Vote W. Mona' Scott (pictured wearing yellow) for judge of the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court for the full term commencing Jan 2, 2020, and Judge Marilyn Cassidy (pictured wearing Black judicial robe) for Cleveland Municipal Court to retain her seat for the full term commencing Jan 1, 2020

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders, have endorsed W. Mona' Scott for Cleveland Municipal Housing Court judge for the six-year term commencing Jan 2, 2020, and incumbent Judge Marilyn Cassidy for the Cleveland Municipal Court for the six-year term commencing Jan 1, 2020. (Editor's note: There is no primary election for judicial seats on Cleveland Municipal Court. only a nonpartisan general election).

The general election is Nov 5., 2019 and these two non-partisan judicial seats are the up for grabs opposed seats on the majority Black 13- member Cleveland Municipal Court, one a  regular municipal judge seat among 12 total regular seats on that court that hears traffic cases misdemeanors and lawsuits with damages sought at or below $15,000,  and the other, a municipal housing court seat.

Cleveland Judge Charles Patton is running unopposed for the third open seat on the Cleveland Municipal Court, Patton a Black Democrat and former Ward 1 councilman.

Both Scott and Cassidy are also endorsed by Black groups such as the grassroots group the Carl Stokes Brigade, and the Black Women's Political Action Committee.

Scott has the endorsement of an array of Black leaders and elected officials such as Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, among others, and Cassidy snagged an endorsement for judge4yourself, and several other entities, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper, and her political party, the county Republican party.

A former fair housing administrator for Cleveland and  assistant city prosecutor, and a current assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor of six years, Scott is a Democrat and a Black woman who faces Cleveland Housing Court Judge Ron O'Leary, a Republican.

O'Leary, 49, is a former assistant city law director of the civil division for the city's code enforcement section who edged Scott last year to retain the  judicial housing court seat he had been appointed to  by then governor John Kasich following the 2017 death of longtime Democratic Housing Court Judge Ray Pianca, an unexpired term that ends in January, both Scott and O'Leary fighting it out again, this time for the six-year full term that commences Jan 2.

Scott is better suited to lead the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court, which serves a predominantly Black impoverished city where the housing docket is crucial to the city's survival and fair housing for Blacks in Cleveland, and elsewhere, is both a statutory and constitutional right.

Cleveland voters should elect W. Mona' Scott for Cleveland housing court.

Judge Cassidy, 66, has served on the muny court in Cleveland since 2007.

She is credited with initiating a specialized case docket relative to human trafficking in 2014.

Her judicial rulings regarding civil and criminal cases before her are considered relatively fair and she is not afraid to take on issues impacting the overcrowded Cuyahoga County Jail in Cleveland, a jail that merged with the city jail  in 2017 and is the national spotlight  for nine recent inmate deaths in under a year, U.S. Marshals findings of unconstitutional and illegal mistreatment of inmates, and some 12 indictments, including the former jail director, former jail warden and several jail guards.

Her opponent, Attorney Joe Russo, 61, is a former administrative judge of the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court facing accusations of violence against a girlfriend that followed an alleged drunken tirade at an area restaurant.

He may have escaped domestic violence charges following his DUI arrest and his alleged mistreatment of his purported girlfriends, but public scrutiny is escalating.

And when Russo, whose disdain of women should, alone, keep him off the bench, was a judge of the county juvenile court, he did nothing about the high rate of bounding Black teens over to the general  division common pleas court to be tried as adults.

A Republican, unlike her opponent, a Democrat, Judge Cassidy is supported by several Black Cleveland activists and is the better choice for the Cleveland Municipal Court term commencing Jan 1, a nonpartisan election, and regardless of partisanship.

Cleveland voters should reelect Judge Marilyn Cassidy.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.