What doesn’t Trump want us to know? Why the secrecy immigrants being arrested in Ohio? Today in Ohio

Today in Ohio

Today in Ohio, the daily news podcast of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents ramped up arrests this weekend, there is still much we don’t know, including who was arrested, from where and accused of what.

We’re talking about the secrecy of the Trump administration on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston.

You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.

You can now join the conversation. Call 833-648-6329 (833-OHTODAY) if you’d like to leave a message we can play on the podcast.

Here‘s what we’re asking about today:

Information remains sketchy, but what do we know about the 20 people picked up ostensibly on immigration issues in Northeast Ohio over the weekend and taken to a Geauga County detention center?

The Cleveland Clinic is Northeast Ohio’s biggest employer and one of the largest in the state, so when it gives an annual report, news happens. What did the Clinic have to say about 2024 and where it is headed in 2025?

It’s interesting that on the same day we are talking about the Clinic’s lower-then-expected profit, we have a report on the top non-profits in Ohio and the nation when it comes to revenue. Where does the Clinic rank there?

I repeat what I said last week, that the 2026 election is 23 months away. But we have two people jumping into races for it in Ohio. What have we learned about Vivek Ramaswamy?

Keith Faber has been Ohio Senate president and, for the last six years, the Ohio auditor. He announced his next aim. What is he running for in November 2026?

Is this a real problem, or is a lawmaker proposing a solution in search of a problem? What is the proposal to save government money when it comes to union workers?

We learned Monday how much Ohio is offering to the weapons maker to build a new manufacturing plant near Columbus. It’s not football stadium money, but it is a lot. How much, and what form will it be in?

Every year we ask when airport traffic will finally get back to pre-pandemic levels in Cleveland. Was 2024 the year?

What’s the update on Cleveland City Councilman Joe Jones, whom we discussed yesterday involving allegations of misconduct in his council role?

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Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.

Chris Quinn (00:01.231)

This new Donald Trump administration is going to keep our newsroom hopping. There’s even more stuff coming tonight that we’re not talking about there last night that we’re not going to get to today, but we’re talking about some of the things first up on Today in Ohio. It’s the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Layla Tassi, Lisa Garvin, and Laura Johnston. And Lauren Layla, I’m pretty glad that we

made sure not to start some big journalism initiative to start the year because we were going to need people to follow on what’s going on with the Trump revolution and we certainly do. Information remains sketchy but what do we know about the 60 or so people picked up ostensibly on immigration issues in Northeast Ohio over the past few days and taken to the Jogga County Jail? Laura.

Laura (00:50.67)

So there is so much we don’t know here and so much confusion because that 60 number, we’re just getting word this morning that they had about 40 people in before Sunday night. So while that number has been thrown around, we only know of about 20 people who came in Sunday night with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. And that’s coming from the Geauga County Jail, which is not telling us anything other than we have people here.

brought in by ICE agents and we have a federal contract. So we don’t know who they are, where they’re from, what they’re charged with, what the accusations are, or really anything. This was done, they came in around 10 p.m. on Sunday night. We do have a photo somebody’s been posting on social media that shows a white van outside the Toulantro restaurant in Cleveland Heights and had some agents wearing the vests that said,

ice on them. And we have a witness that says she saw five or six people getting into the back of this white van. But the mayor of Cleveland Heights really has no information, very little go on. He said the city was not informed. When we reached out to Homeland Security, we were told we were not going to receive information for them. So the only way we know that across the country, there is about 956 people taken on Sunday is because

ICE did put out, I believe it was on social media, they put out a tweet or on X, that information, but they’re not breaking down. The national organization is not giving up. We had called out to all of our congressional representatives in Senate, called into ICE, no information and the secrecy is alarming.

Chris Quinn (02:36.663)

Yeah, let’s break it down a little bit. I mean, this is not a surprise. Donald Trump ran throughout his campaign saying he was going to do this. So the fact that they’re picking up people is not a surprise. The fact that they’re in a Jogga County jail, it’s public record who’s there. So we should be able through the public records law to get a list of names. If Jogga County is resisting that somehow, we’re going to have to take them to court because that’s the way it works. If you’re in a county jail, your name is

Laura (02:38.69)

Yeah. No, this is not.

