Obama campaign announces 35 national campaign co-chairs such as actress Eva Longoria, Black Congressional Caucus Chair Emanuel Cleaver, Strickland

Former Ohio Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland (center) with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama

Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Emanuel Cleaver III (D-MO)

President Barack Obama (lt) with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick

Desperate Housewives Actress Eva Longoria

From the Metro Desk of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com and www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Obama for America campaign announced on Wed. the names of 35 co-chairs for the president's 2012 reelection campaign that include a host of Democratic mayors, governors and U. S. senators, as well as union leaders, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Emanuel Cleaver III (D-MO), and famous people such as Caroline Kennedy and desperate housewives actress Eva Longoria.

Also among the group are Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who campaigned for the president in 2008 during a heated Democratic primary against now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was also a former chief of staff, and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.

“The president’s national co-chairs will be tremendous assets on the ground as we build the biggest grassroots campaign in history,” said Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina in a press release to Cleveland Urban New.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com. “They each share the president’s vision for a future where every American can have a fair shot at success, where hard work pays off, and where responsibility is rewarded.”

Blacks leaders that were selected were enthusiastic about the challenge.

"I am committed to working tirelessly as a national co-chair for Obama for America to ensure the president can continue to carry out his vision for an economy built to last and continue to bring positive change to our great country, " said Cleaver III, who has led the Congressional Black Caucus of 43 members of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2010.

"We need this president’s continued leadership to help us leave our country better than we found it," added Patrick, the first Black governor of Massachusetts .

The president is clever enough to include people representing pivotal states such as Strickland in Ohio, former Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold, Florida Obama for America affiliate Annette Acosta, and Sai lyer, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University.

No Republican has won the White House without first winning Ohio and the last Democrat to jump that hurdle was the late former president John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy's father.

Strickland is a former congressman that represented Ohio's 6th Congressional District.

He served a single four-year term as Ohio governor before his defeat in 2010 by John Kasich, a Republican, and also a former U.S. representative to Congress.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.

Updated: Cordie Stokes, the oldest daughter of the late and former Cleveland Mayor Carl B. Stokes and a niece of retired U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, dies

Cordie Stokes (pictured lt. with an identified friend) at a gala for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson in 2009 (photograph by Cleveland.com, www.cleveland.com)

The late Carl B. Stokes, who became the first Black mayor of a major metropolitan city when he was elected mayor of the City of Cleveland in 1967

Retired U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, Carl Stokes' only sibling and the first Black congressman representing Ohio

Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes, a daughter of retired U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes and Cordie Stokes' first cousin

Cordie Stokes (far rt.), with her older brother Carl Stokes Jr., her mother Shirley, and her father Carl B. Stokes in earlier years

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio-Cordie Stokes, the second child and oldest daughter of the late Carl B. Stokes, the former mayor of the city of Cleveland and the first Black mayor of a major metropolitan city, and a niece of retired U.S. Congressman Louis Stokes, was found dead in her Cuyahoga Falls apartment Mon. morning. She was 50.

The cause of death was from natural causes, the medical examiner's report said. She had battled heart disease and breast cancer for 10 years.

A divorcee, she leaves behind a daughter, Quinn McBee, from a previous marriage, her mother Shirley Sacks, three siblings (Carl Stokes Jr., Cordell Stokes and Cynthia Stokes) , a stepbrother (Sasha Kostadinov), and a host of other relatives, including Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes, a first cousin and one of Louis Stokes' four children.

Cordie worked in various capacities and more recently as an insurance agent.

Friends said that she had planned to move back to Cleveland in the coming months after her apartment lease was up.

She was active in politics and once ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Cleveland Board of Education.

She attended the State of the Union watch party on Jan 24 at the Obama campaign headquarters at Shaker Square in Cleveland.

Her father Carl, who died in 1996 of cancer of the esophagus, grew up in a Cleveland housing project.

His father died when he was three years old and he and his brother Louis were reared by their mother, who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Carl Stokes was a state representative for three terms before his election to mayor in 1967. After serving one term as mayor and deciding against seeking reelection, he moved his family to New York so that he could become a New York anchorman, the first Black anchorman in New York history. He and Cordie Stokes' mother Shirley later divorced, and both later remarried.

After a successful media career he returned home and served as a Cleveland Municipal Court judge from 1983-1994. In 1994, former president Bill Clinton appointed him as Ambassador to the Republic of Seychelles.

His journey to become the first Black mayor of a major American city is outlined in his book titled "Promises of Power."

Community activists said that Cordie will be missed.

