While one of the disadvantages of a weekly paper is the news might not be as recent, in some cases the details can be worth waiting for. I posted about this last week, and linked the Toledo Blade article. The earlier linked Blade article stated:
He (Larry Kaczala) acknowledged receiving $4,000 from Noe for his failed 2004 congressional campaign but said that since that account is now closed, he can no longer add or take money from it under federal law.
He initially denied receiving money from the Noes for his auditor's campaign, though records show that Noe contributed $3,500 to Mr. Kaczala's campaign for auditor in 2002.
From the La Prensa article:
“It’s sad that she is so naïve,” he (Larry Kaczala) said of López. “I have never received anything from Tom Noe, only from Bernadette Noe.”
Kaczala also denied that the contributions his campaigns had received from Bernadette Noe, who served as chairman of the Republican Party during Kaczala’s previous two races – for re-election in 2002 and for U.S. Congress in 2004 – were anywhere near $10,000. He estimated the amount to be in the vicinity of $4,000.
A review of the statement of contributions for Kaczala’s campaign for re-election in 2002 showed that he reported contributions in the amount of $1,000 from Tom Noe on 8/28/01, $250 from Tom Noe on 12/20/01, $1,500 from Tom Noe on 03/01/02 and $750 from Tom Noe on 08/12/02 and other services – catering – from Tom Noe in the amount of $653.42.
In 2004, Kaczala reported that he received a total of six donations in the amount of $1,000 from both Tom and Bernadette Noe. The reported checks from Tom Noe were dated 9/25/03, 9/25/03 and 6/22/04. Bernadette Noe’s contributions were dated, 9/25/03, 9/25/03 and 6/30/04. The total amount reported by the Kaczala campaigns of 2002 and 2004 was $10,153.42 from Tom and Bernadette Noe.
One of the major reasons I try to read our alternative news sources is articles like this one, where earlier information can be enhanced and many times you get a different perspective as well as more details. While in the La Prensa article Larry stated that:
“She’s bordering on slander and should be careful. If I’m tainted by Tom Noe, then she’s tainted by Ray Kest, Sandy Isenberg and the roof incident, and Bob McCloskey.”
I'd suggest that had he not made the statement as quoted in La Presna:
“I have never received anything from Tom Noe, only from Bernadette Noe.”
and in the Toledo Blade:
Mr. Kaczala countered by saying that he has never been involved in the Noe investigation and that the funds he received from the Noes were contributions from Mrs. Noe, who was the Lucas County Republican Party chairman at the time.
It'd be less of an issue...
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7 comments:
Looks like Anita is trying to pin 'Noeism' on Kaczala because she knows this is all she's got on him.
Too bad she jumped into this race in the first place. What did she not like about her recorder position?
I believe she decided to enter the race when Larry stated he was going to run for Judge. He then changed his mind toward the very last minute and Michael Goulding stepped up to run for that term.
Her campaign website has more information as to what she feels should be different about the Auditor's office.
I'd say the main difference is it appears Anita wants to fix the system so that appraisals are more accurate the first time, Larry believes since there is a system in place that it's up to people who feel their properties have been appraised unfairly to contact them. Therefore he seems to feel there is no need to change/fix the current appraisal system.
Then of course the hiring aspect, there are supposely large numbers of people retiring which is why Larry is stating is one of the reasons why he decided to run again for Auditor. He wants to be able to have impact in filling those positions. Christine is correct that there have been questions concerning hiring at the Auditor's office.
In 1998 The Toledo Blade had an article entitled "Patronage runs hiring by Kaczala County Auditor's Staff Built with Family and Friends"
From that article since you have to log in to the Library system or pay to access it thru the Blade:
His brother-in-law was the first to get a job. Laid off from his job at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, he was hired by Mr. Kaczala as the new auditor's personnel director.
Two months later Mr. Kaczala hired Jerry Hoffer, his best friend with whom he used to share a law office. Mr. Hoffer joined his sister-in-law, Beth Hoffer, who was on the payroll.
The list goes on.
* Mr. Hoffer's son Jeremy got summer work in the auditor's office.
