Rep. Fudge offers olive branch after State Sen. Nina Turner withdraws from congressional race, Turner's colleagues say it strengthens Black community

Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland)

U. S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-State Sen. Nina Turner (D-25) on Fri. withdrew from next year's March 6 Democratic primary in a fight for a seat representing the 11th Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-11) that lost momentum after Fudge won endorsements from practically every Democratic elected official in her predominantly Black district.

Pursuant to a new congressional map unleashed last week that brought roughly 200,000 more constituents, Ohio's 11th Congressional District, which includes parts of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs in Cuyahoga County, now stretches south of Cleveland some 35 miles and includes a majority Black pocket of Akron, and staggering sections of its suburbs in Summit County.

A Warrensville Hts. Democrat, Fudge was big time about it, immediately offering an olive branch to Turner, a Cleveland Democrat, former Cleveland Ward 1 councilwoman, and protege of former Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White.

"I have great respect for State Senator Nina Turner and I wish her well in future endeavors," the congresswoman said in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com. "It is my intention to maintain the trust and confidence of the people of the 11th Congressional District. It is my honor and privilege to serve them."

Turner, who dissappointed Cleveland's Old Black Political Guard when she took on Fudge and entered the race earlier this month as another Black woman and prominent Black elected political official of Cuyahoga County, billed her departure as a by product of a fast approaching Democratic primary and what she said were discrepancies with the new congressional map.

That controversial map, dubbed House Bill 369, was drawn by the Republican controlled Ohio House of Representatives as state law requires and was signed into law by Republican Gov. John Kasich last week, after passing the Ohio House and Senate.

Turner says that HB 369, which reduces Ohio's congressional seats from 18 to 16 due to declining population growth with the intent for Republicans to win 12 seats and Democrats four., "was manipulated to allow incumbent politicians to guarantee their reelection," rationale that she did not explain in her press release.

Turner's Black Cleveland colleagues in the Ohio legislature were as pleased as Fudge at her decision to leave the race and said that the resolution between the two Black women, both with a cadre of supporters in their own right, strengthens the Black community and its political base.

"It is good to see the African- American community come together around Congresswoman Marcia Fudge," said State rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), who had endorsed Fudge. "This strengthens African- American representation in the region."

State rep. John Barnes Jr. (D-12), a Cleveland Democrat who endorsed Fudge too, agreed.

"It is good for Cleveland and for the region," Barnes said.

But Community Activist Art McKoy, who leads Black on Black Crime Inc, said that Turner's entrance into the congressional race tapped an appetizing side of Fudge that was waiting in the wings, and that that too is good for the community, but from a different perspective.

"I like both of them, and competition in football, basketball and politics is good." said McKoy. "Marcia Fudge went from a poodle to a pit bull when Nina Turner got in the race."

Turner was Fudge's only challenger for the Democratic primary.

Though prospective candidates for Ohio Congressional races had until Fri., Dec. 30 to file petitions due to an extended deadline since Dec. 7 since the new congressional map was just recently released, no significant opposition is expected.

And the chances of a Republican winning in the heavily Democratic district in November's general election are slim to none.

Asked if the lawmaker's exit from the race helped or hurt her political career, Patmon said the latter.

"It always hurts when you move out and then turn back on your word because in politics all you have is your word," he said.

Turner's exit follows the announcement by 10th Congressional District Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a Cleveland Democrat, to take on 9th District Toledo Democrat Marcy Kaptur, who was handed an edge when their congressional districts were merged into one in the new congressional map and 47 percent of Kucinich's district went to Kaptur.

Barnes, Patmon and other Black leaders like retired U.S. Rep Louis Stokes of Shaker Hts. and Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes feared that Kucinich would jump in the race against Fudge and fought publicly and behind the scenes against it, and at least Patmon said that Turner's choice to initially run against Fudge was to help Kucinich if he decided to seek the 11th Congressional District seat, something Turner denied outright.

"Rep. Kuncinich will not be in the 11th Congressional District race," she told Cleveland Urban Weekly.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com during an interview earlier this year.

Congressional candidates do not have to live in their residential districts, though under Ohio law members of the state legislature do.

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

Press Release: Imperial Women Coalition, African American Museum, Audacity Of Hope to host County Prosecutor Candidate's Debate, Jan 5, Lil Africa

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Imperial Women Coalition, The Audacity of H.O.P.E Foundation, and Cleveland Urban News.Com, in cooperation with The Cleveland African American Museum and other community organizations, will host “The First Ever Inner City Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Candidate's Debate" for the community and the candidates on Thurs., Jan. 5, 2012 from 5:30 pm.- 8:00 p.m. at Lil' Africa Party Center, 6816 Superior Ave. in Cleveland, 44103.

Candidates for the office are Attorney Subodh Chandra, Police Officer Stephanie Hall, Cleveland Ward 13 Councilman Kevin Kelley, Retired Judge Timothy McGinty, Attorney James J. McDonnell, and Attorney Robert Triozzi.

Contacts for the debate are Audacity of Hope Foundation Founder Griot Y-Von at 216-355-3374, Cleveland African-American Museum Executive Director Frances Caldwell at 216-421-0929, and Kathy Wray Coleman, Publisher and Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com and the leader of the Imperial Women Coalition at 216-932-3114.

Participation by candidates Chandra, Hall and Triozzi has been confirmed and the other invited candidates for the county's most powerful office of county prosecutor are expected to attend also.

