CPT • Change is Coming to Ohio's iconic 11th Congressional District — Part II

Cuyahoga Politics Today 

The 11th Congressional District is endangered as a fount of black power — Part II

Hollowed out central city, state’s slow population growth, along with altered political culture, are diminishing black community’s grasp on former stronghold

By R. T. Andrews

The Cleveland Browns were synonymous with excellence almost from the very moment they burst onto the pro football scene in 1946. From the beginning the team was exceptional, so routinely dominant as to play for a league championship ten consecutive years.

In eastside neighborhoods like Glenville, where future NFL Hall of Famers like Marion Motley and Bill Willis lived unpretentiously alongside their neighbors in the city’s ghettos, the Browns were beloved, a source of pride. The team became such a part of the town’s fabric that even when they sank into competitive irrelevance — their lakefront  home relabeled as the Factory of Sadness, it was inconceivable to think of our town without them.

Then one day they were gone, leaving only the team colors and faded scrapbooks featuring such team legends as Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly, and Paul Warfield. [On the west side of town, the revered names were undoubtedly Lou Groza, Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli and Dub Jones.] Under team owner Art Modell, they made bad decisions, suffered financial reversals, mortgaged the future on bad short term bets, and proved themselves thoroughly inept at making the organizational and management changes required for success in the constantly evolving world of the NFL.

While the city got a new team three years later, the new Browns are only now  escaping the shadows of institutional incompetence that have dogged their rebirth.

Don’t look now, but a deft redrawing of political boundaries by Ohio’s rightwing General Assembly could mean that a Congressional District that once seemed institutionalized as the bedrock of black Cleveland politics could vanish after a half-century run as swiftly as those Browns did 25 years ago.

Ohio's 11th Congressional District

Dismal turnout by black Cleveland voters in recent elections will make it harder for a black candidate, especially one without the benefit of incumbency, to win either a primary or a general election campaign for the seat. 

Cleveland’s black community — the place that gave the country its first elected big-city black mayor; the home base of a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus; the birthplace of the Twenty-First District Caucus, once so powerful as to show urban Democratic political machines that there was a drastic price to pay for disrespecting the black community — could lose its grip on a Congressional seat?

Yes.

Consider the following:

• When the District was drawn in 1968 to comply with Constitutional principles, the vast majority of Cuyahoga County’s black residents were crammed into a handful of neighborhoods: Central, Hough, Glenville, Fairfax, Mt. Pleasant, and Lee-Harvard. All of the first ring suburbs that today have significant black populations and are part of the Congressional District — Euclid, Maple Heights, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Bedford Heights, Richmond Heights, South Euclid, Garfield Heights, to name a few — were hostile to integration; collectively, they had less than five percent of the county’s black residents.

This concentrated black voting power was what the Ohio General Assembly kept a lid on through racial gerrymandering, until federal litigation and legislation — Baker v. Carr, the “one man, one vote” case decided in 1962; the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — helped lay the groundwork whereby an impressive cadre of local black attorneys and some staunch white allies, finally secured citizenship rights supposedly guaranteed one hundred years earlier by the Civil War Amendments. 

• Today, most county municipalities are at least nominally integrated, as are most of Cleveland’s west side wards. Black outmigration from the central city has seen substantial numbers of black families move across county lines, establishing homes in communities as varied as Streetsboro, Macedonia, Willowick, and Hudson.

The decennial redistricting that follows the Census every ten years is impacted by these migration patterns. Indeed, the current “Cleveland” district represented by Marcia Fudge snakes a narrow path down to north Akron to pick up several neighborhoods of black residents to pack into the 11^th District. That was a Faustian bargain struck at George Forbes’ house with then-Speaker of the Ohio House William Batchelder that benefitted both Republicans and the black Democratic establishment.

In several of her relatively rare public appearances in the district over the past few years, Fudge has referenced the dwindling margins of her majority minority district, pegging the percentage of black voters in the district somewhere around 50.5%. (We always found such hyper-parsing of her constituency curious: it made us wonder how it influenced her constituent relationship management, how she viewed her ability to win the support of nonblack constituents, etc.)

• In recent decades, Ohio has ranked among the nation’s ten worst states when it comes to Congressional district gerrymandering. In May of last year, voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 1, a compromise measure designed to limit the grossest excesses of gerrymandering. It is unclear how that will play out in the upcoming line drawing. The estimable Dr. Larry Brisker, the Tri-C professor whose analytical skills informed redistricting negotiations in ways that looked out for the black community’s political interests, has gone on to higher reward. Who is capable of assuming that role? 

