The worst
kept political secret in town is state senator Nina Turner’s intent to
challenge Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge in next year’s Democratic Party
primary.
If
the contest happens — and, while likely, it is by no means a done deal — the
battle between two of the community’s best-known politicians could be epic.
A
Fudge-Turner contest would have an immense impact on black community political
life, no matter the victor.
Many
of Cleveland’s black politicians are of the timid variety. They dodge and duck
having to endorse a candidate if the outcome is not clear. But a Fudge-Turner
faceoff, which could even attract other strong candidates looking to sneak to
victory, would permit no bystanders.
The
congressional district Fudge now represents was first drawn in 1968 in the wake
of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The
plum — the assurance of becoming Ohio’s first black Congressman — produced a
mad rush of candidates, including legendary Cleveland City Council majority
leader Charles V. Carr, and the ambitious eastside Cleveland councilman, George
L. Forbes.
Louis
Stokes, fresh off a huge legal victory before the U.S. Supreme Court [Terry v. Ohio, the seminal
stop-and-frisk case], and hugely aided, of course, was the eventual winner,
aided by his brother the mayor’s political machine.
Upon
Lou Stokes’ retirement thirty years later in 1998, the late Stephanie Tubbs
Jones resigned as county prosecutor and seized the seat with a resounding
primary victory over the Rev. Marvin McMickle and then-state representative
Jeff Johnson. She seemed poised to challenge Stokes’ longevity record until her
sudden death in August 2008.
Lou
Stokes stepped into the void after Jones’s death to manage an orderly though
not uncontroversial transition of the congressional ring to Fudge, a Stephanie
confidant and then-mayor of Warrensville Heights.
Fudge
declared last Saturday in Richmond Heights that she would be running wherever
the district lines wound up being drawn. Her announcement came at an 11th
District Caucus town hall meeting, the day after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled
unanimously that the handiwork of the Ohio Apportionment Board in securing a
75% favorable GOP-district set up could be challenged by voters in a November
2012 referendum.
That
decision becomes relevant only if and when the Democrats can secure 231,000
valid signatures to force a statewide vote.
At the moment, the decision creates uncertainty as to the primary date,
the district’s outline, and the filing date for primary candidates.
Amidst
all the uncertainty, Turner must decide soon whether she can raise enough money
and secure enough endorsements to make at least a credible challenge to Fudge.
It
is both ironic and sobering to realize that less than four years ago, neither
Fudge nor Turner had a political profile that was discernible more than a few
blocks from their respective residences.
• • •
Your
humble correspondent can be heard on the airwaves tomorrow over at the
Civic Commons, where I will be delivering a three-minute commentary on the maddening
obfuscations that assail even educated voters trying to decide how to vote on
an issue where they have made up their minds but the ballot language leaves
them scratching their heads.
