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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