Chris Quinn (03:05.455)

public record. What’s disappointing about this is, like I said, Trump said he was going to do this. He should be doing it transparently. It feels like we’re in East Germany. They’re sweeping in and secretly hauling people away. That’s what authoritative governments do. We’ve seen it over and over again in really bad governments, and we’re not supposed to have that. So I don’t know why they’re not being public about it. If these are people that are in the country illegally, they’re undocumented, they came across the border illegally, and they’re going to be sent back.

Laura (03:20.462)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Quinn (03:35.139)

Say it. You said you were gonna do it. Say this is so and so. They were in the country the past couple years illegally. We’re sending them back. Or this is so and so. They have a criminal record. They’re in the country illegally. We’re sending them back. Whatever it is, but the secrecy is what’s disturbing. You’re not supposed to operate that way in America, and I’m not quite sure why they’re doing it.

Lisa (03:54.766)

you

Well, there’s a... Go ahead, Laura. Okay, I was just going to say there’s a lot of collateral damage here. There are people that are being swept up that really shouldn’t be swept up. And I think that that’s... You know, because they’re trying to meet these crazy quotas, so they’re not going to say, hey, we’re going to pick this criminal out of the crowd. They’re going to take the whole crowd. And so, you know, there have been reports of a lot of collateral arrests here.

Laura (03:58.971)

I know we see all yours.

Laura (04:21.614)

Well, we don’t even know anything for sure about the quotas. We know that the national media did report that, but it’s not like ICE came out and said, hey, have every agent or every field office needs to pick up 75 people per day. mean, a quota does not seem like the right way to go about getting the criminals off the streets. But again, this is talking about people who are undocumented there. I look, people are upset about this.

Lisa (04:25.283)

huh.

Lisa (04:40.944)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Quinn (04:48.205)

All right. But you’re making some value judgments on on whether it’s right or wrong. Trump said anybody that’s in this country illegally, I’m moving them out. It’s ridiculous numbers of people. It would cost a fortune to do it. There were very interesting stories about what it would take. But he said we’re going to focus on violent criminals first. But he didn’t say we’re not picking up the others. So.

The fact that he’s picking up people that were here illegally, there are a lot of people in this country want him to do that. I’ve heard from some of them. If they’re in this country illegally, they’re breaking the law. They shouldn’t be here. They should be moved out. We just don’t know. We don’t know who they are. We don’t know if they actually have probable cause. If we had their names, we could probably figure out, are they in the country illegally or are they not? How are they choosing who they do? When you work in secrecy like this,

you deprive the public of any confidence that you know what you’re doing. it’s like I said, if they’re in the Jogger County jail, we can get their names. It’s automatic. Are there immigration lawyers that are getting active, Laura? They’re going to start showing up at the jail to represent these folks?

Laura (05:54.636)

I think so. I think they’ve been called by all sorts of people who are incredibly worried at this point. I agree with you, Chris. The thing is, we don’t know anything more than they’re at the Geauga County Jail. How many people can fit in the Geauga County Jail? What do they do if they exceed that? Where are people going to go? What happens to the kids? Are they separating families? There are so many questions here.

Chris Quinn (06:18.745)

Yeah, they will run out of capacity quick. We do not have in this country, enormous capacity in our jails for thousands of people. And it’s more than thousands that they’re, talking about and they can’t deport them fast enough to keep those numbers down. Like I said, we’ll be scrambling to try and put this together to try and get what the truth is. Like you started off saying at the top, we just don’t know so much yet. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

Laura (06:45.676)

Right.

Chris Quinn (06:48.731)

Cleveland Clinic is Northeast Ohio’s biggest employer and one of the largest in the state. So when it gives an annual report, news happens. Lisa, what did the clinic have to say about 2024 and where it is headed in 2025?

Lisa (07:02.94)

Well, 2024 did end up with a budget surplus, but it was not nearly as big as the Cleveland Clinic expected it to be. So from overall $16 billion in revenue, they only saw 1.7 % in profit. That’s at least one point shy of their expected operating margin of 2.7%. Clinic CEO Tom Mihaljevic says, it was a positive financial year, yes, but not as we had hoped they are facing new financial challenges.

including increased costs for charity care and for malpractice insurance. Also reduced discounts in the federal drug program for providers who have low income and uninsured patients. So the pre-pandemic profit margins were about three to 5 % for the Cleveland Clinic. This is not just Cleveland Clinic’s problem. It’s estimated about 40 % of hospitals in the country continue to lose money every year.

