gabor, each week brings new quotable and not-so-quotable quotes from the courtroom.

The latest clever, catchy and crude trial quotes gleaned from the week of February 6, 2012, are presented below.

From testimony by star witness Steven Pumper

“It was panic city. Everyone was scrambling”
Government star witness and former contractor Steven Pumper said in describing the climate after FBI raids of county offices.

"There's no frickin' way I'm going to work with these guys."
Pumper said he was thinking after being asked by the FBI to cooperate with their corruption investigation after they nabbed Pumper giving former city of Cleveland housing inspector Bobby Cuevas an envelope with a $2,000 bribe.

"I got out of their car and into my car. I said 'oh shit'."
Pumper told jurors in describing how he left a car with FBI agents and got into his own car after the FBI caught him giving a bribe to Cuevas.

"...blow jobs, or oral, if you want to use that term."
Pumper testified in describing the acts of women who were brought to card parties to service Dimora and others.

“I really didn’t stop drinking. I’m still drinking now.”
Pumper said in a heated exchanged during cross-examination by Leif Christman, attorney for defendant Michael Gabor. Pumper had just admitted he was drinking at the time the alleged bribery of Dimora was going on and that he was later diagnosed an alcoholic.

“Can you rephrase that question?”
Pumper said in response to Christman asking, "In your experience with businesses you get a paycheck, correct?"

"No, we're at about $5,000."
Pumper testified Dimora told him during one of Pumper's last visits to Dimora's house where Pumper over time delivered envelopes of cash for $33,000 in alleged bribes. Pumper told jurors he told Dimora he still owed him about $2,500 but Dimora corrected the figure.

“Frank was really out there doing a lot of stuff; Jimmy not as much.”
Pumper said in describing his view of alleged corrupt activities by Dimora and Russo at the time Pumper first talked with the FBI.

“I know you guys are maybe looking for Mr. Dimora and Mr. Russo but I can’t give you any information on that.”
Pumper said he told the FBI when they asked him cooperate with their investigation of corruption in the city of Cleveland building department. With that statement, Pumper was the first to alert the FBI to alleged corrupt activities by Dimora and then-auditor Frank Russo.

“I knew I could skate out of that.”
Pumper said in describing that he initially felt he did not need to cooperate with the FBI because of connections Dimora and Russo had to judges and public officials.

"Mr. Gabor was going to provide to Mr. Dimora a percentage of profit on that."
Pumper answered when asked by a federal prosecutor what Dimora was going to get out of the sale of Pumper's company products had they been included in the county juvenile justice center building project.

"I told him I was going to make $150,00 on it, not the $250,000."
Pumper testified he lied to Dimora about the amount he allegedly received as a "consultant" for a developer, to lower Dimora's take on the payoff Pumper said he and  Dimora allegedly discussed splitting in the scheme.

“Mr. Dimora with his influence was able to make calls throughout the county to make things happen quickly.”
Pumper told jurors in describing Dimora as his “friend” and explaining how Dimora helped Pumper's company with county contracts.

From other witness testimony

“I was trying to be nice to Mr. Dimora and didn’t ask for it. I was thinking in the future maybe if I need some help from him I can get some favors.”
“I considered it a favor for him expecting some favors from him.”
“If I have a problem I can have a door open to him to ask him for help if I needed help.”
Statements made during the testimony of John Valentin, a Romanian immigrant and granite contractor who testified he gave free granite countertops and related work to Dimora and Russo, and who later received help getting his daughter a county prosecutor's job interview and a friend help with a visa application.

“Mr. Dimora said, 'I’m feeling sorry for letting you guys down.'  I said: 'Jimmy, we’ve been friends. We are friends. We are going to be friends.'”
Valentin said about an exchange he had with Dimora after the visa application for Valentin's friend fell through because the friend had been in Cuba as a "natural healer" for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

"Conspiracy to give free granite and stone and services to Mr. Dimora in exchange for future favors."
Valentin said in describing his understanding of the federal corruption charged against him.

"Fantastic!"
Valentin responded when Dimora defense attorney Bill Whitaker asked Valentin how he was doing when Whitaker opened his cross-examined of Valentin.

“He was a friend and a political official and I figured if I

could help him he could sure help me.”
Contractor Nicholas Zavarella testified in describing his relationship with Dimora, who Zavarella testified helped get Zavarella's daughter jobs with the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, the Parma City School District and the Bedford City School District.

