[Letter to the Editor, PD, Twenty-first of Septemba]
David Barnhizer is just plain wrong (Opinion, Friday). There is an essential difference between criminal investigation, conducted by police agencies, and prosecution, conducted by prosecutors. The FBI is a federal criminal investigatory organization and handles cases like the county corruption probe because it has the resources to develop informants, conduct surveillance and wiretaps in long-term investigations. It has conducted similar probes in cities across the country. By Barnhizer's misguided logic, all of these local prosecutors across the country are either incompetent or corrupt.
The FBI investigates a case and typically refers it to the corresponding federal prosecutors. Whereas, local and state police agencies typically refer their investigations to city or county prosecutors. Local police do an excellent job, but do not have the same resources as the FBI.
I have always taken a tough stance on crime. During my tenure, my office has prosecuted more than 180,000 cases investigated by the more than 60 police agencies and approximately 1,000 law enforcement officers throughout Cuyahoga County. The nearly 300 public employees prosecuted by my office were investigated by local and state authorities. These efforts have resulted in a 90 percent conviction rate, which is far above the national average.
My office will continue to work with the federal authorities in their thorough investigation of the county corruption probe.
Bill Mason, Cleveland
In the law, we call that "non-responsive." Mr. Mason fails to respond to the essential point: as legal advisor to the county officials charged, the vast ham-fisted pay to play was so engrained as to be sanctioned by Mason, himself. Indeed, Mr. Mason wrote the book on pay to play, especially in the courtroom where blacklisted lawyers end up in trial on his dog shit cases.
ReplyDeleteThough his letter might want us to, let us not forget that, in his role as Democratic Party Masonic PooBah, he most certainly knows his own history: a history of racial politics, blowback for the Stephanie Tubbs Jones years. ("How come you ain't got no brotha's on the wall, Sal?")
Perhaps Congressman Stokes should write the next letter in this epistilary novel.