Bob Fitrakis is at his best when he writes about George Voinovich at his
worst. Catching Voinovich at his worst was not that hard when the former
"frugal" Cleveland mayor and future "moderate" U.S. senator held
statehouse ethics hostage as Ohio's governor in the 1990s. So it's not
surprising that The Fitrakis Files: The Brothers Voinovich and the
Ohiogate Scandal -- the fourth compilation of the Columbus State Community
College professor, lawyer, activist, and talk-radio firebrand's writings
-- is probably his best.
That's not to say the first three Fitrakis Files -- Spooks, Nukes & Nazis,
The Schoolhouse Divided and Free Byrd & Other Cries of Justice are not
exemplary. How could I say otherwise when I co-wrote some of the entries
in the Byrd book? But The Brothers Voinovich and the Ohiogate Scandal
rises above the others because the Voinovich clan and the brownshirts who
did their bidding made such easy targets as they turned statehouse sleaze
into an art form.
Fitrakis gets off to a good start in this compilation of his writings from
Columbus Alive and The Free Press with its dedication to "the exemplary
life of David Sturtz and to the memory of Joe Gilyard, two of Ohio's
finest public servants." Sturtz and Gilyard have two things in common. One
is that they both took a costly, principled stand against the Voinoviches'
unabashed cronyism. The other thing Sturtz and Gilyard have in common is
that I referred Fitrakis to them after I persuaded him to try to make his
points through investigative reporting rather than political pontificating.
With help of Sturtz, Gilyard and like-minded government employees who
didn't believe Columbus should be turned over to a bunch of Cleveland
crooks, Fitrakis took my advice and soon was breaking story after story
about the veniality of the Voinoviches. With the support and assistance of
Columbus Alive publisher Sally Crane and editor Brian Lindamood, Fitrakis
began by exposing the corruption of Paul Mifsud, who went from being Paul
Voinovich's right-hand man at his supposed "prison construction" company,
if that's what you call building jails that fall apart as fast you build
them, to being the right-hand man of George Voinovich's "government
destruction" operation, if that's what you call expanding government
funding and directing it into the pockets of your cronies.
Mifsud apparently believed being a member of the Knights of Malta gave him
prosecution-proof armor and the belief he could do no wrong. As Fitrakis,
more than any other journalist, documented, Mifsud could actually do
almost no right. It all caught up with the Mifsud when he struck a deal
with T.G. Banks, who was to minority contracting what fellow Ohioan Don
King was to boxing -- a flamboyant parasite -- for a low-cost home
renovation job for Mifsud's future wife. Thanks greatly to the pressure
Fitrakis kept on the scandal once it started unraveling, Mifsud and Banks
went to jail. Voinovich, unfortunately, went to Washington, where he
joined his former sycophant and lieutenant governor, Mike DeWine, in the
Senate. DeWine earned his way into the world's most exclusive club for
helping destroy Joe Gilyard, who had the audacity to complain about
efforts to force him to steer jail-construction contracts to the Voinovich
Companies owned by Pauly Voinovich.
With the help of Franklin County Sheriff Earl Smith and black apologist
Cornell McCleary, the V Group, as the Voinovich firm was renamed, managed
to shoot down Gilyard's rising political star with false criminal charges
and trumped-up civil suits. Gilyard, the straightest-shooting, most
perceptive politician I've met in Ohio, died of a massive heart attack at
age 47 in 1998 just as he was ready to sue the Voinovich cabal for
virtually hijacking state government for the benefit of those who jammed
the most money in their coffers.
This book also is a good reminder on some of those who helped the
Voinoviches get away with it all. Perhaps the best example is spin doctor
Curt Steiner, who recently was named Ohio State University's new
$275,004-a-year lobbyist and public relations chief. Steiner, who would
have walked over his own grandmother to serve the Voinovich cabal, will
also be eligible for a 10 percent bonus each year if he brings home the
bacon from the statehouse and positive publicity from the news media.
Another knight in grimy armor that Fitrakis' book reminds the reader about
is then-state Auditor, now Attorney General Jim Petro, who chose to audit
the Jefferson County prosecuting attorney's office while it was digging
into the muck Paul Voinovich's company left behind after building an
overbudget jail that was more a house of cards than a house of guards.
Despite Petro's intimidation tactics, Prosecutor Stephen Stern unearthed
enough misconduct that it finally did in Paul Voinovich and his
bribe-paying minions, forcing his company into bankruptcy.
Fitrakis does the state a favor by allowing Joe Gilyard to get the final
word in The Brothers Voinovich and the Ohiogate Scandal by publishing the
whistleblower's poignant "last will and testament." Fitrakis has done Ohio
readers a big favor by reminding us how many good people the Voinovich and
his brownshirts compromised, walked over and destroyed to achieve their
current positions. In Ohio, the modern answer to the question, "What does
a man gain if he wins the whole world but loses his soul?" is that he wins
more prestige, power and money.
The Fitrakis Files: The Brothers Voinovich and the Ohiogate Scandal ($15)
is published by Columbus Alive Publishing and the Columbus Institute for
Contemporary Journalism.
Martin Yant is an award winning journalist and author of a number of books, including his most recent, Rotten to the Core 2. Visit him at
truthinjustice.org/yant/