Blacks, Hispanics lose with new redistricting map for Cleveland City Council that cuts 19 wards to 17, Councilmen Johnson and Conwell will face off, racial unrest, city council infighting rampant, State Sen Smith, state Rep. Patmon, Mary Rose Oakar blast Council President Martin Sweeney, Smith wants criminal investigation by Ohio Attorney General, county prosecutor, Mayor Jackson supports Sweeney and says process was legal, Clerk of Council Pat Britt comments, Hispanics say new map violates Voting Rights Act, Latino activists up in arms, Councilman Westbrook's retirement helped, Sweeney says he tried to be fair and that the redistricting process and the new map were fair, lawsuit from Hispanic leaders looms

Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman
Jeff Johnson

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND,Ohio- The redistricting map that Cleveland City Council approved last week that drops council wards from 19 to 17 seats next year based on declining population pits popular Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson and Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, both of whom are Black, against each other in city council races this year with their two wards combined into a newly established Ward 9. And not one White councilperson is largely impacted by the remapping, though the majority Black major metropolitan city of Cleveland is roughly 58 percent Black, and only 37 percent White.  CLICK THIS LINK HERE TO SEE THE MAP FOR THE NEW CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL WARDS                         

Council President Martin Sweeney (pictured) , a west side councilman, independently prepared the redistricting map in cooperation with a highly paid consulting firm previously approved by city council, and his council colleagues for the most part have not publicly criticized him on it. 

The all White west side council members got a break and will not be forced to run against each other after the pushed retirement earlier this month from longtime Ward 16 Councilman Jay Westbrook, whose Ward 16 was sliced and diced by Sweeney to rid the city of the second council seat required by the council reduction mandate

Former Cleveland Ward 16 Councilman
Jay Westbrook

A popular councilman of more that three decades, Westbrook (pictured) allegedly got caught up in the longstanding county corruption probe that has seen either guilty pleas or convictions for some 60 Cuyahoga County Democratic Party operatives, mainly White businessmen, but also including two former common pleas judges, former county commissioner Jimmy Dimora, and former county auditor turned snitch Frank Russo. 


Councilman Johnson said in an  interview last week that he was treated fairly by Sweeney, that he believes the community should have had relevant input, and that he successfully worked with Sweeney to protect the Glenville neighborhood in his Ward 8 that he represents from getting chopped up and distributed among four wards, as initially considered. 

And he said that he is still in the game.

"We got to keep 70 percent of Glenville in one ward and I will be running against Kevin Conwell," said Johnson.



Cleveland Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson

The redistricting plan also has Hispanic community leaders threatening to sue and accusing Sweeney of denying Hispanics equal protection under the law because no Latino is on city council, and of gerrymandering in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, claims Sweeney and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson obviously have denied. 

Ward 3 Councilman Joe Cimperman  (pictured), whose ward includes the influential downtown Cleveland and who is angry that he now has to share part of it, and controversial Collinwood Ward 11 Councilman Michael Polensek (pictured below) voted against the new map. They are among the 10 Whites on city council, absent Westbrook, whose retirement brings that number down to nine. And the other nine are all Black, and all nine, including Conwell and Johnson, represent wards on the city's largely Black east side of town. 

Cleveland Ward 11 Councilman Michael Polensek

Jackson said through press spokesperson Maureen Harper that the redistricting process complies with the city charter, which gives city council the authority to redistrict. But an investigation reveals that while that is true, the city charter that voters amended in 2008 is silent or ambiguous on how much input is applicable for individual council members other than voting to accept or reject the new map, and whether meaningful input is required.  

Cleveland Clerk of City Council Pat Britt (pictured) agreed with the mayor during an interview on Monday, the day before city council approved its new map.

"If the process is going through, it is probably legal," said Britt, a former Ward 6 councilwoman and prior chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.  

The highly publicized city redistricting has caused tempers to flare coupled with claims of threats and bullying between state and city elected officials, and calls by these same people for a criminal investigation against Sweeney, who told reporters after council meeting Monday night that he tried to be fair and that "the process was fair."


The map is effective January 2014, after elections this year for city council, and mayor, with incumbent Jackson, a two-term Black mayor, facing no strong opposition, if any at all. 

It is the second time since voters approved a city charter amendment five years ago to reduce council based on demographics that Sweeney has taken on the redistricting task, power he would have lost to  his ally Mayor Jackson had council not approved the new map by April 1 of this year.

Like it or not, Cleveland City Council, via an unwritten rule, annually elects a White for the one-year council president term if the mayor is Black, and a Black if the mayor is White.

Since 1989 Cleveland has had three-term Black mayor Michael R. White (pictured), and Jane Campbell (pictured below), who is White and the first woman elected mayor. She lost to Jackson in 2005 after falling out with the Old Black Political Guard, and the powerful Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association. At the time Jackson was president of city council.  

Former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell

Mary Rose Oakar of Cleveland (pictured), a state board of education member and former congresswoman who lost a primary non-partisan bid for mayor against Campbell in 2001, is also angry at Sweeney and said that his remapping chopped up the Tremont area on Cleveland's west side. 

Sweeney has his hands full with a potential Voting Rights Act lawsuit from the Hispanic community looming and cries that the new map targets Black councilmen.

White, who did not seek a fourth term and now lives on an Alpaca farm with his White wife, a former Lakewood councilwoman,  still has influence, and is a former Ward 8 councilman. He was a state senator before winning mayor 14 years ago against then Cleveland City Council President George Forbes (pictured), a former Cleveland NAACP president and general counsel for the Call and Post Newspaper, a Black weekly print newspaper distributed in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati and published by renown international boxing promoter Don King (pictured below), a native of Cleveland. 

