Cuyahoga Politics Today: Election Ruminations

Election Day Watch

We talked in our earlier post today about the power of voters to initiate transformative change in various local and statewide elections in this misnamed "off-year".

In this post we list several races in Cleveland and its suburbs that we will be watching as Election Day unfolds. But first we touch on some ballot issues, foremost of which is Issue 61, the bond issue for Cuyahoga Community College.

Yes on Issue 61

Tri-C is approaching its 55th birthday, which means there are few active adults in these parts who can clearly remember when we had no community college around. Confession: I’m one of them. I remember when the College started, seemingly not much more than a glorified high school in a ramshackle collection of old buildings. Its growth since that inauspicious beginning, guided by strong lay and professional leadership, has been more than remarkable. Tri-C has become an indispensible member of our area’s institutions of higher learning, an economic driver, a business innovator, and so much more. The growth of its physical plant has carried its flag all over the county to such an extent that I was astounded to hear in a presentation on Issue 61 that this was the College’s first-ever capital bond issue. It would be difficult to think of a more worthy YES vote than Issue 61.

Yes on Issue 2

Like most of you, I have been perplexed by the cacophony of nonstop messaging pounding us relentlessly on Issue 2, the proposed statewide ballot measure to tie the cost of prescription drugs. I tried with great difficulty to tune out the incessant commercial messages and to seek out the facts. News articles were inconclusive; experts were all over the map.

To my surprise, I was persuaded by an excellent television news report on WKYC-TV3 last week. The report debunked one of my main concerns — allegations about the State having to pay for private attorneys to fight challenges to the Amendment, which proposes to lower costs of prescription drugs. And the report further informed me that the measure’s chief supporter nationwide uses his company’s revenues to provide low cost medications to third world countries, many of which are in Africa.

Amidst all the conflicting claims, that was good enough for me.

Notable area electoral contests

• Will Beachwood residents finally vote out its incredibly greedy mayor? Will Gail McShepard become the first African American to win a seat on city council, thereby becoming only the second African American ever to hold elective office in Beachwood? [David Whitaker, both a practicing attorney and a licensed psychologist, was elected to the Beachwood Board of Education in the 1990s.]

• Will Lora Thompson become Lyndhurst’s first-ever African American council member?

• Garfield Heights features two council races that may impact that first ring suburb’s tortuous adjustment to new demographic realities. There may be an old guard somewhere farsighted enough to embrace change, but it’s not in Garfield.

• We’ll be watching the election returns for Cleveland City Council closely to see the outcome of several hotly contested council seats. The collective outcome of several races could result in drastic change at Cleveland City Hall no matter who wins the mayor’s office. Those races include: Ward 1, where former councilman Joe Jones is expected to oust incumbent Terrell Pruitt; Ward 2, where a newcomer will replace the departing Zack Reed; Ward 4, where all sensible human beings will support a ticker tape parade when double dipping Ken Johnson’s ponytail finally departs council chambers. We will also be watching Ward 5, where Phyllis Cleveland tries to hold off the up and coming Richard Starr; this is the Frank Jackson’s ward, so she and the mayor may rise and fall together.

Then there is Ward 6, where city hall insider and Jackson loyalist Blaine Griffin, appointed to the seat earlier this year, will likely hold off articulate newcomer Josh Perkins McHamm. Ward 6 is of pivotal importance for its location and diversity. It includes the Fairfax, Buckeye, and Little Italy neighborhoods, and is home to University Circle, and corporate behemoth Cleveland Clinic.

Ward 7 is also of strategic importance for its location in and adjacent to University Circle. Incumbent T. J. Dow is clearly no establishment favorite, owing at least in part to his emphatic embrace of his Hough area residents. Corporate funds appear to have flowed to challenger Basheer Jones, but his embarrassing pre-primary defense of his status as a legal resident of Hough before the Board of Elections seriously dampened any enthusiasm this corner might have had for his promise as a public official.

Finally, there is Ward 14, where Jasmin Santana is hoping to duplicate her primary victory over incumbent Brian Cummins, and bring a new and much needed Hispanic perspective to the council floor.

