What happened, Who Was Behind It, and What it tells us
CUYAHOGA POLITICS TODAY
L-R: Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb, US Rep. Shontel Brown, D-11, Cleveland City Council president Blaine Griffin, and Cuyahoga County Council president Pernel Jones
There may likely never have been a better opportunity — and a greater need — for Cleveland’s black community to assert itself within the local Democratic Party than 2022.
Chance favors the prepared. And, to reprise a favorite saying of a former president, the preppy Poppa Bush, proper preparation prevents poor performance.
There are precious few signs that senior black political leaders even appreciate the opportunities at hand, much less are prepared to seize them.
In fact, it’s a fair question to ask, who are the senior black political leaders?
This is a remarkable time. The city’s politics are wide open. The old leaders have either left the stage or been relegated to the wings, voluntarily or otherwise. Frank Jackson is gone after more than 20 years presiding over city council or serving as mayor. Marcia Fudge leveraged her Washington, DC connections to become a Cabinet secretary, taking a dozen years of congressional experience and seniority with her.
Longtime supporting actors have either moved on, or if still longing to be involved, are hanging by their political fingernails: Jeff Johnson, Zack Reed, Shirley Smith, Sandra Williams.
Nina Turner had a golden opportunity last year to seize the moment and be in the vanguard for change. She had strong credentials for the special Congressional election to replace Fudge and for what has long been the defining portion of the 11th Congressional district — Cleveland’s struggling inner city and first ring suburbs. Her policies were right but her politics were not. As a result the veteran Turner lost decisively to Shontel Brown, essentially a political sophomore, notwithstanding her status as county party chair. [Just this week, Turner announced that she is challenging Congresswoman Brown in this year’s May primary, while Brown announced that she will not seek a second term as party chair.]
The heyday of Black Power
As many have noted, the wholesale generational shift in leadership is not confined to the black political community. At times it seems as if every major institution in town, from the universities to the hospitals, to business, philanthropic and civic organizations, is announcing or planning for a change in its top executive spot.[1]
The absence of entrenched political strength is a sea change from the glory days of Cleveland’s black political history. In some ways it’s a consequence of that history. From 1965 until 2008 the names and personas of Stokes, Forbes and Pinkney dominated virtually every aspect of Cleveland’s black politics. Arnold Pinkney died in 2014, Lou Stokes in 2015, and George Forbes retired from active politics some years ago, although a precious few relative young’uns are still privileged to receive his occasional advice.
Stokes, Forbes and Pinkney all maintained they were not roadblocks to the development of black political talent. But the evidence doesn’t seem to support their self-assessments. That might have been the case if the 21st Congressional District Caucus, as envisioned and established by Lou’s younger brother Carl, had survived. In its all too brief heyday in 1970s Cleveland, it was a potent institutional force, an electoral juggernaut, a community sounding board, and a training ground for aspiring politicos. The caucus saw a slow but steady decline in its powers after 1975. When Fudge inherited the mantle of caucus leadership upon the sudden death of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, she effectively buried its remnants alive, preserving only the fig leaf of a once-mighty Labor Day Parade.
Policy, Politics and Demographics
So who are Greater Cleveland’s senior black political leaders? Try Blaine Griffin, by virtue of his ties to Pinkney and Frank Jackson. Griffin, currently president of Cleveland’s 17-member city council, already stands fifth in overall council seniority, although he joined council only in 2017. Ward 9 councilman Kevin Conwell is well-established after 20 years on council but has never moved to grow his presence beyond his Glenville base. Ward 1 councilman Joe Jones has represented vote-rich Lee-Harvard on the city’s southeast side since 2018, and that office is likely his political ceiling. While Anthony Hairston has serious political aspirations, he has yet to top 2,000 votes in his ward 10 races.
Both Fudge and Jackson were more policy focused than politically engaged, although Fudge in the last few years began to try her hand as a local political player, especially when it came to endorsing county judges.
Policy over politics may sound like a recipe for good government, but the two cannot truly be separated. They must be in balance, to avoid either the gridlock of Washington, the rot of Columbus, or the disconnect of Lakeside Ave. The reluctance of Fudge and Jackson to exercise their political muscles for more than ensuring their own re-elections is a major factor in the atrophying of local black political power.
Clogged or neglected leadership pipelines were not the sole reasons for the decline of local black political power. Cleveland’s political power has shriveled in general along with its population decline. This of course has been a national trend, especially in the older cities of the east and Midwest, mostly choked off by suburban growth. Ever since 1992, for instance, the nation's suburbs have cast more votes for President than its central cities.
Here in Cuyahoga County, the suburbs collectively outweigh the city in terms of population, wealth, voting strength, and political power. Thus, suburban voters drove the reorganization of county government over city opposition in 2009, even as they approved the Gateway development in the early 1990s while city voters wanted to reject it.
