Open Seat Judicial Primaries, Part I

This year's Democrat judicial primary contests carry out-sized importance for Party

Judicial races are often the proverbial red-headed stepchildren of the ballot. They come “down-ballot”, near the end of an often long list of races. Voters who have trudged to the polls often are tired of thinking and trying to remember who their neighbor told them they should vote for. The seven or eight minutes worth of time they’ve already spent making sure their pencil marks were correctly placed has them feeling like impatient schoolchildren, eager to finish up and go outside. So they either skip the last few races or stab at familiar names.

That kind of voter behavior means we often wind up with inferior judges on the bench.

We stirred up a hornet’s nest a few months ago when we pulled the lid off the judicial endorsement process of the County Democratic Party and took a look at the four open seats on the county court, i.e., those races where there is no incumbent on the ballot this year. What often appears a mysterious anointment of a few coveted judicial slots by hands unseen is this year a no-holds barred battle among lawyers eager to cap their careers or launch themselves into public office. And the results of their efforts will likely affect the course of the county party for the next few years.

Each of the four open races carries its own peculiar dynamic. Two of the races are head-to-head battles, one has three candidates, and the other has six contestants.

Voters should be aware that in several of the races there is at least one candidate who appears to be running more on a favorable ballot name than on a solid record of professional accomplishment. In that regard, we are providing a link to each candidate’s judicial questionnaire as submitted to www.judge4yourself.com, an independent, nonpartisan evaluation service operated jointly by four local bar associations. Their process is not perfect, but can serves as a useful aid for the thoughtful voter.

With early voting having started April 10, there are just over three weeks until Primary Election Day, May 8.

Here are some observations voters may find helpful:

William T. McGinty vs. Andrew J. Santoli

Andre J. Santoli

William T. McGinty

This race is a study in contrasts. Santoli, 38, is a career prosecutor who has been running for the better part of two years. He has the backing of the Bill Mason-Marcia Fudge machine, which shouldn’t necessarily be held against him. He has a solid 3.0 ranking [out of a possible 4] from judge4yourself.com.

McGinty, 65, entered the race at the filing deadline. His career has been primarily focused on criminal defense, although he has served as Fairview Park law director for the past two years. He would be limited to one term if elected. He is not related to former county prosecutor Tim McGinty.

McGinty was preferred by judge4yourself.com with a 3.5 rating. Santoli is endorsed by the county party and the Plain Dealer.

In our opinion, either candidate could serve commendably. It may be a matter of personal preference for the voter, with Santoli’s youth, prosecutor’s orientation, and organizational backing vs. McGinty’s end-of-career perspective and broader experience.

Emily Hagan vs. Michael Rendon vs. Retanio A. J. Rucker

Retanio A. J. Rucker

I have known Retanio Rucker’s family since before he was born. I can attest that he was raised by good and loving folk who practiced solid American values. He has served conscientiously as a magistrate in Juvenile Court for eleven years. He has an authoritative, no-nonsense manner on the bench. If elected, he would bring needed diversity to the court as an African American male jurist.

Rucker, 58, laid an egg before judge4yourself.com, earning a dismal 0.5 rating. I suspect the ranking reflects his assertive personality more than anything else. I am confident he could handle the transition from juvenile court magistrate to the Court’s General Division.

Emily Hagan

Emily Hagan, 40, has one of the thinnest resumes imaginable for a judicial candidate. She does not appear ever to have had the kinds of experience one would expect a trial court judicial candidate to have obtained. She enjoys the backing of the old guard, including Mason-Fudge, likely because her uncle is a former county commissioner and one-time head of the party. Judge4yourself.com found her “adequate” with a 2.0 across the board. Still, it was a surprise to many when she failed to win the party’s endorsement, largely because the process had become overtly racialized.

