"Think of Justice as a Value, not a system"

The actor Michael K. Williams was in Cleveland this past week. He visited the County Detention Center and spoke at Cleveland State University's Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Shared below is an account of that day written by Dean of the Law School and circulated via his Monday Morning Messages.

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"I want you all to imagine what it was like for me to talk to an 11-year-old dark-skinned boy by the name of Michael, with a scar on his face, who knew to take his pain and suffering of his long eleven years of living - and use it to be a blessing in someone else's life. That broke me down....  It struck a fire in my gut.  And that fire was called:  never again." – Michael K. Williams Actor, Producer, “Raised in the System.”

"When I had difficult times in prison ….where I was housed with 2200 men for every crime you could probably think of …. I said to myself that I want to be a light in this dark place. I understood that I couldn't get over this, I couldn't get under it, I had to go through it." – Dominic Dupont, whose 25 year-to-life sentence was commuted by Governor Andrew Cuomo

"A long time my kids asked me, ‘How can you believe in the criminal justice system that did that to you?’  I said, ‘it wasn't the criminal justice system, it was individuals.... If I didn't believe in the criminal justice system, I wouldn't be able to help people get out of prison who don't belong there’." – Derrick Hamilton, exonerated after 20 years in prison

"I'm asking all of you in this room - be it judges, or prosecutors, or defense attorneys, legal aid society, or service providers - to think of justice as a value and not as a system."  - Dana Rachlin, Founder, NYC Together

"We, as judges, those of us involved in the criminal justice system, we've got to get off the bench. I have a hashtag that I use and I call it #beyondthefourwalls. And so I come off the bench, I come out of my robe, I go into the schools." – Judge Michael Ryan ‘96

“I feel indebted to C|M|LAW and the alumni community for giving me a chance to join this profession, for giving me the skills and the support to do the work I care about, and for joining me in my mission. I look forward to carrying these efforts upward and onward with you!”  -Kim Corral ‘12

We are a law school without walls. Every week throughout the year, we foster a culture where our students learn not only in the classroom but also through forums that inspire honest engagement and respectful discourse and dialogue on society’s most challenging legal issues.

Thanks to the impressive efforts of Kim Corral '12, on Thursday, November 29, the C|M|LAW Alumni Association, led by Judge Michelle Paris ’84, partnered with our C|M|LAW Criminal Justice Center and the ACLU of Ohio to bring HBO star Michael K. Williams (The Wire/ Boardwalk Empire) for a packed day of social justice programing. See Cleveland-Marshall Alumni Association Hosts Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion.

The day started when Williams screened his documentary, Raised in the System, with a small group of boys age 9-17 at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center. See HBO Star Visits Cuyahoga Juvenile Detention Center. Joining Williams were Derrick Hamilton and Dominic Dupont. Hamilton was exonerated in 2015 after serving over 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Dupont, Director of the Youth Assistance Program, was recently released from prison after serving 20 years of a 25-to-life sentence. His sentence was commuted by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in recognition of his leadership in anti-violence programs for youth.

Each of these men gave a heartfelt talk to the boys about their own experiences. The response by the young boys was remarkable; they responded by talking about the pain they have experienced throughout their lives. It was a revealing and compelling experience.

On his way to the law school, Michael Williams met with CSU President Harlan Sands. At noon, Williams, Hamilton, and Dupont, joined by Victor Seltzer and Dana Rachlin, spoke to a group of our students about police reform and community development. Seltzer is the CEO of Making Kids Win. Rachlin is the founder of NYC Together.

In the afternoon, the Moot Courtroom was packed for a screening of Michael K. William’s Raised in the System HBO Documentary. After the screening, Kim Corral '12 introduced Williams. Together they announced the creation of the C|M|LAW Alumni Association Live Justice Scholarship which will go to a first year C|M|LAW student who has demonstrated a strong commitment to social justice. Over $19,000 was raised for the new scholarship in just one day, including a contribution from Michael K. Williams.

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich then moderated an inspiring panel discussion with Williams, Seltzer, Hamilton, Dupont, and Rachlin. All of the panelists volunteered their time, woke up at 4 a.m. to fly to Cleveland, and spent a full ten hour day inspiring, educating, and challenging their audiences to engage in the important, collaborative work of justice reform. See Photos from C|MLAW Event with Michael K. Williams.

