For Brook Park’s Tom Coyne, Politics is Not a Dirty Word

By Larry Durstin

In the wake of his comeback victory last week — which returned him to the position of Brook Park mayor 12 years after he resigned from that same office — Tom Coyne gushed, “I love politics. It’s my life.”

This refreshing sentiment flies in the face of the always fashionable “anti-politics, anti-politician” rhetoric that seeps out of the mouths of so many candidates who hope that by recoiling in horror from the “politician” label, they can somehow establish their bona fides for election to public office. That candidate after candidate trots out such silliness year after year and believes that the public is naïve enough to elect people to political positions who boast that they are not politicians has always baffled me since this approach seems akin to a person applying for an engineering job by claiming, “I am not an engineer.”

Cleveland voters were subjected to such nonsensical rhetoric during the recent campaign of mayoral candidate Ken Lanci, who frequently proclaimed, “I am not a politician, I am biblical” as his main credential for the city’s top job. Leaving aside for a moment whether that means New or Old Testament, Jesus or Jehovah, redemption or wrath, why anyone would solicit votes with such surreal sloganeering shall be a source of bewilderment amongst politicos for years to come.

When candidates tout their disdain for politics and politicians as a badge of honor (remember Joe the Plumber) and view the absence of political acumen as the primary qualification for political office, they should be told to stop wasting everyone’s time and go home. In the crude parlance of the day, politics is a Big Boys Game where pretenders get drubbed at the ballot box and flushed out the door.

Like Tom Coyne, I love politics and, generally speaking, I like politicians and admire what they do. Though popularly defined as “the art of compromise,” I see politics as being both an art and a science in which the compromise oftentimes involves a compromise of oneself. Now, ideally, this would be for the greater good, but it doesn’t always work out that way. So be it. Besides, you can’t make any kind of omelet without breaking a few eggs.

And speaking of eggs, following his departure from office in 2002, Coyne had plenty of them on his face for the next few years via a headline-grabbing DUI and a violation of parole, partly brought about by cocaine use. He made an ill-fated run for Brook Park mayor in 2005 and has spent the intervening years staying out of trouble and running a very successful consulting business.

This time around, Coyne’s keen political instincts sensed that the people of Brook Park would look past his substance-abuse issues and instead look at his 20-year record as mayor and come to believe that he could serve them well again. So, like any politician worth his salt, he went door-to door for the past six months, painstakingly explaining his specific plans for the city. In doing so, the people of Brook Park were reminded of what he had done as mayor for the inner-ring suburb of 20,000 in terms of jobs, recreation and safety.

Most of all, they remembered the landmark 2001 airport runway expansion deal that Coyne had made with the city of Cleveland which netted Brook Park the NASA Glenn Research Center and 10 years of tax revenues from the IX Center. They remembered him as a tough, hard-working politician who knew what needed to be done, was sharp enough to figure out how to do it, and who left office with the city coffers comfortably in the black.

That’s why Coyne won a resounding victory, garnering 49% of the vote in a three-way race against two well-known opponents. Now he finds himself facing many of the same issues he faced upon assuming office for the first time in 1982. The Brook Park economy is sputtering and the city’s financial cupboard is bare; there are big questions about Ford Motor’s future; airport land and parking issues remain; recreation and safety programs are floundering; infrastructure is crumbling, etc. etc.

In other words, Coyne is facing a huge challenge and, by all appearances, seems to be relishing the opportunity. His long-time friend and supporter, local businessman Tony George, is confident Coyne is up to the task, saying, “Tom Coyne will bring more jobs to Brook Park in the next four years than any other city in Cuyahoga County, including Cleveland.”

The never-shy-of-self-assurance Coyne doesn’t go quite that far, saying instead, “Everybody talks about rebuilding the American, middle-class city. Well, I’ll do it in Brook Park.”

Spoken like the consummate politician that he is.

 

 

 

Larry Durstin is an independent journalist who has covered politics and sports for a variety of publications and websites over the past 20 years. He was the founding editor of the Cleveland Tab and an associate editor at the Cleveland Free Times. Durstin has won 12 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards, including six first places in six different writing categories. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com

 

 

 

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