"I just talked to her last month about buying insurance," said Community Activist Ada Averhart. "Cordie was loved in the grassroots community and we will miss her."

Funeral arrangements are by Lucas Memorial Funeral Home in Garfield Hts., with a private funeral service Sat. afternoon at 4:00 pm and a repast at Touch of Italy restaurant in Shaker Hts. at 6:30 pm.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.

Activists object to Plain Dealer endorsement of Mayor Jackson pick of Triozzi for county prosecutor, say Triozzi and McGinty are bad for Blacks

Robert Triozzi, the ousted law director of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, whom the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper has endorsed for Cuyahoga County prosecutor in spite of his record of maliciously prosecuting Blacks, women and innocent Cleveland school children for Jackson when he was law director, his dearth of Blacks in the city law department, and his malfeasance around the Imperial Ave. Murders. He is under fire for refusing to seek the prosecution of convicted Serial Murderer Anthony Sowell when he was a law director who often usurped the role of Cleveland City Prosecutor Victor Perez, and for allowing the release of Sowell from police custody in 2008 on a rape complaint where six of his 11 murder victims, all off whom were Black women, were murdered thereafter. Sowell was indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on criminal charges in 2009 and convicted of numerous counts of aggravated murder, rape and other charges last year and sentenced to death.

Tim McGinty, a former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge and prior assistant county prosecutor who has maliciously prosecuted Blacks and has had his orders to imprison Black men as a judge overturned on appeal as harassment. McGinty has promised the kitchen sink to some Cleveland area Black leaders for the few endorsements he has, activity that might prove illegal and unethical. In spite of being an admitted source to the Plain Dealer, its editorial board would not endorse him this week for county prosecutor.

Cleveland Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, also chair of the safety committee for city council, who says that Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidate Subodh Chandra hired more Blacks than there are now under the Jackson administration as then city law director under former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campell. Conwell says he is tired of no Blacks coming to the table for safety committee meetings since Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has an all non-Black law enforcement leadership team as to his appointed law director, chief of police, chief prosecutor, safety director, and EMS commissioner.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, a Black man with no Blacks as law director, safety director, chief of police or EMS commissioner in a predominantly Black city, and who has a dearth of Blacks in the city's law department.

Subodh Chandra, a candidate for Cuyahoga County prosecutor endorsed by prominent Blacks like Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and State Sen. Nina Turner (D-25) who increased the number of Blacks in the Cleveland City Law Department as then law director under former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell, only to have his efforts erased when since ousted law director Robert Triozzi became law director under Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson where Blacks have since left.

Tina Bromaugh (lt.), and her daughter Destini Bronaugh, a victim of former Cleveland Law Director Robert Triozzi who harassed Destini Bronaugh and her younger sister DeAsia Bronaugh in retaliation for a peaceful student protest at Cleveland's Collinwood High School in 2010 over teacher layoffs and school closings. With the blessing of his former boss, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Destini Bronaugh was maliciously prosecuted, an action her mother says was racist, sexist and evidence that both Jackson and Triozzi are anti-Black, anti-female, and corrupt. Following community protests, the charges were dropped against DeAsia Bronaugh and Destini Bronaugh took a diversion program with the misdemeanor charges brought by Triozzi against her subsequenrly dismissed. Her mother said that she agreed to the diversion program to avoid trial and potential case fixing by then Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lynn McLaughlin Murray, whom Jackson endorsed in exchange for alleged case fixing against his maliciously prosecuted enemies, and who lost to now Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Pinkey Carr in Nov. Carr was one of the lead prosecutors in the Anthony Sowell capital murder case.

From the Metro Desk of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com and www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The endorsement on Sun. by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, of former Cleveland law director Robert Triozzi for Cuyahoga County prosecutor over Tim McGinty is a bad anti-Black gesture, but not as bad as had Tim McGinty been endorsed, community activists say.

"Mr. Triozzi is the lesser of the two evils but both are a detriment to the Black community and to the Democratic process," said Imperial Women Leader Kathy Wray Coleman. "Tim McGinty is a pint size man with a Napoleon complex that has a record as a former assistant county prosecutor and prior common pleas court judge of harassing Blacks and others and then losing on appeal, including the reversal of his racist and illegal orders to send Black men to prison, and Triozzi harassed and did in union members and Black women and girls as the law director under Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, including the malicious prosecution in 2010 of innocent Black teens Destini and DeAsia Bronaugh for a peaceful student organized protest at Collinwood High School over teacher layoffs and school closings."