"The commissioners were our bosses and anything that came from their offices was our highest priority."
James Herron, former chief development officer for Cuyahoga County, testified regarding Dimora's calls about redevelopment funds for the Parkview housing project for which Steven Pumper's company.

"Cleveland is a suburb of Euclid."
Paul Oyaski, former Euclid mayor and former development director for Cuyahoga County, said when asked by federal prosecutor Ann Rowland where Euclid is in relation to Cleveland.

"Our friend in Congress do not always approve a budget on a timely basis."
Oyaski said when testifying about the impact of untimely delays in federal budget approvals on county government budget planning.

"Every politician in America talks about creating jobs...There is no simple easy way to guarantee an investment will create jobs."
Oyaski told jurors in describing the risk local government officials take in allocating development funds.

"It was kind of an unusual way to do a settlement conference. At the time, I believed it was fairly run. I didn't perceive any particular unfairness."
Wade Mitchell, an attorney who represented D-A-S in a lawsuit with Letter Perfect Group, said in describing a telephone settlement conference conducted by then-judge Bridget McCafferty, who prosecutors said Dimora called to have the lawsuit fixed in D-A-S's favor.

"She might have some ethical problems with the Supreme Court."
James Newman, former bailiff to Bridget McCafferty, said McCafferty told him about her conversations with Steven Pumper after she learned of the FBI raids in 2008.

From the wiretaps

"Eight times eight is 64, right?"
Michael Gabor asked contractor Steven Pumper in a lengthy, twelve minute wiretap conversation during which Gabor appeared confused about a potential contractor Pumper was going to put together to hire Gabor as a salesman for Green-Source company.

"Is that a lot?"
Gabor asked Pumper after Pumper told him about a large project involving a Penthouse of  over 80,000 square feet in size.

"I know what I'm doing in the deli, you understand?"
Gabor, referring to his family deli business, told Pumper as he struggled to understand the salary and commissions Pumper proposed for Gabor's employment contract with Pumper's company.

Pumper to Gabor: "You know where Dubai is, don't ya?"
Gabor's response: "No."
An exchange where Pumper told Gabor he was going to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to do some business for his Green-Source company.

"Chicken and wings, bitch."
Michael Gabor told Steven Pumper after the two coordinated what turned out to be an afternoon $194 lunch meeting with themselves, Dimora and others at the Calla Club.

"We can't eat meat. It's Ash Wednesday, c - - k."
Gabor told Pumper when discussing a lunch get-together. Gabor, Dimora and others frequently referred to each other in wiretap conversations using the word "penis" or other similar profane descriptions.

J. Kevin Kelley:  "What can I bring over?"
Michael Gabor:   “Jim said bring an envelope.”
Kelley:“What’s new?”
An exchange between Kelley and Gabor after Dimora's father passed away in January 2008. The two men laughed and joked about bringing an "envelope" for Dimora, an apparent reference to envelopes of bribe money prosecutors have alleged in the trial that Dimora had been given in various schemes.

“I had a nice call with Bridget.”
Dimora said in a wiretap conversation in which he described a call he made to then-judge Bridget McCafferty to fix a case in the favor of Steven Pumper's D-A-S company.

“I know that it’s more than you wanted to pay but I hope you can live with it…I was trying to get it out at $175,000 but I just couldn’t get it done…I told your attorney ‘I didn’t want Steve throwing a beer on me when I see him’…I thought I could just get it out of your life…Hopefully you can live with it.”
Then-judge Bridget McCafferty told Steven Pumper in a wiretap conversation after a settlement conference she conducted for a lawsuit against Pumper's D-A-S company by Letter Perfect Group.

“You did a great job for me so um, I appreciate that.”
Pumper told McCafferty said in response to then-judge Bridget McCafferty's explanation of her efforts to help Pumper in a telephone settlement conference she conducted involving a lawsuit against Pumper's company.

“Everybody needs a little work because there ain’t a whole lot of Hell happenin’.”
Friend and contractor Nicholas Zavarella told Dimora in a wiretap conversation.

"Another year from now who knows what's gonna happen."
Dimora said about county redevelopment funds on a 2008 wiretap call he made to then-county development director, Paul Oyaski.

From Judge Sara Lioi

“You’ve