Return of the Locusts

It has been 50 years since the upper classes have come this close to grabbing complete control of Cuyahoga County government, only to have their dreams thwarted by an energized and united black community.
In 1959, powerful county engineer Bert Porter headed a charter commission that put on the ballot a proposal to replace the county commissioners with a single executive. Many assumed Porter wanted to be that executive. It might have passed if the NAACP and other vocal black activists had not mounted an all out campaign against it. They understood that just as the African American community was on the cusp of significant political power, defenders of the status quo wanted to frustrate their efforts by changing the playing field and moving the county away from concerns about social, judicial and economic justice. Because of the mobilization of black voters, the plan was defeated.
If anyone thinks the current effort has a different motivation, the June 9 Plain Dealer sets the record straight.
The front page map of the proposed county council districts with clusters of affluent suburbs makes it clear that this will guarantee Republicans a presence in county government that they cannot achieve at the ballot box under the current rules.
Even more telling is the statement of Parma Heights Mayor Martin Zanotti, the early architect of the proposal who is rumored to want to head the county. According to the Plain Dealer, Zanotti said the county should no longer concentrate on social and judicial services.
This despite the entrenched poverty, homelessness and depravation of children that is increasing throughout the community.
Bert Porter's real goals became apparent eve of the historic 1967 Cleveland election. As chairman of the county Democratic Party, he sent a letter to members telling them to vote for Ralph Locher and warning that if Carl Stokes was elected mayor instead, Martin Luther King would run City Hall. Such racist transgressions are not punishable, but Porter did later go to prison for forcing his employees to kick back a part of their salaries.
Let's not let the late Bert Porter win a posthumous victory.

Mayor Brewer response to Plain Dealer --Part Two

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I'm not going to get into a "point by point" discussion about the merits of Zanotti, Mason and Akers' bad reform plan because it's a bad reform plan in its entirety.  Voters shouldn't even bother to sign the petition. 

 

Zanotti, Mason and Akers can offer any anecdotal "after the fact" comments they want, atempt to drag the discussion into the mud and resort to name calling.  I'm very accustomed to the name calling tactics people with miniature intellects use to try and distract the public away from the real issues.  Former East Cleveland Emmanuel Onunwor used the same name calling tactics after I reported him to authorities.  But a close examination of the "manifesto" Zanotti, Akers and Mason created and now have to defend will reveal that these so-called brilliant political strategists are not equally brilliant thinkers or students of government.  They're political hacks who've come together to figure out how to carve up the county's jobs and contracts for their own benefit and for the benefit of their benefactors and friends.  Zanotti, Mason and Akers' very bad reform plan smells like an organized crime takeover of Cuyahoga County and the schemers have now been exposed.

 

I won't even address Plain Dealer editorial page Editor Elizabeth Sullivan's ignorant comments about the reform plan not being finalized.  The reform plan is finished and there will be no additional tweaking as she falsely claimed.  The language for the completed reform plan is required by sections 3.02 to 3.24 of the Ohio Revised Code to be placed, in its entirety, on a petition.  If the committee gets enough signatures the plan goes before the voters as is.  There is no re-tweaking.  If Sullivan had contacted the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections at 443-3200 she could have learned this information before she exposed her lack of knowledge.

 

It's unfortunate that the Plain Dealer promotes staff who don't do their homework and who have to later defend their own misrepresentations of fact.  Sullivan had a duty to read the reform plan before the Plain Dealer's editorial writers shared their "pro reform" views with the newspaper's readers.  If I were her boss she'd be issued a strong written reprimand and suspended for negligence and dereliction of "editorial" responsibility.   Her misrepresentation of fact speaks to the heart of the Plain Dealer's credibility gap.

 

A copy of Mr. Young's letter will be faxed to 999-6366 in your name.  Please do not mischaracterize anything I have written in this communication.  I expect any story in which comments are attributed to me not to be misrepresented in any way.

 

Mayor Brewer

Mayor Brewer response to Plain Dealer --Part One

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Ms. Johnston,

 

Without responding to each and every counterpoint, since my letter speaks for itself, I will offer the following as I just received a copy of a letter from the Ohio Public Defender Commission.  The author is Tim Young.  I'm not sure of his title.  The organization is opposing the elected Public Defender and has noted that Cuyahoga County will lose $8.4 million in indigent defense funding if it goes forward because that plan does not qualify for the funding. 

 

"Reform also suggest that the body studying the problem will go out and investigate and research alternatives and return with the best answer.  It appears no one contacted anyone regarding the most efficient and effective way to deliver quality indigent defense services.  The body in Cuyahoga County promoting the election of a public defender never contacted anyone at the State Public Defender Office, the Ohio State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, or even the U.S. Justice Department."