Drug and supply costs are rising seven to 10 % a year, but federal and private insurance is only reimbursing those costs at 4%. Mihaljevic says we have to continue to find ways to bridge the gap. There are no plans to expand into new markets right now. They will grow their existing markets, including three major projects underway in the Cleveland area. He says,

We don’t foresee more layoffs, significant layoffs, I should say, in 2025. They did just cut 114 administrative positions earlier this month.

Chris Quinn (08:34.349)

It’s a tough business to be in because you really can’t cut costs when it comes to patient safety. You have to make sure the rooms are clean so people don’t get infections. You got to make sure you’re turning over the gowns that they wear so that they’re not getting infected. You have to have a whole army of people to take blood and administer medicine and nursing staff. So it’s tough and insurance companies are strapped because they

Lisa (08:41.932)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Quinn (09:02.881)

they have to balance the money they’re getting in and what they’re paying. So the fact that they ended up on a positive note is actually good news because a couple of years they did not. But we also are relying on what they say, right? These are the numbers they report. We don’t know what they’re based on really. They don’t get into the nitty gritty of it. It’d be interesting to see a full audit of them.

Lisa (09:10.214)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Quinn (09:29.145)

You’re listening to Today in Ohio. It’s interesting that on the same day we are talking about the clinics lower than expected profit, we have a report on the top nonprofits in Ohio and the nation when it comes to revenue. Lisa, where did the clinic rank there?

Lisa (09:44.604)

They were number one here in the state and Northeast Ohio. So they saw $15.6 billion in revenue in 2023. That’s the fifth highest in the United States. There were five others over the $1 billion mark, which was the same as 2022. So UH was number one, I mean, number two rather at 5.2 billion. SUMA Health, 1.5 billion.

Case Western Reserve also 1.5 billion in revenue. Akron Children’s is 1.4 billion. And then the American Endowment Foundation came in at number six with $1.3 billion in revenue for 2023. So the median amount for the top 100 is $48 million. Two thirds of the people on this list or the groups on this list are in healthcare, education, arts and culture, philanthropy and human services. And these usually are the ones that the

that bring in the higher revenues. yeah, and then there’s, there we had two groups that had revenue growth of 50 % or greater. The Gateway Economic Development Corporation, their growth was 155.6 % over the previous year. They’re at number 29 on the list. The Cleveland Foundation saw almost 58%, you know, higher revenue than the year before. They’re number nine on the list.

Chris Quinn (11:09.883)

The Cleveland Foundation could be such a force for good if it tried to be a true leader in transforming greater Cleveland. They have all this money and it’s just not much of a factor. They do a lot of little programs, but the just transformation seems not in their grasp. It is when you think about the 1.7 % profit margin you talked about for the clinic, when you put that on top of the amount of revenue that we’re talking about.

That’s a massive amount of money. mean the clinic is a gigantic operation. The number of procedures and patients they have, it is hard to fathom something that is that massive. And so it’s interesting to contrast those two stories. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. I’m going to repeat what I said last week, that the 2026 election is 23 months away, but we have two different people jumping into races for that election in Ohio.

Lisa (11:37.137)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Quinn (12:03.705)

Leila, what have we learned about Vivek Ramaswami?

Leila (12:06.742)

Well, Rameswamy, the biotech entrepreneur who made headlines during his presidential run last year is throwing his hat into the governor’s race. Sources say Rameswamy plans to officially announce his campaign in mid February, and he’s building a team that includes key members of vice president JD Vance’s political circle. This guy’s, he’s got strong ties to Donald Trump and a real knack for making waves on the national stage.

He enters this race with high name recognition, but little experience in Ohio politics. So he’s going to be up against some heavyweights like Attorney General Dave Yost and Treasurer Robert Sprague. Both of those guys have spent years building relationships across the states. And while Trump’s endorsement could tip the scales in Ramoswami’s favor, his celebrity status alone might not be enough. mean, experts say he’ll need to prove to Ohioans that he’s more than just a Fox News figure and

can connect with voters on local issues. His platform is a mix of controversial and headline grabbing proposals like raising the voting age to 25 with some exceptions, opposing military aid to Ukraine and calling for the elimination of federal agencies like the FBI. But so far he’s been really light on Ohio specific policies, leaving questions about how he plans to lead the state.

So, you know, but with a background in biotech and finance plus nearly a billion dollars to his name, Ramaswamy brings significant resources to the table, but his critics say his outspoken stances and lack of local experience could pose challenges as he navigates this crowded GOP primary.

