CPT: Local Democrats struggling with inclusion, diversity

 Cuyahoga Politics Today

The Cuyahoga Democratic Party

Inside the judicial endorsement process

​Black people who came of age during the Civil Rights Era of the ‘50s and ‘60s were regularly exhorted by our parents that we had to be twice as good as the white man just to get half a chance.

While African Americans have made great strides in many arena of our society over the past several decades, that progress has been uneven. In  politics, for instance, it remains damnably difficult for a black man to be elected a county judge in Cuyahoga County.

One might say that it should be difficult for anyone to be elected a judge, and we would agree. Integrity, judgment, temperament, experience, intellect, emotional and social intelligence should be a part of the makeup of every member of the bench. Unfortunately, none of these competencies are requirements. Basically you just need to have five years of bar admission and be less than 70 on day one of your term.

This means that just about any lawyer can run. You will be immensely helped if you have a wide circle of friends, a good name, and either your own money or the ability to raise a hunk of it.

SOME NAMES MATTER

And did we say a good name? Here are some names on the county judicial roster as of December 31:

• CELEBREEZE [2 judges with this surname] [Frank D. Jr., Leslie Ann]

• CALABRESE

• McCORMACK

• McCORMICK

• McCLELLAND

• GALLAGHER [7] [Eileen T., Eileen A., Hollie Lauren; Kelly Ann; Laura J.; Sean C.; Shannon M.]

• BOYLE

• KILBANE

• RUSSO [5] [Anthony J., John J.; Joseph D., Michael J., Nancy Margaret]

• SWEENEY

• DONNELLY

• McDONELL

• O’DONNELL

• O’MALLEY

• GAUL

• GALL

• CORRIGAN  [3] [Brian J.; Patrick F.; Peter J.]

• SUTULA [2] [Kathleen Ann; John D.]

• CLANCY

• SHAUGHNESSY

• SHEEHAN

• RYAN [Michael John]

On the municipal court level, perhaps waiting to move up, are such names as O’Leary, Cassidy, Sweeney, Carroll, O’Donnell, Gilligan, Fitzsimmons, and Hagan.

Among those who have pulled petitions in advance of this year’s Feb. 7 deadline are these judicial hopefuls: Kilbane [Ashley], O’Malley [Jennifer L], Sheehan [Michelle], Santoli [Andrew J.], and Satola [James W.]. And there will also be some of the aforementioned incumbents — a Donnelly, a Celebreeze Jr., and a Gallagher — seeking higher judicial perches.

Understand that the recitation of these surnames is in no way meant to disparage either our judicial system or the many fine and honorable judges who sit on our local benches.

But I am saying that the only black judge mentioned so far would have had a much tougher electoral row to hoe if his name wasn’t Michael John Ryan.

For the record, there are seven African American women on the county bench, out of a total of 59 judges: Patricia Ann Blackmon, Cassandra Collier-Williams, Alison Nelson Floyd, Tonya R. Jones, Anita Laster Mays, Melody Stewart, and Shirley Strickland Saffold. Besides Judge Ryan at Juvenile Court, appellate court Judge Larry A. Jones is the only other black male currently on the county bench.

Thirty-four of these coveted county judicial seats are in the general division of Common Pleas Court. The general division, which handles both civil and criminal matters, is where felony cases are heard and disposed of, making it the fulcrum of the criminal justice system, and thus where the overwhelming number of criminal defendants are people of color, mostly males, mostly black men.

This is why the absence of even one male judge of color is such a huge issue, not just for the thousands of people who pass through this system every year, but even in the judicial conferences of these 34 judges. Whatever they talk about, there should be at least one black male there to offer some sorely needed perspective, of a sort that even empathic, brilliant and persuasive judges who are not black men cannot fully represent.

The foregoing discussion is a long but necessary predicate to understanding our earlier assertion about how hard it is for a black man to be elected a judge countywide in Cuyahoga County.

Basic Numbers

Some basic arithmetic is in order here. There are 12 Common Pleas judge races on the ballot this year. These are six year terms, and so a third of the 34 total general division seats are up every two years. There is heightened attention in this cycle because only eight incumbents are running for reelection, meaning there are four “open” seats.

Given the built in advantages an incumbent has when running for re-election, it is hardly surprising that as of this writing, only one candidate is challenging any of the eight incumbents seeking re-election.[*]

There are six African American or Hispanic candidates running for Common Pleas judgeships as of now, not counting incumbents running for reelection. Two are black men — Karrie Howard and Retanio Rucker. Two are Hispanic: Pablo Castro and Michael Rendon. And two are African American women: Andrea Nelson Moore and Deborah Turner.

