Looks like they should have listened to Frank....

With the news that Bob McCloskey has been indicted, it was also reported on Fox 36 News that Bob McCloskey had contacted Toledo City Council President Rob Ludeman to inform him he was going to step down as chairman of its economic development committee.

Recently, February 1st to be exact, the Toledo Blade reported:

Toledo City Council seated Councilman Robert McCloskey last night as chairman of its economic development committee.

Councilman Frank Szollosi called the move "an embarrassment" and urged his colleagues to deny Mr. McCloskey the committee chairmanship because of a $10 million lawsuit against both the city and Mr. McCloskey, alleging improprieties.

"McCloskey's distractions have damaged City Council [and] the City of Toledo and undermine our collective efforts to attract and maintain jobs," Mr. Szollosi said.

He said his amendment was intended to "spare Toledo and our region the embarrassment and damage" of having Mr. McCloskey in charge of the economic development committee.

Mr. Szollosi offered an amendment to the resolution naming the new appointments that would have deleted mention of Mr. McCloskey, thereby keeping himself as committee chairman. That amendment gained only one other vote, that of Councilman Michael Ashford, and was defeated. Mr. McCloskey, Mr. Szollosi, and Mr. Ashford are all Democrats.

The resolution containing the appointments recommended by council President Rob Ludeman, a Republican, was then approved 11-1, with Mr. Szollosi voting no.

I think this was a major error on the part of Rob Ludeman, and if for some reason he didn't want Frank Szollosi to remain the Chair? There were others who would were not in the middle of controversy. Today's indictment proves that Frank had some valid concerns. It also calls into question the ability of Toledo City Council to make hard decisions. While Bob McCloskey is innocent until proven guilty, given the civil lawsuit was well known as still pending sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry; especially when it comes to appointing Chair positions. Nor am I stating this in hindsight, I stated this on LCS and Toledo Talk prior to Feburary 1st.

It bothers me that the civil lawsuit that was filed in May of 2004 and written about here doesn't seem to have bothered the rest of them enough to question this.

It's just been announced that Bob McCloskey will plead not guilty and will not step down from his Council seat, only as Chair of the Economic Development committee. It doesn't surprise me, however if he really was concerned about what was best for the City? He'd step down.