 

"Any move to make such sweeping changes require public hearings and comments.  None of those happened.  The group promoting this reform was not a public body and as result, did not seek public comment on this issue before revealing it at the very last minute.  Had it done so, experts from around the country were available to come to Cuyahoga County to help seek real, meaningful reform in this area."

 

Mr. Young's statements characterize my opinion of the entire proposed Charter and the process the committee underwent in crafting it.  Mayor Martin Zanotti, Mayor Bruce Akers and County Prosecutor William Mason failed to study Title 3 of the Ohio Revised Code in relation to the statutory duties of the elected officials they were seeking to eliminate.  They've admitted this more than once.  Zanotti, Mason and Akers failed to perform any real due diligence and have only regurgitated the same plan that was advanced by former CWRU professor Cathy Barber in 1996 when she was commissioned to study county reform by former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Mary Boyle.  It was a bad plan then and it's a bad plan now.

Plain Dealer to East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer

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Mayor Brewer,

Hi. I'm a the PD reporter working on a story to explain the proposed charter. I read your letter and have spoken to Mayor Zanotti and Mayor Akers, neither of whom will respond to your comments about them being power-hungry political gangsters. However, they responded to some of your (and my) concerns about the structure.

I'd like to summarize some points and ask you to respond.

About the county executive having too much power:

The proposed structure is similar to a city or state, with a mayor and council, or governor and legislature. The county council's main power comes by controlling the budget. That, reform advocates say, provides checks and balances. Currently, the commissioners have no check.

The council also must confirm the executive's appointees to boards and commissions. Do you think that provides a check and balance?

Do you think the council should be full-time?

About the law director:

He or she (and maybe two or three others) will serve as the council and executive's private counsel. The prosecutor will still perform civil duties, lawsuits, etc. Thoughts?

About evaluating:

The charter calls for a re-evaluation in 2012, 2017 and then every 10 years.

Please e-mail me back with any comments. Thanks very much for your help. 

Sincerely,

Laura Johnston

Laura Johnston

The Plain Dealer

1801 Superior Ave.

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

phone: (216) 999-4115

fax: (216) 999-6374

Mayor's Complaint about County Reform

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“And for the record, Zanotti wants to be the County CEO and Mason has protected his own job as County Prosecutor .  He’s the enforcer.  In gangster terms, they’ll be co-bosses and equally rule Cuyahoga County …”  Mayor Eric J. Brewer

 

A LETTER FROM MAYOR ERIC J. BREWER - JUNE 7, 2009

 

Dear Fellow Mayors and City Managers:

 

I have read in its entirety the proposed “county government reform” Charter that Mayor Martin Zanotti,Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason and Pepper Pike Mayor Bruce Akers have participated in crafting. I cannot support a document that is so utterly Machiavellian, self-serving, poorly-conceived and intellectually deficient as the proposed Charter they have conspired to create and shove down our throats.

 

Zanotti, Akers and Mason have devised a Charter that can only have been dreamed up by people with delusions of absolute power.  If voters approve this “thing” they call a Charter, this perversion of government they’re attempting, Cuyahoga County will be dragged down a very long and treacherous path to a level of political thuggery the likes of which we have never seen.  The County CEO and Mason will control every facet of county government and they will be unstoppable. 

 

The proposed Charter establishes Mason and the County CEO as the only two elected county officials with the power to launch an investigation against anyone, for any reason.  And for the record, Zanotti wants to be the County CEO and Mason has protected his own job as County Prosecutor .  He’s the enforcer.  In gangster terms, they’ll be co-bosses and equally rule Cuyahoga County

 

Zanotti and Mason have plotted a coup to takeover Cuyahoga County and their plan, if successful, will politically assassinate anyone who stands in their way.  They want to send Peter Lawson Jones, Tim Hagan,Jimmy Dimora, James Rokakis, Lillian Greene, Frank Russo, Gerald Fuerst, Robert Klaiber, Bob Reed and everyone they employ to the political gas chambers.  The irony of their conspiracy is that Mason is pushing reform amidst a corruption investigation that took off without him.  The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, not the County Prosecutor , have initiated every major corruption investigation since Mason’s been in office. His office was advised in 2002 by the Ohio Auditor of State that the contract between Emmanuel, Nate Gray, Ralph Tyler and officials from OMI / CH2M Hill was illegal, but he took a pass on launching an investigation. .

 

If voters in our cities sign the petition the two are planning to circulate, and if they vote in favor of their Charter this November, Zanotti and Mason will be handed control over all of the county’s money, all of its employees and officers, all of the land and all of our lives. Every single resident and elected official will live under their “total” political control or face Zanotti and Mason’s political wrath if they don’t.  Their plot is right out of any gangster film and I see these two political gangsters in a room twiddling their moustaches and giggling like Snidely Whiplash.

