Cuyahoga County’s jail project has all the ingredients of a full-blown government scandal: a nearly billion-dollar construction project, a state auditor investigation, an abstaining sheriff, judges quietly backing away from a suspicious deal, and one county official whose candid comments sent everyone else into a panic.
Today in Ohio podcast hosts said Tuesday that the secrecy surrounding the deal – and the cowering in the corners of the public officials involved – give the project the worst stink to come along in years.
The news is that a state law on jail projects that had been ignored for years was finally followed. A state-required committee met and voted to keep the jail project moving forward. Three of the four members said the current jail has serious problems, the project has been studied for seven years, and it’s time to stop stalling…