Chandra the best choice for County Prosecutor

This year’s election of a new county prosecutor is almost certain to result in positive change in the office of the county’s most important law enforcement position. The challenge is to figure out which of the five candidates vying for the office is most likely to be successful in bringing about the necessary improvements in what has for generations been a troubled office.

In 2010, county voters were faced with a unique fresh choice, courtesy of the new county charter passed the year before: electing the first-ever county executive. We very early noticed a pattern as we attended many of the campaign events, including numerous debates among the eight or nine candidates. The election was being staged against a backdrop of failure: the system of county government was broken. It was corrupt, outmoded, and inefficient. Things were done in a certain way because that’s the way they had been done for decades.

Not one of the candidates disagreed with this assessment. All promised they were the best prepared to fix it. But what most of them actually focused on was “fixing the problems”. For me, one candidate stood out, Ed FitzGerald, the eventual winner. He was head and shoulders above the other candidates for several reasons: he best understood the opportunity to seize the moment to create a new culture in an affirmative fashion. He talked not just about transparency and integrity — they all did, out of necessity. FitzGerald talked about making Cuyahoga County government excellent. Fixing the problems was but a starting point. He was clearly not going to settle for making the county average, or merely functional, by solving the most dire problems, even though doing only that would have represented a huge step forward. He wanted us to be first-rate and he demonstrated the vision and the energy to take us there. And so far, so good.

That 2010 race is for me, eerily similar to this year’s campaign for prosecutor. Lots of qualified candidates with good ideas about how to “fix” the problems in the prosecutor’s office. And they pretty much agree on what those problems are: misuse of the grand jury, an ugly propensity to over-indict, an unhealthy culture of partisan politics and cronyism permeating the office, an institutional bias in hiring, promotion, and plea bargaining, gross inefficiencies in the management of professional resources.

All five candidates have ideas about fixing these problems but only one has consistently talked about a higher standard, about excellence, about giving the County as fine a system of prosecutorial justice as exists in this country. That candidate is Subodh Chandra.

What is important as his vision is that he has a track record to back it up. He has been a federal prosecutor. He has been Cleveland’s law director. He earned high marks in both those positions.

We wondered for a time whether Chandra’s demanding professionalism would engender resistance both from within the office by assistant prosecutors and from outside the office among the ranks of Cleveland and suburban police departments. Our conclusion is that only such a demanding professionalism can force the necessary changes in the county prosecutorial culture. All of the candidates promise change. To the extent that any of them try, there will be resistance, even massive , if passive, resistance.

To us, Chandra stands out as the candidate with the vision, the commitment, the character, the will and the determination to see the necessary changes through.

Subodh Chandra should be Cuyahoga County’s next prosecutor.

BULLETIN: New Twist in Prosecutor’s Race

BULLETIN: New Twist in Prosecutor’s Race

The Civic Commons and The Citizens League of Greater Cleveland are collaborating on a unique online forum with the Democratic candidates for county prosecutor that if successful may significantly affect the way future races are conducted in our community.

Through the forum, in which all five candidates are participating, voters may pose questions directly to each candidate. The answers will be online for all to see. The forum, which started today, will continue through Thursday, January 26.

You can pose your questions anytime — some questions have been posted already, along with answers from candidates Tim McGinty, Robert Triozzi, and Stephanie Hall. But don’t expect any more answers until after tonight’s old-fashioned forum at the Laborers Hall, 3210 Euclid Ave. That event, sponsored by the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, will go from 5-7PM and is open to the public.

More debates scheduled

The next debate will be tomorrow, Wednesday, January 25 at 7:00 PM at the Brecksville Community Center, One Community Drive, in Brecksville.  It will be moderated by Tom Beres of WKYC Channel 3, and sponsored by a collection of Democratic Clubs.

The candidates will debate again on February 4 from noon until 2:30 PM at the East Cleveland Public Library, 14101 Euclid Avenue, in an event sponsored by the East Cleveland Coalition.

The traditional City Club debate will be February 15 from noon until 1:30 PM   at The City Club, 850 Euclid Ave. Admission will be charged, though the program may be accessed via radio and television [on a delayed basis]. Go here for more information.

County Prosecutor Campaign: Video + Updates

County Prosecutor Campaign: Video + Updates

Here is the first video segment of last week’s Prosecutor Debate. There will be more.

Some helpful notes:

1.   The candidates appear in this order: James J. McDonnell, Subodh Chandra, Stephanie Hall, and Robert Triozzi.

2.   The moderator is T. J. Dow. County councilwoman Yvonne Conwell introduces each candidate.

The second debate in the campaign will be held this Thursday at 7PM at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, One Monticello Blvd. The Cleveland Heights Democratic Club is the primary sponsor.