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THE REAL DEAL PRESS is now ​a digital weekly​,​reporting on the interplay of race, class and power in the civic, business and cultural spaces of Northeast Ohio and beyond.​

Read the current issue.

The Power of ONE Vote

There are numerous examples of the importance of every single vote. We like this reminder, courtesy of today's Monday Morning Message, a weekly missive from Lee Fisher, Dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University.

Fisher was elected Ohio Attorney General in 1990 in the closest statewide election in Ohio history. The margin is easy to remember, 1,234 votes out of 3.4 million votes cast. That was less than one vote per precinct, earning him the dubious moniker of "Landslide Lee".

If you haven't voted early, vote tomorrow. If you don't care to vote for yourself, vote for someone you love, whose freedom, finances, education, health, or security depends on the outcome. Be her hero.

And make sure you vote all the way to the end of the ballot. Some of the most important races are there. If you haven't researched all the contests and issues, check our our endorsements in the current  issue of  The Real Deal Press. You can even access it on your smart phone or tablet inside the voting booth, so there is no reason to skip a race because you don't have a clue.

11th District Caucus forum: Spring Training for County Exec Candidates

Last Saturday the Eleventh Congressional District Caucus held a forum for the declared county executive candidates who will be running in the September 7 primary. The timing was a little out of kilter because of the heated battles going on in several local Democratic primaries, not to mention the heated statewide battle for the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring US Senator George Voinovich.

Nonetheless, the forum was a good opportunity for the county executive candidates to try out their campaign themes on a politically sophisticated audience. Nearly 200 people were in attendance at the forum in the new John Adams High School on Cleveland’s east side. The candidates — Opportunity Corridor director Terri Hamilton Brown; former state representative Matt Dolan; Lakewood mayor Ed FitzGerald, and South Euclid mayor Georgine Welo — each offered an opening statement and then answered questions prepared by the moderator, county recorder Lillian Greene, or written down and collected from the audience.

Dolan’s participation must have surprised many in attendance, and was certainly news to some in the party hierarchy. The caucus has come to be widely but inaccurately perceived as being a Democratic Party affiliate. Its leader, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, D-11, has overseen the organization’s transformation from a strictly political organization to a non-profit, nonpartisan corporation. As such, the Republican Dolan was invited on the same basis as the others, and was in fact able to establish a connection with many in the audience.

Dolan told the crowd that the chief executive needed to set the vision for the new county government and council. He touted his bi-partisan bona fides and promised to use the position as a bully pulpit for public education. He came across as somewhat paternalistic when he talked about helping the new county council to see a broader vision.

FitzGerald stressed restoring integrity to county government and spoke of his experience as Lakewood mayor in managing a $100 million budget. He spoke optimistically of establishing a collegial relationship with the new council and indicated that a FitzGerald administration would emphasize human services along with jobs and growth.

Welo, styling herself as “the people’s candidate”, made it clear that a Welo administration would focus on the core issues of health, safety, and welfare. Her manner was direct and unvarnished as she strove to project a straight-ahead, commonsense, can-do approach.

The forum was probably most beneficial to Brown, who likely possesses the best resume as a professional manager but is a political novice as a candidate. She had difficulty in keeping her answers to a manageable length, and also struggled to find a natural, conversational tone. She is clearly more comfortable in a board room than on the stump, and whatever notion she had of making an easy transition to the microphone was quickly dispelled. To her credit, she acknowledged the challenge and her promise to meet it seemed to draw warm sympathy from the crowd. Brown also connected by tracing her Lee-Harvard upbringing.

Dolan likely has a clear path through the September Republican primary to the general election in November. Brown, FitzGerald and Welo will compete in the Democratic primary. The filing deadline for both primaries is June 24. Those who win the party primaries will be facing one and probably two additional major candidates. Conservative businessman Ken Lanci is running already as an independent, and rumors are rife that maverick Democrat and former county commissioner Tim McCormack will also run as an independent.

