By Roldo Bartimole
Cleveland needs a brutal political shake-up. Soon.
The mayoral election this year will be a joke. Mayor It Is What It Is vs. What’s His Name. Yawn.
So here’s one way of shaking the system but it will take the voters and a ballot issue to do it.
But no time like the present to start.
My suggestion: Make the position of Council President an elected post. City-wide. In other words one has to run before all voters to be Council President.
That would take the position out of the hands of weak Council members and chicken-shit politics. And their sickening games. It would be up to the voters.
We wouldn’t have, for example, Martin Sweeney as Council boss. He couldn’t run city-wide and win. At least that’s my thought. He’s trying to keep his job by gerrymandered ridiculous ward boundaries, contrived simply to maintain the status quo. And re-elect himself.
What this would do is make the Council President almost as powerful as the Mayor. Because he or she would always be a threat. Good. This mayor especially needs competition.
This could provoke an open battle of ideas.
It would replace the present “system” of nods from the Stokeses, Pinkneys and Forbeses. Hopefully denting if not breaking the power of the old unwise men.
What Cleveland needs badly at this point in its politics is rivalry.
The political game is presently too uncompetitive. Much too cozy. Much too go along to get along.
Cleveland’s established political leaders have successfully for years blocked and discouraged new people and their energy from competing against the comfy office-holders and their buddies. That goes for the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
The County has opened up some because of the federal corruption washout of political hacks. The Dimoras, Russos and Kellys are gone.
It’s time the City of Cleveland got cleaned up too. Out with the hacks.
One way is competition.
Back in September 1987 it took a move by then freshman councilman Dan Brady to shake things up. At that time Brady jumped into a petition drive to limit the term of Council President. It was a brazen move.
It was aimed at one person: George Forbes. He ruled with an iron fist.
About this same time, Forbes showed his disdain for the other 20 Council members by trying to thwart a young Council member – Jeff Johnson. Forbes deliberately withheld an $850,000 UDAG for a shopping center in his Glenville ward.
Forbes leaving one meeting after blocking Johnson was challenged:
“You’re not man enough to tell me (why the legislation was blocked,” Johnson yelled at Forbes, who wouldn’t turn and face the challenge. Like tossing a red cape before the bull.
Johnson subsequently told reporters: “The problem fundamentally is this – he has a problem with me stating my independence or (my) disagreements. This is his way, his archaic way of punishing me.”
A challenge to power is like an icebreaker cutting through the ice opening paths.
Forbes made two enemies and it led to his political demise. He couldn’t run again in 1989 and expect to be re-elected by his colleagues. Therefore, he went back on his pledge to Mike White that he’d not run for mayor. As we know, White defeated Forbes in the 1989 election. (By the way, I wonder why there are no questions about Mayor White’s role in the debacle of handling rape cases in the early 1990s when micro-manager supreme White was mayor.)
In any case, it took a shake-up to force change.
Today’s Council seems to be made up, including now Jeff Johnson, with members like Joe Cimperman and Matt Zone, who have been going along to get along.
Council has gone back to the same old, same old as political maneuvering has allowed Sweeney, of all people, to reign supreme over a reduced Council.
And Sweeney has reciprocated for the support he gets from black Council members by his supine support of Jackson.
It all leads to stale government.
We need another bombshell.
Forcing a Council President to run city-wide and consider the needs of the entire city, rather than a small ward, as Forbes did for years, could become that breakthrough.
Is it worth a try? We need something.
Roldo Bartimole has been reporting since 1959. He came to Cleveland in 1965 to report for the Plain Dealer where he worked twice in the 1960s, left for the Wall Street Journal in 1967. He started publishing his newsletter Point of View in 1968 and ended it in 2000.In 1991 he was awarded the Second Annual Joe Callaway Award for Civic Courage in Washington, D.C. He received the Distinguished Service Award of the Society of Professional Journalists, Cleveland chapter, in 2002, and was named to the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, 2004. [Photo by Todd Bartimole.]
4 Responses to “ROLDO: Way Out of Cleveland’s Political Stagnation?”
snarky
Roldo, The city is shrinking .
The thugs who run downtown from a safe suburban distance , place their real estate holdings as first to be bailed out at the expense of all others.
This same gang of which you have done such a fine job of identifying , has bought and sold the mayors office , council positions , and now the new old Cuyahoga county government.
Smell the sizzle of the free dinners , and other perks that these leeches use as sucker bait for the oh so willing politicians.
Enough to make a grown human…..er , groan , not cry.
Populism is a great idea , though the system is flawed , and until restraints are placed on the phony bastards that run this city from high tower and low suburb , the game will remain rigged and us little serfs will suffer.
John S.
Another alternative might be to eliminate some of the ward seats on Cleveland City Council–19 is way too many for the city at its current population–and add several at-large seats. Maybe 12 wards with 3 at-large seats, reducing the overall size of city council to 15 members. The at-large members would have to campaign throughout and represent the whole city, forcing them to be more competitive and creative than an established ward councilman.
A good example of this system is in place down I-77 in Akron, which currently has 10 ward councilmen and 3 at-large representatives. Still further south, Canton has a similar city council arrangement in place with 9 ward councilmen and 3 at-large reps.
erick
The truth is its about the people in these positions Roldo. As much as I agree with your outstanding analysis of political history, life and death in Cleveland, its about the person in the seat. Be that person black or white or latino, male or female, the intellect, charisma and fortitude it takes to lead communities is sorely lacking in all parts of our community. You reduce council to the benefit of who? This only increases the power of fiefdoms already in existence. I don’t think council members are all bad, many are responsive to their community needs and advocate effectively for their constituency. The problem comes in dealing with the broader political spectrum that is Cleveland as a whole. Accepting facts about schools, community development, and other resources instead of challenging and holding leadership accountable for shortcomings is the real 800lb gorilla in the room. Like her not Fannie Lewis was the last example of an advocate councilperson we had in Cleveland. She was perfect but she did stand up and call people to task.
erick
She was NOT perfect.