Roldo: Jackson Move Looks Like A Sham Retreat

“I don’t have a problem except for the fact that I said something prematurely that I think taints the process,” said Mayor Frank Jackson of his bungled no-bid, ten-year contract with a no-record company from China.

Wow!

For any other mayor that might be called more than embarrassing. It might be called a major disaster.

“Prematurely?”

No, just plain wrong, Mayor. With tens of millions of city dollars – or more – at stake. This is no minor gaffe.

For Jackson apparently it’s a minor infraction. Apparently he thinks can be rectified very simply. Let’s start over, guys. Oh, yeah. It’s that simple.

How can there be any trust? Not only is Mayor Jackson liable for this almost disaster. So is Council President Marty Sweeney. Sweeney, as usual, simply wanted to put Council’s stamp of approval to the measure. “Yes, Mayor, of course.”

We can’t continue doing business at City Hall this way.

We can thank Brian Cummins and Tony Brancatelli for taking to the internet to attack this program. See here.

And here

And thanks to the Plain Dealer for editorially slapping at Jackson. But PD needs to be much stronger as Jackson tries to revive this mess.

Here was the mayor ready to sign on for a 10-year contact with this company from China when he himself admits he had documents, as the PD put it today, “in front of him showing that Henderson (Public Power Commissioner Ivan Henderson) and his staff were still seeking responses from other LED companies when he made that announcement.” No minor mishap.

Tell me, if he had more than 10 votes of 19 would Mayor Jackson have gone ahead with this half-baked idea anyway? Presumably, the only answer is “Yes.”

Usually biting Mike Polensek said, “It’s tough for any administration or mayor to acknowledge that…” Tough? Mike it’s a sign that something stinks really bad.

Jackson should not be allowed to back away from the criticism he’s been getting and go through a sham process to come to the same conclusion once some of the heat is off.

That his administrators came before Council plying this joke of a deal for hours last Monday suggests strongly that this administration is up to no good.

The administration and his administrators put forth as a great deal for the city something that they now admit had a tainted process.

But it’s even more than that. Council should look into the process, how it came to be and who is behind it. Otherwise, Council is just as negligent as the Jackson administration.

This isn’t something that should be allowed to pass quietly.

Roldo Bartimole celebrates 50 years of news reporting this year. He published and wrote Point of View, a newsletter about Cleveland, for 32 years. He worked for the Plain Dealer and Wall Street Journal in the 1960s.