Tina Bronaugh, the mother of the two girls, one of which malicious criminal charges were dismissed against and the other of whom took a diversion program for subsequent dismissal of the charges in fear of judicial case fixing by since ousted Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lynn McLaughlin Murray, says Triozzi is dangerous.

"Why would Mr. Triozzi, as the then law director, usurp the role of the chief city prosecutor to bring back bogus misdemeanor charges against my innocent daughter Destini after county prosecutor Bill Mason dismissed all of the illegal charges lodged against my girls, charges brought by Mr. Triozzi for Mayor Jackson to get at the teachers and because they both are anti Black and anti-female," said Tina Bronaugh. "Mr. Triozzi is unfit to be a county prosecutor given his disdain of Blacks and women and his complete disregard for the law, and I would urge voters to soundly reject him at the ballot box next month."

McGinty allegedly lost the Plain Dealer endorsement in part for holding a recent fundraiser and distributing free tickets to assistant county prosecutors, activity that his foes say is simply another example of his unethical shenanigans.

He admitted in 2010 that he was a source to the Plain Dealer, handing reporters court records on Black defendants that came before him as a judge, including the mental health and medical records of since convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell, a case where he had to recuse himself for such impropriety.

He is also promising the kitchen sink to naive Black leaders and Cleveland's Black press, with community activists saying look at the candidate's record rather than being so gullible as to believe what he or she might do in the future.

"We are looking at the candidate's record not at what he or she promises to do for or give to Black leaders such as Cleveland City Council members and Cleveland NAACP officials when running for office," said Community Activist Ada Averyhart. "And Subodh Chandra was endorsed by the Carl Stokes Brigade and other activist groups because he has the best record and the qualifications and experience to do well as county prosecutor."

Community activists are also investigating whether McGinty is violating the law in making false promises in exchange for endorsements from some Black leaders that say he offered something in return for their support, according to ads and associated articles that have run in the past few weeks in the Call and Post Newspaper, Cleveland's Black press.

Triozzi, a former Cleveland Municipal Court judge who lost a primary election for mayor against Jackson and others in 2005 by getting only 3 percent of the vote, is also endorsed by the mayor, though with little fanfare, given Jackson's ongoing battle with city labor unions over seniority and working conditions, among other collective bargaining issues.

He and other members of the mayor's all non-Black law enforcement leadership team such as Chief of Police Michael McGraft and Safety Director Martin Flask took heat for the release of Sowell from police custody in 2008 on a rape complaint so that he could then rape and murder the last six of the 11 women.

Sowell was indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury in 2009 and is slated to die by lethal injection next year, though his convictions are on appeal.

All 11 of the women were strangled to death at his home on Imperial Ave. on Cleveland's predominantly Black east side of town.

Triozzi and Chief Prosecutor Victor Perez allegedly refused to recommend that Sowell be prosecuted, allegedly per Jackson's recommendation, something McGinty says he would not have done, coupled with his claims that the Jackson administration is responsible for malfeasance around The Imperial Ave. Murders.

According to reliable sources, Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, who has complained of Jackson's still all non-Black law enforcement leadership team and the dearth of Blacks in the city law department, has bragged that he worked with Chandra, a former federal prosecutor and then law director under former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell, to hire more Blacks. He told the The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com that he feels uncomfortable with a Black mayor bringing no Blacks to the table in top law enforcement leadership positions as chair of city council's safety committee.

Data show that Jackson has fewer Blacks in the city law department than his predecessors Campbell and former Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White, and community activists say he used Triozzi, with the help of Chief Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ron Adrine and former Cleveland judges McLaughlin Murray and Kathleen Ann Keough, to bring malicious charges to fix cases against what he believed were his enemies, including innocent Cleveland schools students and outspoken community activists.

As city law director Triozzi, who was ousted last year by Jackson, had problems with city union leaders and their members, including the city's police and Cleveland teachers.

Many of them say that he pushed the mayor to make contract negotiations more difficult and tried then, and is still trying now, to help Jackson destroy Cleveland teachers by seeking to get Senate Bill 5 agendas, such as teacher merit pay, through the back door by seeking a state law to negate the netgotiated collective bargaining agreement.

SB 5, a state law enacted by the Republican controlled state legislature early last year that dismantles public sector collective bargaining in Ohio, was repealed by Ohio voters in Nov.

And while McGinty has support from some unions, some of his opponents say that because he is so disliked, he is trying to buy the election with the money of his rich daddy, a former stock broker.

