In 1973, 18-year-old Jimmy Dimora landed his first job at the Bedford Heights waste-water treatment plant. Urban legend has it that the youthful Dimora literally fell into a pile of fecal matter on one of his first days at work. When he complained to his bosses, they told him “Tough shit — do your job, kid.” Dimora was so outraged that he decided to run for office so that he could be the boss someday.
In 1977 he won his first electoral office as a member of the Bedford Heights City Council. By 1981 the 26-year-old Dimora was the mayor. He would hold the seat for the next 17 years, winning re-election four times — each time running unopposed. He would eventually become a member of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections; chairman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party and one of three Cuyahoga County Commissioners. But maybe he stayed at the party too long.
In July of 2008, Dimora’s star was beginning to fall. He was accused of illegally lining his pockets with cash and accepting lavish vacations in Las Vegas and a stone pizza oven for his backyard patio in exchange for political favors. In 2012, Dimora was convicted of 32 charges including racketeering, bribery, conspiracy and tax charges and sentenced to 28 years in the federal penitentiary — a sentence that was ultimately reduced by 5 years by an appeals court. In June of 2023, Dimora was granted early release due to ill health. The 11 years he served was a period of incarceration much more in keeping with the seriousness of the crime.
On the Republican side, two-time Speaker of the Ohio House, Larry Householder, was charged in 2020 with bribery and corruption in connection with the First Energy scandal, the largest political scandal in Ohio history.
In 2023, Householder was convicted of racketeering after a jury found he was part of a $60 million bribery scheme to pass legislation favorable to First Energy. He received the maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, which he is currently serving. At age 64, Householder is unlikely to ever go free again.
Dimora and Householder have the same thing in common. Juries found that they received money and gifts that they were not entitled to, money they only got because they held a political office. Had Dimora still been working at the waste treatment plant or had Householder still been an insurance agent, his job before he sought political office, none of the fat cats who lavished gifts upon them would have given them the time of day. For their sins they went to jail. That’s how it works in our system. That is, unless your name happens to be Clarence Thomas.
Over the past several years, information has been disclosed that Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Clarence Thomas has received millions of dollars’ worth of the lavish gifts and travel that he has failed to report or pay income tax on. As reported in numerous new accounts and particularly in ProPublica, Thomas has several benefactors including millionaire real estate magnate Harlan Crow and as ProPublica further reported “…a cadre of industry titans and ultrawealthy executives who have treated him to far-flung vacations aboard their yachts, ushered him into the premium suites at sporting events and sent their private jets to fetch him — including, on more than one occasion, an entire 737.”
While these benefactors may not have actual cases pending before the court, they all share the ideology that drives Thomas’ ultra-conservative jurisprudence and those of his wife Ginni Lamb Thomas, an attorney and right-wing activist whose footprints are all over the January 6 insurrection — footprints so large that the calls for Thomas to recuse himself from hearing cases regarding the insurrection rang out in legal circles across the country.
And let’s be frank, if Clarence Thomas were not sitting on the United States Supreme Court, would these white conservative millionaires really seek Clarence Thomas out to be their bestie?
Crow has been especially generous to Thomas, including a sweetheart deal involving the purchase of the home that Thomas’ mother lives in. As further reported in ProPublica in 2023, Crow also pays the $6,000 a month tab for the tuition for a private school for Thomas’ grandnephew, whom he and Ginni were raising as their child.
In 2023 Forbes Magazine reported that Thomas received a loan from a friend to buy a $267,230 RV — a loan that has gone largely unpaid. The loan also raises the question as to whether the justice properly reported the loan forgiveness on his federal tax returns, or if he reported it on his ethics form, submitted to the Supreme Court.
State court judges in Ohio, as in all states, must comply with a standard of ethics promulgated by the State Supreme Court, who also have the power to sanction misconduct. The rules prohibit the acceptance of gifts or compensation unless they comply with the standards imposed. All gifts to any elected official over $100, even if allowable, must be reported, as well as all forms of income and indebtedness. Federal district and appellate judges have similar restraints.
While the United States Supreme Court has a set of ethics rules with which the justices are asked to comply, there are no sanctions, short of media attention, congressional investigations and impeachment if an individual justice does not fully comply. Which is the reason why President Biden has recently called for a stricter code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices.
In 1969 Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Abe Fortas — a Democrat and close friend of President Lyndon Johnson — stepped down from the Supreme Court. It was revealed that in 1966 Fortas had entered into an agreement to provide unspecified advice to a foundation in exchange for $20,000 a year — about $171,000 a year in today’s money. Republicans in the Senate denounced Fortas over the alleged impropriety of the outside and unreported compensation and threated to force his removal from the court. Fortas became the first and only Supreme Court Justice to step down facing impeachment.
Republicans back in 1969 saw the actions of Democrat Abe Fortas reprehensible. Republicans in 2024 turn a blind eye to Clarence Thomas, even as revelations mount as to the extent of the largess of Thomas’ circle of friends.
Thomas has frequently quipped that he accepts these kinds of gifts to maintain his lifestyle, since he says he cannot survive on the annual $274,009 salary of a Supreme Court Justice, plus his wife’s income whose net worth is estimated at $1 million. Ginni Thomas is also reported to have earned $100,000 in 2023 for “consulting” with a nonprofit that filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court.
Thomas’ cries of his inability to maintain a proper lifestyle are ironic for a man who often speaks of his meager upbringing and someone who did not make enough money as a lawyer to pay off his student loans until he was first appointed a federal appellate judge.
Dimora and Householder received gifts and money while in public office. Those gifts and money landed them in jail. Clarence Thomas has gotten and continues to receive gifts and lavish travel while in office. But he puts on his robe every day and decides the most important legal issues that face our nation.
There is something wrong with this picture. And BTW — Anita Hill never lied!!!
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she is a former member of the Board of the Ohio History Connection, and past president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table, and is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
2 Responses to “What’s Wrong with this Picture: Dimora, Householder and Clarence Thomas by C. Ellen Connally”
Mel Maurer
The total bias of the so called Supreme Court even more than Trump threatens our democracy. Thomas needs to be impeached. And yes, Anita Hill told the truth.
Elaine Breiner
This is why trust is American institutions is at an all-time low: that Thomas, and Alito, continue to rule on cases re: the former president without recusing themselves is unacceptable. It is now clear that relying on the justices of the Supreme Court to police themselves is not working. They should be held accountable, by law, as all other judges are, to demonstrate fairness and impartiality. At the very least, they should APPEAR to, instead of flouting their bias for all to see. Shameful.