Cuyahoga Politics Today • Around Town this Weekend • Frank Jackson criticized for missing the boat on Puerto Rico

Ten days ago, we wrote about forthcoming changes both to our format and to our reporting. 

Three days later, we posted an exclusive first report of a shakeup in the mayor’s campaign. That post got more hits in 24 hours than we have ever had in a 30-day period! Thank you very much to all who read and shared that story.

Today, we offer a trifecta: our semi-regular feature — CPT-Cuyahoga Politics Today; a new feature, Essential Diversions, that will report on stage, drama, sport, art, etc.; and, a thought-provoking op-ed piece from civic leader Juan Molina Crespo.

Enjoy, and please come back tomorrow to find coverage on new doings in Glenville.

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CPT — Cuyahoga Politics Today

Not so strange bedfellows

The reincarnation of former county prosecutor Bill Mason now seems complete with today’s hosting of a fundraiser for County Executive Armond Budish.

Mason, who is now partner-in-charge of the Cleveland office of the politically potent statewide law firm of Bricker and Eckler, used his formidable political organizing skills to win the county Democratic Party’s Central Committee election as the area’s top cop after Stephanie Tubbs Jones left that job to go to Congress. He served as prosecutor from 1999 to 2012, spending more time building his machine than dealing with the outrageous behavior of fellow county officeholders Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo. It took federal prosecutors to take down the rotten county politics of the Dimora era. Reformers and Republicans seized upon the opportunity to install a new form of county government, eliminating most archaic elective county offices like recorder, clerk of courts, treasurer, sheriff, etc., subsuming them under the new office of county executive.

Mason’s machine had enough clout to keep the prosecutor’s office an elected position and to finish his term. Fallout from the corruption scandal had tarnished his brand sufficiently that he chose not to run for re-election, and he resigned his term a couple months early to join Bricker.  Whatever ambition he had for statewide office seemed to end as well.

Now, like a bad penny, the man has returned as a power behind the throne, a gray eminence who has already made book with Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and is now further ingratiating himself with the county executive. Whatever the virtues of the election of county councilwoman Shontel Brown’s election several weeks ago as head of the county Democrats, the real story was always the handshake between Mason and Fudge that made it possible.

Our area politics have always suffered by the unholy alliance between the public officials who indulge in the petty perks of office and the business interests who endorse and fund them for their own self-aggrandizement. Sound policy and the people’s interests get taken for a ride along in the trunk.

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Endorsement Report

• The Cuyahoga Women’s Democratic Caucus today announced new endorsements in this year’s general election.

In city races, The Caucus endorsed only ten of a possible 16 incumbents, including Mayor Frank Jackson. Newcomers endorsed are Kevin Bishop (Ward 2); Delitha "Gail" Sparks (Ward 4); and Jasmin Santana (Ward 14). The Caucus issued no endorsements in Wards 7, 8, 9, 10, and 16. There is no incumbent in the Council races for Wards 2 and 10.

Other caucus endorsements announced today:

BEACHWOOD: Martin S. Horwitz for Mayor; Gail McShepard and James Pasch for City Council.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS: Cheryl Stephens, Jason Stein, Mike Ungar, and Melissa Yasinow for City Council.

EUCLID: Laura Gorshe (City Council Ward 8)

NORTH OLMSTED: Chris Glassburn (City Council Ward 2).

OLMSTED FALLS: Ann Marie Donegan for Mayor.

SHAKER HEIGHTS: Anne E. Williams and Robert Zimmerman for City Council.

SOUTH EUCLID: Ruth Gray (City Council Ward 1), Sara Continenza (Ward 3) and Jane Goodman (City Council Ward 4)

CWDC previously endorsed the following candidates:

GARFIELD HEIGHTS: Shayla Davis (City Council Ward 4) and Tenisha Mack (City Council Ward 2)

LAKEWOOD: Tom Bullock and Cindy Marx for City Council at Large.

