Will OH House Candidate Kelli Perk be charged in Cuyahoga County Corruption Probe?

While Kelli Perk claims she was only playing by the rules -- one has to wonder exactly "what" rules Perk played by and if they were legal.


From The Plain Dealer --

A lawyer in Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason's office was hired three weeks after she withdrew from a Parma judicial race in 2007, clearing the path to public office for the candidate Mason supported.

Mason gave a job to Kelli Perk weeks after she dropped out as a candidate for Parma municipal judge. Perk, who works as an assistant county prosecutor in Mason's civil division, said nobody ever asked her to drop out of the contest. A spokesman for Mason said in a written statement that Perk was hired based on her job qualifications.

"In my heart and mind, I did everything for the right reasons," Perk said in a telephone interview. "I played by the rules."

A timeline of the Perk's interactions with Mason's office, gleaned from public records, has raised questions from a Republican lawmaker about whether Mason used his influence to shape the 2007 race for Parma Municipal Court judge. If so, it would resemble at least two similar cases involving other officials that are detailed in the federal probe of Cuyahoga County government corruption.

Perk, 47, is running this November for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives against Republican Walton Hills Mayor Marlene Anielski. State Rep. Josh Mandel, who is running for state treasurer, currently represents the cluster of suburbs that make up the House district. More...

The right reasons in your heart & mind?  Maybe Joseph Gallucci, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery for doing the same thing Perk & Mason have done during his bid for Cuyahoga County Auditor in 2006, should have used the same excuse.