By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief,  Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black newspapers

Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (pictured), a Warrensville Hts. Democrat who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, will receive the President's Award from the Cleveland Chapter NAACP at its 54th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner on Friday, June 14 at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Cleveland. (For tickets call 216-231-6260)

Other award recipients are political guru Arnold Pinkney, Shayla King, and Delon White.

The theme for the event is "Turning The Pages of History," and the keynote speaker is Dr. William Pickard, an entrepreneur and former executive director of the local branch.

Cleveland NAACP President The Rev. Hilton Smith (pictured), a top executive at Turner Construction Co. and an associate minister at Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Cleveland,  said that the gathering will highlight "the new direction the branch is taking while acknowledging the organization's rich immeasurable contribution to our community."

Cleveland Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

Cleveland, Ohio- Cleveland Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones

won the endorsement of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party again Saturday morning, thwarting an attempt by Party Chairman David Brock to get the party's executive committee to reverse its original endorsement of Aug. 6.

Cuyahoga County is a Democratic stronghold that includes Cleveland and is Ohio's second largest county, behind Franklin County, which includes Columbus, the state capital and the state's largest city, in front of Cleveland.

The endorsement meeting was held on Zoom, and Jones won it hands down.

Though Jones has not publicly raised the issue of race relative to the controversy, his supporters have said that potential racism could not be ruled out, and that White elected officials have not been treated like Jones, including a previously indicted White common pleas judge who won the party endorsement and was later convicted of public corruption charges, removed from the bench, and sentenced to prison.

Ward 1 is Cleveland's second largest voting bloc of its 17 wards with its staunch middle-class segment of east side Black voters, and it is the city's largest Black voting bloc.

The primary is Sept. 9 and Jones is up for reelection via the 2025 nonpartisan election for mayor and city council members. The general election is Nov 4.

Jones, 56 years old and Black, had originally won the county Democratic Party endorsement for re-election earlier this month.

The executive committee bylaws do forbid a member of the executive committee from endorsing the opponent of an endorsed candidate and executive committee members can be removed for doing so.

Jones insisted in a letter sent Wednesday that Brock was violating the party bylaws by arbitrarily holding a second endorsement session.

"I am writing to formally object to the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party's decision to schedule a second endorsement meeting for Ward 1," Jones wrote in his letter to Brock," a copy of which was secured by Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader.

Jones accused Brock of violating party bylaws and said he was acting in the best interest of one of his opponents, state Rep. Juanita Brent, vice chair of the county Democratic Party and a Cleveland Democrat and lifelong resident of Ward 1 like Jones. Brent is also Black.

The councilman said Brock is acting more like a Republican than a Democrat.

"As one of my opponents is a party officer [Brent], it seems to me that the party is employing unprecedented tactics to support her in this race. If you do this Mr. chairman, the Democratic Party will become just like the Republicans, showing no regard for the rule of law or history," Jones wrote.

Jones is currently serving his second stint as Ward 1 councilman after being elected in 2017, and again in 2021. He was previously the Ward 1 councilman from 1998-2005.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and the Midwest.Tel.216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief,  Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black news venues

Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Ohio state Sen. Shirley Smith (D-21) is the first Black to announce that she might run for Cuyahoga County executive next year in the wake of a formal announcement late last month by County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a Democrat like Smith and former FBI agent and Lakewood mayor, that he will not seek reelection and will instead run as the likely Democratic nominee against Republican John Kasich in the 2014 gubernatorial election.

A prior state representative and state senator since 2007, Smith would not go into detail with Cleveland Urban News.Com on her proposed run for one of the most powerful offices in the county, a job that pays more than $200, 000 annually and oversees hundreds of employees and county contracts.

She said that she is establishing an exploratory committee.

"I am announcing that I am establishing an exploratory committee for a possible run for county executive" said Smith to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper. "Part of that process is speaking with people."