• Perhaps the most intriguing suburban race is the mayor’s contest in impoverished East Cleveland, where Devin Branch, running as an independent with the support of the Green Party, has an excellent chance to defeat incumbent Brandon King. Branch led the successful recall movement that ousted former mayor East Cleveland, leading to King’s elevation to mayor from city council. In some byzantine dealings, King was subsequently appointed to council but barred from serving due to some alleged charter chicanery.

What interests us most about Branch is his unalloyed love for his town and his vision of how to make it a better place. He is an eloquent apostle for East Cleveland and an unabashed lover of black people. East Cleveland’s political culture is as toxic as the notorious Noble Road dump that the EPA is spending $6 million to dismantle. If anyone can restore a semblance of sanity and fresh air to East Cleveland City Hall, it is likely to be an indefatigable believer like Branch.

There are also numerous judicial races in and around Cleveland. These seats often directly impact the quality of life and the life chances of many area residents. Voters should make sure they go all the way to the end of the ballot, armed with info gleaned from friends, neighbors, and sites such as www.judge4yourself.com.

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CPT | Latest on status of the Q deal referendum drive, Ward 14, Marcia Fudge, Jeff Johnson

CPT: Cuyahoga Politics Today

Confrontation looms as citizen’s coalition files more than Twenty Thousand Signatures to put Q deal on ballot

City Council leadership signals legal strategy to avoid referendum; issue may soon be in court

UPDATE: Today’s lead item was written with the understanding that a citizen’s coalition would file petitions today so that Cleveland voters could decide by referendum whether or not to support the Q deal. Before we posted it, word came to us that City Council leadership, meaning the mayor and those who call the shots in town, had refused to accept the petitions on the grounds that the City has already signed a contract to go ahead with the project and that it would be an unconstitutional interference with property rights to allow for a referendum at this stage.

Council's clerk subsequently received the petitions but the City's position is now clear. The battle lines have now been more sharply drawn and the matter will undoubtedly be decided in court. The importance of Councilman Cummins’ 12^th vote in favor of the deal now stands in sharper relief: it is clear that the insiders’ strategy all along was to shut down the people’s right to vote on the Q deal.

I won’t venture an opinion on the outcome of the impending lawsuit, but the brazenness and contempt of our public officials for the voice of the people is evident. I expect that attorneys for both petitioners and the city began weeks if not months ago to prepare for the coming battle.

We have thought for months that the Q expansion deal would heighten interest in this year’s citywide election for mayor and all 17 council seats. Today’s action guarantees it.

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CLEVELAND — This morning's filing of over 20,000 signatures of registered Cleveland voters moves into a new phase the very public discussion on whether the public should spend $282 million to expand Quicken Loans Arena.

Proponents of the deal cite the necessity of maintaining the competitive status of the publicly owned facility and the Q's importance as a major driver of local economic activity.

Opponents say by and large they don't oppose maintaining and even improving the arena but have major reservations — economic, pragmatic, and moral — about this deal, which appears to have been agreed to with great nonchalance by city and county officials, most especially County Executive Armond Budish, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, and their respective council presidents, Dan Brady and Kevin Kelley.

While downtown interests are all in for the deal, most city voters are troubled by the sense that these glittering large scale projects have few if any benefits that trickle down to their neighborhoods.

Typically, and this deal exemplifies the process, the little folk have no seat at the table, are not even in the room, and in fact have no knowledge a deal is even being cut until the fancy power point slides have been created and the sleek website designed. Testimony at early county council meetings seemed to suggest that the negotiations were even more of a charade this time, with little if any energy expended by the public's representatives to secure any community benefits.

This might be baffling if it weren't simply the extension of a well-established pattern. Entrenched power has a natural appetite for expansion until it meets resistance. When resistance appears, it is usually episodic, unorganized, inchoate, marginalized, bought off, or otherwise rendered ineffective. 

That business would proceed as usual was no doubt the expectation at the time of the mid-December press conference rollout announcing the deal, which was presented as a fait accompli, all wrapped up and tied with a big red bow in keeping with the festive holiday season. Pictures of the occasion showed participants still basking in the aura of our World Champion Cleveland Cavaliers, contemplating the promise of a new season, the super-sizing of a downtown jewel, and even the cherry on top of an NBA All Star game. Tipped off in advance, the Plain Dealer obligingly had a full color spread celebrating the inevitable success of this project, the latest pearl in a string that included the NBA championship, the 2016 GOP convention, the remaking of Public Square, the Indians' World Series run, and a spate of new hotel and restaurant openings.

