CPT • BREAKING NEWS: Marty Sweeney to join County Council after winning County Dems' unit vote

Cuyahoga Politics Today

By R. T. Andrews

Martin Sweeney at Cuyahoga County Democratic Party District 3 Executive Committee Meeting on Zoom

Former Cleveland city council president Martin J. Sweeney was selected to fill the Cuyahoga County District 3 seat left vacant by the resignation last month of County Council president Dan Brady. The closely contested vote was conducted this morning over Zoom.

Sweeney won a second ballot victory over attorney Brendan Heil, 35-27. Ryan Ross came in third with one vote.

33 votes were required to win the nod. On the first ballot, Sweeney led Heil 32 to 26, with Ross getting five votes; there was one abstention.

In a telephone interview with The Real Deal Press earlier this week, Sweeney, also a former state representative, said that he greatly missed public service and that if elected, he would dedicate himself to constituent service.

It is widely anticipated that Heil, who is the Cleveland ward 15 leader, and also president of the county's young Democrats, will challenge Sweeney when an election is held to fill the unexpired term.

The Heil-Sweeney contest was seen by many as a harbinger of what may be a changing of the guard in Cleveland's political climate, with so many key positions — the 11th Congressional District, Cleveland mayor, county executive — coming on the ballot in the next two years. And there are no doubt many Cleveland city councilmen anxiously awaiting to see how far the shoe drops when results of the 2020 Census become known. An expected steep decline in the city's population will trigger an automatic reduction in council's size, with some estimates that 4-6 seats will be eliminated.

Adding some intrigue to the contest was speculation by some that Sweeney was encouraged to enter the race against Heil by to deter Sweeney from challenging Cleveland ward 15 councilman Brian Mooney this fall. That encouragement was thought to come from forces aligned with council president Kevin Kelley, who is expected to announce soon his candidacy for the mayor's job this fall. 

Sweeney denied such speculation, although he did acknowledge in our interview that he was alerted to the county council vacancy by former county executive Ed FitzGerald, a known Kelley confidant.

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Fudge expected to announce support for FitzGerald-Kearney today

Fudge expected to endorse FitzGerald for Governor today

There has been an inordinate amount of chatter around town about the dismal prospects of presumptive Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald. Much of it turns on rumors that he is hostile or insensitive to various unidentified black interests. Some go so far as to accuse him of being racist, claiming animus in his tenure as Lakewood mayor or his work to date as Cuyahoga County’s first-ever County Executive. And they top it off by citing the indifference of our area’s two most prominent black elected officials, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson.

We thought the evidence was scant for these claims even before it was announced that Fudge would join FitzGerald this morning for a “major” campaign event that is all but certain to be her endorsement of the FitzGerald-Kearney ticket. * And we would bet a reasonable sum that Jackson will endorse the ticket as well, though probably not before 2014 actually arrives.

Politics is fascinating because it often confounds linear models except when they count the ballots. The Republicans are favored in all of next year’s statewide races and they should be. They have the advantages of incumbency, will likely raise more money, and will be running against a ticket of newcomers to statewide elections. These are huge factors. But there are always wild cards. How the economy is performing is certainly key. Creeping unemployment is a potent threat to Gov. Kasich’s claim of Ohio’s miraculous economic recovery, which if it has occurred at all, has been neither wide, nor deep, nor lasting.

A second wild card is likely to be the status of the Affordable Health Care Act next fall. Will voters be totally turned off by the administration of this historic legislation? Or will they in sufficient numbers come to appreciate the beginnings of a new health care system that promises to be more rational and equitable than the old regime? Will Kasich be able to use his Medicaid expansion leadership to make headway with black voters? Or will they instead remember the draconian cuts to local schools and services occasioned by his state budget cuts, and his overreach in support of labor union strangulation?

And the biggest wild card of all may be Ohio’s antediluvian Tea Party. Will they support the GOP ticket, sit on their hands, or find a third alternative?

