Quid Pro Quo Doctor

Recently retired Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Elizabeth Balraj is taking a position as a forensic pathologist within the same County outfit she ran a mere two months ago. The newly created position comes with a modest salary of $157,000 plus posh fringe benefits. Yes, I said newly created position. It seems someone at the Board of Commissioners felt it was appropriate to give the good doctor the nod for all of her years as a dependable electable democrat. Of course Dr. Balraj can take the position for a short tenure to get her pension income level up a tad before she retires again. Yet one more nod from the County leadership.

What is really interesting is that the funding request was championed by Balraj while she still held the title of Coroner and had every intention of taking one of the newly created jobs. It gets better. The analyst at the County budget office that was responsible for working with the Coroner's on getting approval by the Commission was conveniently offered a better paying position that was also part of said funding request. All of this under the nose of the Budget Director and County Administrator. Is it ethical? According to the section of the Ohio Ethics Law dealing with seeking employment it doesn't even appear to be legal. Not bad for a County that's losing revenue, it's residents and looking to cut budgets across the board in 2008.