Some sponsoring and participating organizations include: Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.clevelandurbannews.com), The Imperial Women Coalition, The Cleveland African-American Museum, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, Occupy Cleveland, Occupy the Hood, Occupy the Dream, Members of Black on Black Crime Inc. and The Carl Stokes Brigade, Peace in the Hood, Enlightened Jewels, Spirit of Sankofa Center for Women, The Social Justice Committee of Greater Cleveland, The Urban Justice Society, The Underground Railroad Society, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, People For The Imperial Act, The Spot Youth Organization, Organize Ohio, Govabuse.Org, The Women's Federation, The Oppressed People's Nation, The Family Connection Center, The People's Forum, The Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, The Committee To Bring Home Jamela and Jamyla, Cleveland Jobs With Justice, Ohio Family Rights, The National Organization For Parental Equality, The Joaquin Hicks Real People's Movement, Bailout The People Movement, The People's Fight Back Center, Revolution Books, The Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network, Cleveland F.I.S.T., Cleveland City Council Members, The Northeast Ohio's Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Divine Mind Grind Inc., The Committee For The Bronaugh Sisters, The Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party, and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). (Note: The sponsor list is expanding and will be increased by the next press statement before the debate)

Candidates will be asked to respond to questions from the audience during the forum, after an hour long debate with questions from a community-oriented panel. The community panel for the debate includes: Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson, E. Cleveland City Councilman Nate Martin and Cleveland Jobs With Justice Executive Director Debbie Kline. Others on the panel are Community Activist and Black on Black Crime Inc. Founder Art McKoy, Community Activist, Carl Stokes Brigade and Imperial Women Member Ada Averyhart, 100 Black Men Member and Criminal Defense Attorney Michael Nelson Sr., and Cleveland Ward 6 Precinct Committeeman John A. Boyd.

Community Activist Khalid Samad will open with prayer, followed by a brief overview on the court system and the role of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor under state law by Community Activists David and Marva Patterson.

Councilman Dow will introduce the candidates and the panelists at the onset of the debate and Community Activist Jean Whitte will do the closing prayer when the forum concludes.

The organizations hosting the event say thank you in advance to the organizations, elected officials, grassroots leaders and other community affiliates that understand the importance of the role of the Black, grassroots and other communities in ensuring the election of a Cuyahoga County prosecutor that will respect the constitutional and statutory rights of all people and that has the temperament and credentials for the job.

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

Editorial by contributor Judith Pugsley on year 2011 issues as to Serial Killer Sowell, politics, Cleveland's illegal prosecutions of Blacks, women

ROCKY RIVER-Ohio- Judith Pugley, a retired professional and supporter of Civil Rights, wrote Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman online News Blog. Com on what 2011 brought to the community from the convictions of serial killer Anthony Sowell on numerous counts for the murders of 11 Black women to malicious prosecutions of Black women and girls by the predominantly Black city of Cleveland.

A White woman in the struggle, Pugsley supports issues impacting disenfranchised groups like minorities, including her work in campaigning to seek to repeal Ohio House Bill 194, the voter suppression state law with stringent voting requirements like reduced early voting and i.d. voting that Democrats, Civil Rights organizations and Black leaders hope voters will overturn at the ballot box in November.

Dear [Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com Editor] Kathy Wray Coleman,

I want to thank you for your articles and the blog reports. I have been trying to figure this "flim flam" act by the Ohio Republicans for a long time

Now it is clear, but I still haven't figured State Sen. Nina Turner out though. By her running against Congresswoman Fudge we could lose a qualified black in Congress. I wish she would check her ambition and not challenge Ms. Fudge right now. (Editor's note: Since this editorial on Dec 24 State Sen. Tina Turner has withdrawn from the congressional race with Rep. Fudge responding in a press release and saying that she has "great respect for Senator Turner.")

I'd also like to wish you a Happy New Year and leave you with a few humorous thoughts of gratitude that you might enjoy. They are as follows:

1. I'm grateful that those poor bailiffs don't have to stand out in the cold arresting you for doing nothing but exercising your right to free speech. They must get tired of the bad weather.

2. I'm grateful those police officers don't have to wrestle 110 pound Cleveland Public School teenagers like Destini Bronaugh to the ground. It's bad for their backs, and bad for their image as they are caught on camera beating up on kids and females, no less.

3. I'm grateful that Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who is running the Cleveland school district, doesn't have to sit among some third graders reading "My Pet Goat" upside down, as if he knew something about the issues.

4. I'm grateful that Connie Schultz was at the Plain Dealer Newspaper as a columnist but is no longer a columnist there because who in their right mind would want a voice for the little guy, and a champion of fairness.

5. I'm grateful that Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel tells so many lies. His lies are enough to prevent him from getting through the doors of the U.S. Senate should he win against Sen. Sherrod Brown next year.

6. I'm grateful for this racist country that throws then presidential candidate Herman Cain off the ballot in Iowa for philandering with women so that Newt Gingrich can get on the ballot in Iowa as an over bloated white guy known for philandering with women.

7. I'm grateful that only in America, the land of free speech and bad taste, can a white guy like Rick Perry get on national television and coyly resurrect the "N" word. If he is elected president there is no doubt in my mind that he would be filmed in a school reading "LIttle Black Sambo" upside down to third graders, and if 9-11 happened again, he would be prepared with a brilliant speech for the Nation, "Oops!"

8. I'm grateful that people are finally noticing the local fight with RTA over the fare jumpers.They are suppose to do community service if they ride and don't pay. But since RTA can't seem to manage this program they have turned the problem over to the courts so that the kids get felony convictions, go to jail, and are transported around town on buses where as wards of the state, they don't pay

9. I'm grateful for former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Bridget McCafferty, who is now serving a 14-month prison term for lying to the FBI and is known for her skills in adjudicating cases on her stupidity and for talking to the FBI without her attorney present. She gets the Hubris award, a dubious honor also shared by Martha Stewart.