Michael J. Rendon

But Michael Rendon, 60, is far and away the superior candidate in this race. Take a look at his background and you will see a breath and depth to his professional and life experiences that make him ideal as a judicial candidate. I was surprised and delighted to see that he was a U.S. border guard for four years. His military background, Hispanic heritage, and rich experience combine to render him head and shoulders above the field. Judge4yourself.com concurs, giving him a perfect 4.0 rating.

Tomorrow we look at the other two judicial races that have challenged the black political establishment and will likely have far-reaching consequences regardless of who become the nominees.

Dixon's long tenure at GCRTA speaks to Cleveland's sub-par political culture

-->

​Our low standards are killing us

The forced resignation of George F Dixon III two weeks ago as board chair of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority at the behest of his fellow trustees comes across as an urgent carbon monoxide detector. He resigned as his fellow board members investigate whether Dixon may have improperly failed to pay his share of premiums for his GCRTA subsidized health insurance.

The situation points once again to a Greater Cleveland political culture that recycles and rewards a collection of undistinguished political insiders — both elected and appointed — whose chief assets seem to be a general affability accompanied by a reluctance to rock the boat.

The administration and management of GCRTA seem at this moment to reflect the same political culture that enabled the Jimmy Dimora-Frank Russo era of just a decade ago.  Blessed with a high school education, Dimora epitomized the archetype of the jovial back slapping, deal-making public official.

Even after the FBI raid on their county administration offices and homes in July 2008 — Dimora was one of three county commissioners and Russo the county treasurer — most local Democratic Party apparatchiks were reluctant to challenge the duo’s leadership of the party. Over and over, when asked how they could tolerate the indicted pair’s continued party leadership, people would recite some favor or kindness rendered to them or a family member by Dimora as a rationale for enduring an unconscionable situation.

Our preference for affability and comfort over a commitment to excellence and service is one of the key hindrances to our community advancement. It is not the kind of cultural attribute one expects would appeal to a corporate giant looking to expand to a new community.

We don’t know George Dixon personally, nor have any facts emerged thus far established that he has broken any laws. People we respect describe him

George Dixon was appointed to GCRTA board
in 1992 and served as chairman from 1994
until he resigned under pressure last month.

warmly as an intelligent guy with an engaging manner. He did enjoy a reputation as the King of GCRTA, however, with an aura reinforced by the fact that board meetings took place in the George F. Dixon III Board Room.

Yet on the face of it, something is wrong when a person serves as chairman of a public agency for nearly a quarter of a century. As former judge and county council president C. Ellen Connally has written, such long uninterrupted tenures are breeding grounds for threats to the public interest.

Dixon’s departure opens the door for a major overhaul of the ten-member GCRTA board. Not only did the terms of Charles P. Lucas and former East Cleveland mayor Gary Norton expire on March 31, but two other trustees continue to serve after their terms have expired. Valerie McCall’s term expired in March 2017 and Leo Serrano’s term expired in March 2016.

Three of Cleveland’s appointees are serving past term and the fourth just resigned. It does not speak well for the appointing authorities — the Jackson and Budish administrations — to be so lackadaisical about making timely appointments to a vital public agency with more than 2000 employees and a $300 million budget.

Mayor Jackson likes to say Cleveland will not be a great city unless and until all its neighborhoods share in the prosperity of the city’s renaissance. Most of the people who live in those “least of these” neighborhoods don’t have cars and are dependent upon public transit to get to work, to the doctor, and to shop.

It would behoove Mayor Jackson and County Executive Budish to consider appointing some regular bus riders to the board. We see little evidence that the current board members identify with workers who face two hour commutes each way to jobs that pay less than a living wage.

Frank, if you want Cleveland to be great, start by giving us some great board members. Even better, do it with a sense of urgency and transparency. 

Don't keep letting it be "what it is".

 # # #

[Cleveland appoints four members of the RTA board. The County appoints three, and the Cuyahoga Mayors and Managers Association appoints three.]

