BULLETIN: New Twist in Prosecutor’s Race

BULLETIN: New Twist in Prosecutor’s Race

The Civic Commons and The Citizens League of Greater Cleveland are collaborating on a unique online forum with the Democratic candidates for county prosecutor that if successful may significantly affect the way future races are conducted in our community.

Through the forum, in which all five candidates are participating, voters may pose questions directly to each candidate. The answers will be online for all to see. The forum, which started today, will continue through Thursday, January 26.

You can pose your questions anytime — some questions have been posted already, along with answers from candidates Tim McGinty, Robert Triozzi, and Stephanie Hall. But don’t expect any more answers until after tonight’s old-fashioned forum at the Laborers Hall, 3210 Euclid Ave. That event, sponsored by the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, will go from 5-7PM and is open to the public.

More debates scheduled

The next debate will be tomorrow, Wednesday, January 25 at 7:00 PM at the Brecksville Community Center, One Community Drive, in Brecksville.  It will be moderated by Tom Beres of WKYC Channel 3, and sponsored by a collection of Democratic Clubs.

The candidates will debate again on February 4 from noon until 2:30 PM at the East Cleveland Public Library, 14101 Euclid Avenue, in an event sponsored by the East Cleveland Coalition.

The traditional City Club debate will be February 15 from noon until 1:30 PM   at The City Club, 850 Euclid Ave. Admission will be charged, though the program may be accessed via radio and television [on a delayed basis]. Go here for more information.

Evangelical Myopia = redefinition of color blindness.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it EATS THEM ALIVE that President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama exude all the wholesome, family-friendly, family-devoted qualities that they blather on about all the time.  — Jack & Jill Politics  SOURCE

Richmond Hts school board starts new year; superintendent remains in limbo

A new era should be ushered in this evening when the Richmond Heights Board of Education holds its organizational meeting at 7PM.

Longtime school board member Linda Pliodzinskas is expected to become the new board president, succeeding Josh Kaye, whose presidency was marked by numerous controversies, unusual board turnover, and general tumult. Kaye remains a member of the board as his term has two years remaining.

It is not known when or how the new Board will address the ongoing suspension of Superintendent Linda T. Hardwick, whose contract runs through June 30.

Tonight’s organizational meeting will be followed by a 2013 Tax Budget hearing, expected to begin about 8PM.

County Prosecutor Campaign: Video + Updates

County Prosecutor Campaign: Video + Updates

Here is the first video segment of last week’s Prosecutor Debate. There will be more.

Some helpful notes:

1.   The candidates appear in this order: James J. McDonnell, Subodh Chandra, Stephanie Hall, and Robert Triozzi.

2.   The moderator is T. J. Dow. County councilwoman Yvonne Conwell introduces each candidate.

The second debate in the campaign will be held this Thursday at 7PM at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, One Monticello Blvd. The Cleveland Heights Democratic Club is the primary sponsor.

All six candidates have confirmed their participation.

At least two other debates have also been scheduled in this race:

 • Saturday, February 4 from noon until 2:30PM at the East Cleveland Public Library, 14101 Euclid Ave. Sponsor: East Cleveland Coalition. Contact info: 216.659.4619 or cebibbsr@yahoo.com.

• Wednesday, February 15 from noon until 1:30PM, City Club of Cleveland, 850 Euclid Ave. Contact info: 216.621.0082 or www.cityclub.org. $$.

• • •

First County Prosecutor Debate: Herald of a New Era?

First County Prosecutor Debate: Herald of a New Era?

Longtime county prosecutor John T. Corrigan, who held the position from 1956 to 1991, surely turned over in his grave last night.

In a remarkable scene that would have been unimaginable two decades ago, four candidates seeking election to the powerful position showed up in the inner city to present their credentials to rank and file county residents, and probably of greater importance, to hear from those most affected by the justice system exactly what needs to be fixed.

The scene was set in motion by the decision last year of outgoing prosecutor Bill Mason not to stand for reelection, even though he had used his political muscle to preserve the office as an elected position in the new county government that debuted this year.

The November 2009 county election approved a new county charter that had been stitched together in a thoroughly non-transparent process by a small group of largely unaccountable politicians. 

All of that helped set the stage for last night’s spectacle in which a historically fractured community of activists staged a campaign event at a rundown and deservedly little-known facility euphemistically called Lil Africa Party Center.

Into the heart of Cleveland’s eastside black community last night eagerly came graduates of such illustrious universities as Yale, Cornell, and Stanford, to be cross-examined on the record by alumni of assorted federal penitentiaries and state prisons, who were prominent on the select and well-chosen panel and in the audience, which itself was a surprising and peculiarly diverse admixture of professions, geography, and ethnicity.