 

What should be alarming to anyone who cares about fiscal accountability is how Zanotti, Akers and Mason’s proposed Charter places the County CEO ’s appointed Chief Financial Officer at the head of the County Audit Committee.  It places the responsibility for overseeing the audits of county government in the hands of the same person who’s responsible for managing the county’s finances.

 

The trio of conspirators have further failed to provide the residents of Cuyahoga County or our organization with a cost benefit study to determine if the form of government they’ve proposed will even save money.  It is my view that any attempt to radically alter the way government is managed in Cuyahoga County will be disruptive and costly.  Just the cost of the mistakes that will be made trying to implement and re-educate an entire workforce, residents and businesses could lead to a financial disruption so catastrophic in our current recessive economy that Cuyahoga County may never recover. 

 

Below are more of my observations about Zanotti, Mason and Akers’ proposed Charter.

 

Ø      It requires a super-majority vote of 8 out of 11 members of the County Council to call for an investigation of the County CEO , and the same super-majority to overturn the County CEO ’s veto. [Section 3.12]

 

Ø      It provides that a county employee be required to report bribes to the law enforcement officer who is appointed by the County CEO , even if the bribery allegations are against him or her.  [Section 12.04]

 

Ø      It gives the County CEO the authority to appoint members to more than 38 boards and commissions that include the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, the Council for Economic Opportunities inGreater Cleveland, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, NOACA, DOPWIC, Ohio Public Works Commission, the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging, the Metroparks, the Board of Mental Health, and the Board of Revision.   Nothing in the Charter prevents the County CEO from interpreting the document in such a manner that allows them to launch an attempt to control Cleveland ’s airport, water system and CMHA’s board of commissioners. [Section 5.01]

 

Ø      It gives the County CEO total control over establishing the salaries of each of his or her employees without any input from the County Council and without any statutory controls.  The Charter establishes the County CEO ’s salary at $170,000.  There are no controls that will stop him or her from paying equally high or higher salaries to his “cabinet” and other subordinates.  [Section 2.02 and Section 2.03]

 

Ø      It creates a part-time County Council with a large district and a $45,000 salary.  A member of the County Council will earn $25,000 less than the $70,000 paid to members of Cleveland ’s city council. By creating a part-time Council and a full-time County CEO , Zanotti, Akers and Mason will make it nearly impossible for the legislative side of county government to hold the County CEO accountable. [Entire Article III]

 

Ø      It gives the County CEO the authority to appoint a member to a vacant County Council seat. [Section 3.06]

 

Ø      It provides that the County CEO ’s Chief Financial Officer replace the County Auditor and County Recorder on boards and commissions. 

 

Ø      It removes a city’s ability to seek Ohio Public Works Commission funding from an independently-elected County Engineer to a Director of Public Service appointed by the County CEO .  Where the current system allows the elected County Engineer to independently enter cooperative agreements with the county’s various municipalities to repair county and state roads and bridges, Zanotti, Akers and Mason’s proposed Charter will make the process more political.  There will be nothing to stop the County CEO from punishing a mayor or city manager by instructing his Director of Public Service not to support their infrastructure requests.  [Section 5.02 and Section 5.05]

 

Ø      It adds another layer to the county’s legal bureaucracy by creating a Director of Law appointed by the County CEO to perform the “civil” legal duties now performed by the County Prosecutor .   The state’s “general laws” makes the County Prosecutor the county’s “law director.”  Zanotti, Akers and Mason’s proposed Charter loosely separates those duties away from the County Prosecutor and adds another team of highly-paid lawyers to the county budget.   Both Mason and his proposed Charter’s Director of Law will have the authority to hire independent counsels.  The document, however, fails to offer an opinion on how disputes between the county’s top two legal officers will be decided.   [Section 4.01 and Section 5.06]

 

Ø      It gives control of the County’s budget commission to the County CEO , his or her Chief Financial Officer and the County Prosecutor .  [Section 6.01]

 

Ø      It creates a Charter Review Commission to evaluate the Charter every 10 instead of five years, ending any opportunity for a “quick” review of whether the “reform” is working or needs to be changed. [Section 12.09]

 

Ø      It also adds yet another layer of bureaucracy by giving the County Council the authority to hire its own employees and consultants with no restrictions or guidelines for the salaries they’ll be paid. [Section 3.09]

 

Ø      It consistently refers to the “general laws” in identifying the duties of the elected officials the trio wants to replace with appointed officials; but by their own admission they never studied the “general laws” found in Title 3 of the Ohio Revised Code to determine the full scope of each office holder’s duties.  Former Shaker Heights Mayor Judy Rawson, who county reform commission, thought the Sheriff was only a jailer and not the county’s chief law enforcement officer.

