Guest Columnist Genevieve Mitchell Calls Issue 6 "Gerrymandering With Jim Crow Tactics"
Posted Sunday, October 11, 2009
(Cleveland, Ohio Area News)
By Genevieve Mitchell, Guest Columnist
(Mitchell is a former vice president of the Cleveland Board of Education, a former candidate for Cleveland city mayor, editor of the newsletter "The Blackboard," and current host of the local Cleveland cable television program "The Carl Stokes Forum.")
While few would doubt the need for accountability and oversight the battle for county government reform has reached a boiling point. With the November election only a few weeks away Cuyahoga County voters will have a chance to either support or reject the county reform measure known as Issue 6.
At odds is not whether reform is necessary but what shall constitute “reform." Cuyahoga County is controlled by voter elected Democrats. This has been largely due to the great appeal of Democratic leadership. But in the wake of a county federal corruption probe attached to this election cycle that has been exacerbated via a clever media campaign the thrust to pass this draconian reform measure is in the wings.
Should voters adopt Issue 6 the offices of the Cuyahoga County recorder, auditor, commissioners, sheriff, coroner, clerk of courts, engineer and many county board seats would be strategically appointed and controlled by a single elected county executive, and a powerless 11 member elected county council accountable primarily to the executive himself. All of these elected offices are currenty held by Democrats. Boundary lines have been gerrymandered and strategically redrawn with the proposed plan. Do we rescind the constitution and “Rule of Law” under the pretense of government reform? Is it necessary to eliminate the right of citizens to vote to build community consensus?
The sacred right of Blacks to vote was not a given. It was hard fought and hard won. Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary McCloud Bethune, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, Thurgood Marshall, The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Emmett Till, Viola Luizo and so many others have fought, and some even died while fighting, to secure this right. Still, we have the The National Voting Rights Act of 1965 that must be renewed every 25 years. This political right insures our ability to have a voice and to participate in the political process. Should we abdicate this right so carelessly? Is this Jim Crow all over again?
According to some political representatives close to the discussion Issue 6, or shall I say “the plan,” would give county Republicans a greater chance of being elected. Political reform to give advantage to the less favored party should not be the focus of government reform. Government reform should be initiated to improve public service for the benefit of the people, and to place people in positions of leadership authority who will serve the public justly and ethically. Detractors have taken major “flack” from local media pundits who view them as spoilers of “the plan” but upon careful examination of the language and provisions of Issue 6 it is clear that “the plan” has less to do with reform and instead is set to give a political advantage to unpopular Republican hopefuls.
Mayors, City Council members and community activists throughout the county were not even consulted for input about the nature of government restructuring according to “the plan.” Under Issue 6 most residents are unaware that with the passage of this so-called reform measure current elected officers not touched by the federal corruption probe would lose their “legally” and Democratically elected offices, effective January 1, 2011. One attendant at a local anti-Issue 6 meeting characterized the measure as “corporate apartheid and rich minority rule that fails to even include input from most White people,” saying further that it is “about power, control, jobs, contracts and lots of money.”
The Democratic process governing the constitutional right to vote insures not only our ability to “elect” but also to “un-elect,” oppose or to abstain from voting on Issue 6-type referenda. In this country we are governed by a system of laws where people have voting rights and those rights should not be subject to manipulation for economic or political expediency. How do you spell apartheid?
(Cleveland, Ohio Area News)
By Genevieve Mitchell, Guest Columnist
(Mitchell is a former vice president of the Cleveland Board of Education, a former candidate for Cleveland city mayor, editor of the newsletter "The Blackboard," and current host of the local Cleveland cable television program "The Carl Stokes Forum.")
While few would doubt the need for accountability and oversight the battle for county government reform has reached a boiling point. With the November election only a few weeks away Cuyahoga County voters will have a chance to either support or reject the county reform measure known as Issue 6.
At odds is not whether reform is necessary but what shall constitute “reform." Cuyahoga County is controlled by voter elected Democrats. This has been largely due to the great appeal of Democratic leadership. But in the wake of a county federal corruption probe attached to this election cycle that has been exacerbated via a clever media campaign the thrust to pass this draconian reform measure is in the wings.
Should voters adopt Issue 6 the offices of the Cuyahoga County recorder, auditor, commissioners, sheriff, coroner, clerk of courts, engineer and many county board seats would be strategically appointed and controlled by a single elected county executive, and a powerless 11 member elected county council accountable primarily to the executive himself. All of these elected offices are currenty held by Democrats. Boundary lines have been gerrymandered and strategically redrawn with the proposed plan. Do we rescind the constitution and “Rule of Law” under the pretense of government reform? Is it necessary to eliminate the right of citizens to vote to build community consensus?
The sacred right of Blacks to vote was not a given. It was hard fought and hard won. Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary McCloud Bethune, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, Thurgood Marshall, The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Emmett Till, Viola Luizo and so many others have fought, and some even died while fighting, to secure this right. Still, we have the The National Voting Rights Act of 1965 that must be renewed every 25 years. This political right insures our ability to have a voice and to participate in the political process. Should we abdicate this right so carelessly? Is this Jim Crow all over again?
According to some political representatives close to the discussion Issue 6, or shall I say “the plan,” would give county Republicans a greater chance of being elected. Political reform to give advantage to the less favored party should not be the focus of government reform. Government reform should be initiated to improve public service for the benefit of the people, and to place people in positions of leadership authority who will serve the public justly and ethically. Detractors have taken major “flack” from local media pundits who view them as spoilers of “the plan” but upon careful examination of the language and provisions of Issue 6 it is clear that “the plan” has less to do with reform and instead is set to give a political advantage to unpopular Republican hopefuls.
Mayors, City Council members and community activists throughout the county were not even consulted for input about the nature of government restructuring according to “the plan.” Under Issue 6 most residents are unaware that with the passage of this so-called reform measure current elected officers not touched by the federal corruption probe would lose their “legally” and Democratically elected offices, effective January 1, 2011. One attendant at a local anti-Issue 6 meeting characterized the measure as “corporate apartheid and rich minority rule that fails to even include input from most White people,” saying further that it is “about power, control, jobs, contracts and lots of money.”
The Democratic process governing the constitutional right to vote insures not only our ability to “elect” but also to “un-elect,” oppose or to abstain from voting on Issue 6-type referenda. In this country we are governed by a system of laws where people have voting rights and those rights should not be subject to manipulation for economic or political expediency. How do you spell apartheid?
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