A candidate endorsed and supported as county prosecutor as a police prosecutor by the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, McGinty's record as a judge and assistant county prosecutor reveal that he pushed cases against innocent Black defendants and community activists, often based upon what the police wanted.

And as an assistant county prosecutor the over zealous McGinty sent Michael Green to prison for 13 years .

A Black man released after DNA sampling proved that a White woman had lied in crying rape, Green is now free, though the White woman that accused him of rape escaped perjury charges, allegedly with McGinty's unofficial recommendation as he was judge by the time Green got out of prison and cleared his record.

And in 2010 Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes, Cleveland Councilmen Zach Reed and Jeff Johnson, and a host of other Black leaders, took on Cleveland police, alleging during a press conference with Black state legislators and then Cleveland NAACP Executive Director Stanley Miller that Blacks were being harassed by police moonlighting at local bars and restaurants.

From that fallout came promises by restaurant owners to monitor the harassment of Black patrons more carefully, and other measures crafted with the NAACP's guidance.

The Democratic and Republican primaries are March 6.

Other candidates are James J. McDonnell and Stephanie Hall, the only Black and woman in the race.

No Republican or Independent has taken out petitions making the winner the next Cuyahoga County prosecutor.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.

Unofficial voting ballot of The Imperial Women endorsements for the March 6, 2012 primary in Cuyahoga County, Ohio

From the Metro Desk of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

UNOFFICIAL VOTING BALLOT OF THE IMPERIAL WOMEN FOR THE MARCH 6, 2012 PRIMARY ELECTION IN CUYAHOGA, COUNTY

FEDERAL OFFICES:

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA- Barack Obama (D)

U.S. SENATE- Sherrod Brown (D)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS 9TH DISTRICT- Dennis Kucinich (D)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS 11TH DISTRICT- Marcia L. Fudge (D)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS 14TH DISTRICT-Dale Blanchard (D)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS 16TH DISTRICT- Betty Sutton (D)

STATE OFFICES:

STATE REPRESENTATIVE-8TH DISTRICT- Armond Budish (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE-9TH DISTRICT- Barbara Boyd (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE-10TH DISTRICT- Bill Patmon (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE- 11TH DISTRICT- Sandra Williams (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE-12TH DISTRICT- John Barnes Jr. (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE- 13TH DISTRICT- Nickie Antonio (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE 14TH DISTRICT- Mike Foley (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY OFFICES:

CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTOR- Subodh Chandra (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL:

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 2- Dale Miller (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 4- Chuck Germana (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8- Pernell Jones Jr. (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 10- Julian Rogers (D)

OHIO JUDICIAL OFFICES:

JUSTICE OF THE OHIO SUPREME COURT-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/1/2013-Robert Price (D)

JUSTICE OF THE OHIO SUPREME COURT-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/2/2013-

Fannon Rucker (D)

JUSTICE OF THE OHIO SUPREME COURT-UNEXPIRED TERM ENDING 12/31/2014-Evette McGee Brown (D)

OHIO COURT OF APPEALS-8TH APPELLATE DISTRICT- FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/3/2013- Joseph Compoli (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/3/2013- Emannuella Groves (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/6/2013-Edele Passalacqua (R)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/7/2013- DeanVanDress (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/10/2013- Shirley Strickland-Saffold (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-UNEXPIRED TERM ENDING 1/5/2015- Cullen Sweeney (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-UNEXPIRED TERM ENDING 1/1/2017- Janet Burney (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS JUVENILE DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/1/2013- Frankie Goldberg (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS JUVENILE DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/2/2013-Alison Nelson Floyd (D)

By: The Imperial Women

Elaine Stone, Corresponding Secretary

Email: Theimperialwomen@imperialwomen.com

Phone: 216-932-3114.

Stone, a Maple Hts community activist and member of the Imperial Women, spearheaded the endorsement committee session with other committee members including Imperial Women Leader Kathy Wray Coleman, Ada Averyhart, Marva Patterson, Betty Mahone, Denise Taylor, Angelique Cunningham, Frances Caldwell, Jeane Joy, Cheryl Wilson and Jean Whitte.

Imperial Women endorse Obama, Brown, Fudge, Kucinich, Chandra,announce endorsements for March 6 primary, endorse for state rep, county council, judges

The Imperial Women, fighting against injustices against Black and other women, and on other pertinent issues of public concern impacting disenfranchised people

From the Metro Desk of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

(Editor's note: See the unofficial ballot of The Imperial Women for the March 6, 2o12 primary election below this article. Interested persons can print the unofficial ballot below and take it to the polls if you have not voted already).