International Boxing Promoter Don King

Johnson and Conwell had wards that include the historically Black Glenville neighborhood and Councilman Polensek, a White east side councilman,  and  Ward 10 Councilman Eugene Miller, both had large parts of the Collinwood community, and both still have some Collinwood areas.

But state Sen. Shirley Smith (D-21) (pictured), a Cleveland Democrat, is livid, to put it mildly, and said that Sweeney in the least disregarded the spirit of the charter amendment and that he carved wards to target outspoken council members that he does not like.

Before council voted on the controversial map at a special council meeting on Tuesday afternoon Smith shot off a letter to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (pictured)  and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty (pictured below) calling for a criminal  investigation of Sweeney over the divisive matter. 

"I think it is absolutely outrageous that he [Sweeney] would draw the lines so that two strong councilmen like Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson and Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell must run against each other." said Smith, whose 21st legislative district includes all of the east side wards and some on the majority White west side.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty

Smith said that Councilman Miller, who is facing a DUI case like Councilman Zack Reed, was shown favoritism by Sweeney, a claim that council members speaking on condition of anonymity supported. But the Ohio lawmaker would not confirm or deny rumors that Sweeney had cursed her out and tried to bully her for speaking out. 

Cleveland Ward 10 Councilman
Eugene Miller

Also at council meeting Monday night Miller took on the veteran Polensek saying he was bullying him over the redistricting process and said that he rarely if at all even speaks to him, and Miller said that too much of his ward 10  went to Polensek's neighboring ward 11.

 Polensek returned insults complaining that Sweeney carved the wards through a secretive process and that his new ward 11 runs seven miles from Collinwood to downtown Cleveland. 

Polensek said that Miller was merely grandstanding. 


One council person said  on condition of anonymity that Sweeney handed Councilman Miller a pen ahead of time and asked him to draw how he wanted his ward to be impacted by redistricting. 

State Rep. Bill Patmon (pictured) (D-10), a former Ward 8 councilman who lost a bid for mayor against Jackson in 2009, is standing up like Smith and he is upset too. He said after the measure passed that the process was unfair to the community overall, that the Hispanic community was undermined in particular, and that slated city council members were not given the respect necessary as elected officials by Sweeney and his regime. 

"It is against everything I believe in when it comes to  representative government," said Patmon, who would not say whether he will run for mayor this year. "This redistricting ordinance excludes at least one group on its face, the Hispanic community, not to mention the slicing and dicing of communities such as Glenville and Collinwood."

In 2009 the first of the two population centered council reductions required by the charter in recent years saw former councilman Joe Santiago (pictured) lose to outspoken Ward 14 Councilman Brian Cummins (pictured below) in a showdown to get rid of one of two seats to drop council from 21 members to 19. The second of those two seats was taken care of after eliminating then east side Councilmen Robert White, who did a small prison stint for bribery in office. Councilman Reed, formerly the councilman in Ward 3 who would probably have faced White had he not gone to prison, won reelection to the then new Ward 2 that year. 

Cleveland Ward 14 Councilman Brian Cummins

Former Cleveland Councilman 

      Nelson Cintron 

Santiago, who snatched the seat from Nelson Cintron , the city's first elected Hispanic councilman, left a void for the Hispanic community. And Cintron,who is leading the charge against Sweeney and wants his seat back, now from Cummins, is likely to run against Cummins this year, political pundits have said.

Cleveland Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed

Former Cleveland Councilman
Robert White

Attorney and community activist Jose C. Feliciano (pictured), a 37-year trial attorney with the Cleveland office of the  prestigious BakerHostetler law firm, took the council president on at a public meeting at City Hall last week saying each time, once four years ago in 2009 when council went from 21 to 19 wards per the charter amendment, and now as it drops from 19 to 17 seats, the Hispanic community on Cleveland's west side sees redistricting that reduces the chances of a Hispanic wining a seat in Ward 14, both times allegedly by 3 to 4 percent.

Cleveland's  Hispanic population is at 10 percent,  a 2010 U.S. Census Reports reveals. But its Hispanic activists say council must become more diverse, and that Sweeney is insensitive to the Hispanic community.

If the Hispanic community sues, it would likely stop the redistricting process from immediately going forward, city attorneys said last week.

Cleveland Ward 4 Councilman and Mayor Jackson ally Kenneth Johnson (picture)  complicated matters further because he retired earlier this year to lock in an annual retirement cost of living raise that by statute would  have been eliminated and city council voted to reappoint him, activity that some may not like but that is legal under state law. 

	Anthony Brancatelli Ward 12 Councilman
Kevin Kelley Ward 13 Councilman		Matt Zone Ward 15 Councilman
Dona Brady Ward 17 Councilwoman		Martin Keane Ward 19 Councilman

Terrell Pruitt
Ward 1 Councilman

In addition to all of the all White council members that got a break and that  also include Anthony Brancatelli, Dona Brady, Matt Zone, Kevin Kelley and Martin Keeane  others sparred the hassle of a colleague reelection dispute were Sweeney himself, and  east side council persons Terrell Pruitt , Mamie Mitchell, Phyllis Cleveland and T.J. Dow .
           

                         
         Phyllis E. Cleveland                                          Mamie Mitchell                                             T.J. Dow                          
         Ward 5 Councilwoman                                    Ward 6  Councilman                              Ward 7 Councilman

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473.