* Beth Hoffer's daughter Callie also was hired by the auditor. And another daughter Jessica was hired for the summer.
* Walter Zilka, the auditor's manager of data processing, hired both of his sons-in-law.
* And Michael Leach, the senior deputy auditor, who is Mr. Kaczala's campaign treasurer, steered his son to an opening in the office.
Welcome to the Lucas County auditor's office.
It's a place where employees find jobs for relatives. And, as the only office in Lucas County headed by an elected Republican, it's where local Republican leaders try to even the score with the Democrats, who for years have placed their supporters throughout the personnel rolls of the county.
His second wife, she was hired into the auditor's office in 1985, long before her husband was appointed to the post in 1993.
Former employees of the auditor's office, and at least one current employee, grumble that Mrs. Kaczala doesn't work her full eight-hour shift because she comes in late many days with her husband - the boss.
Mr. Kaczala said his wife does arrive late with him, who as an elected official isn't confined to an eight-hour work day. What the critics don't know, he says, is that his wife's pay is docked when she's late to work.
``I don't think that she's ever gotten a full paycheck,'' Mr. Kaczala said. ``Not for as long as I've paid her.''
Payroll records in the auditor's office show her pay has been cut on occasion.
Joining her on the auditor's payroll is the daughter of a Republican Municipal Court judge. The mother of the former political director of Northwest Ohio for the Ohio Republican Party also can thank the auditor for a job.
So can the daughter of the head of the Toledo Police Command Officers' Association, a city-employee union that has endorsed Mr. Kaczala throughout his political career.
Republican Toledo Councilman Gene Zmuda was given a job by Mr. Kaczala between his failed bid to become Lucas County prosecutor and his election to the city council in 1993.
The former president of the Young Republicans at the University of Toledo drew a paycheck at the auditor's office. So did the daughter of a Republican Lucas County Common Pleas Court judge.
Of course it's said that Democrats are not innocent when it comes to this either - the article also points out one example:
County Treasurer Ray Kest has given the sons and daughters of his employees first dibs on summer work in his office. He hired his own son, Eric, two years ago for a summer. His daughter, Lindsay, now has a temporary job in his office. About three years ago, Mr. Kest hired the daughter of loyal Democrat Tom Tomczak, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor.
Of course Kest is no longer in office but as this later editorial from the Blade stated, the main problem with this is these jobs were not advertised to the public.
Sorry - didn't include the statement from the editorial on April 16, 1998:
So extensive is the nepotism, so pervasive in Larry Kaczala's domain is the hiring of friends, relatives of friends, and in-laws, that every week is old-home week.Mr. Kaczala's wife works in his office. So does his brother-in-law. So does his best friend. So does his best friend's sister-in-law. And her daughter. And the daughter of the head of a police union that endorsed Mr. Kaczala. And the son of the senior deputy auditor.
The stink emanating from the auditor's office is of government jobs being doled out as favors and pay-backs to family and Republican insiders.
Remember that not only do the jobs in the auditor's office pay well, but they come with benefits that most workers in Toledo can only dream about. Try health insurance without having to pay part of the premium. Try prescription drug insurance and a $20,000 life insurance policy. And - the biggest plum of all - a state retirement pension.
So, like the prince of pensions Jim Brennan, workers in the auditor's office can in their last years of employment jump to a higher-paying job covered by PERS and boost their pension to new heights.
The argument that the Democrats do likewise in the county offices they control does nothing to minimize the extent of the problem in Mr. Kaczala's office. The public recognizes that jobs in the auditor's office aren't up for grabs on the open market. They are for insiders only. No wonder minority employment is so low there.
Perhaps my point was misunderstood: what was wrong with her Recorder's job so as to have her move to the auditor's office?
Because she thought she could do a better job. Same reason most people run for office.
Then of course it is up to the voters to decide if they believe that person will do a better job.
:-)
The big question is, what has Anita Lopez done to deserve the job? Just another political hack looking to move up one more step. Sounds like a wacko to me
This is my prediction. Now that Lopez has won, she will be looking for another job. If she doesn't find one, she will fall on her face. She did nothing in the Recorder's Office because she didn't have the experience to do anything.
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