10. I'm very relieved and feel very protected by the Cleveland Police, who did not use their execeptional sleuthing skills to zero in on serial killer Anthony Sowell when he was in custody and let him go in 2008 to kill the last six of the 11 Black women he murdered on Imperial Ave. in Cleveland. They should be more careful the next time that a woman says she has been raped. They are Cleveland's finest at their best.

That was our year. Will 2012 be a better one? I don't know. But if you keep up with your writing Kathy, it is bound to go in that direction.

Happy New Year. Your faithful fan.

Judith Pugsley can be reached by email at jem2@cox.net

Rev. C. J. Matthews Gets 15 Month Prison Sentence On Tax Charges From Judge Gaughan

The Rev C. J. Matthews, flanked by members of the United Pastors in Mission, prays for calm after the bodies of what would ultimately become 11 Black women were uncovered on Cleveland's east side at the Imperial Ave. home of since convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell. (Cleveland Plain Dealer online photo, www.cleveland.com)

The Rev. C. J. Matthews in happier times

U.S. District Attorney Steve Dettlebach

National political news and Cleveland area news brought to you from the
By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor
(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Rev. Charles "C.J." Matthews, senior pastor at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Cleveland, was sentenced to 15 months in prison yesterday for failing to pay $90 thousand in IRS income taxes collected by the mega church between Oct. 2005 and Jan. 2007 on the wages of church employees.

And the sentence, which was handed down by Federal District Court Judge Patricia Gaughan, came in spite of a plethora of support from members of the Black community, many of whom wrote letters on his behalf.

They include retired U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, and Blaine Griffin, vice chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party and director of the Community Relations Board for the city of Cleveland.

The courtroom was packed with supporters, including former Cuyahoga County Recorder Lillian Greene, also a retired common pleas court judge, Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge Larry Jones, clergy, and Community Activist Khalid Samad, who leads Peace in the Hood.

A former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor accused of harassing Blacks from the bench and defaming those that challenge public corruption in Cuyahoga County, Gaughan was not moved by the pleas from Black leaders to hand Matthews probation, an indication that Cleveland's Old Black Political Guard is losing its clout.

Federal prosecutors said at sentencing that Matthews had stolen more than $200 thousand from his church, which sits at E. 75th St. and Woodland Ave. in the heart of the ghetto.

Matthews, who had agreed to a plea deal, told reporters that he had done the crime and would serve his time, though Gaughan, who is White, left him little choice.

U.S. District Attorney Steve Dettlebach, who brought the charges, is said to have befriended and hung out with the popular pastor who has led the church for 23 years and is a respected Civil Rights leader, only to have turned on him later, sources say.

Also president of the United Pastors in Mission, greater Cleveland's most powerful venue of Black clergy, Matthews, 60, was urged by group members not to step down when he told them at a meeting 3 months ago of the criminal charges where he said that "I will be okay if I have to go away."

And go away he will, with a reporting date to prison that has not been made public.

Prosecutors say Matthews, who was not indicted but charged as an information because of his cooperation with federal prosecutors, used the collected tax monies that he did not hand over to the IRS for personal expenses, an allegation elevated because he and his wife own a home worth more than $500 thousand in Solon, a Cleveland suburb.

Matthews has friends, and enemies too, angering the leadership team at the Call and Post Newspaper, Cleveland's Black press, after he and the Rev Dr. Marvin McMickle, then senior pastor at Cleveland's prominent Antioch Baptist Church, publicly challenged an editorial cartoon that depicts State Sen Nina Turner (D-25), a Cleveland Democrat, as an Aunt Jemima.

The dispute with Turner and Call and Post officials, namely associate publisher and editor Connie Harper and general counsel George Forbes, who is also the long time president of the Cleveland NAACP, began brewing after the lawmaker, as the only prominent Black politician in the county, joined Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason and the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper in pushing Issue 6, a government reform measure that Cuyahoga County voters overwhelmingly approved in 2009.

The newly adopted county reform measure replaced the previously elected county sheriff, auditor, recorder, clerk of courts, coroner, treasurer, engineer and three-member board of commissioners with an elected 11-member County Council and elected county executive, now Ed FitzGerald, the former mayor of Lakewood, Oh., and a former FBI agent.

Black leaders have said that Mason crafted Issue 6 with an all White team of county movers and shakers and that the county executive has too much power, and that the Mason posse gerrymandered the 11 county districts to the detriment of the Black community because only one council seat is guaranteed to be won by a Black, though four Blacks were ultimately elected with C. Ellen Connally, a retired Cleveland Municipal Court judge, subsequently elected as council president by her peers.

“They gave all the power to one White man. They gerrymandered the districts and Nina Turner was the only Black they consulted,” State Rep. Barbara Boyd (D-9) told The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com at the time the controversy was at its hottest moment and following FitzGerald's election last year. And Forbes took on Mason prior to the adoption of Issue 6 saying he could not show how Blacks would benefit with Mason saying Issue 6 is necessary because of public corruption by some of the ousted elected county officials and accusing the local NAACP president of being "disingenuous."

And the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, did little to quash the situation, running articles and editorials that called for the community to boycott the Call and Post over the Turner fiasco, with some Black leaders saying that it was the hypocritical Plain Dealer itself that led the way in stereotypical cartoons against Blacks, Black women in particular.

