► Cleveland public officials institute government run Comedy Club Print

Cleveland public officials institute government run Comedy Club

 
Unfortunately, Cleveland (aka, the Mistake by the Lake) has had its share of corrupt public officials pleading guilty or being hauled before a jury and then being found guilty of a host of criminal activities. And this doesn’t include the County and City officials who were previously employed by James “Jack” Licavoli, John Scalish and/or Eugene “The Animal” Ciausullo.
 
This shame upon the hardworking citizens of Cleveland is in addition to the embarrassment of having the Cuyahoga River catch on fire in 1969. I lived in Toledo at the time and an unreliable source from Cleveland indicated that the river catching fire was the last straw for the City of Pittsburgh. Prior to the fire, a contract for Pittsburgh to purchase Cleveland seemed to be eminent.
 
Recently, reporter John Caniglia of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Cuyahoga County officials stopped former Commissioner Jimmy Dimora’s former top aide Pat Smock from running ethics classes for country employee. Dimora was one of several County officials who were previously indicted on bribery charges.
 
It really boggles the mind to think that the overburdened taxpayers in the Cleveland area are footing the bill to teach adults basic ethics. You’d like to think that Mommy and Daddy taught these folks that pocketing a Snicker’s bar at the checkout counter at the local Kroger store without paying for it was not only unethical but was a crime.
 
What’s the point in trying to teach someone over 40-years-old to be ethical? If he/she doesn’t know by then, it’s too damn late, right?
 
The efficacy of these worthless ethics classes would be akin to the Cleveland area Restaurant Association (CARA) requiring the late Jeffrey Dahmer (born and raised in Cleveland) to write a thesis on the benefits of vegetarian diets. On the light side, hear tell that Jeff's Rump Roast recipe was just out of this world.
 
If the Cleveland Improve Comedy Club is looking for some good comedy skits, maybe they could invite County Executive Ed Fitzgerald to conduct future ethics classes for county employees at the Club. Obviously, Mr. Fitzgerald missed his calling as a standup comedian.
 
I would respectfully suggest to Mr. Fitzgerald to schedule all future comedy routines involving ethics classes to be moved from the County courthouse to the Improve so that every taxpayer can enjoy the proceedings and to reduce taxpayer costs for these frivilous classes.
 
Isn’t Cleveland a great country?