Three Judges Accused Of Impropriety Win Democratic Primary As Did Lee Fisher, John Barnes Jr. and Former Cleveland Mayoral Candidate Bill Patmon
By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of the DeterminerWeekly.Com
and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network
Plain Dealer Editor Susan Goldberg
Bill Patmon
John E. Barnes Jr.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Bridget McCafferty
Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty
For the most part, expected winners won, and three judges accused of impropriety swept through the May 4 Democratic primary, one unopposed, another winning by a landslide, and a third barely getting by another sitting judge who was also seeking a higher judgeship. Regardless, some voters contend that the three judicial primary victories at issue are a byproduct of a sleeping and uninformed electorate, in addition to a corrupt media and bar associations affiliates that trade favors for endorsements.
"When judges accused of corruption win either reelection or are elevated to a higher judgeship it is usually because the media are corrupt and have promoted them, the bar associations that rate them have been bought and sold, and voters simply do not do their homework," said a Cleveland area grassroots activist speaking on condition of anonymity. "In Cuyahoga County you can be under investigation by the FBI and have a record of corruption and still win reelection because Democratic voters often do what the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party tells them to do and that party, which promotes corrupt incumbents on a routine basis, is corrupt in itself."
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty, accused of impropriety in releasing suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell's private mental health records to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, and being an alleged source to that newspaper regarding his judicial colleagues and information on Black defendants in his court, won the Democratic primary without opposition via the unwritten party rule that no incumbent can be challenged. And sitting Cuyahoga Judge Bridget McCafferty, one of only two incumbent judges challenged in the Democratic primary, won against unknown John Satola with 63 percent of the vote, with all precincts reporting. That landslide victory stunned some since McCafferty is the target of a pending FBI probe of alleged case fixing around a controversial and since settled civil matter that has the judge herself embroiled as a defendant in an affiliated civil suit in conjuction with the case fixing allegation. Also, unofficial election results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections show Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough, under fire by grassoots factions for violating state law and other authorities in allegedly harassing a local Black journalist, edging Cuyahoga Judge Ronald Suster for an open seat on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals 30, 963 votes to his 27, 556.
Keough is accused of harassing Kathy Wray Coleman in exchange for an endorsement from the Plain Dealer and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, whose appointed law director, Robert Triozzi, allegedly cut the deal with the judge regarding an alleged malicious prosecution by the City of Cleveland against the 16-year journalist. At issue is a jury verdict of resisting arrest that Keough is accused of pushing for Jackson and the Plain Dealer to get at the Cleveland Call and Post Newspaper, a weekly that targets the Black community and that in 2008, when the prosecution was initiated, published 38 articles written by Coleman. At least one of those articles angered Jackson and Cleveland City Council President Martin Sweeney because it addressed the issue as to the reduction in Cleveland City Council from 21 to 19 seats, a measure voters adopted last year. Another article took on the Plain Dealer, which is under the leadership of Editor Susan Goldberg, for allegedly targeting Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and County Auditor Frank Russo in an alleged biased fashion regarding a pending FBI corruption probe involving the duo and a host of Cleveland city officials and other members of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.
Coleman said that Sweeney's top dog, Katherine Bullava, who is also the press representative for Cleveland City Council, called the Call and Post in 2008 and expressed anger over the reduction in City Council article where the veteran journalist quoted Blacks as saying it was anti-Black because neighboring predominantly White cities like Shaker Hts. and Cleveland Hts. were not targeted, though both cities, then and now, have far fewer constituents per council person than the predominantly Black city of Cleveland. Not long thereafter, Coleman says she was dragged to the county jail, given a knockout drug, potentially raped , and released four days later without charges per attorney Sara Harper. Two months later, says Coleman, Jackson directed White male Triozzi to lead a prosecution on behalf of the City of Cleveland and had his press secretary call Call and Post officials to try and quiet the journalist while the prosecution moved forward.
Coleman's post trial attorney, Wayne Kerek, says his client is being targeted because she is a Black journalist and that she was denied constitutional guarantees in a two day trial before the judge held last May that brought the resisting arrest verdict and not guilty verdicts relative to a host of other charges that Coleman brands bogus. Keough, says Kerek, promoted the illegal verdict with illegal jury instructions even though sole arresting White male peace officer Gerald Pace did not even accuse Coleman of resisting his arrest or testify at trial. Kerek has asked Keough for a hearing to seek dismissal of the illegal resisting arrest verdict.
