Columbus City Council President Ginther
ONUMBA.COM, USA – Columbus residents saw the devices going up all over the city, but not too long ago, the controversial red-light cameras were yanked back down from Columbus city streets and streets across the cities in Ohio quicker than you say “illegal”.
Those cameras were pulled down simply because they were illegal. Now, it turns out the cameras themselves were not the only thing illegal in all of this. Reportedly, there were also a tidal wave of illegal deals and a smorgasbord of other jaw-dropping shenanigans involving one of the companies that helped install these cameras in Columbus.
One thing is for sure. The cameras are gone, to the delight of those who ferociously hated it. Now, could the frontrunner in the Columbus mayoral race be next?
Recently, Governor John Kasich signed into law a measure passed by the Ohio legislature banning red-light cameras in the Buckeye state. Now, serious questions are emerging over whether some elected Columbus city officials broke the law by accepting bribe from one of the companies under contract to install these cameras in the city.
While those questions remain largely unanswered, the investigation into the unfolding saga is widening, getting uglier and uglier by the day. On its path is Democrat Andrew Ginther, the frontrunner in the Columbus mayoral race who is caught up in the maelstrom of the raging mess.
All of this grew out of the case of an Arizona woman Karen L. Finley, an executive of RedFlex, a company based in Arizona, after she recently pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to fraud of bribery to federal authorities.
According to records from the U.S. attorney for the southern district of Ohio Carter M. Stewart, Finley, 55, admitted to making campaign monetary contributions to the Ohio Democratic Party in exchange for favor of obtaining contracts allowing her company to participate in the Red-light Camera program.
Federal records show that RedFlex gave money to a bevy of elected Columbus officials from 2006 to 2013, which falls within the period that RedFlex began installing cameras in Columbus.
No Columbus elected official was named specifically in these court papers, but according to campaign finance reports, which is public information, Ginther’s campaign has solicited contribution from RedFlex.
Seemingly, a lot of the negotiations between Columbus elected officials and RedFlex were conducted through a Columbus lobbyist and former city council consigliere named John Raphael.
According to federal court reports, Raphael was also the primary conduit through which money flowed from RedFlex to these elected officials via the Ohio Democratic Party. Allegedly, Raphael disguised the money he received from RedFlex as “success fee.”
Case in point. It was reported that in 2011, all of this alleged of course, that Ginther’s campaign through an email from one of his campaign staffers asked RedFlex for $20,000 in campaign donation. Ginther, who wields vast influence as City Council President, then asked his colleagues on the council, all Democrats, to approve the contract extension. Allegedly, Ginther himself had spoken to someone at the company even before the email was sent.
Allegedly, for its campaign contributions, RedFlex gained contract extensions outside of the lawful bidding process, starting in 2005 when the company was hired by the city. A lot of times, allegedly, the bribe money would travel from RedFlex to Raphael to the Democratic Party and then to Ginther’s campaign.
Here is one of the conversations between Raphael and RedFlex: “If you can’t get it here this week I will have to take (Redflex) off the list and then I will lose control of any timelines,” said Raphael.
And what’s Ginther saying about all this?
“I had absolutely no knowledge of these activities and did not take part in them,” Ginther said in a statement released by his campaign. “While I am not a subject of this inquiry, I have been asked to provide records that may help the investigation into Redflex. I’ve fully cooperated and will continue to assist in bringing these people to justice.”
What about the Ohio Democratic Party?
“A few days ago, the Ohio Democratic Party was asked to produce documents going back a number of years, and we are in the process of complying with that request,” spokeswoman Kirstin Alvanitakis said in a statement.
Cincinnati Republican State Sen. Bill Seitz, a fierce and front row foe of red-light cameras, and whose bill doomed these cameras in Ohio, was all over this potentially scandalous development.
Decrying red-light camera program as a predatory endeavor loaded with legal foibles and disingenuous motivations, Seitz noted, “We always knew it wasn’t about public safety. It was about money; we just didn’t know it was about shady money,” adding, “(Friday’s) criminal case proves how right I was, even though I never dreamed that municipal officials would take bribes to fleece their own taxpayers.”
Meanwhile, Columbus and other cities forced by law to dismantle the red-light cameras are seemingly not going down without a fight, deciding against all odds to challenge the ban in court. But Seitz parodied their efforts as laughable and a total boondoggle, urging these cities instead to give up their lawsuits and apologize for all of this before refunding drivers, including him, fined under the program.