But over on the side, a voice could be heard, asking questions, expressing concerns, urging caution, and framing the deal in a larger context.

That voice was dismissed. As I write this, it is showing up at City Hall with 20,000 + signatures calling for a vote, saying we will be heard.

A new phase in the dialogue now begins. Stay tuned.

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Speaking of new voices, and petitions, we believe this Q debate is pivotal for our community in ways both macro and micro, communal and individual. When the dust settles, the landscape will be different.

A harbinger of that change may come tomorrow at noon over at the Board of Elections where Jasmine Santana will file to become a certified candidate for Cleveland City Council. She has her sights set on the Ward 14 seat currently

Jasmin Santana

held by Brian Cummins, who is a part of City Council's leadership team and who, by virtue of his very public and critical flip on the Q deal, whereby he became the crucial 12th vote in favor, perhaps claimed the biggest bull’s-eye on his back for incumbent council members.

Santana, at 38, would likely reshape Council chambers in several ways. If elected she would be the first Latina on city council, and the first Hispanic to serve in that body since council was reduced to its present 17 member size. Hispanic leaders with whom we have spoken see her as an agent of change in a City Hall that clearly needs it.

And while ethnicity is no reliable predictor of change or politics — some of City Hall's most ossified fixtures are African American — Santana's election would likely mean that persons of color would hold a majority of council seats for the first time in history.

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Speaking of color, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge made several ear-catching statements over the weekend. One of the most intriguing was her reference to the commonplace but erroneous assumption that black members of Congress represent only black people. She noted that her district was at 50.1% just barely majority black. She repeated that statistic later when she suggested she might be the last black person to represent the 11th District.

Fudge was participating in a community conversation sponsored by the Western Reserve Chapter of the Links in conjunction with their 30^th anniversary.

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Finally, the petition challenging the legality of Councilman Jeff Johnson's right to run for mayor owing to his 1998 conviction is on the agenda for tomorrow's 3:30pm Board of Elections meeting.

CPT: Cuyahoga Politics Today

Challenger emerges in Cleveland’s Ward 3

CLEVELAND — The list has dwindled to two.

Logan Fahey

Social entrepreneur Logan Fahey pulled petitions last Friday to enter the Ward 3 Council race, becoming the first open challenger to the incumbent Kerry McCormack, who was appointed last April to succeed Joe Cimperman after the latter resigned to head up Global Cleveland.

Only councilmen Tony Brancatelli in Ward 12 and Brian Kazy in Ward 16 remain without at least one declared opponent on Board of Election records for either the September 12th primary election or the November 7th general election. The filing deadline for Cleveland's council, mayoral, and judicial races is June 29.

Council races are nonpartisan, meaning that if fewer than three candidates file for a seat, there is no primary contest in that race.

Potential candidates often pull "blind" petitions, meaning their names do not appear on the election board's rolls unless and until they file with the required number of signatures. This is generally done for strategic or tactical reasons. For instance, as we noted last month, while former councilman Joe Jones is circulating petitions to regain his old seat in Ward 1, his name is not listed with the Board of Elections.

Ward 3 includes the downtown district, which means it's fertile ground for campaign donations. It also includes the Tremont, Ohio City and Flats neighborhoods, as well as a portion of Clark-Fulton and the Stockyards.

Fahey pulled petitions to run for the Strongsville Board of Education in 2015 but does not seemed to have filed for the election, possibly because he had or was moving into Cleveland. We were unable to reach Fahey for confirmation by our deadline.

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With so many candidates running for Cleveland City Council and to challenge Mayor Frank Jackson, many will place a greater premium on this year's Democratic Party endorsements. While most incumbents generally get endorsed as a matter of course, given that Ward 2's Zack Reed and Ward 9's Jeff Johnson are each running for mayor, there will be at least two open seats. And widespread anger with Ward 14's Brian Cummins' waffling on the Quicken Loans financing deal, coupled with rising determination of Cleveland's Latino population to reestablish its presence on council, is fueling speculation that Cummins may not run for re-election. That would be a cruel irony, given that Cummins' reason for supplying the important 12th vote for the deal was to sustain his leadership position and benefit his ward's status in the pecking order. [See this excellent piece by Sam Allard for a full discussion of Cummins' professed angst.]