 

As a voting member of the Cuyahoga County Mayors & City Managers Association, I am insulted that Zanotti and Akers have operated like rogues and used the credibility of our organization to promote a “power trip” that was not approved by the majority of members. 

 

Does anyone really think that Zanotti, Akers and Mason are Cuyahoga County’s most brilliant thinkers and that they’ve got the best answers to solve all our problems?  I don’t.  So before they get their plan off and we’re stuck with a government we don’t want and can’t afford, we need to take action to stop them now.   I counted four public relations and political consultants at the June 4 meeting in the offices of Thompson, Hines & Flory. They’re ready to brainwash the electorate and The Plain Dealer has already dragged out its trusty old favorite; the race card.  Instead of concentrating on the substance of the county reform discussion, they’re playing the old divide and conquer game by totally misrepresenting statements made by County Recorder Lillian Greene.

 

Zanotti, Akers and Mason’s proposed Charter change is government at its worst; and we as leaders of our respective communities cannot participate in such Machiavellian chicanery.  Let’s meet and decide our course of action.

 

Respectfully,

 

The Honorable Eric J. Brewer, Mayor

City of East Cleveland

 

 

PS.  Zanotti was sued in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2003 for sending police officers to intimidate citizens distributing critical literature about him during a Memorial Day parade. The federal lawsuit also alleged that his police officers stopped a council candidate from wearing a t-shirt that promoted his candidacy.  Now I know why Zanotti has kept the members of our organization out of the loop about his scheme.

 

 

MOA: Rep. Fudge

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Dear Congresswoman Fudge:

 

I applaud you for standing up in your statement in this week's Call & Post regarding the proposals for reforming Cuyahoga County.  Over the last twenty years, we have seen the devastating effects the policies of the Party of Newt Gingrich and Russ Limburgh have had on the average American.  Blackwell and Taft did their part in damaging the State of Ohio.  We cannot stand by while the Republicans destroy our  most Democratic County under the guise of reforming it. 

 

Everyone needs to remember the will of the people and the methods we already have of changing things by expressions at the ballot box.  If you need us, a number of people are available to support your opposition to this veiled attempt to undermine the power of you and Mayor Jackson.

 

Thank you again for speaking out.

 

Sincerely,  Man of Action

Union Cat :Reform ...Yeah Right

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Most of the people who have commented on this article, except for one or two, are treating this issue as a joke. This is serious stuff and will effect our lives for decades. It's not about this politician or personality. For thirty years corporations have sucked this city dry, by moving and closing factories and jobs, by using tax-payers millions to build sports palaces which are then given to them as presents, privatizing services, giving millions in vouvhers to bail out Catholic schlools, by givihg huge rebates and giveaways to the Jacobs, Ratners and other parasites. And remember, it's these corporate elite who offer the bribes and corrupt our officials.

And do we hear any "bloggers" spitting venom as them? Of course not. It's easier to make clever remarks (not!) and to attack the residents of Cleveland, Black, white and Hispanic, who are left with a crunbling city.

How many of you have taken the trouble to find out what is in the plan? Have you participate in neighborhood town hall meetings on the plan? Of course not, because there have been no public meetings or input. This was old time, back-room, secret politics. They don't want you to know. They want you to watch the circus, look at the fat man and tell silly ditties about three blind mice.

Do you know that the Commissioners are not involved with this so-called reform plan? It's been Bill Mason, Martin Zanotti and a bunch or rich, white (soory, that's what they are) Republicans who were major fund raisers for Bush. Isn't this something to write seriously about?

I would guess that most of you worrk for a living, if you still have a job.It is time to stop listening to the stooges of the Chamber of Commerce and unite, black and white, to fight to save our city and county. They won't. Let's get serious.

MOA: County Reform--R U Kidding me?

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While recognizing the need for more efficient government in these economic times ... I am saddened that all of the current proposals to reform Cuyahoga County government are designed to create MORE division among the citizens by ethnic background, location, or party affiliation. 

The electors of this County have repeatedly voted to make this a largely Democratic County.  No officials in any other Ohio county are trying to Slant their  elected offices to be won by a particular party.  

If selected or elected, what will the Republicans do that will make things better for All residents? How will switching parties differ from the years of failed national policies that have contributed to the present mess ?  

Voters do know best.  We already have a method to change our government.  It is called the will of the people as expressed by Voting.  Our opportunities to hold elected officials accountable with the ability to change those who do not deserve the public trust must never be removed. 

--Men of Action (MOA)