Arguably, the three biggest “national” Cleveland stories of 2014 were the return of LeBron James to the Cavaliers, the drafting of Johnny Manziel by the Browns and the Department of Justice’s stinging report on the Cleveland Police Department’s “unreasonable and unnecessary use of force,” a governmental finding that Mayor Frank Jackson has continued to defiantly deny.
While the Cavs’ play thus far this season has not yet reached the stratospheric level anticipated by many fans, James is performing well and the team’s future – assuming a key addition or two – looks bright. Manziel and the Browns, of course, are another matter and any hopes of significant improvement in the team’s fortunes and/or Manziel’s play has, once more, fallen into the category of wishful thinking. In either case, these two stories will be acted out in the arena of sports, which is the toy department of life.
The third story, however, involves life and death with much of the drama to be played out in and around the mayoral hotseat now occupied by Jackson. When the Republican National Committee announced last July that Cleveland would be the site of the GOP’s 2016 national convention, Frank Jackson was riding high, as usual. Perhaps no Cleveland politician in the last 100 years has enjoyed as smooth a ride as Jackson has in his quarter-century career as an elected official.
Jackson has never lost an election, never really undergone any significant public criticism and never had to suffer a whiff of real controversy or scandal. He had been easily elected for a third term and the word on the street was that he was going to run again in 2017 and that no one had a realistic chance of beating him.
The Department of Justice’s report changed all that. With Jackson claiming that there was no “systemic failure” of the police department and, instead, saying that there were just a few bad eggs on the force, he refused to fire the two individuals – Mike McGrath and Martin Flask – who have been at the head of the Cleveland safety forces for the past decade or so.
This defiance by Jackson has not sat well with many members of the black community, and there have been whispers of a recall of the mayor if he doesn’t get rid of McGrath and Flask. However, the problem for Jackson is that he has painted himself in a corner by continually insisting there is no “systemic failure” in the department.
So, if he were to turn around and fire these two top safety officials, he would be essentially admitting that there was indeed systemic failure in the police department, otherwise he would never jettison its two most prominent figures and instead would continue to blame a few naughty cops exercising poor judgement. Perhaps his best hope is that McGrath and Flask will submit their resignations, thereby sparing the mayor from having to make the difficult call himself.
Whatever his actions, this first stern test of Jackson’s political career will be played out under white-hot scrutiny throughout 2015, with extreme pressure being put on the generally laid-back Jackson by both the police and the community protestors. Of course, the national media will be omnipresent at all the demonstrations, grand jury verdicts and will be especially up close and personal at every shooting/assault of police officers or by police officers.
Jackson is known for his stubbornness and loyalty and may just decide – based on his idyllic political history – to handle the situation by ignoring it and saying, “go ahead and recall me.” This is where things could get really interesting, since it is doubtful that any mayor of any good-sized city in this country has ever been recalled for supporting the police.
If it happens to Jackson, it would be the kind of explosive news that would receive international coverage and – coupled with the DOJ’s efforts to enforce its consent decree on the Cleveland police department – make Cleveland Ground Zero and Jackson the Poster Boy in the ongoing rough-and-tumble debate over police reform.
Though it’s hard to imagine the politically savvy Jackson allowing things to reach the recall point, or the unfailingly supportive black community turning its back on the mayor in such a brutal fashion, stranger things have happened in politics and better politicians than Jackson have fallen into community disfavor.
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. He is the author of the novel The Morning After John Lennon Was Shot. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com
3 Responses to “DURSTIN: Will Cleveland’s Biggest 2014 Story Result in a Jackson Recall?”
Cicero
You gotta be kidding, Larry. What credibility does the Department of Justice have? Is this the same DOJ that illegally smuggled hundreds of illegal guns into Mexican drug gangs, without the knowledge of any Mexican authorities, resulting in the deaths of 300 Mexican police officers, and then got their keeper (Obama) to invoke executive privilege and stonewall a Congressional inquiry?
Who would believe anything Eric Holder said?
The chances of a Frank Jackson recall are about the same as the chances of Johnny Manziel leading the Browns to a Superbowl.
Larry Durstin
Cicero, If the Justice Department is as crafty and manipulative as you say, it probably can do anything it wants. Why would you doubt it?
Mansfield
Larry, Cicero is so blinded by his hatred of Obama and Democrats in general he can’t see or think straight. It’s a form of willful of tunnel blindness that causes ideologues of his ilk and stripe to think Republicans will win the White House in 2016, and there are no bad cops on any police force anywhere in America.