An interview with Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Vice Chair Blaine Griffin, community relations director for Mayor Jackson, Griffin talks, Obama, voter issues, politics, Dimora's 28 year prison sentence, Griffin is on temporary leave from his city job to head the Cleveland schools 15 mill property tax levy campaign
By Johnette Jernigan and Kathy Wray Coleman
Cleveland Urban New.Com(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland Urban News.Com has snagged the exclusive below interview with Blaine Griffin, the highest ranking Black as the elected vice chairperson of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, and a ranking member of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's administrative cabinet as the director of the city's community relations board. (Editor's note: The mayor announced last week that Griffin is on leave until after the November 6 election from his city job to lead the campaign for the 15 mill property tax levy for Cleveland schools that is on the November ballot. Under state law the city mayor controls the schools and appoints the Cleveland Board of Education).
A married father of three Cleveland schools students who lives in the city's Larchmere neighborhood sandwiched by street between the Shaker Hts. border and the Morris Black Housing Projects, Griffin, 42, has a grassroots thrust, and he had it before joining the mayor's administrative leadership team.
Before landing the community relations job, he ran unsuccessfully for city council in Ward 6 , which is led now by Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell.
He quickly stepped to the plate for calm along with the mayor and other city leaders when the remains of 11 Black women were uncovered in late 2009 at the Imperial Ave. home of convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell on Cleveland's majority Black east side.
He welcomes community activists to his office for meetings on controversial issues and networks with residents on both the east and west sides of the Cuyahoga River, a river that geographically divides the segregated city, Cuyahoga county's largest.
He has a husky built but a gentle and innocent style that makes him easy going, his supporters say.
He will say that's not my expertise in certain areas rather than to act as a know it all. Yet he is smart too, and walks easily among the intellectual elite of the mayor's administration.
But he is loyal to the mayor, a Democratic mayor some 20 years his senior.
And while he is the mayor's ear on community matters, Griffin limited the below one-on-one interview to President Obama's reelection campaign, voter registration strategies, Republican perpetuated voter suppression tactics, and his role as the second in charge of the county's Democratic party, one rocked by scandal via a political corruption probe made public three years ago.
That unprecedented probe has brought some 50 convictions or guilty pleas from Democratic party affiliates including two former judges, former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo, and former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, the prior party chairperson before the FBI came knocking. (Editor's note: Cleveland area attorney Stuart Garson is currently the chairperson of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party).
Cleveland Urban News.Com Staff Reporter Johnette Jernigan:
What is your relationship with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson?
Blaine Griffin:
Now Johnette you have to understand, and let me make it clear, I work as a director for Mayor Jackson. I am a government employee. I could not have done this interview on my day job. This interview is in my role as vice chairman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.
Cleveland Urban News.Com:
What has been your greatest challenge and your greatest success in your role as vice chairman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party?
Griffin:
The greatest challenge has been the corruption scandal and the greatest success has been my working with Chairman Garson on that scandal. We had to restore the confidence of Cuyahoga County Democrats in the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. I think we have done a good job of re-positioning the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party in a good light.
And another thing we did was to repeal SB 5 [Senate Bill 5] (Editor's note: Senate Bill 5 was a state law passed early last year that cripples Ohio's public sector unions by stripping them of collective bargaining rights such as the right to strike for fair wages and working conditions, a Republican pushed state law that voters knocked down at the ballot box last November).
And we got the first Cuyahoga County Executive elected, who is a Democrat, and won eight of the 11 Cuyahoga County Council seats. (Editor's Note: Cuyahoga County voters adopted Issue 6 in 2009 swapping the three-member Board of Commissioners with a county executive and 11-member Cuyahga County Council, which is led by county council president C. Ellen Connally (D-9), who is Black, female, and a Democrat. In addition to the commissioners, the county council replaces the elected positions of county sheriff, auditor, treasurer, clerk of courts , coroner and engineer. Though four of the 11 county council seats are held by Blacks, Black elected officials of Cuyahoga County, all but state Sen. Nina Turner (D-25), opposed Issue 6 and said that the county executive has too much power. That powerful county executive is Ed FitzGerald, who is White, a former mayor of Lakewood, Oh, and a prior FBI agent. Cuyahoga County Council is a separate and distinct venue from 19-member Cleveland City Council).
Cleveland Urban News.Com:
What do you think about the recent 28-year federal prison sentence given to Jimmy Dimora? Do you think it was a fair sentence?
Griffin:
The judge [Federal District Court Judge Sara Lioi] had her reasons for doing what she did and to be quite honest with you, that is not my field of expertise. The judge made that decision and what can I say? The Dimora verdict has to be tried in the courts.
Cleveland Urban News.Com:
How is voter registration going with regard to registering new voters? Are you working on new strategies to get more voters registered? What is being done to get disenfranchised voters to the polls, including those that don't know that they can vote in Ohio with a felony record?
Griffin:
Ohio is one of the few states where you can vote if you are a restored citizen. Voter registration is very important. Since 2008 some registered voters have been purged off voters roll,. so we're doing a lot of voter registration and so are volunteers with the Obama for America Campaign. We are trying to make sure that eligible voters that have the right to vote in Cuyahoga County get as much accurate information as possible. If they haven't voted since 2004 they need to register again. We are focusing on churches for voter registration, among other places.
Cleveland Urban News.Com:
What about the [Republican pushed] voter suppression laws like HB 194, which slashes early voting and requires identification to vote, among other requirements, and was repealed and replaced by the state legislature earlier this year with Senate Bill 525 after the Democrats helped get enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot? (Editor's note: SB 525 actually repeals HB194 in its entirety).
Griffin:
Voter suppression is around the country and not just in Ohio. President Obama filed a lawsuit around the issue that is pending.
Cleveland Urban News.Com:
In regards to networking within the Democratic party of Cuyahoga County, do you work with Democratic parties in other counties?
Griffin:
We have created what is called the Northeast Ohio Democratic Chairs Association, which consists of all the Democratic party chairpersons in the different counties including Cuyahoga, the largest [statewide], and Mahoney, Lorain, Astabula, Medina,. Columbia and Lake counties.
For more information on procedures to register to vote, call the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections by telephone at 216-443-3200.
Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by telephone at 216-659-0473 and by email@ editor@clevelandurbannews.com
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