• The willingness of the black state legislators to play footsie with their GOP legislative overseers a decade ago and create a second district more or less tailor-made for a black candidate — Joyce Beatty’s Third District seat in Franklin County —  could affect the State’s need to maintain the protected status of the venerable 11^th. Ohio’s 11-12% black population may warrant one majority minority district out of its soon-to-be 15 seat allocation; Beatty’s district may lessen the obligation of legislators to preserve a second such district. 

Are Ohio’s black and Democratic legislators willing to lay it on the line to preserve the 11^th District? The answer is not a clear yes, even before considering that House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, a rising star, is likely maneuvering to support drawing a district that could be conducive to her own healthy ambition for a Congressional seat.

• And most significantly, dismal turnout by black Cleveland voters in recent elections will make it harder for a black candidate, especially one without the benefit of incumbency, to win either a primary or a general election campaign for the seat. Some informed estimates suggest that Cleveland’s 52% Census response rate means its city council will be reduced by at least six, and perhaps eight, wards. This will translate into fewer black elected officials than the already too aloof ones who populate public office now. This is not a recipe for enhanced civic engagement.

A few days ago, cleveland.com published a piece by retired political writer Brent Larkin that purported to list a half dozen likely aspirants to succeed Fudge. We saw it as a disservice to the black community. Too many of the names are retreads from an era of black politicians who never grasped the idea of elected officials as public servants.

Over the past few weeks, we have had numerous chats with community members regarding the District’s future, and sought suggestions of people who, blessed with a future outlook, could help guide the district into a new era of politics while echoing the best of our past. We will share those names  in the final installment of this series. But next, Part III will invite reflection on what qualities we would like to see in our next Congressperson? What should be the job description? 

Meanwhile, we invite you to share your thoughts on these questions, and to suggest names of potential candidates, whether they have previously run for public office or not. If you wish to share your suggestions in the comments, please use your real name. If you prefer to remain anonymous, email me directly. [It won’t be helpful to have Bill Neverwas anonymously float the name of Bill Neverwas.]

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Cuyahoga Politics Today • Election Limbo: What we see

By R. T. Andrews

Urban/Suburban vs. Small Town Rural. White vs. Other. Red vs. Blue. Looking Back vs. Forging Ahead.  False Narratives vs. Reality. Unlogic vs. Logic.

One day after the election, with the final results for the winner of the Presidency unknown, it is difficult to say The United States of America without irony.

More than 150 million people voted nationally in this year’s election, including a record 5,761,200 votes had been cast in Ohio, according to data from the Ohio secretary of state’s website as of this afternoon.

As of this writing, former Vice President Joe Biden holds a projected Electoral College vote total of 264, with 270 needed to win. Biden’s total includes Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan. If these projections hold, and Biden maintains his lead in Nevada, he will be the next President.

The remaining states where results are presently still in doubt include Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. Trump won these states in 2016, and needs all of them this year to have any hope for re-election.

With the election still in doubt, Trump and his supporters are calling for a halt to continued vote counting in Pennsylvania, where his lead is diminishing, and are threatening to file suit to halt the process. His campaign has also filed suit to review the Michigan results.

With Biden nearing victory, and Trump having made plain that he will not accept such a result, concerns are shifting to how Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Vice President Mike Pence will respond to a presumptive Biden victory.

Ohio Election News

Perhaps the most significant statewide results come from the two Supreme Court races. Justice Sharon Kennedy defeated Cuyahoga County judge John P. O’Donnell by a margin of 55%-45%.  But Justice Judi French lost her re-election bid by roughly the same 55-45 ratio to challenger Jennifer Brunner, a Franklin County appellate judge and a former Ohio secretary of state.

The results narrow the Republican hold on the state’s highest court from 5-2 to 4-3.

Cuyahoga Results

While the state set a record for turnout, Cuyahoga County voters turned out at a less than impressive 67.85 rate, with 603,337 ballots cast out of 889,175 eligible voters, according to figures released by the county Board of Elections.

In a direct challenge to local area leaders, SEIU labor union spokesman Anthony Caldwell was quick to point a finger at Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson, and various Democratic “leaders”, tweeting that they “showed no effort, yielded no votes.”

• • •• • •

This article originally appeared in The Real Deal Press. Republished with permission. 

