Cuyahoga
Politics Today
The Cuyahoga Democratic Party
Inside the
judicial endorsement process
Black people who came of age during the Civil Rights Era of the ‘50s and
‘60s were regularly exhorted by our parents that we had to be twice as good as
the white man just to get half a chance.
While African Americans have made great strides in many arena of our
society over the past several decades, that progress has been uneven. In politics, for instance, it remains damnably
difficult for a black man to be elected a county judge in Cuyahoga County.
One might say that it should be difficult for anyone to be elected a judge, and we would agree. Integrity,
judgment, temperament, experience, intellect, emotional and social intelligence
should be a part of the makeup of every member of the bench. Unfortunately,
none of these competencies are requirements. Basically you just need to have
five years of bar admission and be less than 70 on day one of your term.
This means that just about any lawyer can run. You will be immensely helped
if you have a wide circle of friends, a good name, and either your own money or
the ability to raise a hunk of it.
SOME NAMES
MATTER
And did we say a good name? Here are some names on the county judicial
roster as of December 31:
• CELEBREEZE [2
judges with this surname] [Frank D. Jr., Leslie Ann]
• CALABRESE
• McCORMACK
• McCORMICK
• McCLELLAND
• GALLAGHER [7] [Eileen T., Eileen A., Hollie Lauren; Kelly Ann; Laura J.; Sean C.;
Shannon M.]
• BOYLE
• KILBANE
• RUSSO [5] [Anthony J., John J.; Joseph D., Michael J., Nancy
Margaret]
• SWEENEY
• DONNELLY
• McDONELL
• O’DONNELL
• O’MALLEY
• GAUL
• GALL
• CORRIGAN [3] [Brian J.; Patrick F.; Peter J.]
• SUTULA [2] [Kathleen Ann; John D.]
• CLANCY
• SHAUGHNESSY
• SHEEHAN
• RYAN [Michael John]
On the municipal court level, perhaps waiting to move up, are such names as
O’Leary, Cassidy, Sweeney, Carroll, O’Donnell, Gilligan, Fitzsimmons, and
Hagan.
Among those who have pulled petitions in advance of this year’s Feb. 7
deadline are these judicial hopefuls: Kilbane [Ashley], O’Malley [Jennifer L], Sheehan
[Michelle], Santoli [Andrew J.], and Satola [James W.]. And there will also be
some of the aforementioned incumbents — a Donnelly, a Celebreeze Jr., and a
Gallagher — seeking higher judicial perches.
Understand that the recitation of these surnames is in no way meant to
disparage either our judicial system or the many fine and honorable judges who
sit on our local benches.
But I am saying that the only black judge mentioned so far would have had a
much tougher electoral row to hoe if his name wasn’t Michael John Ryan.
For the record, there are seven African American women on the county bench,
out of a total of 59 judges: Patricia Ann Blackmon, Cassandra Collier-Williams,
Alison Nelson Floyd, Tonya R. Jones, Anita Laster Mays, Melody Stewart, and Shirley
Strickland Saffold. Besides Judge Ryan at Juvenile Court, appellate court Judge
Larry A. Jones is the only other black male currently on the county bench.
Thirty-four of these coveted county judicial seats are in the general
division of Common Pleas Court. The general division, which handles both civil
and criminal matters, is where felony cases are heard and disposed of, making
it the fulcrum of the criminal justice system, and thus where the overwhelming
number of criminal defendants are people of color, mostly males, mostly black
men.
This is why the absence of even one male judge of color is such a huge
issue, not just for the thousands of people who pass through this system every
year, but even in the judicial conferences of these 34 judges. Whatever they
talk about, there should be at least one black male there to offer some sorely
needed perspective, of a sort that even empathic, brilliant and persuasive
judges who are not black men cannot fully represent.
The foregoing discussion is a long but necessary predicate to understanding
our earlier assertion about how hard it is for a black man to be elected a
judge countywide in Cuyahoga County.
Basic Numbers
Some basic arithmetic is in order here. There are 12 Common Pleas judge
races on the ballot this year. These are six year terms, and so a third of the
34 total general division seats are up every two years. There is heightened
attention in this cycle because only eight incumbents are running for
reelection, meaning there are four “open” seats.
Given the built in advantages an incumbent has when running for
re-election, it is hardly surprising that as of this writing, only one
candidate is challenging any of the eight incumbents seeking re-election.
There are six African American or Hispanic candidates running for Common
Pleas judgeships as of now, not counting incumbents running for reelection. Two
are black men — Karrie Howard and Retanio Rucker. Two are Hispanic: Pablo
Castro and Michael Rendon. And two are African American women: Andrea Nelson
Moore and Deborah Turner.