Cleveland members of the Party's executive committee will meet July 8 to endorse in this year's primary races. With early primary voting starting in mid-August, the endorsements will be closely watched, as they may the first public signs of the relative strengths of major candidates in the mayoral and high profile council races.

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The Q deal: "It Ain't Over 'til the Fat Lady Sings"

Proponents of the Q expansion deal may have been high-fiving themselves over the goal they scored last night by flipping Ward 14 councilman Brian Cummins but we think that’s just the end of the first quarter. Cummins’ about-face, which could not possibly have been about the trinkets and beads the Cavs offered [largely, refurbishing two or three dozen basketball courts at city recreation centers and high schools — does that mean varnish and buff?] and their cheerleaders raved about. The last minute maneuvering done to secure what may turn out to be a pivotal 12^th vote in favor of the deal largely showed how weak County Executive Armond Budish and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson have been in representing the public interest. Seldom have last-minute cosmetics been such obvious lipstick on this pig of a deal.

By our calculus, the second quarter starts tonight at Olivet Baptist Church where the Greater Cleveland Congregations will likely have a very large crowd for their strategy session on next steps. And it is pretty plain what the next step will be: an intense citywide petition drive to secure enough signatures from registered Cleveland voters to force a referendum on last night’s vote. (I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody’s choir was singing “Ain’t nobody gon’ turn me around” as part of the meeting.)

Our understanding is that Cleveland’s charter requires ten percent of the number of voters at the last general election to force the referendum, or about six thousand signatures. GCC and its allies, who include SEIU and the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, should have no trouble getting twice that number in far less than the required 30 days. Councilmen and mayoral candidates Zack Reed and Jeff Johnson will no doubt be lending their support as well.

Call it halftime if enough valid signatures are submitted to force a vote of the people. The parties will switch sides, as it were, and the opponents of this deal [not a deal but this deal, as GCC likes to point out] would suddenly seem to have the home court advantage.

Assuming the corporate interests don’t find a way to tilt the court by resorting to the courts [this is where that 12^th vote may play a role in arguments over whether “emergency legislation” of this nature is subject to referendum], the parties will fight to persuade the voters in a campaign that will be reminiscent of the Kucinich mayoral recall of 1978, decided in the mayor’s favor by something like, as I recall, a scant 238 votes.

To extend this metaphor a bit, if voters reject this deal, then the 4^th Quarter would see some hard bargaining for the first time on this construction deal. But the playing surface would be enlarged, and new players would be recognized.

The Cavs would still get their expanded playhouse, but the price of the ticket will have been adjusted significantly.

At the end of the game, Dan Gilbert and his Greater Cleveland Partners may finally learn that you shouldn’t always play a Zero Sum Game with the public interest.

Now wouldn’t that be a Transformation worth celebrating by an entire region!!!!

Richmond Heights board may dangle Pingle tonight Also: FitzGerald Town Hall meeting tomorrow; African American Museum talent show audtions; Civic Commons Commentary; County Prosecutor endorsement alert

Richmond Heights board may dangle Pingle tonight

Also: FitzGerald Town Hall meeting tomorrow; African American Museum talent show audtions; Civic Commons Commentary; County Prosecutor endorsement alert.

Tonight’s special Richmond Heights school board special meeting to decide the fate of suspended high school principal Timothy Pingle will take place without one of the key protagonists — board member Josh Kaye.

Four days after voting not to renew the contract of suspended Richmond Heights Schools Superintendent Linda T. Hardwick when it expires on July 31, the district’s school board meets tonight in special session, this time to consider firing Dr. Pingle.

Pingle was suspended December 12 after interim superintendent Robert Moore accused Pingle of unprofessional conduct. The charge appears to have been made after Dr. Moore obtained a copy of a December 3 email from Pingle to Josh Kaye in which Pingle questioned Moore’s qualifications to be superintendent. 

Following his suspension, Pingle claimed to have been set up by Kaye, used as a pawn in an attempt to undermine Hardwick, and falsely accused of manifesting racist attitudes. Pingle claims to have questioned Moore’s appointment only in response to Kaye’s alleged confidential disclosure that Moore was being selected for racially motivated political reasons.