The CDWC also endorsed levies for both the Cleveland Public Library Levy [Issue 60] and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority [Issue 59]

• Mayoral challenger Zack Reed picked up a couple of key endorsements earlier this week from the Teamsters and Amalgamated Transit Union locals.

• Meanwhile, looking ahead to next year, the Betty Sutton for Governor campaign reports receiving the endorsement of the Cleveland Teachers Union. The former Congresswoman is one of four announced candidates for the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The others: former state rep. Connie Pillich, Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, and Dayton mayor Nan Whaley.

Voting starts next week

The last day to register is October 10. Early voting begins next week, starting Oct. 11. Election day is November 5.

“We expect upwards of 75,000 people to vote by mail in this important election that includes the Mayor of Cleveland and two statewide issues,” said county elections board director Pat McDonald in a statement released earlier this week.

There are 60 other issues and hundreds of municipal, school and judicial candidates on the ballot.  “This election will affect the future of our cities, county, and state.  I want to remind people that these types of elections can have a bigger impact on their daily lives than in presidential years,” said McDonald.

Voters are encouraged to submit their vote by mail ballot applications as soon as possible.  To request a ballot application visit: www.443vote.com, or call 216-443-VOTE (8683).  They are also available at all public libraries.  The Board will begin mailing ballots to voters on October 11th.

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Essential Diversions

What’s happening this weekend?

It’s probably too late to get tickets if you’ve been dithering around about whether to see the fabulously satisfying performance of Simply Simone at Karamu. There are only four more shows [tonight through Saturday at 7:30PM

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and a 3 PM Sunday matinee]. The diva show began and ended on the perfect notes, and all the ones in between were pretty good, too. The four Ninas are Sheffia Randall, Afia Mensa, Corlesia Smith and home girl Mariama Whyte.

Don’t let me be misunderstood: Don’t you wish you knew how it would feel to be free? Call 216.795.7077.

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Across town, previews start tonight for the world premiere of The Family Claxon by once-local playwright Eric Coble. The Cleveland Public Theatre production opens officially on October 13 and runs through October 28. Check it out here.

The Cast of The Family Claxon, opening in preview
tonight at Cleveland Public Theatre.
[PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Wagner]

Also tonight, if you have missed Ava Duvernay’s four-time Emmy Award winning documentary, 13^th — about America’s star-spangled prison industrial complex — that film screens for free today at 5:30 PM at the ACLU Cleveland office, 4506 Chester Ave. in midtown. Discussion and light refreshments will follow. More info here.

Finally, the Cleveland baseball team begins its quest for post-season honors tonight at home against the long-hated Yankees. We think this may be the most capable team in the team's history — from the manager to the defense to the pitching to the bats. They start off with a tough test — the better team can be upset in a short five game series — and the opponents will only get tougher from there. But if Cleveland can win eleven post-season games this year, they will be World Champs, and maybe a certain obscene creature will burn up in a blaze of glory, never to receive official sanction again.

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IN MY OPINION

By Juan Molina Crespo                                                                       October 5, 2017

Cleveland misses opportunity to aid Puerto Ricans and Clevelanders

Once again, the statement released by Cleveland’s Mayor and other elected officials, on the devastation of Puerto Rico, to attempt to help soothe the psychological damage among Cleveland’s Puerto Rican community, personifies the historical ambivalence between Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and majority culture leaders. 

It is outrageous that Mayor Jackson thinks that expressing his sympathy, and “thoughts and prayers” is comforting, and enough. 

This is not the time for “ay bendito” or soft, soothing rhetoric. Our community has been devastated. Where is the moral and forceful leadership, where is the action, the substance?

At a time when Cleveland seeks to increase population to stave off the very real possibility of losing yet another Congressional seat, the Mayor and other public and civic officials should be putting out a clarion call welcoming all Puerto Ricans to Cleveland. Instead, we are silent, while Detroit, Chicago, Allentown, Houston, Fort Wayne and the entire state of Florida are aggressively recruiting to their areas.

