Cuyahoga County Sheriff put Friends & Relatives ahead of Resident Safety

Cuyahoga County is facing a $55 million shortfall in the budget. The Sheriff's Dept is stretched to the limit by having to also patrol E. Cleveland & North Randall. Though crime stats show a drop in murder for Cuyahoga County, most residents would be hard pressed to tell you they feel safer.

This is a time when elected officials are forced to make hard decisions. All the visions of grandeur and silver-bullet projects that were predicted to financially "save" our county - failed.

So what is an elected official to do at a crunch time like this?

Duh! What else - act like a Cuyahoga County Democrat! Put the best interest and safety of residents aside to give friends & relatives promotions and raises!

From the PD --

McFaul laid off 18 deputies and three other workers Friday to begin to trim his budget and help offset the county deficit. He also eliminated the position of sergeant, which affected 18 deputies.

Eleven of those deputies were demoted and had their pay reduced.

The remaining seven were promoted to lieutenant. At least three of those promoted have personal ties to McFaul.

They include: Theresa Shaffer, his niece; Nestor Rivera, the best man in his son's wedding; and George Tumney, an official from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3345 in Strongsville, where McFaul is a member and has served on some of its boards.

The promotions bumped their pay about $7,000 each, to about $67,000.

Theresa Shaffer, McFaul's niece, has been on the force since 2002. Some of the demoted sergeants served more than 10 to 15 years longer than her. Many of them recently sought to unionize, and a vote was scheduled for this month. McFaul said he did not eliminate the rank to prevent the sergeants from unionizing.

The longtime sheriff also confirmed Saturday that he hired his son-in-law in 2006 as a security monitor. Louis Vincelli is now a garage superintendent and has been given more than a 100 percent pay raise to wash, fuel and supervise a fleet of vehicles and oversee two employees.

Before the area conservatives and Republicans start screaming for McFaul's head - ask yourself one thing --- when is the last time the RPCC ran a viable candidate for Sheriff?

So as the story goes... unless you offer a better alternative - you can't complain!