CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County spent more than $2 million last year to pay salaries to allies of a powerful Democratic Party leader, a newspaper reported Sunday.

About a third of Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo’s staff was part of his mighty party machine, The Plain Dealer reported. Russo, among the most influential party leaders in this heavily Democratic county, has hired 93 politically connected friends to a staff of 283.

“When you come to work for Frank Russo, whatever qualifications you have for the job, you’re also going to be doing political campaign work,” said Jerry Austin, a political consultant who often works for Democrats.

The county auditor’s official job is to appraise property and set tax rates, but Russo has used the office as the base for his political machine. Russo’s 2007 payroll included mayors, city council members and ward leaders — all people who can make or break candidates.

“Why are the average taxpayers paying for a patronage system that supports a particular officeholder?” said Kathleen Barber, who led a failed movement to restructure Cuyahoga County in the mid-1990s.

Russo draws much of his clout from the precinct captains and ward leaders, the local officials who know their neighborhoods and often serve as commute members for the party. They also have say in who receives party endorsements and who is tapped to lead the party.

For instance, in 2004, Russo pressured the local leaders to support Tim Hagan over the party’s endorsed incumbent, Tim McCormack. Did it make a difference?

“I lost the Democratic primary, didn’t I?” McCormack said.

Russo makes no apologies for his hiring practices or incorporating aides into his political organization, which he describes as “basically a network of all my friends I have accumulated for the last 30 years, from the neighborhood, schoolmates, family and my workers.”

Advocates view such tactics with suspicion, noting that Ohio law forbids public employees from campaigning while on the job.

“It’s readily accepted that public employees cannot engage in political campaigning on the public’s time,” said Henry Eckhart, spokesman for Common Cause Ohio. “It’s a crime. You can’t do that. … And I’m afraid it goes on all the time.”

Russo has been caught doing it before. He and two top aides pleaded guilty in 1998 to misdemeanor charges after a state audit concluded that some recorder’s office employees were paid for working at polls.

Even so, Russo remains powerful.

“Frank can put 60 people on the street with short notice,” said Tom Coyne, former mayor of the West Side suburb of Brook Park.

Such a move saves about $7,000 in postage.

“Russo’s forces are a combination of Delta Force and the 101st Airborne Division,” said James Trakas, a former county Republican chairman. “They can be deployed quickly and are difference-makers.” 

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