Four candidates in the general election, each reasonably well-financed and with a well-defined political base, means the first Cuyahoga County chief executive could be elected with as little as 30% of the vote in November.
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Grits ain't Gravy [Miscellaneous Political Notes]

The caucus meeting offered some interesting side stories:
• Congresswoman Fudge, for instance, unlike many office holders, was content to make some brief remarks and then sit down without trying to dominate the proceedings.
• Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, running for the US Senate, arrived with her campaign team, made some concise remarks, and sat attentively throughout the meeting.
• A campaign tracker, said to be an operative of her primary opponent, Lt. General Lee Fisher, kept a camera focused on Brunner the entire time.

Brunner the Best for Ohio Democrats

Democratic voters have an excellent chance this fall to send a strong new voice to Washington as Ohio’s next U. S. senator. Almost from the day George Voinovich announced in January 2009 that he would retire at the end of his term this year, it was clear that Democrats would be choosing their nominee between two of their best state officials, Lt. Governor Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

The last 15 months of head-to-head political campaigning have made two things clear: Jennifer Brunner would be a stronger Democratic standard bearer against the Republican nominee in November, and Jennifer Brunner would be a stronger US Senator for Ohio and the nation.

When voters are faced with two strong and capable candidates who hold roughly similar political views, who to vote for becomes less a matter of policy positions and more a question of character and style. This is perhaps especially true when the electoral prize is one of just a hundred seats in the US Senate, often referred to as “the world’s most exclusive club”.

Ohio’s Democratic leaders seem to have had that paradigm of exclusivity in mind as they fell into near lockstep behind Fisher. For Gov. Strickland on down through the party apparatus of Democratic state legislators, county party chairs and the rest of the old guard party hierarchy, Fisher has been the sanctioned choice.

That he would serve capably there is really no doubt. He is an experienced legislator and was a very good Ohio attorney general. He is a well-seasoned politician who would fit easily in the Senate. He is a prolific fundraiser, but is a two-edged sword. The ability to put big-time contributors at ease seems to make even the best-intentioned politicians less like public servants and more like leaders who follow lobbyists. In the wake of the recent abominable Citizens United decision by the US Supreme Court that seems to encourage unprecedented corporate intrusion into the electoral process, this is likely to be an even larger problem.

Brunner is much less likely to be a handmaiden to the corporate interests that dominate the club. For starters, she hasn’t been a career politician, having been in public office only since 2000, when she ran successfully for common pleas judge in Franklin County. Two years later, she was re-elected, serving about six years before resigning to run statewide for Secretary of State.

Notwithstanding her relative freshness as a public official, Brunner, 53, possesses considerable political savvy. She worked four years for Sherrod Brown in the mid-eighties when the latter was Ohio’s Secretary of State. Additionally, she represented many elected officials during her private practice on issues involving election law and campaign finance. She was an innovative judge in Franklin County, not from the standpoint of being an “activist” judge, but as a jurist who sought to improve the system by working with her colleagues. We think she can help President Obama do the same in Washington.

My direct observations of Brunner in different settings — as public official and on the campaign trail — suggest that she is a thoughtful and committed public servant, both open and approachable. She gets the idea of servant leadership. She acts from a strong and secure principled base, with more quiet tenacity and much less bombast than most politicians. What you see in public is likely what you will get in private.

Probably no place is that attribute more significant — and rare — than in the US Senate. Our local daily, in its weakly-supported endorsement of Fisher, suggested that he was more likely to get along in the clubby Senate than she. No doubt. But it’s not clear why that was a virtue.

Ohio has never sent a woman to the US Senate, where women are outnumbered by worse than four-to-one. And it should be noted that among GOP senators, it is the women senators from Maine who are the least doctrinaire and partisan. As the junior US senator, we think Brunner would be inside the room, but more likely than most to insist that the door be open for the public interest.

All the Democratic bigwigs are behind Lee Fisher in this race. That Brunner has neither bent, buckled nor broken in the face of the behind-the-scenes bullying is telling. She has stayed the course in the race, connected with voters in large settings and small, campaigning with a quiet ease and grace that have been impressive.

While some who have worked with her express concern about her administrative skills, she has run an impressive and imaginative campaign with far fewer resources than her opponent. She is clearly but quietly a formidable candidate. If she wins the nomination, she will have an outstanding to chance to win in November and become an equally formidable Senator for progressive issues.

Democrats who have yet to cast their primary votes should put Brunner at the top of the ticket. President Obama told us during the campaign that he could not bring change by himself. Nominating Jennifer Brunner as Ohio’s Democratic candidate for Senator would signal change about the role of money in campaigns, and address the concerns of many local Democrats about fostering a more open and transparent party process.

