Monday, June 30, 2008

following the money, this time to Russo

Frank Russo's payroll army -- that you're paying for - Cleveland Metro News – The Latest Breaking News, Photos and Stories from The Plain Dealer -- We just can't wait until the PD extends equal treatment to the Water Department, Cleveland Public Power, and Cleveland City Hall, other repositories of "special" people with cozy links.

What I found really interesting was the overall educational level of the group; certainly, these people "owe" their employer, and are therefore "owned."

I have the feeling that these may not be "the best and the brightest," but they probably the most loyal simply because they are beholden.

To put the icing on the cake here, perhaps the researchers could have Valdis Krebs map the networks.

9 comments:

  1. Great idea, Tim. All nicely packaged.

    http://www.orgnet.com/VKbio.html

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  2. Don't forget the NEORSD...NOACA, Metroparks.

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  3. Tim, here is what a client of mine did with some corruption happening in their "big city"... the PD has gathered all of the data and put it into our lap[top]!

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  4. Is this the beginning of a rising tide of transparency in govt brought on by outside forces? Check out the
    blog
    of Phil Kidd in Youngstown for another perspective. He's Youngstown's Downtown Director of Events and Special Projects. Who's the first Cuyahoga-based govt. leader to try THIS?

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  5. Mike, that's a great idea Phil has; I'd love to try it myself, but for the fact people expect privacy when they deal with me.

    For a Chamber of Commerce/promotional/gee-I-Love-this-place kind of guy, it's ideal. Who would be the pilot program here--Joe Roman? Bruce Akers?

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  6. Valdis, this mapping, then, would work with the mortgage mess, where people are churned through a number of transactions, for profit, and then foreclosed upon as everybody throws them into the inescapable "briar patch" of the process from which you cannot escape except by granting them another huge transaction.

    I think they have a play book, and it needs mapping. Let's talk soon.

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  7. BBC, I wasn't aware that NOACA and Metroparks were repositories of political hires. We need to talk sometime face to face.

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  8. Metroparks/NOACA--Not necessarily political hires, but power structure that assists developers cash in on us.

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  9. I've resisted talking about this because I wasn't sure how I came down on the issue. I still think, per se, political appointments don't have to be a bad thing. However I agree with Tim completely that 99% of the hires do not have an area of expertise reflected in their education.

    On the one hand, is it better to have expertise and city manager style departments or on the other hand, is it better to save money in salaries and have political apptmts, loyalty. How many issues does this department have (complaints) that say they are doing the job or not? I'm definitely not sure where I come down. Nicely done, Tim.

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