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* The FitzGerald-Fudge event is scheduled to start at 10AM at the Memorial-Nottingham branch of the Cleveland Public Library, 17109 Lake Shore Blvd Cleveland, Ohio 44110.

Running mate for FitzGerald; Julian Rogers resigning from County Council; Headen victory confirmed

FitzGerald selects Kearney as running mate; Rogers to resign County council seat; mayor-elect Headen’s victory confirmed in Richmond Hts.

Two big announcements today have given additional heft to what was going to be an important day politically on the local political scene in any event.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee to take on Gov. John Kasich next year, has announced that

State Senator Eric Kearney of Cincinnati

state Sen. Eric Kearney of Cincinnati will be his running mate. Kearney, who is the Senate Minority Leader, is term-limited and would be ineligible to run for another Senate term.

Today’s second announcement is the report that Cuyahoga County councilman Julian Rogers of Cleveland Heights will be resigning his seat at the end of January to comply with the terms of a new job he just started at Cleveland State University. Rogers is CSU’s new director of community partnerships, a job that will pay him nearly double his $45,000 part-time council salary.

County Councilman Julian Rogers of Cleveland Heights,
attending a meeting in East Cleveland earlier this year

Rogers won in a crowded field in 2010. He was unopposed in 2012 when he ran for a full four-year term. Under terms of the county charter, his successor will be chosen by Democratic central committee members from his district, which includes Under the county charter, precinct members from Rogers' District 10, will have 30 days to pick a replacement after his resignation becomes effective. County District 10 includes Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, University Heights, Bratenahl, Cleveland Ward 8, and part of Cleveland Ward 10.

The County Board of Elections met this afternoon at 3PM to certify the Nov. 5 election results, which may trigger either some automatic recounts by statute, or encourage some diehards to pay for a recount.

Miesha Headen, Richmond
Heights mayor-elect

The official election results will likely be posted on the elections board website later today. But we can with pleasure and assurance that the reign of Richmond Heights mayor Dan Ursu is at an end. His 55 vote Election Day deficit grew to a 71-vote margin once all qualified provisional and absentee ballots were counted. The final tally was 1021 for Ursu and 1092 for mayor-elect Miesha Headen. Her 2.5% margin of victory is well beyond the .5% margin requirement that would have triggered an automatic recount.

Headen will be sworn in December 1 and assume office the same day.

Eric Brewer launches online newspaper

Former East Cleveland mayor Eric Brewer has just announced the debut of his online newspaper, The Cleveland Challenger.

Brewer, who is both editor and publisher, said in an email circulated today, that the first issue carries an assortment of fifteen pieces, including articles dealing with the Cleveland police chase that resulted in the homicides of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams last November; alleged bias on the part of Cleveland Heights officials in targeting a nightclub that catered to black patrons in the tony Cedar-Fairmount area; and assorted other pieces. 

An initial perusal of the paper's website left the impression that almost all of the stories contain reports or allegations of wrongdoing by the high and mighty, including Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Mandel Jewish Community Center.

The Challenger carries with it a price of $10 for a monthly subscription. Weekly updates are promised.

Brewer served one term as East Cleveland mayor from 2006-2009. He was soundly defeated in his re-election bid. 

Wednesday Politics RICHMOND HEIGHTS: Longtime mayor to face opposition

Wednesday Politics

RICHMOND HEIGHTS: Longtime mayor to face opposition

[Editor’s Note: Technical difficulties prevented our posting yesterday. We couldn’t get online.]

This is the first of a series of periodic snapshots on local 2013 municipal election campaigns.

This blog took a big leap forward in May 2011 when we followed our curiosity to Richmond Heights and its sociocultural struggles as they were being played out in its high school basketball program. Over the course of the following nine months some of our most widely read and circulated pieces covered key developments in the small but significant bedroom community [See here, here, and here].