CLEVELAND, Ohio-After recommendations by members of an endorsement committee, The Imperial Women, the grassroots group founded around the unprecedented murders of 11 Black women on Cleveland's now infamous Imperial Ave., announced today endorsements for the March 6 primary election in Cuyahoga County, and all but one of the contenders that drew support from the community activists are Democrats.

In closely watched races, most of which are contested, the organization members selected Barack Obama as the Democrat for president of the United States of America, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dennis Kucinich (D-10) over Marcy Kaptor (D-9) in the District 9 congressional race, Congresswomen Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and Betty Sutton (D-13), and Subodh Chandra for Cuyahoga County prosecutor, also a Democrat.

Though Obama has no challenger for the Democratic nomination for president in his bid for four more White House years, he was endorsed for the primary election by the progressive women anyway.

The women's group unanimously picked Brown, a U.S. senator since 2007 and the husband of author and Pulitzer prize winning journalist Connie Schultz, over his Republican opponent, Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel.

Kucinich got the nod over Kaptor because group members say he is home grown as the former boy mayor of Cleveland, and that he is grassroots and not afraid to stand up.

Kaptor got two votes but ran into opposition from some endorsement committee members as a pro life Democrat in a state where state legislators are collectively pushing for some of the most stringent anti- abortion laws in the nation, including the controversial "Heartbeat Bill," a proposed law that is undergoing legislative hearings in the Republican dominated Ohio Senate that passed the Republican controlled Ohio House of Representatives last year.

If it passes any constitutional muster and ultimately becomes state law, the "Heartbeat Bill" would make abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which medical experts say could be as early as six weeks.

Group members also had a concern that Kaptor lives in Toledo and that in merging her district and Kucinich's 10th Congressional District into one via the redistricting by the Republican led state legislature that reduced Ohio's 18 congressional seat to 16 last year, Black and other leaders should have fought more strongly for the state legislature to retain the 10th District seat as one of two congressional seats representing constituents of the predominantly Black major metropolitan city of Cleveland, and its nearby suburbs.

The other Cleveland metropolitan congressional seat is held by Fudge, a Warrensville Hts. Democrat representing the predominantly Black 11 Congressional District, and the only Black in congress among the three neighboring states of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

But the activists also called upon Kucinich and Fudge to be more assertive as to what they say is ongoing malfeasance by Cuyahoga County common pleas court judges, Sheriff Bob Reid and others around the theft of foreclosed homes and the harassment of innocent families through that process, particularly in the Black community, they say.

"They need to step up more as to these foreclosed homes in the Black community," said Community Activist Ada Averyhart.

Dale Blanchard , who is Black, was endorsed for congress in the 14th Congressional District.

For the three seats up for grabs on the Ohio Supreme Court The Imperial Women endorsed Democrats Robert Price, Fannon Tucker and Justice Evette McGee Brown, who is Black and the only minority and Democrat on the seven-member high court for the State of Ohio.

A Cincinnati Municipal Court judge, Tucker is also Black.

Most of the endorsements were relative to contested races, except for a few of the state representative slots , and some seats for Cuyahoga County Council where both contested and non contested races of selection received endorsements.

For Cleveland area state representative seats, endorsed were incumbent Democrats Armond Budish (D-8), Nickie Antonio (D-13) and Mike Foley (D-14), and Black state legislators Rep. Barbara Boyd (D-9), Bill Patmon (D-10), Legislative Congressional Black Caucus Leader Rep. Sandra Williams (D-11, ) and John Barnes Jr.

All six of the endorsed state representatives were supported with the caveat that none of them endorse Tim McGinty for county prosecutor due to his record of cases as a judge overturned on appeal as to his documented harassment of Blacks, women and grassroots activists, and his flaming prosecutorial misconduct when he was an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor that sent innocent Black men to prison.

Chandra had been endorsed last Nov. for county prosecutor and remain's the groups qualified favorite , though the women urge candidate Stephanie Hall, who is Black, to stay in politics and public service.

Endorsed for Cuyahoga County Council were Democrats Dale Miller (D-2), Chuck Germana (D-4) and Pernell Jones Jr. (D-8), who is Black.

Divided over the race for the common pleas court seat currently held by Republican judge Joan Syneberg, the group decided no endorsement where defense attorney Cassandra Collier-Williams, who is Black, is Synenberg's Democratic challenger.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Frankie Goldberg was endorsed for juvenile court judge over incumbent judge Joe Russo, and incumbent juvenile court judge Alison Nelson Floyd, who is Black, got the women's endorsement.