When Kerek, whom Coleman hired after Keough dismissed trial attorney Carole A. Lohr for impropriety, sued in the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals solely for an order that Keough comply with the law Triozzi, who brought the criminal charges against Coleman for the city in place of city prosecutor Victor Perez allegedly for political reasons, actually represented Keough in the proceedings with the sanctioning of then Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Acting Presiding Judge Eileen A. Gallagher, who was also victorious on Tuesday relative the Democratic primary in seeking an open seat unrelated to the one Keough is after on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals. That legal compliance suit, which was filed last year and in legal terms is dubbed a writ of prohibition, was circumvented with the help of Keough's long time friend on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals, Judge Mary Eileen Kilbane, who on Tuesday won the Democratic primary without opposition in seeking to retain her seat.
"The corruption is cooperative corruption from the municipal courts in Cuyahoga County, to the Court of Common Pleas, to the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals," said Coleman. "A few judges on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals like Judges Melody Stewart and Patricia Ann Blackmon, both Black, and retiring Judges Christine McMonagle and Ann Dyke, are primarily fair but you need two of the judges on the three-judge panel to rule in your favor to win and not always are at least two of them on that panel. Blacks often do not have a chance in these courts due to systemic racism and corruption, and to think that Judge Keough can help dictate public policy on the appellate court if she wins in November is scary. Jackson's endorsement put her over the edge to win Tuesday's Democratic primary due to his apparent disdain for Blacks and women. He did not endorse any of the Black women running for judgeships. Now we will see if and when Judge Keough gets to the appellate court if she will try to guide decisions for the City of Cleveland and the Plain Dealer since she is obviously a pawn for both."
Keough must now face Republican Brian Moriarty in the November general election, if she is not disbarred before that time. Coleman says that she will now file a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel since Keough issued rulings impacting her substantial rights when an affidavit of prejudice that she filed was pending against her and another judge was suspended by Ohio's high court for doing such in violation of state law. That law essentially puts the case on hold until the affidavit of prejudice is ruled upon, a vehicle designed to preclude harassment and intimidation by the judge against the complaining party, and Coleman says that Keough did just that with the help and corruption of higher judges, all of whom are White.
"She has not won the general election yet and winning the Democratic primary by a small margin does not make Judge Kathleen Ann Keough any less corrupt by our standards," said Coleman. "We hope that after accessing the bar complaint the Ohio Supreme Court suspends her as to the illegal activity around the affidavit of prejudice, though since she is not Black like Cuyahoga Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold we expect racism to take a front seat over this runaway judge's illegal behavior."
In other Democratic primary elections Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher handily defeated Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and will face Republican Rob Portman of Cincinnati in the November election for the U. S. Senate seat open due to the retirement of Republican Sen. George Voinovich, a former Cleveland mayor. Almeta Johnson, who is Black and a former chief prosecutor for the City of East Cleveland, Oh., lost to incumbent Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora. And Attorney Cassandra Collier Williams, also a Black woman, came in third in her race for a seat on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas General Division bench to winner Maureen Clancy. Gale Williams-Byers, the only Black in the seven-way race for judge of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Domestic Division, also finished third, but to Rosemary Grdina Gold.
In the closely watched contest for the District 12 State Rep. seat open because the term limited Michael Dubose could not by state law seek reelection, former State Rep. John Barnes Jr. outdistanced closest contender and Dubose's son, also named Michael, 4,410 to 2,156 votes. But the most intriguing race pit Jackson's Roosevelt Coats, who resigned from Cleveland City Council last year, against last year's Cleveland mayoral runoff candidate Bill Patmon, also a former city councilman, and Robin D. Belcher, the Plain Dealer's pick. Unofficial election results for that race to win the District 10 State Rep. seat show Patmon as the winner with 2,385 votes to Coat's 1754, and Belcher's 1664 votes. Belcher, who currently holds the seat, replaced Eugene Miller, who replaced Coats on City Council in an anticipated swap gone bad where the state legisature chose Belcher over Coats to complete Miller's unexpired term.