And of course, the most recent display of this phenomenon was last year’s special Congressional election, where Shontel Brown was better able to harness suburban votes in contrast to Turner’s efforts with city dwellers. Ohio’s congressional redistricting process — however it plays out — is ultimately likely to put all of Cleveland into Brown’s 11th District. The consequences of that realignment will be worth watching in the May Democratic primary.
The shadow of Mike White
No discussion of Cleveland black politics from 1990 on can be considered complete without mention of Mike White, who dominated politics in the city and beyond for the whole of his three terms in office. White was a political descendant by inspiration and training of Stokes, Forbes and Pinkney. And unlike Jackson and Fudge, he relished the use of power.
White’s retirement from elective office in 2001 did not end his political involvement, even if he did move 100 miles away to raise alpacas and open a winery. His profession remains politics even if his primary clients are no longer voters but developers and other business interests. Where he once employed terror as a tactic in his political arsenal, today he is far more strategic. White was a force behind the scenes for most of Jackson’s administration, and he was one of the few black political figures to recognize and roll with the changing political dynamics, endorsing Justin Bibb for mayor last fall.
First ring suburbs and the state legislature
A result of the demographic and population shifts in Cleveland and across the county has been the dispersal and diffusion of black political influence and talent.
One might think that the state legislature should be fertile grounds for the development of black political talent. That seems the exception more than the rule. It was a different era when Carl Stokes went from state representative at large in the “bedsheet ballot” days to become Cleveland mayor [and the nation’s first big city black mayor]. Likewise, Mike White was able to make the leap from the Ohio Senate back home to city hall under circumstances likely never to be repeated.
Other than those two, Peter Lawson Jones from suburban Shaker Heights is the only other area black politician to have been able to capitalize on a state legislative record. Jones won the support of the County Democratic Party to replace Jane Campbell as county commissioner in February 2002, following her election as Cleveland mayor.
It’s an open question when or if a suburban black elected official can make a jump to county executive. The ill-fated candidacies of Annette Blackwell and Brad Sellers showed clearly that it takes more than sound policies and the ability to manage a small suburb well. One to watch might be Kahlil Seren, elected in November as Cleveland Heights’s first-ever popularly elected mayor. He will first have to show he can handle the challenges of being his city’s first executive mayor after a century of professional city managers and ceremonial mayors.
Potential
New Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb broke the local mold to win election as a first-time elected official. He will be watched closely for both his policy and his political decisions. Not one but both areas and the interplay between them will determine his success as mayor and his potential to chart a new course for black politics in Cleveland and the region.
First and foremost, Bibb will have to forge a positive working relationship with Griffin. This will also be a big-time test for the city council president. The mayor has pledged a new kind of executive leadership. That means there should be a new kind of legislative leadership as well. It will be a chance for Griffin to demonstrate considerable strengths as a team player, but as the lead huskie.
In a similar vein, County Council president Pernel Jones will need to grow his leadership muscles. He is likely to find himself working either with a novice elected official in Democrat Chris Ronayne, or a Republican in Lee Weingart.
By contrast with Bibb, Congresswoman Brown has enjoyed smooth sailing throughout her political career to date, blessed in large measure by her political fairy godmother, former Congresswoman and now HUD Secretary Fudge. She was handpicked to be party chairwoman and although an underdog in her special election race against Turner and others, she was blessed by her main opponent’s miscues. As one knowledgeable wag told us, Brown’s role in the campaign was to look pretty and say little.
To her credit, Brown is showing signs that she recognizes she is now in a different role and that her beauty pageant smile is no substitute for hard work. Her decision to stand down from the party chairmanship was smart, if overdue.
It will be instructive to watch how the Brown-Bibb relationship develops. At this point it is fair to say they need each other to be successful and the black community needs them both, especially as the congressional district comes to incorporate the entire city.[2]
Not to be overlooked in the political quivers of this quartet of officials is the experience two of them have with the county party. Before Brown was chair, Griffin was vice-chair. One might hope, for example, that they could bring some measure of equity to the way judicial endorsements get worked out within the party.
RELATED:
CPT: The Democratic Primary race for County Executive, Part II: Looking past the headlines of the Blackwell-Sellers interlude
• Blackwell drops out, Sellers entry imminent
• CPT || Post-election roundup
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[1] Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, Cuyahoga Community College, The Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth System, The Cleveland Foundation, The Gund Foundation, The Greater Cleveland Partnership, United Way of Greater Cleveland, The City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, will or have already seen new leadership at the top between the start of 2020 and the end of 2022.
To this list may be added Cleveland City Council, Cuyahoga County Council, and both the county [and state] Republican and Democratic parties.
[2] This is neither a comment, prediction, or endorsement with respect to the expected primary rematch between US Rep. Brown and former State Sen. Turner.
