What commenters had to say

Responses to Plain Dealer coverage and editorials on the corruption charges:

• citizenx: "The Plain Dealer condoned Dimora/Russo's style of politics with endorsements spanning from 1992 to as recently as 2006. Dimora and the Plain Dealer can't have it both ways. ... Efficiency, accountability and delivery of services should be the benchmarks for our news brokers and our political brokers...NEO's media and political representation has failed miserably at both."
• LakeErieSeagulls: "Where was any 'editorial board' when McFaul was king of his fiefdom?"
• gallifreyan: " 'I thought the PD was all about integrity and honesty--see the Dimora/Russo scandal' Everybody else knew years before that those guys were crooks, but the PD pretended not to notice until they were forced to by the Federal investigation. That's the kind of 'integrity and honesty' the PD itself displays."
• bassackwards: "If you recall it has been the Plain Dealer that has endorsed most if not all of the elected officals that have been indicted. It has been the Plain Dealer that has propped up most of these people based on ambigiuos qualities like name recognition as oppossed to quality of ideas. Its the Plain Dealer that spends tremendous amounts of ink touting the people for office that it can control...and now the paper complains that they are no good. ... Don't trust the Plain Dealer"
• patriot1917: "The PD pats itself on the back for its reporting after the fact, when this cesspool of corruption went on right under its nose and with its tacit approval (endorsements) for ten years. Dont rewrite history when you were at the very least an accomplice in all this."
• hagansucks: "How many times did this newspaper ENDORSE McFaul? Dimora? Hagan? Jones? Mason? Russo? Odd how the six clowns who've collectively DESTROYED this region through misfeasance, malfeasance and warped political ambitions for years received this newspapers stamp of approval. And silence."
• pt816: "You guys are just fair weather Democrats pretending to be journalists. We know...you can come out of hiding now with your fake contempt for big Jimmy."
• lakewoodmom: "So he must have known or he should have known? Oh, that refers to Brent Larkin. How many times were you told about Frank Russo's activities or Jimmy Dimora's, Brent? And what did you do about it? 'That's just the way Jimmy is.' What a hypocrite."
• born2hang: "Elizabeth Sullivan apparantly would have us believe that the PD knew nothing despicable about McFaul before their eighth endorsement of him in 2008. Readers can click over to Roldo Bartimole's piece at the Cleveland Leader web site, 'McFAUL WAS ALWAYS A CRUDE CHARACTER', and judge for themselves."
• itsacurve: "I expect the Plain Dealer to keep a watchful eye on the workings of government and to blow the wistle loudly when it goes amuck! PD, for years you were asleep at the switch!"
• iziandali: "How many endorsments have been given over how many years? Voters will be blamed for putting these guys back into office year after year. But if we relied on political parties to police themselves, or the local media (print and broadcast) to be watchdogs, then we were either misled or lied to"
• danr: "The PD's courthouse reporters clearly knew as much about what was going on in the Justice Center and County Administration Building as anyone. ... These people were as much a part of the corruption mindset as anyone. They protected the politicians because the politicians are a news source."
• Ohiovet88: "I would like for them to print an article listing the indicted officials that were supported or endorsed by the PD editors, and state whether or not they are sorry for the support/endorsements. They could have very easily been reporting on this much earlier, but only got on the wagon when it got too big too ignore. In some cases, they are as culpable as the indicted officials."
• amberorbit: "Yes, the Plain Dealer broke the 'culture of silence' in early 2009 — when it was too late. Most everyone even marginally up on local politics - which should have included the Plain Dealer – knew about this stuff years before. McFaul was up for re-election in 2008. If the Plain Dealer had broken its own 'culture of silence' a year early, when we all knew about McFaul but it was impossible to do anything about him, maybe the Democrats would have been able to push him out and recruit a strong candidate."