With the announcement that a pair of local organizations, along with a local attorney, have scheduled a series of community meetings to gauge the depth of public dissatisfaction over Mayor Frank Jackson’s (who some are now calling “Stonewall” Jackson) handling of the recently initiated consent decree negotiations between the City of Cleveland and the U.S. Justice Department, the whole dynamic could change in regards to the ongoing debate being engaged in around town.
A recall effort has the potential to catch fire among the citizenry, or it could just lay there, stillborn. The thing is, there are a whole bunch of “ifs” surrounding this mashup.
The Black Contractors Group and the American Center for Economic Equality (both run by long-time Jackson critic Norm Edwards) along with NAACP attorney and one-time mayoral candidate Michael Nelson announced they would hold a series of public forums in the coming months to educate residents about their reasons for launching a recall effort against Mayor Jackson. The first meeting will be March 4, at 5 p.m., at the Kinsman Square Party Center on East 93rd Street, and it will be very interesting to see what kind of turn out the event garners … or will all in attendance be Edward’s usual cast of followers?
In response to the announcement a probably unfazed Jackson issued a statement saying, “It is the right of citizens within the charter to request a recall of any City of Cleveland elected official if they believe that is what they need to do.” Knowing the mayor as I do, I think he’s of the same frame of mind as the very colorful former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, who once said of an upcoming election, “The only way I can lose is if I’m caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.”
Edwards did indeed win the election, but then he later served eight years in federal prison on bribery charges. Of course nothing of that kind could ever happen to Jackson, whose reputation as a squeaky-clean politician is well deserved. He’s also managed to adroitly navigate his way around any pile of political dog shit that’s been placed in his path — which, in some ways, could be as much of a curse as it is a blessing. The mayor has had such smooth sailing over his previous two terms that one gets a sense of a feeling of invincibility emanating from City Hall, and that, in the end, could prove fatal.
At a news conference announcing the upcoming community meetings, Norm Edwards castigated the mayor by saying, “He is going to go up against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and tell them that they don’t know what they’re talking about. What a slap in the faces of black people who have been abused by the police department. He is saying, ‘I am giving police a pass to kill, maim and injure, and I don’t care.’ He is the worst mayor in the city’s history.” However, the oftentimes-vitriolic Edwards has, in the past, made similar over-the-top statements regarding other elected officials he didn’t agree with.
Nonetheless, if this recall effort catches fire it could prove problematic, and perhaps more so for the city than the mayor. In spite of Jackson’s growing chorus of critics, Cleveland has been on the upswing under his administration. The list of accomplishments is indeed long, being capped by snagging the Republican National Convention scheduled to come to town in 2016. And, while the mayor’s office probably had little to do with it, the return of LeBron certainly hasn’t hurt his and the city’s image. But a recall effort, even a failed one, tarnishes the image of Cleveland as a city on the rebound, perhaps for decades to come.
While the mayor’s steadfast refusal to fire his two top officials charged with oversight of the Cleveland Division of Police — Special Assistant Marty Flask and Safety Director Michael McGrath — lies at the heart of the of the complaints, it’s easy to predict that the mayor’s critics are not going to try to make their case by exclusively focusing on the police issue. The often-heard complaint that Jackson has focused all of his development efforts on downtown, at the expense and detriment of the neighborhoods (especially those on the Eastside), is sure to be brought up over and over again.
Snow removal and potholes — the two banes of any big city mayor — are also sure to be mentioned over and over again also simply because these are complaints Jackson will have no defense for. Over the last few years, when spring does eventually roll around, many of Cleveland streets look akin to those in war-torn, third world countries. Every time a motorist’s teeth are rattled as their car hits another one of these tire-busting, front-end destroying craters they’re mentally seeking out someone to curse and blame, and we all know on who’s desk that buck is going to stop.
But back to the “ifs.”
The first “if” has to do with whether the Edwards/Nelson group has the wherewithal to gather 12,000 valid signatures to get the recall issue on the ballot. To do so they’ll need to collect double that amount, and this could prove prohibitive … not to mention costly. A well-run recall effort could cost upwards of $250,000, the raising of which might prove to be too much of a challenge. If they can’t raise it: game, set, match. But then, someone like Ken Lanci — who probably still has an itch for the mayor’s seat — might step up and underwrite the effort … but I wouldn’t bet on it.
The second “if” has to do with egos. Will the Edwards/Nelson group reach out to and work in concert with the young protestors that were on the front lines for most of the fall, or will they eschew such coalition building? Edwards is a bit of a legend in his own mind, and if he can’t keep his domineering personality in check enough to play nice in the sandbox with others … again, game, set, match.
The third “if” has to do with coming up with a viable candidate if indeed enough signatures are gathered. You can’t beat somebody with nobody. If Jackson is actually recalled, say by 55 percent of the voters, he still would be eligible to run in the open election that has to be held in 120 days of recall. He would go into that election (which would be decided by a plurality of the votes cast, not a majority) with 45 percent of the votes, leaving the remainder to be split up by however many other candidates enter into the race — and trust me there would be a multitude. So Jackson would emerge as the winner, but the damage would already have been done, primarily to the city, not Jackson.
The fourth “if” has to do with uncontrollable variables. Let’s say the recall went as planned, but on the eve of election to replace the mayor another cop recklessly kills another unarmed citizen. If that were to happen, then it’s game, set, match … but for the mayor. He’d be toast.
The fifth “if.” If Frank Jackson would only stick his head out of the bunker City Hall has become — and when city officials are in bunker mode they only listen to those in the bunker with them … which is a huge mistake — and listen (as I do) to the dozens of his loyal and politically astute supporters who are all, to a person, saying that he’s wrong on this issue of Flask and McGrath. They’re all saying that it really shouldn’t have to come to this, and are further saying to the mayor that they can’t all be that uninformed and wrong.
The mayor needs to understand that his support among his previously loyal constituency is waning fast, and if he understands nothing else he needs to understand that fact of political life. But getting Frank Jackson to consider any of the foregoing will prove to be the biggest “if” of all.
[Photo: Erik Drost (Flickr)]
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.