Since Matthews' tax troubles were made public the Plain Dealer, at its online venue of Cleveland.com, reiterated the Aunt Jemima controversy in an article about Matthews, reigniting the fight between Ohio's largest newspaper and the state's Black press, with distributions in Columbus and Cincinnati, in addition to Cleveland, though Call and Post officials refused then and still now to honor the request by Matthews and the United Pastors in Mission to apologize to Turner. That article at Cleveland.com, however, has since been taken down.

Matthews, who has dined with presidents and other prominent movers and shakers, has a long list of community service also as a member of the the Greater Cleveland Partnership and the National Baptist Convention U.S.A Inc, chairman of Cleveland NAACP's Black Leadership Commission on Aids and board member of the local chapter of the United Way, among other activities.
Matthews and his wife Jacquelyn have four adult children and three grandchildren.

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

(Editor's note: Some of the comments below were written before this article was updated and before Rev. Matthews was sentenced to 15 months in prison. The Black community prays for and supports Rev. Matthews).

Ohio Supreme Court lets appeals court ruling for retrial of Joaquin Hicks stand in case of murder and robbery of Cleveland Clinic employee

Joaquin Hicks

Jeremy Pechanec

Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Daniel Gaul

Jory Aebly

National political news and local news from the Cleveland metropolitan area brought to the community from

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

(kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

The Ohio Supreme Court last week rejected a request by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason to hear an appeal of a state appellate court's decision for a retrial of Joaquin Hicks, sending the case back to the courtroom of Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Daniel Gaul for another trial in the tragic case of a robbery of two young Cleveland Clinic employees that turned to murder.

And the saga is laced with recantation letters from some alleged witnesses against Hicks that were prosecuted too and are also serving time in prison, coupled with claims by defense counsel and the Hicks family that the wrong man was targeted, and railroaded, partly because of Gaul's negligence and prejudicial behavior at trial.

Mason spokesperson Maria Russo said the county prosecutor declined comment.

The retrial order that Mason unsuccessfully sought to overturn by the Ohio Supreme Court was issued this summer by a three-judge panel of the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals of judges Melody Stewart, Mary Boyle and Mary Eileen Kilbane. The all female panel of all Democratic judges said that Gaul abused his discretion at trial. They said that he prejudiced the case when he did not do an inquiry on a prejudicial contention made before the jury by then Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Dan Cleary that the testimonies of witnesses for Hicks were allegedly influenced in his favor by his attorneys.

Gaul, who has no Democratic primary opponent, will face Republican Edele Passalacqua in Nov. as he seeks reelection to the bench.

But Passalacqua is not just any ole criminal defense attorney, she is Hicks' aggressive and determined trial lawyer in the case, along with John Paris, who is just as vivacious, and all the more convinced that Hicks is innocent.

And both want Gaul off the case, as does Hicks' family.

"He said that he has no comment," said Gaul's bailiff when asked if it were true that the judge had allegedly recused himself from presiding over the controversial matter as family members of Hicks had claimed, though the case docket does not reflect it.

A spokesperson for the Hicks family said that lawyers for Hicks said Gaul plans to recuse himself when the case returns to his docket and that if and when he does they call on Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nancy Fuerst to choose his replacement in the case by random draw.

Fuerst often takes the unconstitutional privilege of personally handpicking judges to replace those in the 34- member general division of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas that she leads that recuse themselves from cases, though if the Ohio Supreme Court removes Gaul on an affidavit of prejudice it can, by virtue of the Ohio Constitution, assign a visiting judge, or let Fuerst decide. And data show that in such instance she will sometimes reassign the case to another judge by computer generated random draw when the public is looking, as in the replacement of Shirley Strickland Saffold with Dick Ambrose in the Anthony Sowell Capital Murder Case, but often personally handpicks a judge in most other cases, activity that community activists say is prejudicial and unconstitutional in violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

"We thank the community and our attorneys for the support and are glad that the Ohio Supreme Court let the decision of the appellate court stand," said Denise Taylor, a community activist and Hicks' aunt. "We have asked the attorneys to file an affidavit of prejudice against Judge Gaul for the Ohio Supreme Court to hear to remove him as judge in the case and we want this case dismissed and Joaquin brought back home because he is innocent."

Just off of a stayed six month suspension last year for unethical behavior against Blacks that come before him, Gaul gave Hicks 61 years to life in prison as the alleged ring leader that planned a robbery that led to the execution style murder of Jeremy Pechanec, and the attempted murder of Jory Aebly two years ago in an outdoor park plaza across from Schorcher's, then a downtown Cleveland night club.

But Hicks was never accused of being the shooter, which heightened the implications of Gaul's 61-year prison sentence.

Hicks, now 31, had been charged in Sept 2009 in an eight-count indictment alleging one count of aggravated murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated robbery, and one county of attempted murder, all having gun specifications of one to three years. A jury found him guilty of all but two counts of aggravated murder.

He testified at trial that he was not even at the scene of the crime and was with a girlfriend that night, an alibi backed by family members at trial, and a waitress at the night club could not finger Hicks when she took the stand for the defense. And Hicks' lawyers argued at trial that he had no reason to rob anyone because he was fresh out of prison on a previous robbery conviction and had just received a $23 thousand life insurance policy on his mother's death.

Trial testimony revealed that Pechanec and Aebly went outside of the bar and across the street to the plaza to buy marijuana and were allegedly robbed by the group of Black men, and eventually shot by Ralfael King, a teenager at the time. Both were shot in the head, and while the bullet killed Pechanec, Aebly survived in what doctors branded a miracle. He did not completely recover, though he took the stand and testified against Hicks.