 Well more than a hundred county residents paid close attention to the debate. Their numbers included state and county elected officials, formerly incarcerated persons [aka “felons”], grandmothers, and advocates for justice and a new day for citizens, victims and defendants alike.

No Clear Debate Winner

While no candidate delivered a knockout blow to rivals or self-destructed, this first joint appearance of a compressed primary election campaign did afford each participant opportunity to test individual strengths and probe opponent weaknesses. And each candidate perforce put on display aspects of personality and temperament that could factor in voter assessments of how he/she would be likely to handle the enormous discretionary power and manifold daily challenges that will confront the next prosecutor.

Candidates McDonnell and Chandra were easily the most assertive, though in different ways. McDonnell is a bear of a man, gregarious, forthright and practically in your face with his insistence on being the most experienced trial attorney from either the defense or prosecutorial side. Chandra’s apparently boundless confidence in his superior fitness for the office appears to emanate from a sense of intellectual excellence. He seems to have thought about every issue the next prosecutor will encounter, and to have worked out a three or five point program to address it.

Triozzi and Hall are much less assertive in their presentation, evoking instead a more nuanced approach. This seemed especially true of Triozzi, the only candidate on stage with judicial experience. In what may have been only Hall’s second public appearance ever as a candidate for any race — she appeared at the endorsement meeting of the Democratic executive committee at Music Hall last month — she is still becoming comfortable with public speaking. Hall brings a unique resume to the race as both lawyer and police officer. She is also the only woman and the only African American in the race.

Many Public Concerns

After one turn from each panelist, moderator T. J. Dow, the Cleveland Ward 7 councilman, opened the floor to audience questions. A long and diverse line quickly formed. They had well-formed questions and by and large presented them succinctly.

The questions dealt with an abundance of concerns: public corruption, excessive use of police force, the grand jury process, bias, fairness, diversity, truancy, police perjury, over-indictments, jury selection, prosecutorial misconduct, children and family services, domestic violence.

The depth and breadth of the questioners’ concerns was eloquent testimony to how in need of repair is the county judicial system.

More debates scheduled

At least two other debates have been scheduled for the six candidates participating in the Democratic primary. No Republican has filed for the office so the March 6 primary winner will be the presumptive county prosecutor-elect.

The Cleveland Heights Democrats will host the candidates in debate next Thursday, January 12, 7 PM at the Heights Community Center, One Monticello Blvd. [corner of Mayfield Rd.].

On Saturday, February 4, the East Cleveland Coalition will sponsor a candidate debate from noon to 2:30 PM at the East Cleveland Library, 14101 Euclid Ave.

Early voting starts in 26 days.

• • •

BULLETIN: Site of prosecutor campaign debate becomes homicide scene only hours later

BULLETIN:

Site of prosecutor campaign debate becomes homicide scene only hours later

An epochal event in Cleveland political history — an inner-city debate sponsored by community activists that featured four of the six contestants for Cuyahoga County’s top law enforcement job — became a crime scene only a few hours after the event closed.

Preliminary information obtained by The Real Deal indicate that a disgruntled patron had an angry confrontation with owner Mike Nelson over his take-out chicken order at the Kitchen Restaurant, 6816 Superior Ave.

The customer, reported to be a 32-year old Cleveland man, returned about midnight as the restaurant was closing. Nelson grabbed his shotgun as he saw the man approach with a gun in each hand. After or during a further angry exchange, Nelson shot and killed the intruder.

The rear of the storefront restaurant is home to the Lil Africa Party Center, where only a few hours earlier, community activists and candidates for county prosecutor — including former city law directors Subodh Chandra and Robert Triozzi, former suburban prosecutor James McDonnell, and attorney and police officer Stephanie Hall — engaged in a remarkable discussion about law enforcement.

As we have come to expect, The Plain Dealer has early coverage of the crime but did not deign the community-organized debate newsworthy. Only when they read this will they learn the significance of the crime scene.

Our report on the debate itself will appear here this afternoon.

Today's Politics: President visits; Turner looks at independent run

Magnetic President Returns to Charge Faithful Base

President Obama came to Cleveland today to deliver what was billed as a major speech on the economy. What he delivered was substantially less, but it mattered not to the adoring capacity crowd that filled every nook and cranny of the Shaker Heights High School gym for a chance to be in his presence.

The president’s key announcement was his recess appointment of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The president had nominated Cordray last July to head the new agency but Senate Republicans have refused to allow the nomination to come to the floor for an up or down vote.