Chris Quinn (13:49.143)

Even with Trump’s endorsement, I’m not sure he can pull it off. It will be an interesting race if it remains those three. I’m a little bit surprised that he doesn’t just throws hat in ring now because everybody knows it’s coming. And so when he finally does do it, how big a deal will it be like yawn, right? Because we’ve already talked about it repeatedly. Maybe he’ll do something surprising to make it a big splash.

Leila (14:09.841)

right.

Lisa (14:16.922)

I think Dave Yost will chew him up and spit him out, quite frankly.

Chris Quinn (14:21.163)

Yeah, but Dave Yost, I agree. Dave Yost seems to me to be the best candidate so far, but he does do stupid stuff every once in a while that gets him into hot water. Can he turn off the stupid gene for the next two years and just do his job and be a good candidate? We will see. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

Keith Faber has been Ohio Senate president and for the last six years, the Ohio auditor. He announced his next aim. Laura, what’s he running for in November, 2026?

Laura (14:53.464)

attorney general, he wants Dave Yost’s job now that Yost is running for governor. I should have realized this, but it took reading this in the story to make it stand out that every single one of Ohio’s executive office elders are barred by term limits from running again. So every seat is up for grabs. So this feels like a big game of musical chairs, right? Keith Faber, auditor, wants to be attorney general. We know Dave Yost and

Robert Sprague, the treasurer, they want to be governor. And so it’s like, I want to see what Franklin Rose is running for, right? Like everybody has to leave their seat and run around and find another job. So we are going to be hearing a lot about all of these people, unfortunately, for the next 23 months, Chris, because this is just going to keep going. But Faber has served in both the Ohio House and the Senate, president of the Senate from 2013 to 2016.

And he said his investigations have led to 129 criminal convictions for the misuse of taxpayer funds. We get those. We report a lot of them. He said he helped uncover billions in unemployment fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic, which we’re still finding out about those.

Chris Quinn (16:08.503)

His the big mark on him is he was part of the redistricting commission that was found to be unconstitutional repeatedly. But what’s what’s striking about Faber is back when he was in the legislature, his nickname was Darth Faber because he was a powerful guy who did some things that not everybody agreed with. But that was like old style Republicans. And looking back now over time.

Laura (16:13.176)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Quinn (16:35.673)

He seems like a pretty reasonable guy by today’s standards. We did. The auditorium board did endorse him for reelection as auditor. He was convinced that he was wasting his time. thought we wouldn’t because of some things they said on this podcast, but he’s done a very good job as auditor. And I would argue he has left the politics out of it. He has not gone after Democrats more than Republicans. His office has been professional. It is done audits. It has done him fairly. I don’t think we’ve had a single audit.

that we’ve questioned the veracity of. And if he brings that same attitude to the attorney general’s office, he could be a pretty good attorney general. His record is long. And again, he’s more like the old style Republican. He’s not very Trumpy. He’s going to have to turn up the Trumpy factor if he wants to win.

Laura (17:24.59)

I mean, to be fair, we shouldn’t be, this is an attorney general, the state’s top lawyer. This should not be, I’m with Trump, so I should win. It should be who can do the job the best, right? And fairly, and you’re right. But this is politics and yeah. are all of these guys lawyers? Probably, I mean, he earned his law degree from Ohio State, licensed since 1991. So.

It’s funny because a treasurer or an auditor is not the same skill set as an attorney general, but they hop from one to the other.

Chris Quinn (17:57.167)

The auditor is close though. The auditor is a watchdog role. You are investigating. are doing things. mean, look, the auditor’s office is what investigated all the things at Metro Health. wasn’t the attorney general’s office. It’s a natural slip. And if he wants to be governor, that’s the latter, right? You move from auditor to attorney general. Yeah. And there’s no opponents that we know of yet. I don’t know of any Democrats that are announcing they won’t win.

Laura (18:00.984)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (18:08.654)

Good point.

Laura (18:14.86)

Right. AG means almost governor, learned recently.

Laura (18:24.193)

Yeah.

Chris Quinn (18:26.907)

So it probably is his office now that he’s announced it and cleared the field and it may not be the worst news for Ohio. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Is this a real problem or is a lawmaker proposing a solution in search of a problem? Leila, what is the proposal to save government money when it comes to union workers?

Leila (18:48.304)

Well, so the proposal is Senate Bill 8, and this is a measure that would ban public entities like school districts and fire departments and local governments from paying employees while they’re doing union-related work. Right now, many union contracts allow release time, and that’s where public employees can attend union meetings, grievance hearings, or contract negotiations without dipping into their personal time off from work.

