Give Ward 7 Councilman Basheer Jones a chance.
In the November election for Cleveland City Council, community activist Basheer Jones bested incumbent Ward 7 councilman TJ Dow. The final tally found Jones ahead by a razor thin margin of seven votes. Four other incumbent councilpersons went down to defeat by equally narrow margins, but they accepted the results and returned to their day jobs. Dow, on the other hand, seems unable to comprehend the fact that on election day Ward 7 voters sent him a message, “Bye Felicia.”
Within days of the final count, Dow and his cadre of supporters used social media, whisper campaigns and every avenue available to them to keep up a steady barrage of attacks on Jones even as the ink dried on Jones’ oath of office. These attacks only rehashed the same mudslinging ones that were made during the campaign, when they questioned Jones’ residency and made sub rosa attacks on his Muslim faith.
Dow apparently doesn’t understand that in the American system of democracy you don’t get a do-over or reset after election day. You accept the election results and move on, or wait until the next election when you can again offer yourself to the voters. He seems, however, bent on regaining his seat by ousting Jones before the end of Jones’ four-year term.
In the federal and state system officer holders can be removed by the long and arduous process of impeachment. In municipal governments there is a political process for the removal of an elected official. It’s called recall.
The recall process in the City of Cleveland starts with an elector who files a petition with the Clerk of City Council setting forth the reason for the dissatisfaction with the elected official. The petitioner then has a window of 30 days to collect the signatures representing 20% of those who voted in the last election. In the case of Ward 7 that would be 676 valid signatures. But there is a caveat. For your signatures to be valid on the recall petition, you had to have voted in the last election. While Cleveland’s charter provision providing for recall elections, first enacted in 1931, mimics similar laws across the country it also has some unique differences. It would be wise for any future charter review commission to review and revise the existing law.
First, the existing charter provision does not make it clear that the person who initiates the recall petition drive in a councilmanic election must reside in the ward in which the recall is sought. Nor does it require that the circulators of the petitions live in the ward. Under the current provision, a citizen from one ward could initiate and circulate petitions in another ward and attempt to unseat a councilperson in a ward where they do not live.
The illusive A. Samatha Gray, who filed the petition with the Clerk of City Council against Jones, has yet to be located. Her name and address are not on record at the office of the Clerk of Council — that is what I was told when I enquired. It is yet to be determined if she lives in Ward 7 or what skin she has in the game.
The current charter provision allows for the initiation of a recall drive a mere 90 days into the term of office of a councilperson or mayor. In similar provisions across the country office holders are given a more reasonable period to prove his or her worth — usually ¼ of the officer holder’s term — which in a four-year term would be one year. Ninety days is too short a period to measure the abilities or inaccuracies of an elected official.
In this case, Jones, six months and 23 council meetings into his term, is spending his time fending off a recall drive a rather than doing the things that he was elected to do — being a councilman and proving his worth to the community.
Finally, the Cleveland Charter has no limitation on the number of recalls that can be filed against an elected official. Similar provisions in other jurisdictions allow for one recall during a term of office. If an official fends off that attempt, no further recalls can be brought — a one and done rule. Under the Cleveland Charter an elected official could spend his or her entire term of office fighting off recall drives.
Recall has its good and bad sides. On the positive side, recall provides a way in which incompetent elected official can be kicked out of office. Its existence serves as a deterrent to bad behavior and tends to make elected officials more accountable to their constituents.
But there are down sides. Sore losers can attempt to use recall as a reset button as they stir up divisiveness in the community . Recall can give well-financed special interest groups an avenue to push their own agendas and exert undue pressure on an elected official to bend to some of their demands. In an era of voter apathy, if petitioners successfully get a recall issue on the ballot, the vote is held by way of a special election in which traditionally few people participate. And guess who is more likely to vote: those who really want the bum out. As a result, a small minority can overrule the vote of the majority.
Those interested in improving Cleveland City government should consider amending the charter to require any person initiating a recall movement of a councilperson to live in the ward in which they are seeking the recall; require circulators of the recall petition to be registered voters in the ward where they are seeking the recall and impose the same rule on them as the voter — require that they have voted in the last election; allow the office holder at least one year before the petition can be brought; and allow for only one recall during a given term of office — a “one and done” rule on recalls. .
Voters in Ward 7 should give Jones a chance. If critics are so interested in their ward, they should participate in town hall meetings and community forums; offer legitimate criticism and suggestions in ways to improve the ward and work with Jones not against him. If at the end of four years citizens are still not satisfied, make a change.
Job security is important in every field of endeavor and it’s important for elected officials. In legitimate cases bad actors should be removed. But novice elected officials like Jones should be given a chance to demonstrate their value to the community and not be subjected to premature and unwarranted attacks by sore losers and non-residents who want a do-over of the last election.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and treasurer of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.