With all six of these minority candidates running for an open seat, along
with half a dozen other candidates, clearly there will be some head-butting
between some of the candidates of color. Normally, this is where senior party
leadership — your party chair and/or other power brokers — step in and
urge/convince/cajole/force one or more candidates to shift slots or even drop
out “for the good of the party”. We’ve seen this recently on the state level,
where on both the GOP and Democrat sides, there has been consolidation among
gubernatorial hopefuls, as in DeWine-Husted and Cordray-Sutton.
This has not happened with any effectiveness in these judicial contests.
For the better part of a year, there have been disquieting rumors about a
developing alliance between east and west side Democratic factions. I say
disquieting because the history of the Democratic Party has not been good where
the rubber meets the road. Black Democrats often fail to win endorsements
against white candidates even when the former meet that “twice as good”
standard. And when they do, the endorsement often seems to count for less, as
westside Democrats either skip over the black candidate or even cross party lines
to vote for the Republican.
Further adding to the discomfort of the cross-county alliance is that one
party thereto is former county prosecutor Bill Mason. During his dozen or so
years as county prosecutor, Mason seemed to double down on the legacy of the
notorious John T. Corrigan, whose thirty plus year run as prosecutor was
distinguished by two accomplishments of significance to the black community:
his office routinely over-indicted black defendants and he regularly recruited
and supported hard-on-crime judicial candidates.
Mason went Corrigan one better, recruiting precinct committee people, in
some cases the wives, brothers, or other relatives of his hundreds of assistant
prosecutors, so as to dominate every aspect of the party not directly controlled
by the crooked tandem of Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo, who were both party
leaders and high-ranking county public officials, carrying out their criminal
enterprises across the street from Mason’s office.
The Russo-Dimora cabal was busted by the Feds; the duo went to prison,
convicted along with several dozen others in the huge corruption scandal. The
whole affair led to a new form of county government, beginning with the 2010
election, and Mason entered private practice.
After a too short hiatus, Mason has once again become a major player in
party politics, perhaps an even more dangerous one since he can operate without
the confines of an oath of office and through a network of college buddies and
personal allegiances that have remained intact.
His eastside horse-trading partner? Why that would seem to be Marcia Fudge,
occupant of the most sacred political perch in the black community:
Congressional representative of the 11th District.
We said earlier merit is not what gets your name on the ballot. So we mean
no disrespect when we talk here about horse trades. All but the most naïve
judicial candidates discover early on the need to make the rounds of those who
can help them — people like the Congresswoman and the former prosecutor and typically,
the Party chair.
Bargain, then
Stand and Deliver?
As the candidates made their rounds in this election cycle, Fudge and Mason
struck a bargain on who they would collectively back. Mason’s prime candidates
were Andrew Santoli and Emily Hagan. Fudge wanted Deborah Turner and Andrea
Nelson Moore. The deal wasn’t intended to remain a secret because it could only
be effected by passing the word to city and ward leaders and ultimately the
precinct committee people who do the actual voting.
For the judgeships, the endorsement process is two-fold. The first step was
last week, when city and ward leaders gathered to make their recommendations to
the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee meets this
Saturday to act on the recommendations. They can accept or reject any
recommendation, and endorse or issue no endorsement in any race. Typically,
however, they tend to follow the city and ward leader recommendations.
So what happened to the Fudge favorites? Neither was recommended by the 41
assembled city and ward leaders. Twenty-one votes were required to win a
recommendation. Turner got 13 in her slot, coming in second to Karrie Howard,
to the great surprise of many. Howard got 17 votes, and another 10 went to
Mickey Mottl, a Parma native son. [We’ll write more about Howard soon.]
Moore was likewise unsuccessful, making Fudge zero for two. Mason went two
for two, raising the question of whether he was unable to deliver for Fudge or
chose not to.
In any event, the result is that with four open seats and six candidates of
color who range from fair to outstanding, the most loyal and largest contingent
of the Party could not get a single one of its candidates recommended in the
first round.
This has heightened tensions considerably for Saturday’s Central Committee
meeting. As is always the case, the results will depend on who is best able to
turn out their troops. The stakes are high. The entire community needs a
diverse bench of highly competent jurists. The black community needs representation.
The County Democratic Party needs to demonstrate something more than the back
of its hand to qualified black candidates.
The current party chair is County Councilwoman Shontel Brown of
Warrensville Heights. The local Congresswoman is Marcia Fudge of Warrensville
Heights. Both are black.
What is to be concluded if they are unable to deliver a single endorsement
this Saturday?
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