Cleveland police union president Steve Loomis ousted by former union president Jeff Follmer after Councilman Zack Reed, whom the police union endorsed, loses a mayoral run-off to three-term Black Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.....Loomis upset the Black community and community activists as to his controversial stance in support of Cleveland police fatal shootings of unarmed Blacks, including Tamir Rice, Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, as well as relative to his opposition to the consent decree for police reforms....Follmer also publicly supported Cleveland cops that gunned down unarmed Blacks with impunity when he was union president before Loomis.....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of ClevelandUrbanNews.Com and the KathyWrayColemanOnlineNewsBlog.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million readers on Google Plus alone. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
  |
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (left) and Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed, who squared off in the Nov 7, 2017 general election for mayor of the largely Black major American city, with Jackson winning an unprecedented fourth term. Reed lost in spite of an endorsement from the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, the cornerstone of his failed campaign
|
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- Controversial Cleveland police union president Steve Loomis, who last year pushed members of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association that he led to endorse Donald Trump for president, lost a bid for reelection on Tuesday to Jeff Follmer, whom he beat two years ago, after Follmer ousted him as union president two years prior.
The union president term is for two years.
Follmer reportedly beat Loomis by 38 votes with 738 votes casts out of some 1, 243 ballots sent out to union members.
Loomis' loss follows the police union's endorsement of outgoing Councilman Zack Reed over three-term Mayor Frank Jackson relative to the Nov 7 run-off for mayor
Jackson won with 60 percent of the vote to Reed's 40 percent.
Both Reed and Jackson are Black, and Democratic elected officialls.
In fact, all of the 17 members of city council are Democrats.
Reed's campaign was premised on safety first with the police union at his beck and call, he thought, and as Reed promised he would hire 400 more cops if elected mayor He came in second to Jackson in a primary election that drew nine total candidates, Jackson finishing the primary with 39 percent of the vote to Reed's 22 percent.
Loomis was an outspoken critic of the consent decree for police reforms with the United States Department of Justice that followed high profile Cleveland police shootings of unarmed Blacks, including the 2014 shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, the killing of Tanisha Anderson, also in 2014, the 2012 137 shots police shootings of Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, and the killings also in recent years of Brandon Jones and rapper Kenneth Smith .
But Follmer was just as bad regarding his position on police shootings, saying that Williams and Russell, whom police gunned down following a high speed car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended at Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland, deserved what they got from police.
Loomis once told Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog, that he had no faith in the mayor and graded him an F, though Jackson,while campaigning for reelection this year, said that the consent decree is needed and that he would not be bullied on the matter.
Loomis was also a frequent target of protests by community activists angry over the recent police killings and annoyed at Loomis for his pro-cop response to the tragic killings.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
