Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes Beats Attorney Floyd By 12 Votes To Win 10th Term
From the Metro Desk of theDeterminerWeekly.Com and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network
Cleveland Attorney George L. Forbes on Sunday was elected to a 10th term as president of the Cleveland NAACP, beating opponent Lawrence R. Floyd by 12 votes with 200 members voting, NAACP officials said.
The 79-year-old Forbes, who is also general counsel for the Call and Post Newspaper, Cleveland's Black press, had said in Sept. that he was tired and would not run but got in the race as advocates of the Black community pushed for his continued local leadership of America's most well known Civil Rights organization.
A former Cleveland City Council president from 1974-1989, who often sparred with then Cleveland mayor and now Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), and an unsuccessful candidate for mayor who lost to Mike White in a Black against Black contest in 1989, the controversial Forbes remains a figure in local and national politics. And though Blacks sometimes get mad and challenge him over his controversial NAACP stances, he remains a respected spokesperson on matters impacting the Black community from news, to politics, to education, and on race baiting issues of public concern .
Floyd, 49, is a Cleveland area attorney and former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor. He is married to Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Alison Nelson Floyd.
The low voter turnout for the election and Floyd's almost victory was a departure from Forbe's historical election 18 years ago when over 2,000 members reportedly voted.
As a campaign platform Forbes pledged to fight to keep open Huron Road Hospital, to eliminate racism against Blacks at area bars in Cleveland's Warehouse District and to to ensure jobs for Blacks as to Ohio's upcoming casinos. He also said that the Cleveland NAACP will, among other issues, address what he says are malicious arrests by Cleveland police of Black males at Regional Transit Authority pick-up and drop-off locations.
Cleveland Attorney George L. Forbes on Sunday was elected to a 10th term as president of the Cleveland NAACP, beating opponent Lawrence R. Floyd by 12 votes with 200 members voting, NAACP officials said.
The 79-year-old Forbes, who is also general counsel for the Call and Post Newspaper, Cleveland's Black press, had said in Sept. that he was tired and would not run but got in the race as advocates of the Black community pushed for his continued local leadership of America's most well known Civil Rights organization.
A former Cleveland City Council president from 1974-1989, who often sparred with then Cleveland mayor and now Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), and an unsuccessful candidate for mayor who lost to Mike White in a Black against Black contest in 1989, the controversial Forbes remains a figure in local and national politics. And though Blacks sometimes get mad and challenge him over his controversial NAACP stances, he remains a respected spokesperson on matters impacting the Black community from news, to politics, to education, and on race baiting issues of public concern .
Floyd, 49, is a Cleveland area attorney and former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor. He is married to Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Alison Nelson Floyd.
The low voter turnout for the election and Floyd's almost victory was a departure from Forbe's historical election 18 years ago when over 2,000 members reportedly voted.
As a campaign platform Forbes pledged to fight to keep open Huron Road Hospital, to eliminate racism against Blacks at area bars in Cleveland's Warehouse District and to to ensure jobs for Blacks as to Ohio's upcoming casinos. He also said that the Cleveland NAACP will, among other issues, address what he says are malicious arrests by Cleveland police of Black males at Regional Transit Authority pick-up and drop-off locations.
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