We are finally getting to the bottom of that mess up in Cuyahoga County:
Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora on Monday accused the U.S. Department of Justice of launching its local public corruption probe two years ago in a conspiracy with Republicans to undermine the Democratic turnout for Barack Obama.
Dimora said he and his lawyers will ask the Justice Department and Congress to investigate the motives behind the corruption probe, which became public last July when FBI agents raided the commissioner’s home and office and the home and office of political ally Frank Russo, the county auditor.
“This is a Republican-driven prosecution,” Dimora said during a late-afternoon news conference at the county administration building. He said he believes national Republican Party strategist Karl Rove helped initiate the probe.
That’s right folks, Karl Rove is behind it all.
Which makes sense if you think about it. Because Cuyuhoga County doesn’t have a history of political corruption or anything. So what else could be behind this effort except the dastardly politics of the GOP.
You have to hand it to the Nixon like Dimora:
“I’m not an angel but I’m not a crook,” he said. “I have not done anything that any other public official hasn’t done.”
[...]
Among other reasons, he said, prosecutors targeted him because of his Italian heritage and his large girth.
The last half of the first sentence really doesn’t help in this case. Who knew the Feds were after over-weight Italians?
You have to think the Democrats in Ohio probably don’t find this whole show all that funny. And obviously corruption is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
But you have get your humor where you can these days, and Dimora’s antics are unintentional comedy gold.
UPDATE: Plain Dealer has the perfect cartoon to match this post:
4 comments
Skeptic says:
June 30, 2009 at 10:43 pm (UTC -4 )
Why would you say corruption is a serious issue that must be addressed?
Inaction on Rangel, Murtha, Moran, and the like indicate that corruption is a footnote which must be ignored in order to maintain democratic party power.
ic says:
July 1, 2009 at 12:04 am (UTC -4 )
AG Holder has already quashed the voter intimidation investigation, the ACORN voter-registration fraud probe, the President has fired a few IG’s for looking into his friends and cronies, they can always shut down this Rovian probe too.
Dagpotter says:
July 1, 2009 at 6:01 am (UTC -4 )
We have the same thing going on in Alabama. The former governor was convicted of taking kickbacks from CEO. Both are in jail and all attempts at appeal and pardons struck down. Now CEO claims he and gov were victims of “Karl Rove” in an attempt to get Republicans to win governor seat.
Not really true.
Mary Wilson says:
July 1, 2009 at 8:15 am (UTC -4 )
I am a resident of Cuyahoga County. This situation is sad but predictable. The voters here would rather die than vote for a Republican. They are totally clueless and can’t see that when you have a one party rule with no accountability, that this will happen. These voters can’t connect the fact that they have had unchecked Democratic rule and the fact that Cleveland is one of the poorest cities in the nation and has a terrible unemployment problem.
Dimora is only a symptom of a larger problem. If it wasn’t him, it would be someone else.