Attorney for Democratic Cleveland Councilman Ken Johnson ask full Ohio Supreme Court to hear and reverse his suspension from city council by a special three-judge panel, a suspension that Johnson's supporters say is racist and politically motivated by Republicans....Whether a selective suspension of an Ohio public official from office during the pending of a felony criminal case is constitutional is questionable, some say..... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenenwsblog.com, Ohio's Black and alternative digital news leaders
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio –Cleveland Ward 4 Councilman Kenneth Johnson has asked the full seven-member Ohio Supreme Court to hear and reverse a decision by a special three- judge panel of retired judges handpicked and assigned by Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor that suspended him from city council on April 20 in connection with a 15-count federal indictment.
"Notice is hereby given that the Petitioner-Appellant is seeking to appeal the decision issued in this matter by the Special Commission on April 20, 2021," wrote Johnson's attorney, Myron Watson, in the notice of appeal filed on May 19.
A seasoned Black criminal defense attorney with a law office in Cleveland, Watson also represents Johnson, a councilman since 1980, relative to his pending criminal case that brought the suspension, a criminal matter pending in federal district court of alleged theft in office and other charges that is technically independent of the suspension.
Briefing by the parties is forthcoming, and follows the filing of a notice of appeal.
The suspension determination by the special commission of retired judges, per state law, operates as a final judgement of the court commensurate to a trial court ruling, though traditional appeals from rulings or final judgments by Ohio municipal or common pleas courts are to the affiliated state appellate court, which in Cuyahoga County is the 8th District Court of Appeals.
Johnson's suspension falls under a special statute or state law aimed at keeping public officials accused of felony crimes of mistrust in line while an associated criminal case is pending, and the Ohio Supreme Court, under the statute, has sole jurisdiction or authority over the case following a notice of appeal from such a suspension.
Johnson will continue to get his annual $87,000 salary pending the outcome of the criminal case, unless he loses reelection this year as his and all of the other council seats, and the mayor's office, are up for grabs in 2021 and contestants are lining up in the crowded races for mayor and city council.
The indictment issued earlier this year on theft and conspiracy charges is not enough to justify a suspension according to some Johnson supporters who say it is racist and politically motivated, particularly since Johnson has not yet had his day in court and similarly situated White elected officials in Ohio accused of felony crimes, like former Ohio House of Representatives speaker Larry Householder, a Republican, are routinely not suspended.
They also say that it is unfair that the three-judge panel of retired judges were judges with nothing to lose and were handpicked by Chief Justice O'Connor, a Republican, after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, also a powerful Republican like O'Connor, recommended the suspension.
State law, specifically Ohio Revised Code Section 3.16, authorizes suspensions from public office in pending cases of felony indictments of Ohio public officials that involve the public's trust and otherwise meet the requirements under the statute.
But the statute is rarely applied, data show.
Whether a statute that permits retired judges to selectively suspend public officials from office accused of felony crimes before the criminal case at issue is resolved or even gets underway would pass constitutional muster is questionable, sources have said.
Under the statute Johnson can also run for reelection while the suspension is pending, which he is, no doubt, doing.
An interim council replacement will be selected by city council.
At least 16 people, including Johnson, have taken out petitions to run for city council in Ward 4 this year, one of 17 wards in the largely Black major American city of some 385,000 people.
A Democrat and ally of four-term Black mayor Frank Jackson, who is not seeking a fifth term, Johnson says the state law at issue allows prosecutors and the state attorney general's office to recommend such a suspension in a case to a three-judge special panel but it also requires that only the entity prosecuting the case can do such.
Hence, he argues that only the U.S. District Attorney's office can make such a suspension request and not the Ohio attorney general since his criminal case is being prosecuted by that office.
The Black councilman has pleaded not guilty to all charges and awaits a June pretrial.
He was arrested in February following a federal grand jury indictment that accuses him of stealing $127,000 from the city by submitting false monthly expense reports for his ward over a period of years.
A Black city councilman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Johnson is among a host of Blacks under investigation and that its is "open season on Black elected officials by the White establishment."
The counts of the indictment against the councilman accuse him of filing false tax returns, falsification of records, witness tampering, and two counts of conspiracy to commit theft from a federal program.
The indictment was unsealed earlier this year in district court as an FBI investigation continues into the councilman's monthly expense account relative to city monies he gets for his ward and federal monies earmarked for the non-profit Buckeye- Shaker Square communities he serves.
It says that Johnson demanded the maximum amount of $1,200 monthly for his ward from the city's coffers but could not prove how much of the money, which has allegedly been requested for several years, including in 2019, has been spent.
Johnson's longtime aide, Garnell Jamison, 61, was also indicted, as was John Hopkins of Cleveland Heights, the former executive director of the Buckeye -Shaker Square Development Corp. in ward 4, which encompasses the Buckeye area near Shaker Square along the Shaker Heights border, and the Woodland Hills and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods.
The criminal charges come following a plea deal with federal prosecutors involving Robert Fitzpatrick, a Johnson affiliate and 35-year city employee who pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges that he conspired to commit theft from a federal program.
Also at issue are federal and state monies regarding the Kenneth Johnson Recreation Center on Woodland Avenue, which is named after the councilman, and is one of several city recreation centers that Fitzpatrick oversaw.
Mayor Jackson has not commented on Johnson's indictment, and City Council President Kevin Kelley, a mayoral candidate, is taking a wait and see approach, though he has been critical of his council colleague.
Mayor Jackson and all of the city council, nearly half of its members Black, are Democrats.
Jackson is the city's third Black mayor.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. 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.
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