The most visible difference between Chris Ronayne, the Democratic candidate for Cuyahoga County executive, and his Republican opponent Lee Weingart, is that Ronayne has walked the walk and Weingart has … said things.
Ronayne has spent more than two decades in both city government and the nonprofit sector, in hands-on roles in planning and development. He was president of University Circle Inc. for nearly 16 years, during which time the area underwent an almost total transformation in one of Cleveland’s liveliest and most thriving areas. His knowledge of how things work in this region is deep.
Meanwhile, other than two years in the 1990s as a county commissioner, Weingart has been in the private sector as a lobbyist. Despite the stigma attached to the word “lobbyist,” it’s neither good nor bad. But it doesn’t reveal commitment to any particular civic issues or positions. So when Weingart talks about prioritizing housing or jobs, it’s unclear how deeply he understands the infrastructure that underlies housing and job challenges. Ronayne has been in the trenches.
In addition, Weingart is running as a Republican, which doesn’t mean the same thing now that it did in the mid 90s. It’s hard to trust someone from a party that’s denying election results, trampling on the state constitution, taking away the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people, and flooding the streets with guns and then trying to blame Democrats for “crime.” Electing a Republican to run Ohio’s biggest Democratic county would be a mistake of epic proportions in 2022.
This is an easy choice: vote for Chris Ronayne on November 8 — or earlier.
CoolCleveland spoke with Chris Ronayne recently as he outlines his background and his positions on issues such as the outdated and poorly run Justice Center and jail, the call for our huge nonprofit health care systems to make payments in lieu of property taxes, the stunning lack of leadership in our region, the dysfunction in county government, health, education, housing, and transportation access, as well as leveraging our lakefront, rivers and parks, among other issues.
View the VIDEO interview here.