The following editorial appeared in the May 2004 issue of Toledo Business Journal.
Permission to reproduce this editorial can be obtained by contacting the Editorial Department of Toledo Business Journal at (419) 865-0972.

 

 

 

“A history of ineptitude”

 

On March 31st the Toledo Blade and its publisher and editor-in-chief, John Robinson Block, launched another editorial attack on the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and its sister agency, the Regional Growth Partnership (RGP). A Toledo Blade editorial used the headline “A history of ineptitude” to insinuate that the leadership of the Regional Growth Partnership is incompetent and that the agency’s history is a demonstration of “ineptitude.”

This editorial was also another attempt by the newspaper to get citizens focused on an issue that development successes around the region in which the RGP participated have resulted at the expense of the City of Toledo. This issue further implies that citizens of the City of Toledo are funding the RGP and not receiving benefit for their tax dollars. We will not address the merits, or lack thereof, of this issue in the editorial that follows. However, promotion of this issue has been successful at creating divisiveness and controversy. It will not be successful at aiding a regional collaboration to advance northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. We believe that it will take a coordinated regional effort to bring world class change to the area’s economy.

The March 31st editorial was followed on April 1st with an editorial with the headline “Still no downtown health club.” This editorial chastises the business community, Mercy Health Partners, Family Health Plan (actually now Mercy Work Solutions), ProMedica, and Paramount Health Care for not building a downtown health club that has been long demanded by Block and the Toledo Blade.

The April 1st editorial concludes with a warning that unless a health club is constructed downtown, Toledo will watch “… the life drain out of its heart.” The March 31st editorial blasting the RGP also concludes with a warning. The warning involves the planned November Port Authority levy renewal campaign and its potential failure unless the RGP visibly reduces its regional efforts and narrows its attentions to Toledo and Lucas County.

There are some community leaders who believe these two consecutive editorials with their warning tones were simply part of Block’s and the Toledo Blade’s process for putting forward the demands they will make as the tradeoff for obtaining editorial support for the November Port Authority levy renewal.

Prior to the last Port Authority Levy campaign in 1999, Block and the Toledo Blade made specific demands on community leaders. According to a number of community leaders, in order to obtain the Toledo Blade’s support for the approaching levy ballot, they believed a number of specific demands had to be met.

One of the demands by Block and the Toledo Blade involved a public apology by Port Authority officials for “not operating in the community’s best interests.” The term “mea culpa” was used in making this demand of community leaders.

We have learned that community leaders believed the Toledo Blade’s charges of Port Authority mismanagement were not based on facts, but rather were the result of Block’s personal vendetta against the agency and specific members of its management and board of directors. They believed that the Toledo Blade had published falsified and misleading information in order to influence area voters against the 1998 Port Authority Levy issue that failed to pass.

However, a year later, in order to pass the 1999 Port Authority Levy issue for the benefit of economic development, the decision was made to call a press conference and issue an apology as demanded by the Toledo Blade. We have learned that there was strong disagreement by some community leaders with the mea culpa decision. There was a belief that it was wrong to sacrifice truth and integrity in order to placate the demands of Block and the Toledo Blade. There was also a belief by some area leaders that such an attempt to placate Block was not an effective long-term approach to this community problem.

Another demand made by Block and the Toledo Blade involved the removal of specific members from the board of directors of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. In particular, Block and the Toledo Blade wanted Dr. Richard Ruppert and James Poure removed. Block also wanted to personally select other specific individuals to serve on the board.

During the past five years, Block put significant effort into having individuals of his choosing placed or kept on the Port Authority board.

In a past editorial in this series, we exposed activities in this area involving Block’s associate Jerry Chabler. In this editorial we stated: “Allegations have now surfaced that ‘schemes’ and ‘dirty tricks’ were used by Chabler involving the appointment of former Mayor Carty Finkbeiner to the Port Authority board. Finkbeiner submitted his nomination to the Lucas County Commissioners for the Port board position formerly held by George Ballas. We learned that Chabler spoke to key community leaders concerning Finkbeiner’s appointment. Allegations have been made that Chabler threatened a number of these individuals with attacks by the Toledo Blade if they did not cooperate in support of Finkbeiner. These allegations further state that Chabler claimed he was speaking for Toledo Blade publisher and editor-in-chief John Robinson Block.”

The editorial continued: “Chabler’s efforts were aimed at discouraging one of the most qualified candidates for this Port board position from seeking appointment, it is alleged. Further, he attempted to use threats of attacks by the Toledo Blade, according to these allegations, to pressure key community leaders. These efforts were designed, it is alleged, to influence the decision of the Lucas County Commissioners concerning the pending Port Authority board appointment. The community leaders to whom we spoke asked us not to include their names in this editorial.”

Block’s efforts to change the composition of the Port Authority board of directors has been just one of the factors in damaging leadership in the area. This issue has been examined in detail in two of the editorials in this Personal Vendetta series and can be found at www.toledobiz.com.

There is speculation that Block and the Toledo Blade will again make demands on community leaders prior to the upcoming November Port Authority Levy.

The recent editorial attacking the RGP raises the question of whether Block and the Toledo Blade are continuing the personal vendetta against the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, members of the agency’s management and board of directors, and the Regional Growth Partnership.

There are many community leaders who believe segments of the electorate have already been “poisoned” against a Port Authority Levy renewal. This is the result of years of slanted and misleading Toledo Blade editorials and articles published as part of Block’s personal vendetta campaign.

A detailed investigation and a series of editorials exposing Block’s use of the Toledo Blade to conduct his personal vendetta can be found on our website at www.toledobiz.com.

In one of the editorials in this series titled “Leadership damaged: Part II,” we stated: “The opinion has been repeatedly shared with us that Block’s personal vendetta is being successful at harming leadership in the region and reducing the effectiveness of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority… The use of a daily newspaper to engage in a personal vendetta campaign violates basic tenants of ethics and integrity… Any community requires that the editorial operations of a daily newspaper be conducted in a responsible and ethical fashion. Continued efforts to accomplish a personal vendetta through the resources of the Toledo Blade will result in further damage to the community and to leadership in the region.”

Block and the Toledo Blade have a history of attacking and attempting to harm the reputation of selected individuals and organizations with differing opinions who have stood up in a leadership role in the region, according to area leaders who spoke to us.

In an earlier editorial in this series we stated: “The recent attacks by the Toledo Blade against the RGP and Jakeway (Donald Jakeway, former president, RGP) are not about objective journalism; it appears that these attacks are more about power and control…”

The use of the Toledo Blade to conduct personal vendettas resulting in damage to leadership in the region appears to involve issues of power and control. Significant damage to the area’s economic development efforts and extraordinary costs to the region have resulted from Block’s and the Toledo Blade’s actions.

It has been the purpose of our investigative editorial series to expose the facts and key issues behind Block’s and the Toledo Blade’s activities.

It appears that the headline on the recent Toledo Blade editorial – “A history of ineptitude” – is more descriptive of an aspect of an editorial process that uses false and misleading information that results in significant damage to leadership and economic development in the region. “A history of ineptitude” more accurately describes the use of a daily newspaper to conduct personal vendettas based, not on ethical principles of journalism, but on underlying issues involving power and control.

 

(For permission to reprint this editorial in other newspapers, newsletters, or direct mailings, or to use in radio and TV broadcasts, please contact the Toledo Business Journal at (419) 865-0972.)