And the argument here is that this practice misuses taxpayer money. And they say, Republicans are saying, if you’re a teacher or you’re a police officer, you should be doing your work, not union work, on the public’s dime. But unions fire back and they say that release time helps improve relationships between workers and management, which ultimately benefits everybody. Scott DeMoro, the president of the Ohio Education Association called this bill

thinly veiled effort to silence the voices of public employees. So while unions sometimes reimburse public employees for release time, transparency on costs is kind of murky. A 2020 report found Columbus taxpayers spent 1.1 million on 40,000 hours of release time in a single year, though many agencies don’t even track these expenses. Critics of the release time point to a recent Arizona Supreme Court decision which struck down

similar provisions as unconstitutional.

Chris Quinn (20:16.315)

I haven’t time buying that Columbus number. That sounds like a staggering number of hours not on the job. And I would like to see the basis of it. Were there a lot of suppositions in that or do they actually count up the number of hours somehow? just, how big a problem is this? I just don’t, I don’t know how much time you actually are losing to this. And before they pass a law like this, they ought to see really what is the impact.

Leila (20:28.135)

Hmm.

Leila (20:33.542)

Yeah.

Leila (20:39.186)

right.

Leila (20:44.688)

Right. And you know, your original question, is this solving a real issue or is it a solution in search of a problem? That’s a really fair question because, I mean, the advocates for this bill are arguing it’s about protecting taxpayer dollars, but the unions say that it’s a negotiated provision. It’s agreed upon by the workers and the employers and often reimbursed by unions. So public entities clearly see value in these agreements or they wouldn’t sign off on them. you know,

Chris Quinn (21:10.895)

Well...

Leila (21:11.612)

The lack of clear data on the costs and benefits of the release time complicates this even further. I before banning it outright, lawmakers should really seek to find out, taxpayers really losing out or does release time ultimately lead to smoother operations, better public services? Because without evidence that release time harms the public good, this bill risks creating disruption where none exists.

Chris Quinn (21:38.605)

Yeah, we should have full hearings on it. I also presume this would apply to future contracts. The legislature just can’t automatically repeal contract clauses. Those are negotiated. So I would think that this is for contracts negotiated in the future. Governments would be banned from adding this in. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We learned Monday how much Ohio is offering to the weapons maker to build a new manufacturing plant near Columbus.

Leila (21:48.231)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Quinn (22:07.533)

It’s not football stadium money, but it’s a lot. How much, Laura? And then what form will it take?

Laura (22:13.428)

This is a whole lot of money going to the biggest job creation project the state has ever seen. So, and we don’t even know the full amount yet, just to be clear. So the state approved on Monday, $452 million in job creation tax credits. That’s over 30 years. And this is the Ohio Tax Credit Authority. The way that it’s done this is a 2.6 % refundable tax credit. It’s for Andoril Industries. They’re going to be building that weapons manufacturing plant.

south of Columbus in Pickaway County, supposed to have 4,000 jobs by 2025. This incentive is performance-based. It requires regular payroll reporting. And the true value of this credit is based on the actual jobs created and the payroll generated. So it’s not a big pile of money given to this company. All the funds are subject to clawback if the company doesn’t follow through on projections. There’s a couple other things we know about.

Pickaway County is requesting $70 million from the All Ohio Future Fund. That’s a new $750 million pot of state money for preparing sites for mega projects. And then Jobs Ohio, which is that quasi public economic development agency, also is going to provide a grant, but we don’t know what that’s going to be yet.

Chris Quinn (23:28.827)

Okay, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. Every year we ask when airport traffic will finally get back to pre-pandemic levels in Cleveland. Lisa, you’ve dealt with this story over and over over the past few years. Was 2020 for the year?

Lisa (23:44.412)

It was we saw 10.17 million passengers pass through Hopkins airport last year that’s up 3 % from 2023 and it’s the most since 2008 when we were still a United Airlines hub. So the numbers have been steadily increasing since 2014, which is when United left Hopkins except for the 2020 pandemic.

And interestingly enough, United is still the biggest flyer out of Hopkins. They’re responsible for 25 % of travelers last year. Frontier was responsible for 20 % of travelers.

Their expansion in Cleveland last year drove the numbers to spike in the first half of 2024, but then they fell back in autumn as seasonal flights ended at frontier and then Spirit declared bankruptcy. So they were down 8 % in November and they were down 7 % in passenger volume in October, but they went up 2 % in December.

