CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Former Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman was charged Wednesday with 26 misdemeanors related to his votes on legislation that awarded city money to a design firm that employed his wife.
Each of the counts accuse Cimperman of voting on specific pieces of legislation as a City Council member to award city money to a nonprofit design firm where his wife, Nora Romanoff, worked. The offenses date from April 2002 through 2015, according to court records.
Ohio Auditor David Yost's office, which acted as a special prosecutor on the case, filed the charges in Cuyahoga County by way of information, which usually signals that defendants have reached an agreement to plead guilty.
Cimperman is scheduled for a Friday arraignment in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Cimperman released a statement Wednesday saying he does not contest the charges.
"I accept full responsibility for my actions and I apologize to anyone who was impacted by this," he wrote. "I look forward to having this investigation and legal process complete."
He declined further comment. A call to Romanoff was not immediately returned.
Mayor Frank Jackson, who served with Cimperman on council, issued a statement in support of Cimperman.
"He has done a lot for the Ward he represented and the City of Cleveland," Jackson's statement said. "I am proud to call him my friend."
A criminal conviction would mark a significant fall from grace for the 47-year-old Cimperman, who was elected to council in 1997 as a fresh-faced idealist who held aspirations for higher office.
Cimperman, who represented downtown Cleveland and surrounding neighborhoods for his 18 years on council, resigned in January 2016, five months after cleveland.com obtained a copy of a subpoena from the Ohio Ethics Commission that named Cimperman and his wife.
The subpoena sought documents related to projects or services rendered to the city by LAND Studio, its predecessor ParkWorks, LAND Studio Executive Director Ann Zoller or Romanoff.
According to court documents, Cimperman penned two resolutions in 2008 and 2009 that championed ParkWorks' applications for about $2 million in grants through the Clean Ohio Fund. The company sought the grants to acquire two parcels and a portion of a former railway to build a trail and green corridor connecting the Towpath Trail to the Lake Erie shoreline at Whiskey Island.
In 2011, Cimperman both sponsored and voted for legislation authorizing the director of city planning to enter into a $200,000 contract with ParkWorks to provide detailed design and engineering plans for the downtown Malls B and C, related to the Convention Center project, the court documents state.
And in October 2013, cleveland.com published a story revealing that Cimperman had both sponsored and voted for legislation granting a city contract worth $200,000 to LAND Studio. And twice in recent years, Cimperman sponsored resolutions supporting the firm's applications for about $2 million in state grants to acquire land for the Lake Link Trail project on the West Bank of the Flats.
Cleveland.com began its investigation in the wake of accusations from Cimperman's election opponent at the time, Carrie Kurutz, who claimed the incumbent had voted numerous times to approve contracts with LAND Studio and with its predecessor, ParkWorks, despite the fact that his wife, had worked for one or the other since 1996.
State law prohibits public officials from using their authority or influence to secure public contracts in which the official, a family member or business associate has an interest. Doing so could amount to a fourth-degree felony, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or as many as 18 months in prison.
At the time, Cimperman said in his defense that many of the projects involving his wife's firm were initiated long before their marriage in 2006. After his marriage, he said, he had abstained from voting on most contracts involving ParkWorks or LAND Studio and cast other votes only with the blessing of the city's law department.
In December 2016, then-Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty's office asked a judge to appoint Yost's office to handle the case. McGinty made the request just days before O'Malley, a former councilman who served alongside Cimperman, took office.
For this story, cleveland.com also reached out to State Rep. Martin J. Sweeney, who served as council president during Cimperman's tenure on council. Sweeney did not return calls.
Cimperman was a social worker and political novice when he was first elected to City Council, but and quickly emerged as rising star in Cleveland politics. A 2000 Plain Dealer Publishing Co. profile described Cimperman as having boundless energy and endless ideas, and someone who was "often mentioned as the politician most likely to be mayor someday."
Cimperman flirted with running for mayor in 2001, but ultimately backed then-County Commissioner Jane Campbell, who went on to win. Cimperman challenged U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich's seat in 2008 and lost in that year's Democratic primary.
Cimperman continued to serve on council until January 2016, when he stepped down to become president of Global Cleveland, a nonprofit economic-development group focused on immigrants, refugees and other newcomers to the city.
David Fleshler, who serves as chairman on the board of directors for Global Cleveland, said officials were aware of the investigation into Cimperman's past dealings and members voted Wednesday morning to support the former councilman as the organization's president.
"During our search and hiring process, Joe made it known to us that there was a pending review of some of his actions when he served on City Council," Fleshler said in an emailed statement. "That review is complete and he is accepting responsibility for his actions in court. Our Board has voted unanimously to have Joe continue as our president. We have tremendous faith in Joe look forward to increased success of the organization in the years ahead."
Cleveland.com reporters Eric Heisig, Robert Higgs and Justin Madden contributed to this story.
To comment on this story, please visit Wednesday's crime and courts comment page.