Unlike Hicks, the three men and the teen accused of crimes along with Hicks all took plea deals for their roles, after Hicks was convicted. They were also sentenced by Gaul, claiming afterwards that the controversial judge broke promises on plea deals for lessor time.

Shooter Ralfeal King, 17 at the time but prosecuted as an adult, was sentenced to 46 years to life for aggravated murder, attempted murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping. And Perry King, then 20, a lesser accomplice in the crime, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for driving the getaway car.

Cornelius King, then 26, who pleaded guilty to murder for his actions in the crimes, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. He testified that Hicks organized the robbery that led to the murder and attempted murder, a claim Hicks denied under oath and said was leveled in exchange for plea deals that the others accused in the scenario were to receive.

Reginald Day, who also pleaded guilty to murder, got 21 years to life.

In addition to having racial implications since Hicks and the other alleged assailants are Black, Aebly is White, and Pechanec was White, the case has been complicated since Cornelius King, who testified against Hicks at trial, and Perry King, both related to each other and to shooter Raphael King, and Day, have recanted in writing for Gaul.

They say now that Hicks was not at the scene of the crime that night and that they had allegedly been manipulated either by police, prosecutors or others to say otherwise, whether on or off record. Gaul, however, denied Hicks' motion for a new trial on those letters, after holding a hearing.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, by telephone at 216-932-3114, and by comments from you on this blog that would not be posted and are screened initially.

Dems Vote No Endorsement For Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, McDonnell Came Closest, Chandra 2nd, Kelley 3rd, McGinty 4th, State Reps, Judges Endorsed

National political news and local news from the Cleveland metropolitan area

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)(kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

At its Dec 7. meeting the Executive Committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party issued a no endorsement to the six candidates seeking its support that are vying to replace Bill Mason for county prosecutor, a man still with political influence who helped propel two of his assistant prosecutors to judgeship's in Nov.

"There was no endorsement in that race because none of the candidates received 60 percent of the vote of the Executive Committee members in attendance as required for an endorsement, " said Nick Martin, 31, Executive Director of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. "And in that and other races a few people abstained from voting."

Mason, 52, announced in Oct that he will not seek a fourth four-year term.

He has not groomed a successor. Nor has he mumbled a word on whom he supports, a strategy that has heightened mystery around his upcoming departure from office.

Under the leadership of party chairman Stuart Garson, an area trial attorney, 486 of the 630 executive committee members met Wed. evening at the Cleveland Convention Center to vote on endorsements for the March 6 Democratic primary for state representative, county prosecutor, and contested races for judge of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, juvenile court, and Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals.

The filing deadline for the offices was Dec. 7.

Though he failed to win the party endorsement for county prosecutor, James McDonnell, the brother of longtime Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nancy McDonnell and a former North Royalton city prosecutor, got the most votes at 226.

Former Cleveland Law Director Subodh Chandra, who served in the role under former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell, trailed in second place with 101 votes, and Cleveland Ward 13 Councilman Kevin Kelley came in third with 85 votes.

Chandra said in his speech to the Executive Committee that he would obey the law and work to bring "Blacks and Whites together."

Tim McGinty, a former common pleas court judge who resigned from the bench in Oct. to run for county prosecutor, came in fourth with only 33 votes, followed by Robert Triozzi, a former Cleveland Municipal Court judge and prior law director for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson who got only 24 votes, even with the mayor's support via a letter to members of the Executive Committee.

Stephanie Hall, a University Circle police, former assistant county prosecutor, and prior common pleas court foreclosure magistrate, made an unexpected entrance into the race and got six votes, finishing in sixth place. She is the only Black in the race.

A former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor before he became judge whose decisions and orders have been repeatedly overturned on appeal for jailing Blacks illegally and otherwise harassing them, and an admitted source to the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper who often publicly criticized his judicial colleagues, McGinty is probably the most colorful candidate.

He took to the stage at the gathering and startled people after he told party members that he should be endorsed because had he been the county prosecutor at the time he would have prosecuted serial killer Anthony Sowell rather than to have release him from custody in 2008 to kill the last six of his 11 Black female victims.

Sowell, who was convicted this summer of the murders and a host of other crimes, awaits the death penalty, though his convictions are on appeal.

"McGinty is prejudice and so is Triozzi, and I believe that that is why members of the Executive Committee did not really support either of them," said an executive committee member under condition of anonymity.

In other races incumbent state representatives Armond Budish (D-8), Barbara Boyd (D-9), Bill Patmon (D-10), Sandra Williams (D-11), John Barnes Jr. (D-12), Nickie Antonio (D-13), and Mike Foley (D-14) were endorsed.

Williams, Boyd, and Budish drew challengers in the Democratic primary and Budish, if he wins the Democratic primary as expected, and Foley, will face a Republican challenger in next year's Nov. general election.

For the common pleas bench Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas incumbent judges Shirley Strickland Saffold and John Sutula received endorsements for six-year terms and Alison Nelson Floyd, also an incumbent, was endorsed for juvenile court. All three face challengers in the primary and Strickland Saffold, if she wins there, faces Republican Cathryn Ensign for the Nov. general election.

Cassandra Collier- Williams was endorsed to face popular Republican Common Pleas Court Judge Joan Synenburg, and the county Democratic party chose Attorney Dean Van Dress to go up against the controversial Kathleen Sutula, a Republican too, and a judge on the common pleas bench since 1991 whose home was once shot up with bullets by a disgruntled criminal who expected a lighter sentence from the "hangin judge."

Collier- Williams is Black, and a well respected criminal defense lawyer who worked at one time in the law office of Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes, a prominent attorney and general counsel for the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black press with distributions in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.