Sometime this year we will return to the Richmond Heights school district to catch up on how the district is faring educationally. We can report today however that, thanks to a nearly complete turnover of the district school board, the costly shenanigans rooted in cronyism and race have pretty much disappeared. Only one member remains from the Board’s January 2011 organizational meeting.

Richmond Heights Board of Education, from left: Carmela Carter, Frank Barber, Linda Pliodzinkas, Tamitra Peavy and Bobby Jordan Sr. Jordan is president, Barber is vice president.

In reporting on Richmond Heights schools we came to understand the ways in which the district’s issues were only a part of the city’s underperformance. The city was in such financial straits that it would have been placed under fiscal watch in 2011 had the current standards of the State Auditor been in place at the time.

Perhaps this is the reason that the city’s longtime mayor, Daniel Ursu, in office since 1989, stopped giving "State of the City" addresses after 2010. His office told us today that he is working on an SOC this year.

Richmond Heights has four municipal races this year: mayor, council president, and the two council at large seats. These are held, respectively, by Ursu, David Roche, Miesha Wilson Headen, and Donald O’Toole.

Eloise Henry
Ward 3 Councilwoman

Miesha Wilson Headen
Councilwoman at Large

Whether Ursu pursues his seventh four year term may turn on whether he relishes a challenge from at least one and perhaps two or more city council members. While ward 3 councilwoman Eloise Henry is telling friends that she is in the race “no matter who else is running”, Headen faces a choice between running for reelection to the seat she won four years ago in her first try for public office, or going up against her colleague and perhaps others in a mayoral bid. The answer will likely depend on how much money she thinks she can raise.

Council president Roche told us that he is leaning towards running for re-election as opposed to seeking the mayor’s seat. Likewise, O'Toole says that he expects to run for re-election.

Ursu has yet to announce his plans.

Candidates can begin circulating petitions on June 8 and must file them by August 7. Richmond Heights offices are nonpartisan. The city has no primary.

Gender Gap between parties is growing

Prof. Karen Beckwith

Political scientist Karen Beckwith will lead a discussion this Friday on why Democratic women in Congress outnumber their Republican colleagues by such a hefty margin and what significance this may or may not have.

Beckwith, the Flora Stone Mather Professor of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University, will be the featured guest at this week’s Public Affairs Discussion Group from 12:30 to 1:30PM in the Kelvin Smith Library Dampeer Room. The library is adjacent to Severance Hall.

Eighty percent of female senators and more than 75 percent of female representatives are Democrats.

All-but announced 2013 State candidate Nina Turner to speak in Shaker Heights

State Senator and Minority Whip Nina Turner, D-25, who delivered impromptu remarks that fired up a diverse crowd of Democratic activists two weeks ago when state party chair Chris Redfern was in town, returns to the same location tomorrow. This time the microphone will have her name on it, though she didn’t need it last time.

Turner is the presumptive frontrunner as her party’s nominee to take on Secretary of State Jon Husted next year. Husted is a prime target for those upset by the restrictive voting procedures he has sought to impose since he won the seat in 2010. She is expected to talk about voting reforms but it’s a fair assumption that her talk will be anything but dry.

The program begins at 7PM at the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Community Center, 3450 Lee Road.

The event is open to the public and refreshments will be provided. Sponsors include the Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus, Beachwood-Woodmere Democratic Ward Club, Bedford/Walton Hills Democratic Party, Cleveland Stonewall Democrats, Ohioans for Democratic Values, Shaker Heights Democratic Club, South Euclid Democratic Club and University Heights Democratic Club.

Note to Republicans: we know some of you read these posts. We will be pleased to report your events in this space, as we have done in the past. Send your announcements to us here.

County Executive to speak in Cleveland Heights next week

Finally, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald will be at Grace Lutheran Church, 13001 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights, at 7PM next Thursday, February 28 for what sponsors Cleveland Stonewall Democrats and Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus are billing as a “conversation”.

Free; open; refreshments.