Interesting to see a man who has been responsible for lead poisoning 1,000s of children - 100,000s throughout his "political career" - now "DEFEND" himself about anything, yet here our Cleveland City Council PRESIDENT proclaims "I am not a crook". SO TYPICAL of our incompetent, irresponsible "leaders" to our deathcamp here. Cleveland City Council President Martin Sweeney should resign for failing as Council President, whether has has taken bribes or not, but instead FBI Investigation Public Official #6 uses a PRstitute to justify his existence, despite his wretched performance as an elected official in every regard. Who really cares whether Sweeney took a bribe or not, considering the state of HIS CITY?!?!

The PD attempts to help dig their much beloved Council President out of his own shithole... and now you will understand why the broke city of Cleveland City Council has hired political consultant and former Plain Dealer political editor Mary Anne Sharkey with at least $45,000 of our taxdollars to keep the gravy train flowing to our politicians. Why doesn't anyone care that City Council has PRstitutes from the Cleveland Plain Dealer?!?!? You should have cared...!!!!

Is there any way to ban former PD sell-outs from selling out our community further... banning them from government influence, like we should ban lobbyists?!?!

The PD puts and keeps incompetent leaders in office when they should have been voted out of office, which would save taxpayers and the federal government the expense of hunting them down in office, for the citizens. Ultimately, all our problems are the citizens' fault, for believing the Cleveland Plain Dealer... read between the lines, starting today, starting at the end of this column with the word Sharkey! That is the real PD in action... read more through their smoke and mirrors here

Cleveland City Council President Martin J. Sweeney says money from contractor was campaign contributions

By Mark Gillispie, The Plain Dealer

April 24, 2010, 4:00AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland City Council President Martin J. Sweeney says the money he received from a prospective city contractor -- and mentioned in a telephone conversation tapped by federal corruption investigators -- was campaign donations.

"When that question was posed to me, I thought it was in the context of campaign contributions," Sweeney told The Plain Dealer on Friday, confirming for the first time that he is the unnamed city official cited by federal prosecutors.

The West Side Democrat declined to comment further...

.../...

This is not the first time that Sweeney's name has surfaced in the county corruption probe. He was identified in subpoenas sent to companies in July 2008 seeking documents linking him to Blaze Building Corp. and Lopat Development Inc.

The Plain Dealer published an article in November 2008 that detailed how two companies that had received city contracts had worked on a $50,000 addition to Sweeney's West 133rd Street home in 2002. One of the companies, Doan Pyramid Electric, also has been implicated in the county corruption probe.

Sweeney has refused to provide to the media copies of the receipts for the work done on his home.

Mary Anne Sharkey, a city-paid spokeswoman for Sweeney, said the council president will not release copies of the receipts until the appropriate time.

"Mary Anne Sharkey, a city-paid spokeswoman for Sweeney" - do you think they should mention her direct relationship with the Cleveland Plain Dealer as well... and the PD's endorsements of Sweeney forever?!?!?

Do you think our Council President should use your tax dollars to pay such a PRstitute?