and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network
Plain Dealer Editor Susan Goldberg
Bill Patmon
John E. Barnes Jr.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Bridget McCafferty
Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann KeoughCuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty
For the most part, expected winners won, and three judges accused of impropriety swept through the May 4 Democratic primary, one unopposed, another winning by a landslide, and a third barely getting by another sitting judge who was also seeking a higher judgeship. Regardless, some voters contend that the three judicial primary victories at issue are a byproduct of a sleeping and uninformed electorate, in addition to a corrupt media and bar associations affiliates that trade favors for endorsements.
"When judges accused of corruption win either reelection or are elevated to a higher judgeship it is usually because the media are corrupt and have promoted them, the bar associations that rate them have been bought and sold, and voters simply do not do their homework," said a Cleveland area grassroots activist speaking on condition of anonymity. "In Cuyahoga County you can be under investigation by the FBI and have a record of corruption and still win reelection because Democratic voters often do what the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party tells them to do and that party, which promotes corrupt incumbents on a routine basis, is corrupt in itself."
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty, accused of impropriety in releasing suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell's private mental health records to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, and being an alleged source to that newspaper regarding his judicial colleagues and information on Black defendants in his court, won the Democratic primary without opposition via the unwritten party rule that no incumbent can be challenged. And sitting Cuyahoga Judge Bridget McCafferty, one of only two incumbent judges challenged in the Democratic primary, won against unknown John Satola with 63 percent of the vote, with all precincts reporting. That landslide victory stunned some since McCafferty is the target of a pending FBI probe of alleged case fixing around a controversial and since settled civil matter that has the judge herself embroiled as a defendant in an affiliated civil suit in conjuction with the case fixing allegation. Also, unofficial election results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections show Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough, under fire by grassoots factions for violating state law and other authorities in allegedly harassing a local Black journalist, edging Cuyahoga Judge Ronald Suster for an open seat on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals 30, 963 votes to his 27, 556.
Keough is accused of harassing Kathy Wray Coleman in exchange for an endorsement from the Plain Dealer and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, whose appointed law director, Robert Triozzi, allegedly cut the deal with the judge regarding an alleged malicious prosecution by the City of Cleveland against the 16-year journalist. At issue is a jury verdict of resisting arrest that Keough is accused of pushing for Jackson and the Plain Dealer to get at the Cleveland Call and Post Newspaper, a weekly that targets the Black community and that in 2008, when the prosecution was initiated, published 38 articles written by Coleman. At least one of those articles angered Jackson and Cleveland City Council President Martin Sweeney because it addressed the issue as to the reduction in Cleveland City Council from 21 to 19 seats, a measure voters adopted last year. Another article took on the Plain Dealer, which is under the leadership of Editor Susan Goldberg, for allegedly targeting Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and County Auditor Frank Russo in an alleged biased fashion regarding a pending FBI corruption probe involving the duo and a host of Cleveland city officials and other members of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.
Coleman said that Sweeney's top dog, Katherine Bullava, who is also the press representative for Cleveland City Council, called the Call and Post in 2008 and expressed anger over the reduction in City Council article where the veteran journalist quoted Blacks as saying it was anti-Black because neighboring predominantly White cities like Shaker Hts. and Cleveland Hts. were not targeted, though both cities, then and now, have far fewer constituents per council person than the predominantly Black city of Cleveland. Not long thereafter, Coleman says she was dragged to the county jail, given a knockout drug, potentially raped , and released four days later without charges per attorney Sara Harper. Two months later, says Coleman, Jackson directed White male Triozzi to lead a prosecution on behalf of the City of Cleveland and had his press secretary call Call and Post officials to try and quiet the journalist while the prosecution moved forward.
Coleman's post trial attorney, Wayne Kerek, says his client is being targeted because she is a Black journalist and that she was denied constitutional guarantees in a two day trial before the judge held last May that brought the resisting arrest verdict and not guilty verdicts relative to a host of other charges that Coleman brands bogus. Keough, says Kerek, promoted the illegal verdict with illegal jury instructions even though sole arresting White male peace officer Gerald Pace did not even accuse Coleman of resisting his arrest or testify at trial. Kerek has asked Keough for a hearing to seek dismissal of the illegal resisting arrest verdict.
