County Dems Reject County Reform Measure On Ballot And Rep Fudge, Jones Take on Prosecutor Mason Saying Blacks Were Left Out

Congresswoman Marcia Fudge


Posted Saturday, October 3, 2009
(Regional and Cleveland, Ohio Area News)

By Kathy Wray Coleman
(Editor of The Determiner Weekly (www.determinerweekly.com) and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network)

A Black Ohio state senator got booed and Cuyahoga County's most influential Black leader took on powerful county prosecutor Bill Mason at a meeting earlier today at Euclid High School where a controversial county reform measure on the November 3 general election ballot was rejected by the Executive Committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

If adopted by voters Issue 6, crafted by Mason and an all White group of county Democrats, would strip voters of their own right to elect nine of the 11 county offices such as the sheriff, recorder, auditor, engineer, coroner, and commissioners, and give an elected county head and an elected 11 member county council the power to appoint. Mason's position and that of the county treasurer would remain elected offices along with the judges of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals who were never considered one way or another as part of the equation for county reform. Of those 11 elected offices at issue, all of which are held by Democrats, only two are held by Blacks though Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, is roughly 30 percent Black. Black leaders and the Call & Post Newspaper, a Cleveland weekly that targets the Black community, have downed the measure as racist and designed to reduce the number of Blacks in county offices.

“This was done in the closet,” said U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-11), whose congessional district includes parts of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs.

Fudge, the county's most powerful Black leader, took on Mason at today's meeting saying Issue 6 would dilute Black power. Other powerful Blacks opposing Issue 6, like Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, were there too, and have said that Blacks are unfair targets of Mason's agenda.

Jones, speaking shortly before today's vote, aggressively denounced Issue 6 as anti-Black and urged his political colleagues to toss aside any ideas of endorsing it. He and fellow commissioner Tim Hagan, whose jobs as commissioner are at risk if Issue 6 passes, have placed an alternative to it on the November ballot dubbed Issue 5. If approved by voters Issue 5 provides for an 15-member committee that would study county governmental reform until 2010 and then make recommendations to voters on how to effecively revise the county's failing system of government. While rejecting Issue 6 the Executive Committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party endorsed Issue 5 instead.

The Executive Committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party is comprised of top county Democrats including office holders and city precinct committee members. Anxious over today's outcome over two hundred members, and enough for a quorum necessary for a vote, showed to vote on whether to endorse or reject Issues 5 and 6, and other measures on the November ballot.

“Blacks usually sit on one side of the room and White's on another, but at today's meeting they were mixed in,” said an executive committee member on condition of anonymity. “This is about race and Black people but it also impacts other Democrats who simply do not want to give up their right to vote without a fight, particularly since people died for Blacks to get the right to vote in this country.”

Ohio State Senator Nina Turner (D-25), previously criticized in an editorial of the Call & Post as “carrying the water for White folks” was at Mason's side as were only a few others, the outcome of the vote revealed, where the nos were heavily against Issue 6.

Fudge and Turner, both Black women, obviously have two conflicting positions on the issue, bringing boos by a small pocket in the school auditorium when Turner spoke. Turner, like Mason, promoted Issue 6 as an answer to at risk corruption among county officials. That posture comes as Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, on leave as chairman of the county Democratic Party, and county auditor Frank Russo are targets of a county corruption probe centering around the alleged trading of county contracts for favors, including home improvements, and in Russo's case, money. Their homes and offices were raided by FBI and IRS agents last year, though both deny any wrong doing and neither has been indicted.

Neither Dimora nor Russo attended today's meeting and neither was mentioned in public speeches at the political gathering.

“I plan to vote against Issue 6 and for Issue 5."said Community Activist Donald Sneed. “Issue 6 will take away the right of Blacks to vote on the nine county offices like House Bill 269 took away the right of Blacks to vote on the Cleveland school board and gave control of the city schools to the mayor.”