CPT | Latest on status of the Q deal referendum drive, Ward 14, Marcia Fudge, Jeff Johnson

CPT: Cuyahoga Politics Today

Confrontation looms as citizen’s coalition files more than Twenty Thousand Signatures to put Q deal on ballot

City Council leadership signals legal strategy to avoid referendum; issue may soon be in court

UPDATE: Today’s lead item was written with the understanding that a citizen’s coalition would file petitions today so that Cleveland voters could decide by referendum whether or not to support the Q deal. Before we posted it, word came to us that City Council leadership, meaning the mayor and those who call the shots in town, had refused to accept the petitions on the grounds that the City has already signed a contract to go ahead with the project and that it would be an unconstitutional interference with property rights to allow for a referendum at this stage.

Council's clerk subsequently received the petitions but the City's position is now clear. The battle lines have now been more sharply drawn and the matter will undoubtedly be decided in court. The importance of Councilman Cummins’ 12^th vote in favor of the deal now stands in sharper relief: it is clear that the insiders’ strategy all along was to shut down the people’s right to vote on the Q deal.

I won’t venture an opinion on the outcome of the impending lawsuit, but the brazenness and contempt of our public officials for the voice of the people is evident. I expect that attorneys for both petitioners and the city began weeks if not months ago to prepare for the coming battle.

We have thought for months that the Q expansion deal would heighten interest in this year’s citywide election for mayor and all 17 council seats. Today’s action guarantees it.

___

CLEVELAND — This morning's filing of over 20,000 signatures of registered Cleveland voters moves into a new phase the very public discussion on whether the public should spend $282 million to expand Quicken Loans Arena.

Proponents of the deal cite the necessity of maintaining the competitive status of the publicly owned facility and the Q's importance as a major driver of local economic activity.

Opponents say by and large they don't oppose maintaining and even improving the arena but have major reservations — economic, pragmatic, and moral — about this deal, which appears to have been agreed to with great nonchalance by city and county officials, most especially County Executive Armond Budish, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, and their respective council presidents, Dan Brady and Kevin Kelley.

While downtown interests are all in for the deal, most city voters are troubled by the sense that these glittering large scale projects have few if any benefits that trickle down to their neighborhoods.

Typically, and this deal exemplifies the process, the little folk have no seat at the table, are not even in the room, and in fact have no knowledge a deal is even being cut until the fancy power point slides have been created and the sleek website designed. Testimony at early county council meetings seemed to suggest that the negotiations were even more of a charade this time, with little if any energy expended by the public's representatives to secure any community benefits.

This might be baffling if it weren't simply the extension of a well-established pattern. Entrenched power has a natural appetite for expansion until it meets resistance. When resistance appears, it is usually episodic, unorganized, inchoate, marginalized, bought off, or otherwise rendered ineffective. 

That business would proceed as usual was no doubt the expectation at the time of the mid-December press conference rollout announcing the deal, which was presented as a fait accompli, all wrapped up and tied with a big red bow in keeping with the festive holiday season. Pictures of the occasion showed participants still basking in the aura of our World Champion Cleveland Cavaliers, contemplating the promise of a new season, the super-sizing of a downtown jewel, and even the cherry on top of an NBA All Star game. Tipped off in advance, the Plain Dealer obligingly had a full color spread celebrating the inevitable success of this project, the latest pearl in a string that included the NBA championship, the 2016 GOP convention, the remaking of Public Square, the Indians' World Series run, and a spate of new hotel and restaurant openings.

But over on the side, a voice could be heard, asking questions, expressing concerns, urging caution, and framing the deal in a larger context.

That voice was dismissed. As I write this, it is showing up at City Hall with 20,000 + signatures calling for a vote, saying we will be heard.

A new phase in the dialogue now begins. Stay tuned.

###

Speaking of new voices, and petitions, we believe this Q debate is pivotal for our community in ways both macro and micro, communal and individual. When the dust settles, the landscape will be different.

A harbinger of that change may come tomorrow at noon over at the Board of Elections where Jasmine Santana will file to become a certified candidate for Cleveland City Council. She has her sights set on the Ward 14 seat currently

Jasmin Santana

held by Brian Cummins, who is a part of City Council's leadership team and who, by virtue of his very public and critical flip on the Q deal, whereby he became the crucial 12th vote in favor, perhaps claimed the biggest bull’s-eye on his back for incumbent council members.

Santana, at 38, would likely reshape Council chambers in several ways. If elected she would be the first Latina on city council, and the first Hispanic to serve in that body since council was reduced to its present 17 member size. Hispanic leaders with whom we have spoken see her as an agent of change in a City Hall that clearly needs it.

And while ethnicity is no reliable predictor of change or politics — some of City Hall's most ossified fixtures are African American — Santana's election would likely mean that persons of color would hold a majority of council seats for the first time in history.

