W. Mona' Scott wins for Cleveland housing court judge and Cleveland Judge Marilyn Cassidy is reelected, Scott a Black Democrat and Cassidy a beloved Republican in the highly Democratic Cleveland....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders
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| W. Mona' Scott (left), who won on Tuesday for judge of the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court for the full term commencing Jan 2, 2020, and Judge Marilyn Cassidy, who retained her seat on the Cleveland Municipal Court for the full term commencing Jan 1, 2020 |
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief
The two non-partisan judicial seats won by Scott, a Democrat, and Cassidy, a Republican, were up for grabs on the majority Black 13- member Cleveland Municipal Court, one a regular municipal judge seat among 12 total regular seats on that court that hears traffic cases misdemeanors and lawsuits with damages sought at or below $15,000, and the other, a municipal housing court seat.
Incumbent Cleveland Judge Charles Patton, a Black Democrat and former city councilman of Cleveland ward 1, won the third seat open seat, and ran unopposed.
Scott had the endorsements of an array of Black leaders and elected officials such as Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, among others, and Cassidy snagged endorsements from judge4yourself, and several other entities, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper, and her political party, the county Republican party.
A former fair housing administrator for Cleveland, Scott won over O'Leary's 56 percent to his 44 percent, and Cassidy got 55 percent to Russo's 45 percent.
O'Leary, 49, is a former assistant city law director of the civil division for the city's code enforcement section who edged Scott last year to retain the judicial housing court seat he had been appointed to by then governor John Kasich following the 2017 death of longtime Democratic Housing Court Judge Ray Pianca, an unexpired term that ends in January, both Scott and O'Leary fighting it out again, this time for the six-year full term that commences Jan 2.
The Cleveland Municipal Housing Court serves a predominantly Black impoverished city where the housing docket is crucial to the city's survival and fair housing for Blacks in Cleveland, and elsewhere, is both a statutory and constitutional right.
Judge Cassidy, 66, has served on the muny court in Cleveland since 2007.
She is credited with initiating a specialized case docket relative to human trafficking in 2014.
Her judicial rulings regarding civil and criminal cases before her are considered relatively fair and she is not afraid to take on issues impacting the overcrowded Cuyahoga County Jail in Cleveland, a jail that merged with the city jail in 2017 and is the national spotlight for nine recent inmate deaths in under a year, U.S. Marshals findings of unconstitutional and illegal mistreatment of inmates, and some 12 indictments, including the former jail director, former jail warden and several jail guards.
A Democrat in heavily Democratic Cleveland and heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County, the state's second largest of 88 counties, Russo lost even with support from the county Democratic party, Congresswoman Fudge and several union groups.
His candidacy was dogged by accusations of violence against a girlfriend that followed an alleged drunken tirade at an area restaurant.
And while he escaped domestic violence charges following his DUI arrest and his alleged mistreatment of his purported girlfriend, voters held him accountable at the ballot box and chose Cassidy over him.
A minority in terms of being White and a Republican on a predominantly Democratic and majority Black municipal court bench of Cleveland, a majority Black major American city, Judge Cassidy was also supported by Black Cleveland activists, who rallied behind her candidacy.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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