Who’s to Blame for Lack of Diversity on the County Bench by Ellen Connally

Nearly 20 years ago Northeast Ohio Bar Associations came together to simplify and coordinate the process by which judicial candidates are rated. The result was Judge4Yourself, a nonpartisan group that annually releases judicial endorsements.

Prior to that time, judicial candidates made the rounds of the various groups — a task that was time consuming for both the candidates and the interviewers, and not always effective. Now judicial candidates have one questionnaire and interview with multiple groups that include the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Cuyahoga Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Norman S. Minor Bar Association and the Ohio Women’s Bar Association.

This past week a group of Cleveland pastors pointed out the lack of minority representation on the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas bench. But they rely solely on what they feel is a biased and flawed ratings system promulgated by Judge4Yourself as the reason for the lack of black judges in the county courts.

The pastors are correct in pointing out the dearth of minority representation on the Common Pleas Bench General Division. Of the 34 judges there are two black females and no black males. Two of the six judges in Juvenile Court are black — one male and one female — and one of the five all-female judges on Domestic Relations Court are black. Of the twelve judges on the 8^th District Court of Appeals there are four black judges. There are no Asian or Hispanic judges on county courts, and come 2019, there will be only one Jewish judge on the Common Pleas Court, who serves on the Court of Domestic Relations.

To demonstrate the difficulty of black judicial candidates running count wide, since 1960 when Judge Perry B. Jackson, the first black judge in Ohio, was elected to the Domestic Relations Court (he later was elected to the general division after prior service on the Cleveland Municipal Court), I can only recall fourteen blacks to serve on the Common Pleas Court and that includes the five that are currently on the bench and seven on the Court of Appeals. Clearly it has not been easy for black candidates to be elected to the county court.

While the pastors attack Judge4Yourself, it is not my intention to the attack the process. It is possible that there could be flaws in their system. However, Karrie Howard, an African American running in a six-way race received a 3.5 rating and was endorsed by Judge4Yourself, as was Michael Rendon, an Hispanic candidate who received a 4-point rating.

It is interesting to note that Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, a close ally of the pastors in question and a proponent of more minority judges, endorsed Emily Hagan, a white female over Juvenile Court Magistrate Retanio Rucker, an African-American male.

My problem with the finger-pointing by the pastors is that the lack of this endorsement is just one aspect of a much larger problem facing often underfunded and little-known black judicial candidates. A positive rating by Judge4Yourself is not the sole key to electability — ask many candidates who were rated highly by this respected group that went down to defeat. Until the pastors and candidates face the reality of what it takes to get elected county wide and the many moving parts that go into making a successful judicial candidate, the questioning of Judge4YourSelf, while perhaps meaningful, is not the key to filling the void of minority judges on the Common Pleas Bench.

To get black candidates elected to the bench countywide or any other countywide office, the pastors, politicians, community leaders and concerned citizens must get residents registered to vote. Once they are registered they must get them to the polls or provide accessibility to absentee ballots and assistance in returning them. More importantly, they must make sure that voters stay in the polling place or at their kitchen table, in the case of absentee ballots, and complete the entire ballot.

In an election that I am particularly familiar with, if the voters who went to the polls in the old 21^st Congressional District and voted for Lou Stokes had stayed in the booth and voted for the downticket black candidates, they would have all won. The candidates’ losing numbers were equivalent to the undervote in just that one congressional district. Any cursory review of past election results will demonstrate the impact of the undervote on minority candidates in judicial races.

Case in point is a candidate who now sits on the Common Pleas Court. She worked the lines at the Board of Elections during the presidential election of 2008 asking voters to stay in the booth and vote for her. Otherwise those voters would likely have not voted for anyone in her race. Her strategy and hard work paid off. She won.

The Board of Elections recently reported that they anticipate a 26% turn out in the upcoming May primary. In my book that’s called voter apathy. If the pastors can get out at least half of the county’s minority voters to the polls and make sure voters complete the entire ballot, the black community could substantially change the ratio of black judges.

Being elected judge in Cuyahoga County is a combination of many things. There is of course the name game where black voters are just as guilty as other voters who see a familiar name and cast their ballot. But you must also add in newspaper and labor endorsements, political endorsements and community support, television and radio ads, name recognition, knocking on doors, social media, phone calls, billboards, print advertising and mailings, hanging signs and old-fashioned hard work. The candidate and their campaign team must figure out strategically what combination of all or part of the above is best for this particular candidate in this particular race against this particular opponent in this particular election year.

Candidates must also lay the groundwork. Successful candidates have worked in other campaigns, got their name out, organized their campaigns and listened to sage advice from other candidates and politicos. Prior community involvement, volunteerism, campaign organization all must be figured in.

Successful candidates also need money. Judicial candidates cannot ask for money directly — to do so would be a violation of the judicial code of conduct. Their committee can, but they can’t. Judicial candidates need people to assist them in fundraising.

If the pastors want to do something about the lack of minority representation on the Common Pleas bench, they need to help their favored candidates by recruiting workers, getting people registered to vote, holding campaign forums at their churches and make their members and the community at large aware of the candidates. And most importantly, getting registered voters to the polls who vote the entire ballot.

Calling attention to possible inequities in the Judge4Yourself process is a start. But those interested in increased minority representation on the Common Pleas Court have lots of hard work ahead of them and it starts with voter registration, getting out the vote and encouraging voters to vote the downticket races.

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.

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