###

Speaking of color, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge made several ear-catching statements over the weekend. One of the most intriguing was her reference to the commonplace but erroneous assumption that black members of Congress represent only black people. She noted that her district was at 50.1% just barely majority black. She repeated that statistic later when she suggested she might be the last black person to represent the 11th District.

Fudge was participating in a community conversation sponsored by the Western Reserve Chapter of the Links in conjunction with their 30^th anniversary.

###

Finally, the petition challenging the legality of Councilman Jeff Johnson's right to run for mayor owing to his 1998 conviction is on the agenda for tomorrow's 3:30pm Board of Elections meeting.

Black Politics in Cleveland: From Apex to Nadir

Black politics in Cleveland has a long and rich history, dating to the 19^th century and the activism of men like Harry C. Smith and George A. Myers. And of course there is a long line of firsts that perhaps reached its apotheosis between 1967 and 1972. Those pivotal years saw Carl Stokes elected mayor [1967], elder brother Louis Stokes elected to Congress [1968], and the formation of the Twenty-first District Caucus [1970], perhaps as potent and sophisticated a political organization as black people have ever created in this country.

Comprised mostly but not exclusively of Democrats, the Caucus — its very name became a household word — at its zenith had the power to elect its friends and defeat its political foes, irrespective of party affiliation. It forced open doors and claimed seats at the table.

That short but sweet epoch of black political power began to recede when Carl Stokes left Cleveland in 1971 for New York and a new line of work. And while there are likely close to 100 black elected officials in Cuyahoga County today, including Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson, no one with a memory of those days would tolerate the notion that the entire lot of them wields more than a fraction of the power the black community exercised through the Caucus.

Those halcyon days are long gone, thanks to a number of factors, including population sprawl, demographic changes, the complex and unforeseen effects of a civil rights revolution that knocked down the walls that kept black people segregated in this northern mecca, and the unwillingness or inability of black leadership to groom and grow the next generation of leaders.

Moreover, the outsized role that money now plays in political and public affairs means that even when blacks are elected to public office, they are not necessarily responsive to their constituencies. Politicians of all hues respond first, fastest, and most often to those interests that speak green.

My intent when starting this post was to report on an event of great promise that occurred in town the night before last. But the foregoing attempt to provide context for that report has resulted in painting such a dismal outline of the current state of black political affairs that I don’t want to join the two in one piece. Instead, if you will permit me to extend this preamble a bit, I promise some breaking news in the context of further comment on the failure of black leadership and the prospect of better days ahead.

Our community’s failure to develop long range plans has retarded our progress immeasurably. The lack of leadership development is but the most visible evidence. Our key institutions — political, civil rights, commercial, and cultural — have all suffered from this failure. Fortunately, as we have reported over time, several have begun to emerge from the depths. The Urban League of Greater Cleveland, for example, after being driven to near-insolvency by an ossified board of trustees, has rebounded under the focused leadership of Marsha Mockabee and a reconstituted board to become more relevant and engaged. The United Black Fund, after recycling the same old same old leadership for what seems like a quarter century, is likewise beginning to make major strides under new professional and lay leadership. And the Cleveland NAACP, static for near a half-century, is at least stirring again.

Black Cleveland once had many strong black voices, perhaps none more resolute and louder than W. O. Walker, former publisher of the Call and Post. Of course, he owned a printing press. But he was also a national spokesperson on issues of civil rights, an elected official, and the first African American to serve in an Ohio Governor’s cabinet. My reading of several books in the past few years about aspects of national black politics and culture has enlightened me to many of Mr. Walker’s accomplishments, and my respect for him has only grown over the years. Thus it is all the sadder and more depressing to see what has become of his pride and joy under the ownership of Don King. The last issue I picked up had a severe portion of its news hole devoted to drivel about the virtues of our current president, much of it disguised as paid advertising.

Politically, we have hit rock bottom, best epitomized by the fact that 83-year old Una H. R. Keenon pulled petitions this week to run for mayor of East Cleveland. It seems she is no longer content to pull the strings on the city’s governance from her various perches [retired judge, current school board president, imperial wizard of the Black Women’s Political Action Committee].

There are countless other examples, a few of which can be found on Cleveland’s city council, where Ken Johnson Sr. still presides over the Ward 4 seat from which he retired.