Though endorsed by the Plain Dealer, she lost a race for common pleas judge last year.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael Jackson got the Democratic endorsement in the race to replace Democratic retiring common pleas judge Ron Suster. Also in that race is Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Emanuella Groves, among other Democratic contenders. The winner will face Republican Marilyn Cassidy, a Cleveland Municipal Court judge.

Cullen Sweeney got the endorsement in the race to replace Republican Robert McClelland, who is also retiring from the common pleas bench.

The county Democratic party selected Steven Gall to take on Republican Common Pleas Court Judge Annette Butler, a former federal prosecutor and a one time unsuccessful candidate for county prosecutor against Mason whom Gov. John Kasich appointed last month to the judicial seat that McGinty vacated to run for county prosecutor.

Janet Burney, who is Black and a previous juvenile court judge who lost a Democratic primary in 2004 to now Juvenile Court Judge Kristen Sweeney by less that 2 percent of the vote, also sought the party's endorsement in the race against Butler, though Gall was chosen.

Butler and Saffold are two of three Black judges in the 34 member general division of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, with the third being Judge Lance Mason, a former state senator, and protege of greater Cleveland's Old Black Political Guard.

Steven Terry, who is Black, was a Cuyahoga County common pleas court judge until his convictions on corruption related charges earlier this year that netted a hefty fine and six-year prison sentence from Federal District Court Judge Sara Lioi. Kasich appointed Brecksville Republican Pamela Barker to replace Terry, and Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Colleen Ann Reali got the Democratic endorsement for that race over Keith Belkin.

Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Daniel Gaul, just off of a six month suspension by the Ohio Supreme Court last year that was stayed pending good behavior, got the Democratic endorsement to face Republican candidate Edel Passalacqua in Nov. But county juvenile court judge Joe Russo lost the the endorsement for the seat he holds to Assistant County Prosecutor Frankie Goldberg, a lieutenant of Mason's, and a popular University Heights City Council member.

Also vying in that race in the Democratic primary is Attorney William McGinty.

Russo put his Democratic seat at risk after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct following a drunken escapade with his then girlfriend. And last Feb. the Ohio Supreme Court suspended his law license for a year but stayed the suspension if he completes an alcohol recovery program and stays out of trouble.

The Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals will lose Democratic judges Colleen Conway Cooney and James Sweeney to retirement.

Endorsed for the Democratic primary for the seat held by Conway Cooney was Eileen T. Gallagher, a common pleas court judge, and for the appellate seat that Sweeney is retiring from, the endorsement went to Parma Municipal Court Judge Timothy Gilligan. He faces Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora, former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim McCormack, Erin O'Toole and Lori Dyke as other Democratic primary contenders, and Gallagher will battle Joseph Compoli for the primary, though Compoli did not attend Wednesday's endorsement session.

Cuyahoga County, which includes the predominantly Black major metropolitan city of Cleveland, is Ohio's largest with some 1.2 million people. It has a Black population at roughly 31 percent.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, by telephone at 216-932-3114, and by comments from you on this blog that would not be posted and are screened initially.

Imperial Women, Occupy Cleveland, Goddesses Group, Activists To Hold Vigil, Dec 6 , 7:00 am, As City Demolishes Serial Killer Anthony Sowell's Home

The home on Imperial Ave. in Cleveland, Oh. of Convicted Serial Murderer Anthony Sowell where the remains of 11 Black women were found beginning on Oct. 29, 2009. The structure is set to be demolished on Dec. 6, 2011 at 7:00 am and community activists will be there to bring more awareness to violence against women and for a prayer vigil.

The Imperial Women Coalition: Fighting for justice for Black and other women, and on other community issues of public concern

From the Metro Desk of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online NewsBlog.Com

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Representatives of the grassroots groups dubbed the Imperial Women, Goddesses Blessing Goddesses, Black on Black Crime, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, the Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party, the Oppressed People's Nation, the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, the Carl Stokes Brigade, ESOP, Occupy Cleveland, the Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network, the People's Forum, the People's Fightback Center, Bailout The People Movement, People For The Imperial Act, the Committee To Bring Home Jamela And Jamyla, and a host of other community affiliates will hold a prayer vigil and forum tomorrow, Dec. 6, at 7:00 am next to Serial Killer Anthony Sowell's Home to support it being torn down. Demolition crews will begin the process in conjunction with an order from Cleveland Housing Court Judge Ray Pianca.

Sowell was convicted this summer by a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas jury of aggravated murder of the 11 Black women that he strangled at his home on Cleveland's Imperial Ave. , and a host of other crimes. He is scheduled to be put to death in Oct. 2012 per the recommendation of the jury and a subsequent death by lethal injection roll order from Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose.

"We will be there to bring more awareness to violence against women and to move again toward closure as the home of Serial Killer Anthony Sowell is demolished," said the Rev. LaDonna Blalock, who leads Goddesses Blessing Goddesses."And this is a part of the healing process for the community around this tragedy."

To attend the vigil from downtown Cleveland, take Kinsman Ave to E. 123rd St, turn left, and proceed two blocks to Imperial Ave with the home next to the corner.

The prayer vigil and forum are also to push to stop violence and governmental mistreatment of Greater Cleveland women, Black women in particular.

The vigil will open with a prayer for the betterment of women by Jean Whitte, a member of the Imperial Women and Black on Black Crime.

