Frost out as county GOP chair after long run. Two women, including an African American, elected to lead

CPT • Cuyahoga Politics Today

Donna Walker-Brown, Lisa Stickan elected to head County GOP

By R. T. Andrews

Donna Walker-Brown is the new
chairperson of the County
GOP Executive Committee

The Cuyahoga County Republican Party has been around for 165 years or so. It has always been led by white men. Starting tomorrow, the chairs of both its Central Committee and its Executive Committee will be women. And one of them, incoming Executive Committee chair Donna Walker-Brown, is African American.

Lisa Marie Stickan is the new chairperson
of the County GOP Central Committee

Lisa Stickan, president of the Highland Heights city council and an attorney in the county court system, routed long time party chair Rob Frost by a decisive 2-1 majority. Her entire “Cuyahoga First” slate was also elected.

The vote was originally scheduled to take place in late March shortly after the expected March 17 primary. But Primary Day voting was canceled because of the statewide coronavirus shutdown and then extended in a vote by mail process that concluded on April 28. Those primary results identified new Republican precinct officials who were eligible to vote for new party leaders.

That election was also a hybrid process, with mail ballots sent out June 3. The incoming votes were tallied and announced this afternoon at the Rockside Road offices of accounting firm REA and Associates in Independence.

Stickan’s victory was not a big surprise, although the decisiveness of her victory was eyebrow-raising. Frost had led the party for 15 years and his star had been on the decline. “Frost fatigue” was evident among some party insiders last year when he was forced to relinquish his executive party chairmanship, though he remained as head of the central committee.

Another factor in the Stickan-Frost result may have been their relationship with the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump. Stickan is an enthusiastic Trump loyalist, while Frost is considerably more lukewarm.

In contrast to the clear-cut race between Stickan and Frost, the contest for executive committee chair was full of intrigue. Peter Corrigan, who ran for county executive in 2017, was named interim executive committee chair last fall when Frost was pushed out. He had been expected to run unopposed for a full term. But after Strongsville mayor Tom Perciak was nominated for the position, Corrigan nominated Walker-Brown, a close ally, and then withdrew his own name from consideration.

It was a tight race, with Walker-Brown winning by four votes.

It is unclear the extent to which national and local unrest may have affected the Walker-Brown vs. Perciak contest. A large proportion of committee members voted as early as June 4, just days after protests got out of hand in downtown Cleveland. Party headquarters were among the casualties of the demonstration, and graffiti writers reportedly scrawled a direct message for GOP officials: “You should have listened earlier.”

Stacey Polk, whose family have long been proud Republicans, thinks the national turmoil likely aided Walker-Brown’s candidacy to some degree. Polk, an attorney who for the past year has led the party’s Minority Outreach Initiative Committee, said it’s hard to imagine that precinct committee people could have been oblivious to the winds of change.

Polk, who is African American, said she had supported Walker-Brown in her primary contest for a position on the state central committee. Though she did not win the seat, the name recognition may have helped Walker-Brown in the contest for chair.

Polk praised Walker-Brown for her work with the Inner City Republican Movement that Walker-Brown founded and leads. And she described Stickan as “high energy, smart, politically astute, and culturally competent”.

Walker-Brown said her election was evidence of “God’s mercy and grace” and proof that “He is still in the miracle business”. She said that she would be moving forward on a platform of unification and growth.

As executive committee chair, Walker-Brown will direct the party's endorsement process, as well as preside over the party's elections to the county elections board. Frost currently holds one of the two GOP seats.

Stickan’s victorious Central Committee slate included Chris Corrigan as vice chair, Amanda Billy as secretary, Robert Bodi as treasurer, and Tierra Morrison as assistant treasurer.

Stickan did not respond to a request for comment. 

The new chairs assume their new roles tomorrow, July 1. Each position pays somewhere between $54,000 and $57,000, according to a party official.

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MAGNET wants to boost success of minority manufacturers

Nonprofit advocacy  group seeking to build relationships with Northeast Ohio MBEs, aid growth and development

Greater Cleveland’s lagging track record regarding minority business development is increasingly being recognized as a drag on regional growth, at odds with demographic trends nationwide, and a leading contributor to the talent exodus of some of the area’s best and brightest.

But as business consultant Henry Butler noted at an intimate gathering of Northeast Ohio black manufacturers earlier this summer, Greater Cleveland business leaders are gradually coming to the recognition that “growth without inclusion isn’t sustainable”.

Manufacturers Darrell McNair of MVP Plastics and Larry Fulton of LEFCO Worthington share lessons from their experiences with MAGNET.

Butler shared his observation as a preface to a low-key session designed to introduce MAGNET*, the region’s leading nonprofit manufacturing consultant, to the small but significant number of northeast Ohio manufacturing firms owned by people of color. Butler and attorney Stacey Polk coordinated the session. The two are principals in LCR Enterprises LLC, which has been retained by MAGNET to aid the nonprofit’s inclusion efforts.

Ethan Karp, MAGNET CEO

MAGNET CEO Ethan Karp in his welcome spoke to the agency’s offices efforts to become more client-centric, and to serve more clients in the minority community. With refreshing candor, Karp said he knew how to help manufacturers solve problems but that he was clueless about the special challenges black businesses might face.

Two successful African American manufacturers were on hand to share their experiences working with MAGNET. Darrell McNair, CEO of MVP Plastics, a Geauga County Tier 2 supplier to the automotive industry, and a former MAGNET trustee, said he found the agency especially helpful in doing an assessment analysis related to his opening of a new plant last year in Texas. McNair related that most of his company’s business is done outside of Ohio, a frequent observation from many of Cleveland’s most successful African American business owners.

The group also heard from Larry Fulton, CEO of LEFCO Worthington, a manufacturer of wood crates. Fulton shared how MAGNET helped him improve LEFCO's employee engagement and achieve efficiencies in its manufacturing processes.

For the majority of attendees, MBE didn’t seem a big deal. Steve Williams, chief operating officer of Elson’s, said that in today’s climate, having MBE status might be good enough to get you in the door, but that a business must focus on solving problems for its customers. Elson’s CEO Andrew Jackson agreed, saying that he preferred being evaluated without reference to MBE criteria, citing MBE certification as a tool he used only when it benefitted his customer.

McNair offered perhaps the key takeaway from the session. “You can’t expect to grow without making an investment.”

After the session, attendees enjoyed a tour, with samples, of the Cleveland Whiskey plant on the first floor of the MAGNET facility.

Anthony Lockhart and Jason Estremera tour Cleveland Whiskey.

Acknowledging the importance of relationships in doing business, LCR’s Polk said that MAGNET would be hosting a follow up social gathering.

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* Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth NETwork