Cuyahoga Politics Today
Sometimes you can’t tell the players even with a scorecard
By R. T. Andrews
Vulgarity, racism, and misogyny in politics didn’t begin with the beyond shameful man in the White House known as 45, and it won’t end with his departure.
Poor taste and limited self-expression are not the province of any one political party.
For proof, we offer the recent Facebook post, shown here, by Garfield Heights ward 2 city councilman Charles “Chuck” Donahue Jr. [Donahue appears to have removed after fellow councilman Mike Dudley Sr. unfriended him on the social media site.]
It’s unlikely that Donohue recognizes the extent to which his post reveals his antiquated lens on black people, women, and patriotism. Several people with whom we spoke say that Donahue has long spewed venomous posts on FB.
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| Garfield Heights councilman Charles Donahue |
Once we chanced upon the post, we scrolled through other posts on Donahue’s page. If we didn’t know he was a Democrat, we’d place him in the GOP camp. He is clearly more aligned with Trump and Pence than with Pelosi, underscoring the reality that many Cuyahoga County Democrats, including numerous elected officials, would be Republicans if they lived elsewhere.
All politics is indeed local.
The abundance of Donahue-type Democrats in our county renders absurd any notion that the local party is a unified left-leaning political machine. The party is neither unified or leftish, and it is certainly no machine.
Donahue Democrats would likely be among the first to decry as “identity politics” the demands of women and minorities for seats at the table that have for so long been the exclusive preserve of white men. DDs are the reason that so many black people, who are anxious beyond measure to remove the nation’s racist-in-chief from the bully pulpit in the White House, back Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.
Demographic data for Garfield Hts. is not readily available by ward, but it appears that roughly 40-45% of Donahue’s constituents are African American. Donahue was recruited to run for the seat in 2019 by the suburb’s old guard when it appeared that Tenisha Mack, a black woman making her third run for the seat, would likely defeat incumbent Charles LaMalfa, who barely held her off in 2017.
LaMalfa, while stepping aside for Donahue, nonetheless ran several nasty ads against Mack, citing some indiscretions from 20 years ago that had her on the wrong side of the law.
Mack, who has a master’s degree in criminal justice, is finishing up her doctoral studies in criminal justice, lost to Donahue by 28 votes margin 2019, the identical margin of her 2017 defeat.
Garfield Heights is in the throes of reprising a familiar pattern in our hyper-segregated county. The process has unfolded in past decades in East Cleveland, Warrensville Heights, Bedford Heights and Maple Heights. In each of those communities, strong ethnic political machines held sway long after demographic changes would have supported a shift.
One suspects that the city’s longtime mayor, Vic Collova, would welcome more of a racial détente than presently seems to exist. This past February, for example, he was a proud participant in the city’s first ever municipal Black History observance, a tri-city event at the Garfield Heights Performing Arts Center co-hosted with Maple Heights and Bedford.
Collova gets good marks from black politicians. Mike Dudley, Sr., the city’s senior councilman who represents the city’s historically black neighborhoods, says he respects Collova, acknowledging that Collova operates within certain political constraints. County Councilman Pernel Jones calls Collova a “straight shooter”.
Garfield Heights remains a very white town in terms of its city administration, its police and fire departments, and all of the top positions in city government. It seems only a matter of time before there are some major breakthroughs. Last year, the school board gained a black majority for the first time in its history. When Shayla Davis won a council seat in November, it gave the city two black council members for the first time.
While some of the tension represents the natural flow of population and power, the transition is seldom smooth in Cuyahoga County where race is involved. Black people are too often received as immigrants from an alien culture, instead of as people just trying to improve their circumstances and secure a piece of the American dream.
And so, once again is heard the echo of Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without demand.”
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Statehouse News
State Rep. Stephanie Howse announced Monday on Facebook that she has contracted coronavirus:
Hey Beautiful People, wanted to let you know that it was just confirmed that I have tested positive for the coronavirus. My symptoms (cough, lost of taste and lost of smell) are pretty mild and prayerfully I will make a full recovery.
I’m in isolation right now in my bedroom, so I’m taking it easy and staying hydrated. Love y’all and I’ll keep you posted on my status #StephRonaLife #WearAMask
She posted video here.
Akron’s Emilia Sykes is EMILY's List 2020 Rising Star
State Representative Emilia Sykes, D-34, the Ohio House Minority Leader, is the 2020 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star, an award bestowed by EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest fund-raising resource for women in politics.
In a statement released along with the announcement, EMILY’s List president Stephanie Schriock called Sykes “a phenomenal legislator and champion for civil rights, … a leading voice on racial health disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic and [someone who] passionately calls out systemic oppression of the Black community. … We are proud to celebrate Emilia’s fearless leadership and we could not be more excited to see where her work takes her in the future.”
Sykes grew up in Akron as the daughter of two elected officials. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Kent State University and has both a law degree and a Master of Public Health from the University of Florida.
The Rising Star Award celebrates an extraordinary woman serving in state or local office. Previous honorees include former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams in 2014, then Boston City Councilwoman and now Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley in 2015, and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in 2018.
The award will be presented at the virtual We Are EMILY Conference on July 27th and will feature remarks by Giffords, a former congresswoman from Arizona.
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