The speakers include family members of the slain 11 Black women, Imperial Women Leader Kathy Wray Coleman, Goddesses Blessing Goddesses Leader and Imperial Women Member the Rev. LaDonna Blalock, Leatrice Tolls of Occupy Cleveland and the Imperial Women, Marvetta Rutherford of ESOP and the Imperial Women, Oppressed People's Nation Leader and the October 22 Coalition Against Police Brutality Organizer Ernest Smith, Black On Black Crime Founder Art McKoy, the Carl Stokes Brigade and Imperial Women Member Ada Averyhart, the Committee To Bring Home Jamela and Jamyla and Imperial Women Member Angelique Cunningham, the Joaquin Real People's Movement Leader and Imperial Women Member Denise Taylor, Goddesses Blessing Goddesses Members Georgia Reash and Jill Bonet, and Community Activist Willie Stokes.

Reach Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman at www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com,ktcoleman8@aol.com and phone number: 216-932-3114.

Black On Black Crime, Imperial Women, Occupy Cleveland, Jobs With Justice To Picket With ESOP At Chase Bank Over Corruption, Foreclosure Fraud

National political news and local news from the Cleveland metropolitan area brought to the community from www.kathywraycolemanonlinenesblog.com and www.clevelandurbannews.com

Grassroots groups including Black on Black Crime Inc., the Imperial Women, Cleveland Jobs With Justice, the Northeast Ohio's Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, Occupy Cleveland and a host of others will rally over corporate greed and malfeasance with the sponsoring group Empowering And Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP) on Tue., Dec 6, at 11:00 am at Chase Bank in Cleveland Hts., Oh at 12388 Cedar Rd. (Editor's Note: Cleveland Hts. is a suburb of Cleveland that is 43 percent Black. In addition to Cleveland, it borders Shaker Hts., E. Cleveland, University Hts. and other cities of Cuyahoga County. Like Cleveland, it too has been hit hard with illegal foreclosures furthered through corporate fraud that is tearing at the fabric of the middle class community that also enjoys prominent physicians and other medical associates from places like the renowned Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Case Western Reserve University Medical School and University Hospitals).

Contacts for the rally are ESTOP organizers Geoff Englebret and James Rudyk at 216-361-0718 and ESOP and Imperial Women Member Marvetta Rutherford at 216-938-6627.

Several community activists will meet at the ESOP Bld at 3631 Perkins Ave . in Cleveland, Suit 4C, at 10:00 am on on Dec. 6 for a free lunch and then leave on ESOP buses to head to Chase Bank on Cedar Hill at 12388 Cedar Rd in Cleveland Hts. (Take downtown Chester Ave and turn left onto E. 36th St., and take the first right on to Perkins for the ESOP Building. Follow Cedar Rd in Cleveland all the way to Cedar Hill in Cleveland Hts for Chase Bank).

Tuesday's protest, which seeks to draw people tired of greed and malfeasance by mortgage companies and banks like Chase that charge exorbitant fees, comes at a time when the Occupy Wall Street Movement is gaining momentum as are its affiliate movements in respective cities throughout the country like the major metropolitan predominantly Black city of Cleveland, and in international venues such as Toronto Canada's Occupy Toronto.

Chase Bank and its finance companies are also under fire for allegedly stealing the homes of Cuyahoga County residents via mortgage and foreclosure fraud including paying less than a fourth of what a foreclosure home is worth to illegally buy it back at a foreclosure sheriff's sale, charging the former home owner with the difference, and then reselling the home to make an additional profit. And data also show that the reduced foreclosed homes of Cuyahoga County are also going to friends of mortgage company executives, politicians, and affiliates of big wigs from the Cuyahoga County Republican and Democratic Parties.

"Wall street and the banks like Chase and Wells Fargo got bailed out and homeowners, renters and the little people got sold out," said Community Activist Marvetta Rutherford. "I am willing to fight for the community partly because they cannot take anything else from me."

Activists will also demand that Chase Bank pay what is in excess of $2 million in back taxes, that its officials pledge to no longer steal foreclosed homes at a fraction of the price in violation of state law, and for it to agree to push federal authorities to reduce the principal on mortgages during the nation's economic decline and because they say the interest rates on homes are illegal under the Fair Lending Act and derived in bad faith. Even low interest loans, say activists, are bogus because the monies a homeowner has paid in interest at the end of a 30 year home mortgage loan is preposterous.

Art McKoy, the founder of Black on Black Crime, said that he will attend Tuesday's rally at Chase Bank and that it is time for community activists of the Black community especially to now turn their focus more toward corporate impropriety and any elected officials that are perpetuating it to the detriment of the community.

"I will be at the rally," said McKoy."And I look forward to picketing Chase Bank and in the future other banks and mortgage companies that have done harm to our communities."

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, by telephone at 216-932-3114, and by comments from you on this blog that would not be posted and are screened initially.

State Sen. Nina Turner Announces Run For Congress, Some Black Leaders Say Please Don't Run Against Qualified Black Incumbent U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge

Updated Friday, December 2, 2011

Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner (D-25)

U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH)

Ohio State Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10)

Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson




Cleveland Attorney and Local NAACP President George Forbes

National political news and local news from the Cleveland metropolitan area brought to the community from

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor

State Sen. Nina Turner (D-25) , a Cleveland Democrat, sent shock waves through Cleveland's political rank and file this week when she filed petitions to take on U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-11) in next year's Democratic Primary election, a decision that has rocked Cleveland's Old Black Political Guard and has upset Black leaders with the prospective that the vote could be split by the two prominent Black women and a White could slide in.

"When minorities run against each other as was the case in Memphis, TN., you can end up with a majority representing a majority minority district historically led by a minority," said state Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat and former city councilman who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2009. "When then U.S. Rep. Harold Ford gave up the only Black congressional seat in Tennessee to run for a senate seat that he lost Blacks lost that seat and have not regained it."