It’s still to be determined if this growth will continue this year, but we do have some things that could drive passenger traffic. Aer Lingus is expanding its Cleveland to Dublin service to five times a week starting in April. And then Spirit will be resuming its service to Orlando, Florida and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for three weeks in March and April for spring break travel.

Chris Quinn (25:01.721)

I was part of the trend. hadn’t flown since before the pandemic. And then I flew last year. What about you? Is everybody on the podcast? Did you fly last year? Laila?

Lisa (25:10.106)

I did.

Leila (25:13.554)

I can’t remember if I did. I’ve flown since the pandemic, but I don’t remember when.

Chris Quinn (25:14.619)

Did you fly anywhere last year? You don’t remember?

Laura (25:16.076)

haha

Lisa (25:21.543)

Ha ha ha.

Chris Quinn (25:21.709)

And, and Laura, you took a couple of trips, right?

Laura (25:24.334)

Yeah, I flew to, we had spring break out west and then I went to Charlotte in November. So I had no problems the airport at either time. have never really, I don’t have to fly for the holidays since my family’s all here. So I’ve never had those like peak awful times where everybody’s standing in line swearing at TSA agents. Thank goodness.

Chris Quinn (25:26.03)

New York.

Chris Quinn (25:44.475)

And of course, the more people who fly through Hopkins, the more complaints we get about the dirty bathrooms. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. What’s the update on Cleveland City Councilman Joe Jones, whom we discussed yesterday involving allegations of misconduct in his council role, Leila?

Laura (25:49.603)

That’s true.

Leila (26:02.95)

Jones is stepping down from all his committee assignments after these allegations. Council President Blaine Griffin confirmed that this week. The allegations include claims of inappropriate behavior like yelling at staff and touching a council employee inappropriately and making inappropriate remarks to a female artist. Jones has given up also his role as chair of the

very influential mayor’s appointments committee, which oversees vetting for key positions like appointments to Cleveland’s Community Police Commission. He’s also stepping down as vice chair of the Public Safety Committee and as a member of several other committees. So while counsel hired a law firm to investigate Jones, Griffin is still refusing to release the findings of this investigation. He’s citing attorney-client privilege, but the firm did recommend

that Jones stepped down from his committees, which he has done, and undergo sensitivity training, which he is supposed to do. And Jones has reportedly agreed to these steps, but he has not responded to any of our requests for comment. Griffin also announced that all council members are going to participate in training recommended by this investigation. After Jones completes the sensitivity training, council could consider reinstating him to his former positions on those committees. For now,

While Jones can still attend committee meetings and deliberate, but he is no longer allowed to vote as a member of those committees.

Chris Quinn (27:32.791)

Okay. Now let’s talk about this. This report was secret, right? Nobody knew about it. Nobody knew about the allegations, even though they go back two years. We find out about it, start asking about it. And only then, only after we raise hell about it, does he step down. Why didn’t he step down long ago when these first came up? This is the problem with secrecy. Blaine Griffin kept this whole thing under wraps.

Leila (27:55.73)

That’s right.

Chris Quinn (28:00.515)

and allowed this kind of status quo to exist and only because of watchdog journalism, bubbling this up into the atmosphere does the right thing happen. That’s why that report should be released. It’s in the community’s best interest. King Griffin is trying to keep it from the people he serves.

Leila (28:19.396)

Absolutely. mean, if counsel leadership is serious about addressing misconduct and rebuilding trust with the public, hiding behind legal technicalities like the attorney-client privilege, that only undermines that effort. Clevelanders deserve to know the full scope of the allegations and the findings that led to these actions against Joe Jones. And transparency is absolutely essential for making sure that the counsel is prioritizing

the public interest over protecting its own interest. But keeping this report under wraps, Griffin is sending this very troubling message that shielding insiders is more important than delivering justice and fostering trust with the

Chris Quinn (29:01.583)

But it’s worse than that. They didn’t do the right thing until we got wind of it. That’s not the way government should operate. If he did bad and had to lose his committee memberships, that should have happened because it’s the right thing to do, not because cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer start getting wind of it. This is backwards. It shouldn’t work this way. I’m glad we’re here. I’m glad we’re a thriving newsroom. We’re doing our part. City Council should do its part. Everybody who’s on that council should be embarrassed by this.

And apparently not. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for the Tuesday episode. Thanks, Leila. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks, Laura. Thank you for listening. We’ll be back Wednesday talking about the news.

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