All six candidates have confirmed their participation.

At least two other debates have also been scheduled in this race:

 • Saturday, February 4 from noon until 2:30PM at the East Cleveland Public Library, 14101 Euclid Ave. Sponsor: East Cleveland Coalition. Contact info: 216.659.4619 or cebibbsr@yahoo.com.

• Wednesday, February 15 from noon until 1:30PM, City Club of Cleveland, 850 Euclid Ave. Contact info: 216.621.0082 or www.cityclub.org. $$.

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First County Prosecutor Debate: Herald of a New Era?

First County Prosecutor Debate: Herald of a New Era?

Longtime county prosecutor John T. Corrigan, who held the position from 1956 to 1991, surely turned over in his grave last night.

In a remarkable scene that would have been unimaginable two decades ago, four candidates seeking election to the powerful position showed up in the inner city to present their credentials to rank and file county residents, and probably of greater importance, to hear from those most affected by the justice system exactly what needs to be fixed.

The scene was set in motion by the decision last year of outgoing prosecutor Bill Mason not to stand for reelection, even though he had used his political muscle to preserve the office as an elected position in the new county government that debuted this year.

The November 2009 county election approved a new county charter that had been stitched together in a thoroughly non-transparent process by a small group of largely unaccountable politicians. 

All of that helped set the stage for last night’s spectacle in which a historically fractured community of activists staged a campaign event at a rundown and deservedly little-known facility euphemistically called Lil Africa Party Center.

Into the heart of Cleveland’s eastside black community last night eagerly came graduates of such illustrious universities as Yale, Cornell, and Stanford, to be cross-examined on the record by alumni of assorted federal penitentiaries and state prisons, who were prominent on the select and well-chosen panel and in the audience, which itself was a surprising and peculiarly diverse admixture of professions, geography, and ethnicity.

 Well more than a hundred county residents paid close attention to the debate. Their numbers included state and county elected officials, formerly incarcerated persons [aka “felons”], grandmothers, and advocates for justice and a new day for citizens, victims and defendants alike.

No Clear Debate Winner

While no candidate delivered a knockout blow to rivals or self-destructed, this first joint appearance of a compressed primary election campaign did afford each participant opportunity to test individual strengths and probe opponent weaknesses. And each candidate perforce put on display aspects of personality and temperament that could factor in voter assessments of how he/she would be likely to handle the enormous discretionary power and manifold daily challenges that will confront the next prosecutor.

Candidates McDonnell and Chandra were easily the most assertive, though in different ways. McDonnell is a bear of a man, gregarious, forthright and practically in your face with his insistence on being the most experienced trial attorney from either the defense or prosecutorial side. Chandra’s apparently boundless confidence in his superior fitness for the office appears to emanate from a sense of intellectual excellence. He seems to have thought about every issue the next prosecutor will encounter, and to have worked out a three or five point program to address it.

Triozzi and Hall are much less assertive in their presentation, evoking instead a more nuanced approach. This seemed especially true of Triozzi, the only candidate on stage with judicial experience. In what may have been only Hall’s second public appearance ever as a candidate for any race — she appeared at the endorsement meeting of the Democratic executive committee at Music Hall last month — she is still becoming comfortable with public speaking. Hall brings a unique resume to the race as both lawyer and police officer. She is also the only woman and the only African American in the race.

Many Public Concerns

After one turn from each panelist, moderator T. J. Dow, the Cleveland Ward 7 councilman, opened the floor to audience questions. A long and diverse line quickly formed. They had well-formed questions and by and large presented them succinctly.

The questions dealt with an abundance of concerns: public corruption, excessive use of police force, the grand jury process, bias, fairness, diversity, truancy, police perjury, over-indictments, jury selection, prosecutorial misconduct, children and family services, domestic violence.

The depth and breadth of the questioners’ concerns was eloquent testimony to how in need of repair is the county judicial system.

More debates scheduled

At least two other debates have been scheduled for the six candidates participating in the Democratic primary. No Republican has filed for the office so the March 6 primary winner will be the presumptive county prosecutor-elect.

The Cleveland Heights Democrats will host the candidates in debate next Thursday, January 12, 7 PM at the Heights Community Center, One Monticello Blvd. [corner of Mayfield Rd.].

On Saturday, February 4, the East Cleveland Coalition will sponsor a candidate debate from noon to 2:30 PM at the East Cleveland Library, 14101 Euclid Ave.

Early voting starts in 26 days.

• • •

BULLETIN: Site of prosecutor campaign debate becomes homicide scene only hours later

BULLETIN:

Site of prosecutor campaign debate becomes homicide scene only hours later

An epochal event in Cleveland political history — an inner-city debate sponsored by community activists that featured four of the six contestants for Cuyahoga County’s top law enforcement job — became a crime scene only a few hours after the event closed.

