CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio Auditor Dave Yost took the unusual step this week of issuing a civil subpoena to Cuyahoga County to obtain records for an ongoing audit rather than follow the more common practice of simply asking for the records.
The audit, which seeks emails from County Executive Armond Budish, was served 21 days before early voting begins in an election in which Yost, a Republican, and Budish, a Democrat, are on the ballot.
The subpoena seeks emails that Budish sent or received between Jan. 1 2017 and July 21, 2017 related to compensation and/or benefits for the county’s deputy chief information officer, James Hay.
In a statement released Friday, Budish told cleveland.com that his staff has yet to determine if any emails relate to compensation or benefits for Hay.
“It is my understanding that the auditor is looking at whether I personally authorized the $15,000.00 bonus payment to James Hay. We informed the auditor’s staff that I was not involved,” Budish said in the statement.
Bonuses and perks awarded by the Budish administration have been a source of controversy, as the county’s internal auditor and the county prosecutor have concluded that the Budish administration had…