The lawmaker's 21st state legislative district includes most of the majority Black east side wards of Cleveland, some on the west side, and a more than 300,000 constituents' voting base.

The term limited Smith has sponsored legislation beneficial to women, like cancer awareness bills, and to poor people, Blacks and others like a new state law (Senate Bill 337) supported by Kasich that took effect this year that permits the expunging of Ohio criminal records of either a felony and a misdemeanor together, two misdemeanors, or either a single felony or single misdemeanor. Not all criminal records, whether a felony or misdemeanor, can be expunged under the law.

Smith will hold an information forum and free expungement clinic open to the public on Thursday, May 23 at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University, 4th Floor, 2000 Prospect Ave in Cleveland, beginning at 4 pm. Law enforcement officials and affiliates of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification will be on hand to assist. For more information contact Smith's Columbus office at 614-466-4857 People with criminal warrants should consult an attorney first, community activists said.

A Cleveland NAACP study reveals that Black defendants in the general division of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, which is led by Democratic Chief Judge Nancy Fuerst, are disproportionately prosecuted and receive harsher sentences than their White counterparts, and nothing is being done about it, data show.

Cuyahoga County is the largest of 88 counties statewide and has a Black population that harbors at 29 percent. It is a Democratic stronghold and includes the majority Black major metropolitan city  of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs, among other cities of Northeast Ohio.

Other  perspective candidates for next year's Democratic primary for county executive include state Rep. Armond Budish (D-8) of Beachwood, also minority caucus leader in the Ohio House of Representatives, and county council president C. Ellen Connally, who is Black and a retired Cleveland Municipal Court judge.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

Cleveland, Ohio-Cleveland Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones has sent a letter to Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairman David Brock requesting that he cancel an upcoming Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting where Brock says he wants the county Democratic Party to reverse its August endorsement of Jones, who is Black and up for reelection this year via the 2025 nonpartisan election for mayor and city council members.

Ward 1 is Cleveland's second largest voting bloc of its 17 wards with its staunch middle-class segment of east side Black voters, and it is the city's largest Black voting bloc.

The primary is Sept. 9 and follows a population-based redistricting process led by Council President Blaine Griffin that was controversial at best and reduces council from 17 to 15 members beginning in 2026 per the city charter.

Jones won the county Democratic Party endorsement for re-election earlier this month.

The executive committee bylaws do forbid a member of the executive committee from endorsing the opponent of an endorsed candidate and executive committee members can be removed for doing so.

"I am writing to formally object to the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party's decision to schedule a second endorsement meeting for Ward 1," Jones wrote in his letter to Brock," a copy of which was secured by Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader.

"There are several reasons for my objection," Jones' letter says as follows:

1. The executive committee has already spoken at the August 6 Democratic endorsement meeting.

2. The Democratic Party bylaws do not speak to reevaluating a legally binding endorsement because of allegations that are not even criminal-based, nor would they pass a summary judgement [court decision] if there were a civil action. The bylaws do speak to the endorsement process, and if the party wanted to add this to the process, the bylaws must be amended.

3. The rescheduled meeting includes zoom and livestream as part of the process. This is certainly unprecedented. I am not aware of any other endorsement meeting being held in this manner.  All endorsements I have been a part of over the past 30 years have been in person.

In conclusion, Jones said Brock is acting in the best interest of one of his opponents, state Rep. Juanita Brent, vice chair of the county Democratic Party and a Cleveland Democrat and lifelong resident of Ward 1 like Jones. Brent is also Black.

The councilman said Brock is acting more like a Republican than a Democrat.

"As one of my opponents is a party officer [Brent], it seems to me that the party is employing unprecedented tactics to support her in this race. If you do this Mr. chairman, the Democratic Party will become just like the Republicans, showing no regard for the rule of law or history," Jones wrote.

Jones is currently serving his second stint as Ward 1 councilman after being elected in 2017, and again in 2021. He was previously the Ward 1 councilman from 1998-2005.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and the Midwest.Tel. 216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com