Preliminary information obtained by The Real Deal indicate that a disgruntled patron had an angry confrontation with owner Mike Nelson over his take-out chicken order at the Kitchen Restaurant, 6816 Superior Ave.

The customer, reported to be a 32-year old Cleveland man, returned about midnight as the restaurant was closing. Nelson grabbed his shotgun as he saw the man approach with a gun in each hand. After or during a further angry exchange, Nelson shot and killed the intruder.

The rear of the storefront restaurant is home to the Lil Africa Party Center, where only a few hours earlier, community activists and candidates for county prosecutor — including former city law directors Subodh Chandra and Robert Triozzi, former suburban prosecutor James McDonnell, and attorney and police officer Stephanie Hall — engaged in a remarkable discussion about law enforcement.

As we have come to expect, The Plain Dealer has early coverage of the crime but did not deign the community-organized debate newsworthy. Only when they read this will they learn the significance of the crime scene.

Our report on the debate itself will appear here this afternoon.

Update on Jan. 5 Prosecutors Debate: McGinty camp reports his unavailability

Our post yesterday included the following statement regarding our conversations with each candidate as well as with Brendan Doyle, campaign manager for Timothy McGinty:

 

The Real Deal contacted the other three candidates — Kelley, McDonnell and McGinty — yesterday, with each confirming their expectation to participate, although a couple had reservations due either to scheduling conflicts or concerns about one of the sponsors. [emphases added]

Late last night we received an email from Mr. Doyle indicating his camp’s inability to resolve the scheduling conflict in favor of the debate.

If you read the comments to the original post, you won't have much trouble reading between the lines.

Black community activists host Jan. 5 debate in wide-open race for County Prosecutor

Black community activists host Jan. 5 debate in wide-open race for County Prosecutor

Six candidates expected to participate in most even race in sixty years

Voters in Cuyahoga County are about to have a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in the open selection of Cuyahoga County prosecutor.

Ever since the legendary — many would say infamous — John T. Corrigan began the thirty-five year run that ended in 1991 and made him perhaps as feared locally for the exercise of discretionary powers as FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was nationally, and for many of the same reasons, voters have been faced with insiders and incumbents.

This year, five men and one woman, mostly all well-qualified on paper, are vying in the Democratic Party primary for a place on the November ballot. It’s a safe bet the March 6 primary winner will be the next county prosecutor as no Republican filed to run before the deadline.

The Democratic candidates are former Cleveland law director Subodh Chandra, who has been a federal prosecutor; police officer Stephanie Hall, who was an assistant county prosecutor before resigning to run; Cleveland city councilman Kevin Kelley; former North Royalton city prosecutor James J. McDonnell; former Common Pleas judge Timothy McGinty; and former judge and Cleveland law director Robert Triozzi.

All seek to succeed the incumbent prosecutor, Bill Mason, who used his political muscle to win the critical endorsement of the Democratic Executive Committee in the fight to succeed Stephanie Tubbs Jones after she resigned to run for Congress in 1998. Once installed as the incumbent, Mason never faced any opposition with the potential to oust him. 

Three candidates — Chandra, Hall, and Triozzi — had confirmed their participation by the time the sponsoring coalition, headed by The Imperial Women and The Audacity of H.O.P.E. Foundation, issued its press release on Tuesday. The Real Deal contacted the other three candidates — Kelley, McDonnell and McGinty — yesterday, with each confirming their expectation to participate, although a couple had reservations due either to scheduling conflicts or concerns about one of the sponsors.

The debate program will start at 5:30pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012. It will be held at the Lil’ Africa Party Center, 6816 Superior Ave., symbolically located in the heart of the inner city.

Cleveland Ward 7 councilman T. J. Dow, a former assistant county prosecutor, will moderate the debate. A community panel including Ward 8 councilman Jeff Johnson, attorney Michael Nelson Sr., Cleveland Jobs With Justice executive director Debbie Kline, and Art McKoy, will pose questions to the candidates. One intriguing aspect of the debate is that two of the panelists — are formerly incarcerated persons.

The public will be invited to ask questions during a 30-minute period following an hour of questions from the panel.

Sponsoring organizations include Occupy Cleveland, Occupy the Hood, The Cleveland chapter of the New Black Panther Party, Peace in the Hood, and Cleveland Urban News.

Contacts for the event are: Executive Director Frances Caldwell [Cleveland African-American Museum, 216-421-0929]; Kathy Wray Coleman   [Imperial Women Coalition Leader, 216-932-3114]; and Griot Y-Von [Audacity of H.O.P.E.  Foundation, 216-355-3374].