The late Ed Hauser - who in death has become a symbol of responsible citizen action - reached out yesterday to seriously question the motives of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority’s operations via a letter based on a conversation he had the day before he died.

County Prosecutor Bill Mason yesterday dropped $50,000 into the lap of one of Cleveland’s premier political law firms – Climaco, Lefkowitz, Peca, Wilcox and Garofoli.

The firm also is a heavy political contributor via a political action committee (PAC). The Climaco firm PAC is typically prominent in political filings of campaign contributions.

When Squire-Sanders & Dempsey boss Fred Nance presented the report on the site selection committee for the medical mart and the convention center I thought the Greater Cleveland Partnership paid for the study.

Any reasonable person would.

The press conference (some four months ago) was held under the auspices of the Greater Cleveland Partnership and run by Nance.

Mayor Frank Jackson in his latest “Cleveland – It’s Our Time” sends us a piece written about Pittsburgh that gives the lie to the Chamber of Commerce article on Cleveland’s rival city as presented by the Plain Dealer on its front page recently.

  Are there any citizens left in Cuyahoga County. I mean real CITIZENS.  If there are, please show some civic responsibility. Please raise your voices.

In a discussion on Friday’s Dick Feagler TV show, Plain Dealer editor Susan Goldberg mentioned the possibility that newspapers might drop Monday and Tuesday editions, starting the week with Wednesday when they have ads, usually from the supermarkets.

I’ve thought of that too.

IT IS TIME TO REDUCE REGRESSIVE TAXATION IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY; IT IS TIME TO STOP TAXING LOW INCOME PEOPLE FOR HIGHER INCOME DESIRES.

 We are too busy to remember that the taxes discussed below are relentlessly collected every day, hour and minute on required purchases by all of us. 

They didn’t have to do it that way, did they?

Editorial people from two newspapers sent e-mails to me about how layoffs were handled at their newspapers.
It differed from how the Plain Dealer handled its exit for loyal employees.

In both case layoffs, they said, it was done by seniority. (Somehow the newspaper guild at the Plain Dealer gave away its seniority rights.)

You could watch two of the most pathetic Americans of our time on television tonight trying to evade responsibility.

President George W. Bush tell us, “We are in a recession…This is in large part because of severe problems in our housing, credit and financial markets, which have resulted in significant job losses.”

Can you say, “Let’s give some money away?!”

Apparently, the Ohio House of Representatives, particularly Republican members, love to say it.

Now they want to give “film makers” tax credits, capped out at $100-million.

Hey, what’s $100-million anymore when we taxpayers are giving away tens of billions of dollars to thieves on Wall Street?

How badly handled was the layoff plan at the Plain Dealer?
Very badly, I’d say.

It seemed designed by lawyers to set tensions at the high level.

See addition below article (also note that Damian Guevara took the buyout and wasn't relieved of his job, as also taking buyouts were April McClellan-Copeland and Jesse Tinsley).

Plain Dealer editorial staff dressed in black today, according to staff members, as the news dribbled in that colleagues had gotten the dreaded call that they were no longer needed.

It may seem odd that there’s so much attention paid to those being laid off at the Plain Dealer when so many others are losing their jobs by the hundreds and by the thousands.

However, there is something different about the news media because of the importance of news to a democracy. We are dependent upon these sources for the information as citizens.

"Currently, Cleveland's airport line attracts only about 300 riders a day, but airport and RTA officials are working on a joint marketing program to promote the rapid, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this month.

The following is the message to Plain Dealer reporters from Editor Susan Goldberg that will mean 27 people will find out with a phone call that their services are no longer required.

It gives privacy, says Goldberg, not to mention a cold message of job loss. Couldn't it have been handled more humanly?

Here's the message:

Colleagues:

“There’s bad blood in the city room” says a veteran Plain Dealer reporter as the PD editorial staff awaits more employee cutbacks.

No wonder, the ranks soon will be much thinner. Many are looking over their shoulders, not knowing which will soon not be employed by the newspaper.

EDWARD J. "CITIZEN" HAUSER, beloved son of Walter and Theresia; dearest brother of Harold, Sylvia, Thomas, and Caroline Widemann (husband Reiner); dear uncle of Nicole and Erik; dear friend of Cathy Stahurski; dear nephew, cousin and friend to many.

Ed Hauser died suddenly November 14, 2008. Northeast Ohio has lost its most ardent, studied and tenacious citizen activist.

The City of Cleveland has extended the lease for the I-X (Convention) Center until, with options, until 2039.

Does this mean there won't be a new convention center and medical mart? Naw. 

Council passed legislation recently at the behest of the Jackson administration. 

Do you notice how the Plain Dealer is so quick to praise Sen. George Voinovich and typically so quick to kick Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

In an editorial today, the Plain Dealer went out of its way to praise Sen. Voinovich, who apparently woke up late to the crisis in the auto industry.

Gosh, gee we have to do something about this crashing crisis.

The Medical Mart being pitched to us is an old idea, an old failed idea. Ask Baltimore.

Cleveland has been excited about the unique development of a Medical Mart here for some time. The movers and shakers have been pushing for the concept and Cuyahoga County Commissioners Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora have voted us a sales tax to fund it.

When do we stop giving away millions of dollars to profitable corporations and developers who should be supporting themselves?

I see in the Plain Dealer yesterday (why we still need newspapers) that the State of Ohio will give Eaton Corp. $6 million toward building a new headquarters in the Chagrin Highland’s development.

Happened to look at Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher’s official site and it made me wonder why Peggy Zone Fisher’s profile and photo are linked there. Did we elect Lee’s wife, too? I don’t think so. That made me think a bit more after I was told some rather high-faulting ticket prices were being asked for the annual fund-raising dinner for Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio. So I look at the Diversity Center and learn its director is none other than Peggy Zone Fisher. Guess who’s the Diversity honoree of the year? Now, come on, think. Well, Lt. Gov.

Tell Sen. George Voinovich that he must cooperate with President-elect Barack Obama come January.He also owes the President-elect an apology.

Republican Voinovich made an outrageous and disrespectful attack on Obama near the end of the recent presidential campaign. Voinovich apparently thought he could scare Ohioans into voting for his party’s candidate, Sen. John McCain.

The Commission on Cuyahoga County Government reform’s final report is not worth the paper it was printed. No surprise there.

My reading of the skimpy 10-page report – that includes acknowledgements and structure charts – is that it was a big waste of time.

For a quick education on how the American people are being taken to the cleaners by Wall Street read Naomi Klein’s article from Rolling Stone.

Klein wrote “The Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” a riviting expose on how disasters are used to divert the very help that is supposed to aid people right into the pockets of people who helped cause the disaster.