Harvard's Kuumba Choir, Morgan State Choir bringing history, joy to the North Coast

Old Sorrow Songs a Source of Modern Comfort

Harvard’s Kuumba Choir here last week; Morgan State Choir in town tonight

I don’t know how it is for white people but if you are black in America, even though you may be relatively privileged, you can often feel isolated in the rarefied atmosphere your good fortune has opened up to you.

Let’s look at the well known sports pioneer Jackie Robinson. He was enormously talented, a confident military vet, happily married, but every day he had to go work in a hostile environment where not only thousands of onlookers and on-the-field opponents were jeering him openly and rooting for him to fall on his face; he had teammates who despised him and wanted him to fail.

We may think those days are behind us but in truth, in this society, they are not. I’ve never met Craig Arnold, chairman and CEO of transnational Eaton Corp., but it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if he felt some of that special isolation as the only one on the whole floor.

Thousands of black people of lesser status, if not lesser talent, have felt that sensation of being strangers in a strange land. It’s one of the reasons black men used to acknowledge each other in a certain way when crossing paths in unexpected places. I still recall my experiences in boarding school, far removed from most of what I’d ever experienced back in my Glenville neighborhood, trying to find some balm of Gilead.

So it was no surprise to hear members of Harvard University’s Kuumba Choir share the origins of the group’s birth, founded in 1970 to “create a spiritual and cultural space in which we can feel comfortable”.

The choir was in Greater Cleveland last week, the last stop on a four-city spring break tour that had them also visiting Chicago, Detroit, and Springfield IL.  They appeared in concert at South Euclid United Church of Christ before a crowd of well over 300 enthusiasts, a day after having thrilled an assembly at Cleveland School of the Arts.

The music was a thorough affirmation of faith, a celebration of journeys completed and trials still underway. The song titles did much to tell the story: Amazing Grace, Ride On King Jesus/In that Great Gittin’ Up Morning, We’ve Come a Long Way, Ain’t Gon’ Let Nobody Turn Me Around, Oh Happy Day!

The 40-plus voices were a striking amalgam. At one point, the singers passed a microphone throughout their ranks, with each using a spare ten or twelve words to state their name, hometown, and undergrad major or other identifying characteristic. So the audience learned that the choir included students from across the country, the Islands and from the Continent. The presence of a Caucasian or three in their ranks only amplified the testimony of the music of the universality of the rhythms and melodies and plaints and joys expressed in the Spirituals, or sorrow songs as they were once called.

The group’s repertoire was wide, likely only hinted at by the range of the material they chose to present Friday. It included traditional spirituals, modern gospel, and African freedom songs. They were backed throughout by an excellent small combo on keyboards and percussion. During a brief intermission, the audience heard the outstanding piano talent of the local and superb David Thomas.

It is performances like this that come to mind when we hear the phrase “black culture”, not the popular strains of the moment but the abiding chords that speak to the long history of people of the Diaspora.

The Kuumba Choir has maintained a commendable consistency throughout its 48 years. Current director Sheldon Reid, who has led the ensemble since 1998, is only the third director in Kuumba’s history. The choir maintains a strong alumni network whose current president is Linda Jackson Sowell of Solon. She spoke briefly near the program’s end, and as a charter member, joined in the group’s rendition of the Twenty-Third Psalm.

The spring break tours of collegiate black choirs are one of the early and most pleasant harbingers of a new season. Tonight the renowned Morgan State Choir comes to town. They will appear in concert at 7pm at Mt. Zion United Church of Christ, 10723 Magnolia Dr., in University Circle. All are welcome. Admission is free and there will be a good will offering.

NOTE to HBCU alumni: Let us know when your choir is coming to town.

NIna Turner in Greater Cleveland today for Progressive Caucus, Kyle B. Earley

Former State Senator Nina Turner, who is now president of Our Revolution, a national progressive political organization formed in the aftermath of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination, will be the featured speaker at a 1PM rally today sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

The rally will be held at Newburgh Heights City Hall, 3801 Harvard Avenue, Newburgh Heights, Ohio 44105.