That nomination had already been leaked to national media before the president arrived, so the real impact of the president’s visit was the unofficial launch of his reelection campaign. Judging by the lines of folk who snaked three or four abreast around the Shaker Board of Education headquarters last night in bitter cold, enthusiasm remains strong in this neck of the woods for a second Obama term.

Not only did a crowd arrive early last night to stand outside school administration headquarters for tickets for the president's appearance, they were back this morning at 10:30, almost three hours in advance of the President’s talk. It was a festive atmosphere both for the hundreds of students, perhaps forty percent of an estimated 1400 attendees, as well as the nearly thousand adults. And almost all stayed patiently in place for longer than the President spoke, as he worked the crowd and departed the scene.

We will try and post video of the event on Thursday.*

* Update [Jan. 6]: Technical difficulties prevented me from posting my video. Here is the C-Span broadcast.

• • •

Turner weighs independent run against Fudge

Yesterday’s post contained the following paragraph, which may require me to swallow some crow:

“And for those of you who read [State Senator Nina] Turner’s statement declining to re-file against [US Rep. Marcia] Fudge as holding open the possibility that she might run as an independent, don’t hold your breath.”

Today, we heard from multiple sources that Turner is circulating petitions to run as for Congress as an independent. If Turner files sufficient petitions by March 5, it will set up a head-to-head ballot contest in November.

Turner’s statement last week that she would not challenge Fudge in the March 6 Democratic primary referred to the difficulty of mounting a viable challenge in a short primary season. An independent campaign would bypass that issue, though it would present other challenges.

Stay tuned.

Fudge-Turner: Leadership & Opportunity

Fudge-Turner: Leadership & Opportunity

We were disappointed but not surprised when State Senator Nina Turner announced last week that she was dropping her bid to take on Rep. Marcia Fudge for the Democratic nomination for the 11^th District Congressional seat.

The handwriting was on the wall when Turner had no response to the back-to-back images of pretty much the entire Democratic Party establishment, first in Cuyahoga County and then in Akron, standing shoulder to shoulder with the incumbent. It was clear at that point that Turner is not yet quite ready for prime time. She hadn’t raised the money or put together the organization to wage a competitive race. And as she correctly noted, the redistricting agreement reached last month by the Ohio General Assembly aided most political incumbents, including Fudge, even though it was unhealthy for Ohio voters.

My disappointment at Turner’s decision is because it postpones what has already been delayed for far too long: community dialogue about what kind of leadership is needed to move us forward. Many black people decry the one leader at a time syndrome — the Messiah model in its worst incarnation — but we seem to default to it time and again. Marcia Fudge has been in Congress barely three years but many people seemed to think it a crime that someone would step forward to challenge her.

As a community we need to get to a place where we hold our elected officials accountable, where they understand that their job is not merely to hold place, but to advocate and advance our interests, which includes developing talent and opportunities across the board.

Has there ever been a time when status quo was good enough? Marcia Fudge demonstrated in response to the whiff of a challenge that she could assemble a throng to defend her seat. Perhaps that will be impetus for her to claim the seat independently as opposed to having merely been its inheritor.

Lou Stokes held that seat long enough to establish and perpetuate a godfather model of black politics. He served as arbiter of political turf battles within the district and on occasion as spokesman for the black community. He hasn’t been in office for over a decade, he no longer even lives here, and it’s not clear that his perceptions and judgments are in tune with the community [consider for example his outmoded views on county reorganization, his top-down leadership model, and his aversion to transparency].

The departure of Stokes, the unexpected and unhappy demise of Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and the destruction of the inefficient and corrupt county Democratic Party regime [inefficient and corrupt = the worst of all possible combinations] have led to a vacuum in local black politics. The old guard leadership of Stokes and George Forbes is clearly inadequate. Their insistence on retaining power as personal privilege thwarted the development of next-generation political and community leaders.

Our most accomplished and competent civic leaders these days probably reside in the judiciary. They are elected through the political process but are barred by their offices from overt political activity. Carl Stokes was running an electrifying and organic mayoral campaign in his mid-thirties. Today, potential leaders of similar vintage like county councilmen Julian Rogers and Pernel Jones Jr. are still getting their feet wet as public officials. We now have a bevy of suburban city mayors and council people but not a one who steps up on any issue beyond his or her municipality.

Turner’s inability to mount a credible campaign need not mean that critical community questions of leadership, education, economics, equity, housing, development, etc., continue to go unaddressed. The unopposed Fudge now has a golden opportunity to claim her office by setting forth a new model of local community empowerment. She seemed momentarily on that path when she tinkered a few years ago with revitalizing the moribund Congressional District Caucus apparatus, switching it from an effete political arm to a nonprofit organization. But after a promising start, she either lost interest or got too busy.