Defense Attorney Edele Passalacqua was the only Republican endorsed, and she was endorsed without discussion over incumbent Democratic common pleas court judge Daniel Gaul.

Just off a six months suspension last year by the Ohio Supreme Court for unethical activity leveled against Black defendants that come before him, Gaul got the most opposition of the candidates assessed by the grassroots women for the presidential, congressional, state, county and Ohio judicial offices.

Other nods for the common pleas court seats were Janet Burney, Emanuella Groves, Cullen Sweeney, Dean Vandress, and incumbent judges John Sutula and Shirley Strickland-Saffold.

Strickland-Saffold, Burney, a former juvenile court judge, and Groves, a judge on the Cleveland Municipal Court bench, are all Black.

Strickland-Saffold was endorsed with the caveat to consider revisiting the Elsebeth Baumgartner case, which is the case of a White former attorney and pharmacist from Ottawa County who is in prison for eight years for exposing alleged judicial case fixing and sending a retired, handpicked, visiting judge, who had harassed her for her activism, an email exposing his alleged impropriety .

The Imperial Women want Baumgartner released from prison, and her undemocratic sentence vacated by Strickland Saffold.

For one of the two open seats for the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals, Joseph Compoli was endorsed over Eileen T. Gallagher, a judge in the general division of the 34-member Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.

Group members say that Gallagher is unfit for the bench and is harassing homeowners with Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Chief Magistrate Stephen Bucha as to illegal foreclosure activities designed to enhance rich and corrupt mortgage companies and banks like the powerful Deuseche Bank.

Some races did not receive endorsements due to a lack of interest, or the presence of a noteworthy division by group members over the respective competing candidates.

Elaine Stone, a Maple Hts community activist and member of the Imperial Women, spearheaded the endorsement committee session with other committee members including Imperial Women Leader Kathy Wray Coleman, Ada Averyhart, Marva Patterson, Betty Mahone, Denise Taylor, Angelique Cunningham, Frances Caldwell, Jeane Joy, Cheryl Wilson and Jean Whitte.

UNOFFICIAL BALLOT OF THE IMPERIAL WOMEN FOR THE MARCH 6, 2012 PRIMARY ELECTION IN CUYAHOGA, COUNTY

FEDERAL OFFICES:

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA- Barack Obama (D)

U.S. SENATE- Sherrod Brown (D)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS 9TH DISTRICT- Dennis Kucinich (D)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS 11TH DISTRICT- Marcia L. Fudge (D)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS 14TH DISTRICT-Dale Blanchard (D)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS 16TH DISTRICT- Betty Sutton (D)

STATE OFFICES:

STATE REPRESENTATIVE-8TH DISTRICT- Armond Budish (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE-9TH DISTRICT- Barbara Boyd (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE-10TH DISTRICT- Bill Patmon (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE- 11TH DISTRICT- Sandra Williams (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE-12TH DISTRICT- John Barnes Jr. (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE- 13TH DISTRICT- Nickie Antonio (D)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE 14TH DISTRICT- Mike Foley (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY OFFICES:

CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTOR- Subodh Chandra (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL:

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 2- Dale Miller (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 4- Chuck Germana (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8- Pernell Jones Jr. (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 10- Julian Rogers (D)

OHIO JUDICIAL OFFICES:

JUSTICE OF THE OHIO SUPREME COURT-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/1/2013-Robert Price (D)

JUSTICE OF THE OHIO SUPREME COURT-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/2/2013-

Fannon Rucker (D)

JUSTICE OF THE OHIO SUPREME COURT-UNEXPIRED TERM ENDING 12/31/2014-Evette McGee Brown (D)

OHIO COURT OF APPEALS-8TH APPELLATE DISTRICT- FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/3/2013- Joseph Compoli (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/3/2013- Emannuella Groves (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/6/2013-Edele Passalacqua (R)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/7/2013- DeanVanDress (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/10/2013- Shirley Strickland-Saffold (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-UNEXPIRED TERM ENDING 1/5/2015- Cullen Sweeney (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL DIVISION-UNEXPIRED TERM ENDING 1/1/2017- Janet Burney (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS JUVENILE DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/1/2013- Frankie Goldberg (D)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS JUVENILE DIVISION-FULL TERM COMMENCING 1/2/2013-Alison Nelson Floyd (D)

By: The Imperial Women

Elaine Stone, Corresponding Secretary

Email: Theimperialwomen@imperialwomen.com

Phone: 216-932-3114.