With all six of these minority candidates running for an open seat, along with half a dozen other candidates, clearly there will be some head-butting between some of the candidates of color. Normally, this is where senior party leadership — your party chair and/or other power brokers — step in and urge/convince/cajole/force one or more candidates to shift slots or even drop out “for the good of the party”. We’ve seen this recently on the state level, where on both the GOP and Democrat sides, there has been consolidation among gubernatorial hopefuls, as in DeWine-Husted and Cordray-Sutton.

This has not happened with any effectiveness in these judicial contests. For the better part of a year, there have been disquieting rumors about a developing alliance between east and west side Democratic factions. I say disquieting because the history of the Democratic Party has not been good where the rubber meets the road. Black Democrats often fail to win endorsements against white candidates even when the former meet that “twice as good” standard. And when they do, the endorsement often seems to count for less, as westside Democrats either skip over the black candidate or even cross party lines to vote for the Republican.[†]

Further adding to the discomfort of the cross-county alliance is that one party thereto is former county prosecutor Bill Mason. During his dozen or so years as county prosecutor, Mason seemed to double down on the legacy of the notorious John T. Corrigan, whose thirty plus year run as prosecutor was distinguished by two accomplishments of significance to the black community: his office routinely over-indicted black defendants and he regularly recruited and supported hard-on-crime judicial candidates.

Mason went Corrigan one better, recruiting precinct committee people, in some cases the wives, brothers, or other relatives of his hundreds of assistant prosecutors, so as to dominate every aspect of the party not directly controlled by the crooked tandem of Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo, who were both party leaders and high-ranking county public officials, carrying out their criminal enterprises across the street from Mason’s office.

The Russo-Dimora cabal was busted by the Feds; the duo went to prison, convicted along with several dozen others in the huge corruption scandal. The whole affair led to a new form of county government, beginning with the 2010 election, and Mason entered private practice.

After a too short hiatus, Mason has once again become a major player in party politics, perhaps an even more dangerous one since he can operate without the confines of an oath of office and through a network of college buddies and personal allegiances that have remained intact.

His eastside horse-trading partner? Why that would seem to be Marcia Fudge, occupant of the most sacred political perch in the black community: Congressional representative of the 11^th District.

We said earlier merit is not what gets your name on the ballot. So we mean no disrespect when we talk here about horse trades. All but the most naïve judicial candidates discover early on the need to make the rounds of those who can help them — people like the Congresswoman and the former prosecutor and typically, the Party chair.

Bargain, then Stand and Deliver?

As the candidates made their rounds in this election cycle, Fudge and Mason struck a bargain on who they would collectively back. Mason’s prime candidates were Andrew Santoli and Emily Hagan. Fudge wanted Deborah Turner and Andrea Nelson Moore. The deal wasn’t intended to remain a secret because it could only be effected by passing the word to city and ward leaders and ultimately the precinct committee people who do the actual voting.

For the judgeships, the endorsement process is two-fold. The first step was last week, when city and ward leaders gathered to make their recommendations to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee meets this Saturday to act on the recommendations. They can accept or reject any recommendation, and endorse or issue no endorsement in any race. Typically, however, they tend to follow the city and ward leader recommendations.

So what happened to the Fudge favorites? Neither was recommended by the 41 assembled city and ward leaders. Twenty-one votes were required to win a recommendation. Turner got 13 in her slot, coming in second to Karrie Howard, to the great surprise of many. Howard got 17 votes, and another 10 went to Mickey Mottl, a Parma native son. [We’ll write more about Howard soon.]

Moore was likewise unsuccessful, making Fudge zero for two. Mason went two for two, raising the question of whether he was unable to deliver for Fudge or chose not to.

In any event, the result is that with four open seats and six candidates of color who range from fair to outstanding, the most loyal and largest contingent of the Party could not get a single one of its candidates recommended in the first round.

This has heightened tensions considerably for Saturday’s Central Committee meeting. As is always the case, the results will depend on who is best able to turn out their troops. The stakes are high. The entire community needs a diverse bench of highly competent jurists. The black community needs representation. The County Democratic Party needs to demonstrate something more than the back of its hand to qualified black candidates.

The current party chair is County Councilwoman Shontel Brown of Warrensville Heights. The local Congresswoman is Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights. Both are black.

What is to be concluded if they are unable to deliver a single endorsement this Saturday?

# # #

---

[*] Even though judges are nominated through partisan primaries, candidates appear on the ballot without party designation. Since seven of the incumbents seeking re-election are Democrats, it is possible that nine of these 12 judgeships, including two of the four open seats, will be decided in the primary, because as of today, only two Republican candidates have publicly pulled petitions for any of these contests.

[†] This is not just a local phenomenon. In 2006, Democrats swept to victory statewide against the GOP in five of six contests. The sole loss came in the state auditor’s race, where Barbara Sykes, a black woman, lost to Mary Taylor, who is now Lieutenant Governor and a contender for the 2018 GOP gubernatorial nomination.