A
concerned Jackson camp shakes up his campaign
New team to lead
incumbent’s re-election effort down the stretch
In a
sharp turn of events, Mayor Frank Jackson has handed control of his campaign
for an unprecedented fourth term over to a young attorney admitted to the bar
only this year.
 |
| Michael Bowen is now running Mayor Frank Jackson's historic bid for a fourth ter |
Wayne Clarke, a Beltway consultant brought in from Maryland in July to run the campaign, is out.
Bowen is now in charge of a campaign team that includes political consultant Jon
Benedict of R Strategy Group and Bill Burges of Burges and Burges. Benedict
will serve as chief strategist for the campaign. Burges, considered the town’s
most experienced political consultant but who had been sidelined by Clarke earlier
this summer, will direct the media effort.
Many political
observers had expected some changes in the campaign’s organization and focus,
given the mayor’s lackluster performance in the Sept. 12 primary. Jackson led
the nine-man field but despite near-total name recognition, twelve years in
office, and a massive fund-raising advantage, got only 38.9 percent of the
vote. City Councilman Zack Reed came in second to the mayor, with 21.9 percent,
trailing the mayor by some 5,500 votes [7,194 to 12, 699].
Reed and
Jackson face off in the general election on Nov. 7.
Bowen’s
principal job will be to mobilize the formidable resources of the Jackson
campaign to get out the vote for the incumbent. Primary turnout was only about
13%, which means both Jackson and Reed have a lot of work to do. Reed likely
has the greater upside because Jackson is so much better known. But he has far
fewer resources to work with and must now contend with a homegrown campaigner
who lives for the political fight.
Reed
also announced adjustments to his campaign leadership team this
week, formally placing his longtime friend and ally, Kevin Jones, as head
of his campaign. Jones has taken a leave from his work as a senior account
executive with Stern Advertising.
Clarke’s
hiring by the Jackson campaign, reportedly on the recommendation of
Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, raised the eyebrows of many political watchers, who
wondered how an outsider with no knowledge of Cleveland’s political nooks
and crannies, could successfully navigate a major campaign. They also wondered
why Jackson couldn’t find local talent to do the job.
Jackson
may have confounded them again by reaching out to the young Bowen. The Miami
University grad has been well schooled in the political world, earning his
spurs in a number of candidate and issue-oriented campaigns. His mother was
former Shaker Heights councilwoman Lynn Ruffner, who passed away in 2014. Bowen
will be on leave from Taft until after the election.
Bowen is
a 21st century campaigner, and while he is savvy in the shoe-leather
ways of the old guard, he has been steadily building relationships across the
ethnic, political, and generational lines that have long calcified both Cleveland’s
political climate and its public discourse. If he is able to pull the creaky
ocean liner that is the Jackson administration into port once more ahead of the
more nimble and unpredictable Reed skiff, he will likely be lauded as the new Arnold
Pinkney.
# # #
-->
No comments:
Post a Comment