The economic implications for our region are significant. An authentic welcoming city could create a one-stop shop for new arrivals, with housing, medical care, beds, and access to social workers and counselors to help mitigate the emotional trauma, and very real physical pain.  Over the past sixty years, Cleveland’s philanthropic community along with the Puerto Rican community has created the foundation of this infrastructure.

Mayor, do not include Puerto Rico in a narrative with Japan, adding it to the geopolitical discourse that continues to fuel the ambiguity of its status vis-à-vis the United States, and call into question the citizenship status of Puerto Ricans. The Puerto Rican disaster must not be used to promote fear, resentment or stereotypes. The narrative must be that as a colony, territory or possession of the United States, it is your obligation to act in a manner aligned with the democratic principles of your sworn oath.

Juan Molina Crespo directs the Hispanic Alliance of Cleveland.

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Opportunity Knocking in the Home of the Brave

​O, I will go, I shall go

To see what the end will be

— traditional Negro spiritual

Last Saturday Vernon Sweatte stood in front of a group of about fifty people gathered at Murtis Taylor Center in Cleveland’s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood and talked about his work. He was serious and self-possessed. He was especially engaging

Vernon Sweatt speaking at CEA
Info Session, September 30, 2017

as he talked about his pocket philosophy: he had four pockets and he was hungry to fill each of them.

Vernon Sweatte's curiosity had changed his life.

Not all by itself. He had to work hard to scratch his itch. But he kept putting one foot in front of the other and found himself inside of half a year earning about $5,000 a month and hungry for more.

It started about six months ago on a chilly Saturday morning back in March. Vernon was one of a mixed bag of folk drawn to the Collinwood Recreation Center on St. Clair Ave. in the city's northeast corner. The assembly was mostly black, mostly men, with a few brave women scattered among them. Their ages seemed to range from the mid twenties to the mid forties. There were likely a  few a few formerly incarcerated people in the group — FIPs — but you very well could have been wrong had you tried to identify them.

The smart ones had arrived early for the advertised session, scheduled to begin at 10 o'clock. Small clusters of two or three folk were standing here or there towards the front of the room, which had an airy feel owing to the near floor-to-ceiling wall of windows on its north side. There was a group of six or seven officious looking folk in one cluster — chiefly politicians and preachers. Some of them would later be called upon to offer words of encouragement and exhortation.

The invitees, Vernon among them, had come to an informational meeting about careers in construction. A good portion of them had in all likelihood never thought in career terms. Life happened too fast, seemed too random, with odds too high, dangers too great, distractions too many, rewards too distant, and support too tenuous to make thinking of having a career a realistic option. Once the dream of the NBA faded, you got a job if you were lucky; if not, you got a hustle.

The session started on time, which is the way of the construction world. After an invocation and a welcome, the meat of the program got underway. There was a pathway to good jobs for those who were willing to work hard. The path wasn't easy, it wouldn't be fun, and there would be obstacles aplenty. The path required commitment, dedication, perseverance, self-control in the face of challenge and even downright hostility. But for those who stuck it out, there would be reward and deep satisfaction.

Most of this information and real life lessons came from the tell-it-like-it-is presentation of the tag team of Glen Shumate and Cordell Stokes. Shumate is executive vice president of the Construction Employers Association, the area's premier association of big union contractors. They have a position interest in recruiting top talent to the construction industry, and Shumate leads their efforts amidst the changing demographics of northeast Ohio. Stokes is son and nephew of Cleveland political royalty, and it's clear the apple didn't fall from the tree in terms of his looks and presence; it rolled over to the business side of the orchard. His consulting company has a contract to help recruit and then train industry newcomers. Together they are like a pair of honest Army recruiters, pointing out the rewards but not stinting on the cost.

At one point in the Collinwood meeting, Shumate asked an attractive young woman in the rear to step forward and share her experience.

Lauren Benton speaking at CEA session,
March 2017. [Photo by Rhonda Crowder]

The young woman, Lauren Benton — a Shaker HS grad and former model — turned out to be an apprentice carpenter. Her authentic remarks captured the crowd’s attention.