Also during the day, Turner is expected to appear elsewhere around the city on behalf of Kyle B. Earley, who is running for the Democratic nomination for state representative in District 10. That seat is currently held by Bill Patmon, who is term-limited.

The primary election is May 8. Early voting will begin April 10. The registration deadline to vote in the May primary is April 9.

Closing out Black History Month

​Black people of a certain bent are wont to observe wryly that Black History Month would be the shortest month of the year, given that America has routinely given us the shorter end of the shortest stick.

But I dare say that had Carter G. Woodson known that what he birthed and christened as Negro History Week back in 1926 would be enlarged and expanded into a full month, he would have picked a month with 31 days.

Of course, I think the reality is Black History is important enough to merit a year round focus, especially among people of color.

I think somewhere I have written about reading Carter G. Woodson’s fabulous Mis-Education of the Negro for the first time.[1] I was in my mid-twenties, possessed of an excellent formal education, but one that had omitted core pieces of black — and therefore American — history. It was like discovering a key to a mysterious and magical place that one has heard about but never seen. I was discovering Woodson’s insights on the black condition 40 years after he had written them, and they seemed as fresh as that day’s headlines. Scanning them again today, another 40-odd years later, they seem fresher than the latest tweet.

If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.

           — Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro

The American Legacy Mobile Exhibit of black history was in town today, graced by the presence of its founder and guiding light, Cleveland and Mt. Pleasant’s own Rodney J. Reynolds. It was a special treat to see. Among the artifacts were a host of American Legacy covers from its sixteen year print run, paraphernalia from Jackie Robinson’s rookie year in the major leagues, and my personal favorite, a pair of fire-engine red boxing gloves autographed by the Greatest himself, Muhammad Ali.

Rodney Reynolds, American Legacy founder and
publisher, with Cleveland Fire Dept. program director
Bilal Akram, left, and Cleveland photojournalist James Wade

We managed to squeeze in an interview with Rodney, founder and publisher of the American Legacy brand, amidst his official host duties. We will report more fully on our conversation tomorrow, but we'll close tonight with his observation that African Americans "are still a community that is in search of itself."

---

[1] I just searched this site for it without success, but I did find this piece, written exactly six years ago today. I especially commend it to a new and very dear friend who recently commented obliquely on where I come from.

Black Professional Association selects Thompson Hine partner-in-charge as 2018 Black Professional of the Year

Robyn Minter Smyers was announced tonight as 2018 Black Professional of the Year.

The announcement came at the close of the Black Professional Association Charitable Foundation's annual meeting [BPACF] at Karamu House.

Smyers is Partner-in-Charge of the Thompson Hine law firm, as well as former chair of its firm-wide Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. She is a partner in the firm's Real Estate, Construction and Corporate Transactions and Securities practice groups.

Smyers is a 1991 cum laude graduate of Harvard University and earned her law degree from Yale Law School in 1997. She currently serves as a trustee of the Codrington Foundation and the City Club of Cleveland. The former Gund Foundation trustee is also a member of the Cleveland Foundation's African-American Philanthropy Committee. Her father, Steven Minter, former president of the Cleveland Foundation, was honored as BPA's 1985 Black Professional of the Year.

BPACF's mission is to create opportunities for young scholars and other promising youth in the Greater Cleveland area. Its signature event each year is a black tie gala that celebrates the accomplishments of its honoree.

Previous BPOYs have included former US Congress members Lou Stokes and Stephanie Tubbs Jones, pastors Otis Moss Jr. and Marvin C. McMickle, and three presidents of Cuyahoga Community College: Nolen Ellison, Jerry Sue Thornton, and Alex Johnson. A list of past honorees can be found here.

Ronald V. Johnson Jr. of KeyBank is BPACF's current president.

This year's scholarship gala will be held November 3 at Landerhaven.