Kaye and Pingle are white, Moore and Hardwick are black. Pingle has claimed that Kaye told him that Moore was being hired as interim superintendent so that he Kaye, would have a defense to being accused of racism.

Kaye’s absence from tonight’s meeting — he is out of state on business — suggests that the Board is unlikely to terminate Pingle this evening. The underlying charge against him appears flimsy to begin with and points to the deeper issues confronting how the district’s schools have been run for years, with board members routinely exchanging private emails with school administrators and having clandestine phone calls that have nothing to do with educational policies.

The whole situation is rife with hypocrisy on many levels. Under the Kaye regime — which ended when a new president was elected at last month’s organizational meeting following the November election — several board members routinely interacted inappropriately with various central office personnel and others, most often to undermine Superintendent Hardwick and to advance other agendas unrelated to the education of the district’s children.

In the midst of ongoing controversies — the Popp incident, ongoing federal and state investigations, to name only two— Hardwick’s alleged handover of these inappropriate emails to investigators led to both her and clerk-typist Peggy Parker being accused of theft.

The result has been a district accelerating into chaos, with only the district’s attorneys benefiting to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Irrespective of the results of the findings from the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Division, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, and possibly the Ohio Department of Education, the district is likely to face litigation from Hardwick, Parker, Pingle and others over numerous personnel decisions during the Kaye administration.

The challenge before the board, and by that I mean principally its new majority of president Linda Pliodzinskas, vice president Bobby Jordan, and newly-elected Frank Barber, is to find a way to end years of destructive official behavior, repair relations with a  teachers union that is both hostile to the district and intimidated by its own leadership, and then regain the confidence of the district’s voters.

Race has of course been a volatile factor in the Richmond Heights school district for some time. Charges of racism have sometimes swirled about irresponsibly, even as on other occasions clear evidence of racist behaviors have been overlooked or worse, defended as appropriate. But we must comment on the irony of the interim superintendent taking offense at an underling’s questioning of his qualifications and attributing the challenge to a racist attitude. It was, after all, Dr. Moore, who shuffled his feet and looked the other way when first students and then parents implored him to assist them in addressing the clearly hostile racial environment created by then-boys basketball coach Jason Popp during the 2010-11 season. Astonishingly, Moore earlier this month recommended that Popp be given a contract to coach the boys' track team. [Moore has reportedly applied to be superintendent in the neighboring South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District.]

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County Executive Ed FitzGerald will host another in his series of district Town Hall meetings tomorrow night in Cleveland Heights. The meeting begins at 7PM at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, One Monticello Blvd at the corner of Mayfield Rd.

The meeting is free and open to all. Near public transportation. Handicap accessible. FitzGerald will make a presentation to the residents and then engage in a question and answer session.

Cleveland Heights is in District 10, along with East Cleveland, and Cleveland wards 10 and 11. Julian Rogers is the county councilman.

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Calling budding or accomplished talent

Final auditions  will be this Wednesday, February 29 for the African American Museum’s March 10 talent show. The show will have three contest categories: 11 years and under, 17 years and under, and 18 years and older. Singers, dancers, musicians, lip sync-ers, and those with any special talent are invited to audition for the chance to win prizes that include studio time, a cash award of $250, a laptop computer, and three chances to win an iPad or Kindle.

There is a $10.00 nonrefundable entry fee.

Info: 216.280.0714 or 216.374.2899 or myafricanmuseum@yahoo.com.

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Green Behavior and Black History on tap

Just a reminder to tune into the Civic Commons tomorrow [12:30 pm on 88.7 FM WJCU and 7:30 pm 88.5 FM WYSU] to catch your humble scribe talking about Black History Month. My commentary comes after some especially trenchant criticism from Cleveland city councilman Brian Cummins and others regarding Mayor Frank Jackson’s vaunted sustainability initiatives.

Or, listen on your own time via these links: iTunes    RSS   Stitcher]

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Endorsement for County Prosecutor

The Real Deal has been tracking the county prosecutor’s race for some time. Our early observation about the history of this office — namely, that this is the voters’ first open choice in more than half a century — has been repeated by almost every candidate and countless others. Come on back tomorrow and learn why we think *** is just who the office needs to clean up an office that everyone agrees is in need of major reform.