A year ago, she told the job seekers, she couldn't have imagined her current career path. But then she had attended a similar session in the midst of a job search, and carpentry attracted her.

Her unvarnished comments could be sorted into two halves. The job had its own demands. You had to be on time and ready to work at the 7:30AM starting time, not just strolling onto the site. You had to have your own tools, and having your own car or truck was essential. Drug testing was real: fail a test and you are sent home.

Benton also schooled her audience with practical tips. She warned them not to get comfortable with co-workers, to learn by observation. And while the money is good, with regular pay raises, the weather was mercurial and when — not if — the work slowed, you were smart if you had been saving your money and living off your average unemployment wage.

Sweatte heard all this talk and wondered if it were true. So he signed up, and after successfully navigating CEA’s qualifying process, soon found himself enrolled in SOAR, a workforce development program focused on such soft skills as effective communication, conflict management, and business etiquette. Six weeks later, Sweatte stood proudly at a graduation ceremony at the Urban League, which runs the program [Solid Opportunities for Advancement and Retention].

Sweatte now works for Trafftech. He is a member of Laborers Local 860, comprised of heavy highway construction workers. On Saturday he found himself echoing carpenter’s apprentice Benton: work hard and “Don’t take nothing personal.”

These days, when he is not testifying for the CEA-Urban League collaboration, Sweatte works sixty hours a week and looking forward to his pending $4/hr. raise, which could raise his overtime pay to better than $34/hour. Do the math.

CEA has been offering its recruitment sessions all over town. Sessions have been held in the Lee-Harvard and Detroit Shoreway neighborhoods, as well as in Maple Heights.

The next one is tonight, from 6-8PM, at the Cathedral Worship Center, 21601 Euclid Ave., Euclid OH 44117. Refreshments and opportunity will be provided.

For more information, visit ceacisp.org or buildohio.org.

Pass the word.

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BREAKING NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Jackson taps young lawyer to run campaign

A concerned Jackson camp shakes up his campaign

New team to lead incumbent’s re-election effort down the stretch

In a sharp turn of events, Mayor Frank Jackson has handed control of his campaign for an unprecedented fourth term over to a young attorney admitted to the bar only this year.

Michael Bowen is now running Mayor Frank
Jackson's historic bid for a fourth ter

Wayne Clarke, a Beltway consultant brought in from Maryland in July to run the campaign, is out.

Bowen is now in charge of a campaign team that includes political consultant Jon Benedict of R Strategy Group and Bill Burges of Burges and Burges. Benedict will serve as chief strategist for the campaign. Burges, considered the town’s most experienced political consultant but who had been sidelined by Clarke earlier this summer, will direct the media effort.

Many political observers had expected some changes in the campaign’s organization and focus, given the mayor’s lackluster performance in the Sept. 12 primary. Jackson led the nine-man field but despite near-total name recognition, twelve years in office, and a massive fund-raising advantage, got only 38.9 percent of the vote. City Councilman Zack Reed came in second to the mayor, with 21.9 percent, trailing the mayor by some 5,500 votes [7,194 to 12, 699].

Reed and Jackson face off in the general election on Nov. 7.

Bowen’s principal job will be to mobilize the formidable resources of the Jackson campaign to get out the vote for the incumbent. Primary turnout was only about 13%, which means both Jackson and Reed have a lot of work to do. Reed likely has the greater upside because Jackson is so much better known. But he has far fewer resources to work with and must now contend with a homegrown campaigner who lives for the political fight.

Reed also announced adjustments to his campaign leadership team this week, formally placing his longtime friend and ally, Kevin Jones, as head of his campaign. Jones has taken a leave from his work as a senior account executive with Stern Advertising.

Clarke’s hiring by the Jackson campaign, reportedly on the recommendation of Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, raised the eyebrows of many political watchers, who wondered how an outsider with no knowledge of Cleveland’s political nooks and crannies, could successfully navigate a major campaign. They also wondered why Jackson couldn’t find local talent to do the job.