Age of course is not an indicator of competence or lack thereof. We have inadequate leadership across all chronological dimensions. Yesterday morning I called a Cleveland city councilperson about 8am to discuss a few issues. I of course inquired about the prospects of the multi-million dollar Quicken Loans expansion project legislation that is simply the biggest local issue of this decade. The member literally declared total unfamiliarity with the issue, notwithstanding having participated in the 17-0 vote to refer it to committee just last week.

The good news? All Cleveland city council members are up for re-election this fall and most face brisk opposition and an increasingly attentive and engaged electorate.

Better news? Come back tonight and read the report we intended to publish in this space. We promise it will be 100% positive!

President Obama in Cleveland to deliver major address at City Club on middle class economics

The marvels of communication are on display at Cleveland Convention Center this afternoon where anticipation is building for President Obama's speech to a City Club audience. 

The program is expected to start about 3pm with the President likely to begin his talk shortly thereafter. He is expected to focus on middle class economics at the sold out event.

The President's remarks will be streamed live at www.whitehouse.gov/live .

Air Force One touched down at Cleveland Hopkins Airport shortly after one o'clock this afternoon. Obama stepped from the plane about 1:10 p.m. with Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), and Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-Warrensville Heights) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) following behind. All three lawmakers traveled on AF1 to Cleveland from Washington.

The President is scheduled to stop at Cleveland MAGNET [Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network] near Cleveland State University's MAGNET Center before heading to the Convention Center.

Moulthrop has announced, in keeping with club tradition, that the President will take unscripted questions from the audience for the second half of the program.

Attendance at this ticketed event is limited to City Club members and guests [one each]. The club saw its membership spike by 100 new members as soon as the arrangements for today's event were announced.

Members of the press are everywhere, cable is strewn all around, mobile studios are outside. Every convenience has been put in place to make sure the media can broadcast, transcribe, blog and tweet the President's remarks instantanously.  

Stevie Wonder is rendering "Higher Ground" on the audio system. Feels almost like a party to this newbie on the global reporting scene.

Walking over here from Euclid I passed a torn up Public Square, in the demolition phase of its $32 million configuration slated for completion before the elephants arrive next summer [Republican Convention].

The Central Division leading Cavaliers play the Brooklyn Nets tonight at the Q and the Cleveland International Film Fest starts today. Sometimes Cleveland feels like a big city.

Hey! Just saw Rep. Kantur being greeted by PNC bigwigs Paul Clark and Michael Taylor, so it's clear the program will begin shortly.

Hmmm, how would this scene be different if the President was coming to talk about the forgotten Americans? 

Times have sure changed as the "War on Poverty" has long since been supplanted by the "War on the Middle Class". Care to guess who's winning?

Special Prosecutor Called for in Deadly Police Pursuit Case

Ohio ACLU Says State's Attorney General Should Remove County Sheriff and East Cleveland Police from Investigating Nov. 29 chase that ended in 137 Bullet Fusillade

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio called yesterday called upon Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to appoint a special prosecutor to lead the investigation into the 25 minute police chase involving 30 police vehicles that ended with 13 police officers firing 137 rounds and killing two unarmed people.

The ACLU’s letter also asked DeWine to remove the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office and the East Cleveland Police Department from the investigation because their personnel were involved in the pursuit. Currently the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation [BCI] is conducting a joint investigation with the county sheriff and the East Cleveland police. The results are slated to be turned over to Timothy McGinty, the county's newly elected county prosecutor.

While not criticizing the agencies already involved in the investigation, the letter from ACLU Ohio Legal Director James Hardiman said, “putting local law enforcement in charge of investigating themselves is clearly not the best way to conduct an independent, impartial inquiry.”

This would undoubtedly be a case that could in large measure define McGinty’s tenure almost from its inception. The ACLU thinks that is too large a burden to place upon an office — McGinty’s — that works with local law enforcement everyday.

Citing as precedent Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson’s appointment of retired judge [now County Council president] C. Ellen Connally as special prosecutor to investigate five cases that resulted in fatalities, including the shooting of 15-year old Brandon McCloud, Hardiman said the appointment of a special prosecutor would give “this investigation the weight it deserves.”

The ACLU of Ohio has weighed in on the side of several local officials and organizations that have called for special scrutiny in this investigation. Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, within whose district the chase occurred, has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights, asking for an independent investigation by the FBI. The mayors of Cleveland and East Cleveland, in whose respective cities the chase began and ended, have urged similar action, as have local civil rights organizations.

*A spokesman for Attorney General is expected to get back to us this afternoon with a response to our query as to when the A.G. might respond to the ACLU’s call for the appointment of a special prosecutor and the removal of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff and East Cleveland police from the investigation. We will update this post at that time.