The recent redistricting that incorporates parts of Akron and Summit County offer her a new chance at reorganizing the caucus as an effective tool for community building, community education, and leadership development. An intelligent recasting of a once-valuable brand would be part of a Fudge political legacy that would demonstrate her worthy of continued active support and not reification by default of opposition.

• • •

For the record, we noted in a previous post that three candidates filed have filed to run in the primary. None have the potential to engage the community as a Fudge-Turner race might have.

And for those of you who read Turner’s statement declining to re-file against Fudge as holding open the possibility that she might run as an independent, don’t hold your breath.

 • • •

We commend to you this post by George Packer in The New Yorker dealing with the hopefully-soon-to-be-forgotten Rick Santorum, political reporting, and the routine right-wing demonization of President Obama.

Two excerpts:

… gutter rhetoric is so routine in the Republican campaign that it’s not worth a political journalist’s time to point it out. In 2008, when Michele Bachmann suggested that Barack Obama and an unknown number of her colleagues in Congress were anti-American, there was a flurry of criticism; three years later, when a surging Presidential candidate states it flatly about a sitting President, there’s no response at all. Certain forms of deterioration … become acceptable by attrition, because critics lose the energy to call them out. Eventually, people even stop remembering that they’re wrong. …

The great puzzle of the Republican campaign is that, in an era of unprecedented ideological fervor, the party will almost certainly nominate the candidate who is the blandest, least ideological, and least trusted by conservatives … Romney, forever stuck at twenty-five per cent, understands his situation acutely, … like an actor who normally does investment commercials and is improbably cast in an ad for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He’s doing a credible job playing an intellectual thug, because that’s the only way to win the nomination.

It would be a mistake, though, to believe that, long after Iowa, once the horse race is over, and if he’s elected, Romney could suddenly flip a switch, clear the air of the toxicity left behind by the Republican field, and return to being a cautious centrist whose most reassuring quality is his lack of principles. His party wouldn’t let him; and, after all, how a candidate runs shapes how a President governs. In politics, once a sellout, always a sellout; once a thug, always a thug.

• • •

Congresswoman Fudge Responds To News that Turner Won't Enter Primary

The Campaign for Rep. Marcia L. Fudge released the following statement this afternoon:

I have great respect for State Senator Nina Turner and I wish her well in her future endeavors.  It is my intention to maintain the trust and confidence of the people of the 11th Congressional District and provide the representation they deserve. It is my honor and privilege to serve them.  I look forward to the opportunity to continue to be their voice in Congress.

Three candidates have filed to run against Fudge in March 6 Democratic primary. Well-known political activist and former Cleveland School board member Gerald C. Henley filed yesterday; his petitions have been ruled valid. Marie Jefferson and Isaac Powell filed petitions by today’s 4PM deadline. The validity of their petitions will likely be determined next week by the county Board of Elections.

The winner of the Democratic primary will be the presumptive winner in November’s election unless an independent candidate files to run by March 5. No Republican filed by today’s deadline.

BREAKING NEWS: Turner bows out; will not challenge Fudge

Nina Turner issued the following statement through a spokesperson about 2 PM today:

"Last month, I filed to run for Congress with the intention to take on the status quo and give voters an opportunity for change.  Since then, two things have happened.  First, the redistricting process was manipulated to allow incumbent politicians to guarantee their reelection.  And, the primary election was set for March 6, 2011, a date which gives challengers little time to wage competitive campaigns.

Under these circumstances, I have decided not to run as a Democrat in the 11^th Congressional District.  

Let me be clear:  Our community faces huge challenges, which the present leadership has utterly failed to meet. The past few months have only convinced me and many Northeast Ohioans of the necessity for change and reform, and so my work will continue.  We can and must do better."  

Turner's spokesperson says the Senator is out of town and unavailable for comment.

Update on Jan. 5 Prosecutors Debate: McGinty camp reports his unavailability

Our post yesterday included the following statement regarding our conversations with each candidate as well as with Brendan Doyle, campaign manager for Timothy McGinty:

 

The Real Deal contacted the other three candidates — Kelley, McDonnell and McGinty — yesterday, with each confirming their expectation to participate, although a couple had reservations due either to scheduling conflicts or concerns about one of the sponsors. [emphases added]

Late last night we received an email from Mr. Doyle indicating his camp’s inability to resolve the scheduling conflict in favor of the debate.

If you read the comments to the original post, you won't have much trouble reading between the lines.

We just love our Kentucky Negroes

We just love our Kentucky Negroes

We thank our fashion friend Kim for alerting us to this incredible product offering:

Coclico, a shoe manufacturer, is offering ladies’ boots in that fab color “Kentucky Negro”!