Jackson may have confounded them again by reaching out to the young Bowen. The Miami University grad has been well schooled in the political world, earning his spurs in a number of candidate and issue-oriented campaigns. His mother was former Shaker Heights councilwoman Lynn Ruffner, who passed away in 2014. Bowen will be on leave from Taft until after the election.

Bowen is a 21^st century campaigner, and while he is savvy in the shoe-leather ways of the old guard, he has been steadily building relationships across the ethnic, political, and generational lines that have long calcified both Cleveland’s political climate and its public discourse. If he is able to pull the creaky ocean liner that is the Jackson administration into port once more ahead of the more nimble and unpredictable Reed skiff, he will likely be lauded as the new Arnold Pinkney.

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CPT | South Euclid mayor booted off County Dems Executive Committee

Cuyahoga Politics Today

South Euclid mayor spanked in intraparty feud

South Euclid mayor Georgine Welo was disciplined by the County Democratic Party last week.

The action was taken by the Party Unity Review Committee [PURC] after Welo endorsed a Republican who is running against incumbent South Euclid councilwoman Ruth Gray, a fellow Democrat.

Party officials and elected Democrats are prohibited from “actively and publicly” supporting a non-Democratic candidate in a non-partisan race. South Euclid council races are non-partisan.

Gray filed a complaint on July 10 with then-party chairman Stuart Garson, after learning that Welo had endorsed Gray’s opponent, Kenneth Atchinson in this year’s November election. Atchinson has been a registered Republican for the past seven years, according to election records cited in her letter.

The PURC ruled unanimously in Gray's favor last week, kicking Welo off the party’s executive committee, and rendered her ineligible for party office or party endorsement for the next election cycle. Their action means Welo cannot receive the party’s endorsement if she runs for reelection in 2019.

Gray’s complaint cited other instances where members of the South Euclid Democratic Club have backed Republicans over qualified Democratic black women. Gray also referenced efforts to undermine South Euclid Municipal Court Judge Gayle Williams Byers, contending, “There is a pervasive pattern and practice of animus against African American female Democrats in South Euclid.”

The current political turf battles in South Euclid have given rise to reports that freshman councilman Jason Russell may toss his hat in the ring for the post of city leader, a nongovernmental position currently held by councilman Marty Gelfand.

Gray, who ran against Welo for mayor in 2015 and lost, is seeking reelection to her fourth term on city council. She is also president of the Cleveland chapter of the National Council of Black Women, a growing presence on the local political scene.

A call to Mayor Welo was not returned for press time.

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Terrence Spivey brings August Wilson to Shore Cultural Centre starting tonight

August Wilson is the only playwright, Terrence Spivey told us in our interview over the weekend, to have ALL of his works appear on Broadway. Wilson wrote ten plays, each framed in a different decade of the twentieth century, depicting African American experience.

Tonight, Spivey, the artistic director at the Shore Cultural Centre in Euclid, launches an ambitious effort to demonstrate the fertile legacy that Wilson depicts through readings of his plays beginning with Gem of the Ocean.

Leon Bibb, the noted broadcaster [recently retired from Channel 5], is featured in Gem, which is set in the year 1904.

Spivey emphasizes the message of preservation of heritage, history, and remembrance that is uniqueness to all of Wilson’s plays.  The tone of spirituality and healing reverberates soundly inside an African American community that finds itself in a situation demanding heedfulness to introspective dialogue that simmers the core of how we perceive race, oneness, and dignity.  Wilson’s plays will render your emotions “fighting on the inside.”

As a director, Spivey highlights the value of approaching his craft organically and working from how the actors are feeling at that moment.  He eschews the excessive pre-staging and writing prior to the rehearsal that could stifle the performer’s natural power and delivery.  He believes that yielding to inventive freedom at appropriate moments delivers a grander experience than could have been scripted - and no erasing is needed. 

This series of readings of Wilson’s plays, The American Century Cycle, will continue on October 30 with Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, featuring Peter Lawson Jones.

For tickets, visit here.  Shore Cultural Centre is located at 291 East 222 St., Euclid OH 44123 [216. 289-8578].

 By Neina K.

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