When Kerek, whom Coleman hired after Keough dismissed trial attorney Carole A. Lohr for impropriety, sued in the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals solely for an order that Keough comply with the law Triozzi, who brought the criminal charges against Coleman for the city in place of city prosecutor Victor Perez allegedly for political reasons, actually represented Keough in the proceedings with the sanctioning of then Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Acting Presiding Judge Eileen A. Gallagher, who was also victorious on Tuesday relative the Democratic primary in seeking an open seat unrelated to the one Keough is after on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals. That legal compliance suit, which was filed last year and in legal terms is dubbed a writ of prohibition, was circumvented with the help of Keough's long time friend on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals, Judge Mary Eileen Kilbane, who on Tuesday won the Democratic primary without opposition in seeking to retain her seat.
"The corruption is cooperative corruption from the municipal courts in Cuyahoga County, to the Court of Common Pleas, to the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals," said Coleman. "A few judges on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals like Judges Melody Stewart and Patricia Ann Blackmon, both Black, and retiring Judges Christine McMonagle and Ann Dyke, are primarily fair but you need two of the judges on the three-judge panel to rule in your favor to win and not always are at least two of them on that panel. Blacks often do not have a chance in these courts due to systemic racism and corruption, and to think that Judge Keough can help dictate public policy on the appellate court if she wins in November is scary. Jackson's endorsement put her over the edge to win Tuesday's Democratic primary due to his apparent disdain for Blacks and women. He did not endorse any of the Black women running for judgeships. Now we will see if and when Judge Keough gets to the appellate court if she will try to guide decisions for the City of Cleveland and the Plain Dealer since she is obviously a pawn for both."
Keough must now face Republican Brian Moriarty in the November general election, if she is not disbarred before that time. Coleman says that she will now file a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel since Keough issued rulings impacting her substantial rights when an affidavit of prejudice that she filed was pending against her and another judge was suspended by Ohio's high court for doing such in violation of state law. That law essentially puts the case on hold until the affidavit of prejudice is ruled upon, a vehicle designed to preclude harassment and intimidation by the judge against the complaining party, and Coleman says that Keough did just that with the help and corruption of higher judges, all of whom are White.
"She has not won the general election yet and winning the Democratic primary by a small margin does not make Judge Kathleen Ann Keough any less corrupt by our standards," said Coleman. "We hope that after accessing the bar complaint the Ohio Supreme Court suspends her as to the illegal activity around the affidavit of prejudice, though since she is not Black like Cuyahoga Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold we expect racism to take a front seat over this runaway judge's illegal behavior."
In other Democratic primary elections Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher handily defeated Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and will face Republican Rob Portman of Cincinnati in the November election for the U. S. Senate seat open due to the retirement of Republican Sen. George Voinovich, a former Cleveland mayor. Almeta Johnson, who is Black and a former chief prosecutor for the City of East Cleveland, Oh., lost to incumbent Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora. And Attorney Cassandra Collier Williams, also a Black woman, came in third in her race for a seat on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas General Division bench to winner Maureen Clancy. Gale Williams-Byers, the only Black in the seven-way race for judge of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Domestic Division, also finished third, but to Rosemary Grdina Gold.
In the closely watched contest for the District 12 State Rep. seat open because the term limited Michael Dubose could not by state law seek reelection, former State Rep. John Barnes Jr. outdistanced closest contender and Dubose's son, also named Michael, 4,410 to 2,156 votes. But the most intriguing race pit Jackson's Roosevelt Coats, who resigned from Cleveland City Council last year, against last year's Cleveland mayoral runoff candidate Bill Patmon, also a former city councilman, and Robin D. Belcher, the Plain Dealer's pick. Unofficial election results for that race to win the District 10 State Rep. seat show Patmon as the winner with 2,385 votes to Coat's 1754, and Belcher's 1664 votes. Belcher, who currently holds the seat, replaced Eugene Miller, who replaced Coats on City Council in an anticipated swap gone bad where the state legisature chose Belcher over Coats to complete Miller's unexpired term.
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