Take a look here for another reason to celebrate how President Obama’s election ushered in this new era of harmony and understanding!

Cavs look good in Detroit as rookie adapts to leadership role

Cavs look good in Detroit as rookie adapts to leadership role

A major key for the fortunes of this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers will be how quickly the rookie point guard Kyrie Irving learns the pro game. Thus, last night’s win over the host Detroit Pistons was a tonic for Cavalier fans, as Irving showed himself a fast learner.

Cavs’ color commentator Austin Carr was right on the money when he said that Irving needs to play his game at his speed, and let the rest of the team follow. Irving began to do that last night and the result was exciting and positively portentous, even if it was against the Pistons team that promises to be sorry.

Black community activists host Jan. 5 debate in wide-open race for County Prosecutor

Black community activists host Jan. 5 debate in wide-open race for County Prosecutor

Six candidates expected to participate in most even race in sixty years

Voters in Cuyahoga County are about to have a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in the open selection of Cuyahoga County prosecutor.

Ever since the legendary — many would say infamous — John T. Corrigan began the thirty-five year run that ended in 1991 and made him perhaps as feared locally for the exercise of discretionary powers as FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was nationally, and for many of the same reasons, voters have been faced with insiders and incumbents.

This year, five men and one woman, mostly all well-qualified on paper, are vying in the Democratic Party primary for a place on the November ballot. It’s a safe bet the March 6 primary winner will be the next county prosecutor as no Republican filed to run before the deadline.

The Democratic candidates are former Cleveland law director Subodh Chandra, who has been a federal prosecutor; police officer Stephanie Hall, who was an assistant county prosecutor before resigning to run; Cleveland city councilman Kevin Kelley; former North Royalton city prosecutor James J. McDonnell; former Common Pleas judge Timothy McGinty; and former judge and Cleveland law director Robert Triozzi.

All seek to succeed the incumbent prosecutor, Bill Mason, who used his political muscle to win the critical endorsement of the Democratic Executive Committee in the fight to succeed Stephanie Tubbs Jones after she resigned to run for Congress in 1998. Once installed as the incumbent, Mason never faced any opposition with the potential to oust him. 

Three candidates — Chandra, Hall, and Triozzi — had confirmed their participation by the time the sponsoring coalition, headed by The Imperial Women and The Audacity of H.O.P.E. Foundation, issued its press release on Tuesday. The Real Deal contacted the other three candidates — Kelley, McDonnell and McGinty — yesterday, with each confirming their expectation to participate, although a couple had reservations due either to scheduling conflicts or concerns about one of the sponsors.

The debate program will start at 5:30pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012. It will be held at the Lil’ Africa Party Center, 6816 Superior Ave., symbolically located in the heart of the inner city.

Cleveland Ward 7 councilman T. J. Dow, a former assistant county prosecutor, will moderate the debate. A community panel including Ward 8 councilman Jeff Johnson, attorney Michael Nelson Sr., Cleveland Jobs With Justice executive director Debbie Kline, and Art McKoy, will pose questions to the candidates. One intriguing aspect of the debate is that two of the panelists — are formerly incarcerated persons.

The public will be invited to ask questions during a 30-minute period following an hour of questions from the panel.

Sponsoring organizations include Occupy Cleveland, Occupy the Hood, The Cleveland chapter of the New Black Panther Party, Peace in the Hood, and Cleveland Urban News.

Contacts for the event are: Executive Director Frances Caldwell [Cleveland African-American Museum, 216-421-0929]; Kathy Wray Coleman   [Imperial Women Coalition Leader, 216-932-3114]; and Griot Y-Von [Audacity of H.O.P.E.  Foundation, 216-355-3374].

Quote for today

We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do. — Ethel Barrett

New Era for Cavs Starts Tonight

I am working on a follow-up to several pieces I have written over the past couple of months about leadership and Cleveland’s black community. I won’t have time to post it before the Cavs play their season opener tonight but I do want to lay my prognostication out there:

The Cavs will win between 26 and 28 games in this abbreviated season. Top pick Kyrie Irving should be Rookie of the Year.

The team will play an entertaining brand of ball, hustling and defending for a full 48 minutes a night. The rotation will feature ten players and the team’s youth and depth will make them an undesirable foe against the older, less-than-stellar opponents they encounter on back-to-back nights.

I expect the Heat will win it all this year but I would be delighted to see them fail. If they don’t, it’s likely because the Bulls stopped them in the Eastern Conference finals. If the Heat don’t break through this season, then the rash promise by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to bring home a title before you know who gets his first will begin to seem like a worthwhile bet.