Party rank-and-filers: if you want to feel better about your party and your choice -- both in November and for the next six years – vote for Brunner.

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Fisher gears up for stretch run

Lt. Governor Lee Fisher was in his best campaign mode on Saturday when he appeared at the new Lancer Restaurant, across the street from its original historic location. He had invited the Cuyahoga County Young Democrats to breakfast, though its membership was considerably outnumbered by the old political heads that comprised the majority of his audience. Fisher’s campaign struck some new tones in calling upon old friends to help carry him to victory in the next 30 days in the May 4 Democratic primary battle to win the Democratic Party nomination to run in November for the open seat to succeed the retiring George Voinovich.    

 

The stakes are high, as Fisher himself noted. Ohio is a pivotal state in national politics, and its current senatorial and gubernatorial races are likely to have significant effect upon the 2012 presidential playing field.    

 

Fisher is no stranger to tight races. In 1990 he won the race to become state Attorney General by 1,234 votes out of 3,360,162 cast, or only 0.037% of the total number of votes cast, the closest statewide election in Ohio history. Twenty years later, “Landslide Lee”, so dubbed as a result of that earlier race, certainly did not expect to be in a race that is polling about as tightly as that 1990 race. But huge advantages in fundraising and statewide political experience, together with the backing of the vast majority of the party’s establishment and apparatus, have not been sufficient to separate him from the tenacious and resourceful challenge of Jennifer Brunner, who abandoned a likely easy re-election campaign for the chance to win an open Senate seat.   

 

Fisher now seems reconciled to being in a tough battle, and he may be warming to it. He referred to his challenger by name at least twice, and with respect. He invoked President Obama’s name repeatedly, and cited the president’s election in 2008 as being a major factor in his desire to go to Washington and engage in the national struggle for economic justice. He also put his humble side on display as he repeatedly asked for his audience’s help.   

 

Fisher’s performance appeared to find resonance with his audience. Some in the black community have been piqued at Fisher’s reported aversion to citing the President by name, an apparent hangover from his fervent support of Hillary Clinton in 2008. And current Fisher campaign literature argues that “Washington is broken”, a perplexing position given that his party controls the White House and both houses of Congress. The candidate gave Obama credit for the historic health bill achievement, and noted that the president has been besieged by some on account of his race as well as his politics.   

 

Fisher reminded his breakfast guests that he is the only statewide candidate from northeast Ohio on the ballot this year. Democratic turnout in Cuyahoga County has always been critical to the party’s success statewide. This year the county's impact is likely to be no different, and moreover will probably determine whether Landslide Lee gets a chance to return to a November ballot.   

 

Fisher has put a new team in place for his stretch drive to the nomination. He brought on a new and savvy communications director in January, and is apparently finding some new African American counsel to go along with longtime political ally and adviser Arnold Pinkney. 

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Grits ain't Gravy [Miscellaneous Political Notes]

 

Terri Hamilton Brown has told friends that she is likely to throw her hat into the ring for county executive. Brown’s current gig is director of the Opportunity Corridor. She earned high marks as a manager in Cleveland’s community development department and as chief executive of the county’s public housing authority. With a resume that also includes stints as president of University Circle Inc and as a National City Bank vice president, she clearly possesses the executive depth to handle the job.  But doing a job and campaigning for it require different skill sets, something she is probably doing due diligence on as you read this.

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We only got to speak to her for two minutes, but District 10 county council candidate Sharon Cole was ready. She managed to tell us that she has two engineering degrees [Purdue and Case Western Reserve universities], and fell in love with public service while doing constituent service work for the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. She currently is executive assistant to Cleveland councilman Eugene Miller. District 10 includes Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, Cleveland Wards 10 & 11, and Bratenahl.

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Lost in the primary season has been the issue of a new county chair of the Cuyahoga Democratic Party. Interim chair Pat Britt has told supporters she doesn’t want the position permanently. Party rules call for the party’s central committee to meet between May 10 and May 19 to elect the new chair. Campaigns for the position have typically been conducted over the phone or person-to-person. Some party activists are hoping to initiate a more open process this year. More on this is likely to emerge soon. 

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