Since the predominantly Black 11th Congressional District is overwhelmingly Democratic the chances of a Republican beating the winner of the Democratic primary are slim to none and so are the chances of anybody beating Fudge in her own district, even if it is remapped as planned to extend through Summit County to pick up some 20,000 people in a pocket in a solid Black section of Akron, the hometown of basketball icon Lebron James which has a Black population of about 31 percent and is largely White with roughly 200,000 people.

A Warrensville Hts. Democrat whose district now includes the east side of Cleveland and parts of its eastern suburbs in Cuyahoga County including Beachwood, Euclid, Cleveland Hts and Shaker Hts, Fudge was elected to Congress in 2008 and swept through the election in 2010 for another two-year term with 83 percent of the vote. She stepped into the seat in 2008 with the appointment by the executive committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party upon the untimely death of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the second Black and first Black woman to be elected to congress from Ohio.

A former chief of staff to Tubbs Jones, licensed attorney, former national president of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and mayor of the city of Warrensville Hts. prior to joining congress, the scholarly Fudge said with confidence that she will let voters decide.

"The congresswoman has said repeatedly that no matter where they put her she will run on her record," said Belinda Prinz, Communications Director for Fudge, in referencing Fudges' position on how she would respond if she drew a challenger like Turner for the Democratic primary in conjunction with a once-in-a-decade redistricting of Ohio's congressional map that through population growth decline requires the reduction from 18 to 16 congressional districts, 13 currently held by Republicans and 5 by Democrats. And that is if the re mapping process ever sticks as the Ohio Democratic Party, led by its chairman Chris Redfern, expects to gather necessary signatures for a 2012 ballot referendum for voters to either accept or reject House Bill 319, a bill that the Republican controlled state legislature passed last month. It hands 12 of the re-mapped 16 congressional districts for the Republicans to be favored as subsequently winning elections and four for the Democrats, with a judge deciding if voters say no to the bill.

Turner is a protege of former Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White who won the council seat in 2005 in Lee-Harvard's Ward 1 in a close race against Tonya Jones, an attorney and the wife of former Ward 1 Councilman Joseph Jones. A former educational liaison for White and prior Cleveland schools administrator who moonlights as a history teacher at Cuyahoga County Community College, she won a four-year term to the state senate in 2010 after an appointment by the senate's minority caucus in 2008.

Without a doubt, Black leaders are approaching the controversy between the two strong Black women with a degree of caution, though some say that Turner is overly ambitious, whatever that means.

"Many of us would like to run for congress but its just not right to run against a prominent and qualified African-American incumbent," said Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson, who ran unsuccessfully against Tubbs Jones via an open seat upon the retirement of U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, Ohio's first Black congressman who led what was once the 21st Congressional District for nearly three decades. A senior spokesperson and attorney for the law firm of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey in its Wash. D.C. offices, Stokes handed the baton to Tubbs Jones with his blessings.

"I totally support the reelection of Marcia Fudge who is doing a good job and I will do all I can to help get her reelected," said Johnson, who carries the sentiment of practically all of greater Cleveland's prominent elected Black officials, though eyes are on Ward 1 Councilman Terrell Pruitt . He was appointed by City Council to replace Turner when she went on the become senator and then beat Tonya Jones to hold on to the seat, which is up for reelection next year like the other 18 city council seats.

But Turner said that she has a right to run and will do so. She said that while she supports the 11th Congressional District remaining majority minority as required by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and calls for more majority minority districts in the redistricting process, Blacks can sometimes turnout to be your own worst enemy.

"Just because somebody is Black does not mean that he or she represents the interests of the Black community," said Turner in reference to Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes, whom Democrats say got in bed with the Republicans to craft the 12-to-4 Republican-to Democrat redistricted map.

That map is folded into HB 319 that is a state law as of Sept but that is stalled because it is headed next year to the ballot box for a determination by voters to either endorse or oppose it, if state Democrats secure the necessary signatures.

Turner says that if HB 319 holds, though unlikely, and Republicans get to keep the redrawn 12 congressional winnable seats and the Democrats are relegated to only four, it will have long term consequences and could hurt President Obama's reelection and his standing in Ohio since congressional members influence elections in pivotal states like Ohio and Wisconsin.

And some other Black state legislators, speaking on condition of anonymity, say that Forbes should not try anymore to con Black state legislators that are now shunning him into naively helping Republicans with HB 319's 12-to-4 Republican over Democrat advantage under the guise of saving the 11 Congressional District as majority minority when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires it remain majority minority anyway.

Turner stopped short of outright accusing Forbes of sleeping with the enemy over the congressional re-mapping process.

"What is important to remember is that the Democratic Party is the party of President Barack Obama," said Turner. "We need to ensure that the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus is not used to undermine him and the policies that he promotes to help working and middle class people."

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 makes it unconstitutional to redraw a majority minority district to a majority non-minority district through gerrymandering to the detriment of the impacted minority group.

The 11th Congressional District was 56 percent Black and 39 percent White in 2000, according to a census report. A 2010 census has it as still majority minority but possibly 48 percent Black as a voting age population, though that figure is likely higher since not all Blacks were counted in the census because some did not turn in the assessment form.

The state of Ohio is equally as Republican as it is Democrat, voting data show, and no Republican has won the White House without first winning Ohio, with the late President John F. Kennedy the last Democrat to lose Ohio and go on to win the presidency in 1960.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, by telephone at 216-932-3114, and by comments from you on this blog that would not be posted and are screened initially.