Sunday, February 02, 2020

CPT • Council President calls Tony George's bluff; George blinks; Voters stiffed once again


Cuyahoga Politics Today

Citizens Group takes City Council reduction off the ballot to "study" issue

Clergy group rides to restauranteur's rescue

Groundhog Day came two days early in Cleveland this year as voters ready to speak truth to power once again had their ballots snatched away in last minute negotiations conducted at a table where they had no seats.
Two proposed charter amendments — one to reduce the size of Cleveland City Council from 17 to 9 members, the other to slash the pay of council members from about $83,000 to $58,000 — were all set to be on the ballot on the March 17 primary election, when Clevelanders First, the group sponsoring the charter initiatives, agreed to withdraw their petitions for the equivalent of $24.00, some moth-eaten blankets and two nose-bleed seats to a Monsters hockey game.

Reducing Council's size could lead to a realignment whereby for the first time in history, Cleveland would have a majority black council.

Restauranteur and Busi-
nessman Tony George
The deal was announced Friday afternoon by Rev. Aaron Phillips at a hastily-arranged press conference on Friday afternoon at Greater Abysinnia Baptist Church on the city’s east side. Phillips is executive director of the Cleveland Clergy Coalition, which he describes as an “amalgamation of most of the city’s clergy groups”. Clevelanders First, an ad hoc assembly of mostly west siders, was represented by its spokesmen and by businessman Tony George, who clearly runs the group. George funded the effort to secure the 22,000 petition signatures submitted to city council in December. Once the petitions were ruled valid by the Board of Elections, council was required to put the issues on the ballot.
Also present were east side councilmen Mike Polensek and Joe Jones.
Noticeably absent from the press conference and seemingly not party to the deal was council leadership: President Kevin Kelley, Majority Leader Phyllis Cleveland and Majority Whip Blaine Griffin.

George backs down
How and why this deal came together is not altogether clear. In fact, Phillips said on his Monday radio show that while he favored a resolution that would keep reduction off the ballot, he feared it wasn’t going to happen. By the end of the week, he was proclaiming its accomplishment. He also made some comments about race that bear scrutiny.
While the Clergy Coalition’s actual size and strength is not apparent, what is clear is that Phillips has become an important player in local politics. His political consulting firm, Engagement Consulting LLC, is regularly contracted for service, especially by white west side judicial candidates without bona fide crosstown community connections. His ability to get these candidates in front of black preachers adds to his credibility, if not necessarily to that of the ministers.
Phillips has also become an adept multi-platform communicator. He has a Monday drive-time radio show on WERE which he simulcasts on Facebook. Recent guests have lined up precisely with candidates endorsed by Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who Phillips touts as the indisputable leader of the black community.
Phillips is also reputed to have a close relationship with George, who may have overplayed his hand in this council reduction issue. It was widely reported that George wanted Council to switch the city’s electricity contract from NOPEC to First Energy, and that Kelley’s refusal to go along led George to push council reduction as payback.

But as George himself acknowledged at the press conference, he pushed a similar council reduction issue back in 2008. Then-council President Marty Sweeney was willing to negotiate city charter changes that George thought reasonable.
Rev. Aaron Phillips, shown above with County Prosecutor
Michael O'Malley and County Executive Armond Budish, right,
at October 2019 fundraiser for the Cleveland Clergy Coalition.

George told me months ago that he was willing to negotiate this time as well, that he was open to a reduction in council size to perhaps eleven or thirteen. Kelley, however, was intractable, perhaps because one of George’s conditions was that Kelley resign from council, or at least step down as president. Kelley, who is expected to run for mayor if Frank Jackson ever retires, of course found George’s position wholly unacceptable.

Rev. Aaron Phillips with Cleveland City CouncilPresident Kevin Kelley at October fundraiser. The event was held at Crop Restaurant on Lorain Ave. in Ohio City. The restaurant is one of many owned by Tony George.
Phillips said at the news conference that a reputable organization, most likely Cleveland State University, would be asked to perform a comparative study to establish what council’s optimal size and configuration should be.
While George praised the idea as brilliant, and repeatedly thanked Phillips for the Coalition’s intervention, the study seems like a fig leaf to cover George’s total capitulation. When Kelley refused any deal, George chose to fold, despite holding what was likely the whip hand, given the voters’ rampant displeasure with City Hall. Speculation in some circles is that George didn’t want to fund a campaign that he had thought he could win for what it cost to gather sufficient petition signatures.
When George belittled Kelley and his leadership team at the press conference for their refusal to accept the deal whatever recommendations may come out of the study, his combative tone belied the fact of his total surrender. Neither Jones nor Polensek, the two councilmen who spoke at the press conference, is a staunch Kelley supporter; their presence seemed designed to suggest that George actually had a negotiating partner.

Winners and Losers
The obvious winners in this ballot issue cancelation are Phillips, council members, and Mayor Frank Jackson, who recorded two “e-newsletters” that essentially said cutting council in half would make council even more distant from the voters.
George was not the only big loser in this deal. Any Cleveland voters looking to reform a legislative body that has circumvented their efforts to secure a living wage, stop the unpopular decision to expand the Q [now Rocket Mortgage Arena], and had to be forced to address the lead poisoning crisis, by threat of yet another voter initiative, have once again been deprived of an opportunity to be heard. Their choice has been taken away, and this time they don’t even have a villain.
And possibly rubbing salt in the wound, the ballots are already printed so voters will see the two issues. If Clevelanders First follows through as expected and notifies the Board of Elections to withdraw the petitions, the board is required to post signs at the polls saying votes on the issue will not count.
Early voting begins February 19.

When is race NOT a factor?
With Cleveland’s hyper segregation, no discussion of representation can take place without considering the impact of race. In fact, when we spoke with black opponents of council reduction, they typically focused on the diminution of black power since there would be fewer black council members. They seemed not to consider whether a reduction process might lead to a realignment whereby for the first time in history, Cleveland might have a majority black council.

Both on his radio show last week and at the press conference, Phillips suggested that the council reduction issue would in effect lead to a race war between the east and west sides of town. This hoary argument apparently had some effect on the west side Clevelanders First, because they said they were unaware of these tensions and wanted to avoid them.
What’s more likely is that some black councilmen were ready to play the race card in order to scare their constituents into believing that council reduction was a strategy to contain black political power.

Implications for redistricting, 2021 mayor’s race
The 2020 census may prove us wrong, but we believe it likely to show some surprising demographic shifts in the city’s population. We suspect the city’s proportion of people of color has shifted westward in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis that hollowed out much of the city’s east and southern sections.
What this means for the redrawing of ward lines is totally unknown. Council presidents have usually had a large say in how this has been done in the past. But Kelley, who paradoxically is seldom challenged by his caucus, is not a strong president. In a secret ballot he likely would not be favored to retain his post. And if Jackson decides not to run for a record fifth term, Kelley is expected to run to succeed him. Will he be able to control the reshaping of ward boundaries in an election year?

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