What happened, Who Was Behind It, and What it tells us

CUYAHOGA POLITICS TODAY

Former Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, left, and Dave Wondolowski, executive director of the Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council

Part I of our report on the short-lived campaigns of Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell and Warrensville Heights Mayor Brad Sellers for County Executive ended with a description of a faction, loosely centered in the southwest part of the county, fiercely trying to maintain its fading grip on the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party for reasons that have nothing to do with good government or policy, but purely for the sake of maintaining control of a political vehicle to influence who gets to be a judge, who gets contracts and appointments, and who benefits from the political donations that grease many wheels. Members of that faction — loosely referred to by some as “the Parma Boys”, in reference to the original home community of many of them — have undoubtedly been the most influential party insiders for more than two decades.

Former county prosecutor Bill Mason has been central to the influence wielded by the Parma Boys from the late 1990s until recently, He leveraged his position as elected county prosecutor to seed compliant party precinct committee people throughout the county. It’s a practice he began while serving as a minor official in Parma, and he did it well enough that he was able to win the inter-party contest to succeed Stephanie Tubbs Jones after she resigned as county prosecutor upon her 1998 election to Congress. Mason handily won the executive committee vote notwithstanding his singularly unimpressive professional readiness for that office. His resume was especially drab when contrasted with the sterling record of his opponent, a former police officer, public defender, and law professor, the late James Draper. But credentials don’t vote, and Mason defeated Draper handily, going on to serve as county prosecutor from 1999 until 2012.

During his tenure as prosecutor, Mason regularly encouraged his staff, especially assistant prosecutors — whose jobs depended upon his continued favor — and or their spouses or other members to fill vacancies on the precinct committee level.

Having an active precinct committee structure has been a time-honored way of building a strong political party, although it’s probably not healthy for your chief law enforcement official to be engineering the process. Ed FitzGerald, the county’s first County Executive, reined in the practice to a degree when he enforced a state law that barred county employees from serving in partisan elective offices. The move proved a serious blow to the entrenched party leadership.

FitzGerald had been elected in 2010 after voters decided in 2009 to restructure county government in the wake of widespread county corruption scandal that erupted in 2007 during Mason’s watch.

While their degree of internal Party power has remained strong insofar as control of the county’s judicial apparatus is concerned, the overall political influence of the Parma Boys has waned substantially in recent years. Longtime Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who was distressingly indifferent to political matters outside his own narrow interests, is gone, replaced by new mayor Justin Bibb, whose new administration promises a political orientation antithetical to the Parma Boys.

Former Cleveland city council President Kevin Kelley was their choice to succeed Jackson. Their embrace of racist tactics in support of Kelley’s campaign was both a measure of their desperation and their increasing isolation. Kelley’s sound rejection by voters, who flocked to Justin Bibb, left them with a greatly diminished City Hall influence, as leadership of city council has now passed beyond their direct influence.

Things are not any brighter at the other major bastion of political power: the county executive’s post. The abject failure of the incumbent, Armond Budish, a few years ago, was a gift to the Parma Boys, as Budish’s flailing attempt to save his second term resulting in bringing Bill Mason into his administration to restore some semblance of order. Budish’s dismal record killed any chance he had at a third time, though he might have tried but for the intervention of his friends.

But last summer, even as Budish was hoping to run again, fellow Democrat Chris Ronayne, tossed his hat in the ring. Ronayne passes muster as a loyal Democrat, but he is not a part what you’d call a machine Democrat. He has no real ties to any of the Parma crowd, except perhaps former council president Kelley. And since he gave money to Kelley’s mayoral opponent, although he may have given a like amount to Kelley, it seems the Parma boys have gone berserk over the prospect of Ronayne moving into the county executive seat. Evenhandedness does not play well with that crowd.

And this is why Annette Blackwell came to be recruited to run against Ronayne in the Democratic primary. Brooklyn Mayor Katie Gallagher had already turned them down, as we reported last month, shortly after Blackwell got in the race.

Who is the crew behind these anti-Ronayne machinations? The core group, according to multiple sources, includes Mason, labor leader Dave Wondolowski, and an assortment of party apparatchiks, foremost among whom is Tom Day, a Bedford Court official and Mason’s business partner. And you can add Galen Scheurlein to that mix. Scheurlein, an attorney employed as director of Roetzel Consulting Solutions [affiliated with powerhouse Akron-based law firm Roetzel and Andress],  is a well-known political consultant and veteran of numerous political campaigns. She may have been instrumental in recruiting Sellers to replace Blackwell.

This crew has played every card in its deck trying to derail a Ronayne candidacy. They promised Blackwell various resources including financial and labor support, and quite possibly a shot at securing the party endorsement. And when they decided Sellers was a more formidable opponent to Ronayne than Blackwell, they promised him those same dollars, labor endorsements, and the party endorsement.

The filing date for the May primary is February 2. And the county party has scheduled an endorsement meeting for January 26. The Parma crew may have painted itself into a corner. It has no candidate and at this point, precious remaining credibility. It remains to be seen whether they can regroup in time to mount an effort to achieve a no-endorsement in the county executive race, which would give them an extra week to find yet another candidate  

Blackwell and Sellers have been, what’s the phrase, “unintended collateral damage”, in the Mason crew’s quest to hold onto power.

At this late date, if a new Democratic contender emerges to challenge Ronayne, they should be dusted for fingerprints.

Part III will look at the local black political community in the light of the current state of the county Democratic Party. It will appear this Tuesday, rather than on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as previously announced.  

RELATED:

• Blackwell drops out, Sellers entry imminent

• CPT || Post-election roundup

• CPT || Field for County Executive race may see new entrant

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 Updated January 17, 2022 @ 1711.