(www.clevelandurbannews.com)/(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (pictured), a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely Black 11th congressional district includes the city of Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs, has endorsed Parma Safety Director Mike O'Malley over embattled county prosecutor Tim McGinty for the March Democratic primary.

The endorsement, which Fudge, who is Black, highlighted in a letter to executive committee members of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, comes as the executive committee, on behalf of the party, will make an official endorsement at a meeting on Dec. 17, if it makes an endorsement in that race. (Editor's note: An endorsement requires a 60 percent vote by the executive committee).

"I support the congresswoman's endorsement 100 percent," said Charle E. Bibb Sr., a party operative and former East Cleveland councilman who leads the greater Cleveland Carnegie Roundtable.  "The Black community will not survive four more years of Tim McGinty."

And yesterday evening Cleveland Ward 1 members of the executive committee, a largely Black east side ward with a staunch middle class voting base, met and overwhelmingly told Councilman Terrell Pruitt, who represents the ward and led the meeting, that they have no love for McGinty, and want him gone.

They will be among members of the executive committee that will vote on Dec 17 on a potential official endorsement for county prosecutor, and other races.

Among other executive committee members at the Ward 1 meeting was Nina Turner, a former Ward 1 councilwoman and prior state senator who is currently the national surrogate for the Bernie Sanders for president campaign.

But Ward 1 did not embrace O'Malley's candidacy at its unofficial meeting last night, some telling Cleveland Urban News.Com afterwards that he is not much different than McGinty, though the general sentiment about town begs to differ.

McGinty, his enemies say, went too far.

A former west side Cleveland councilman, former assistant county prosecutor and prior deputy under former county prosecutor Bill Mason, O'Malley, some also say, including some Black elected officials speaking on condition of anonymity, is the lesser of the two evils. Or is he?

A Parma Democrat and McGinty's predecessor, Mason had issues with Black people too, including some Black elected officials, and, like McGinty, was often overzealous in prosecuting Black people, sources said. And Mason, like McGinty, typically leaned in favor of police. But he was not, they say, as confrontational, and as disrespectful to the Black community. And, say sources, Mason is smarter than McGinty, and has better people skills.

But O'Malley, Mason's  protege, is not Mason, which is where O'Malley has the edge, possibly.

Both McGinty and O'Malley are White, and the winner of the Democratic primary election will likely win the November election, data show, since Cuyahoga County is a Democratic stronghold.

At a meeting of city ward leaders on Dec. 5 O'Malley won the non-binding endorsement over McGinty, 24-13, a rejection by party members that is unprecedented for a sitting Cuyahoga County prosecutor.

A cadre of Black leaders and community activists angry over McGinty's handling of the police murder case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, which is currently before a county grand jury for a possible indictment of police on criminal  charges, are against him too. They are also upset over his illegal and unconstitutional adoption of erroneous office policies that protect police that gun down unarmed Black people. (Editor's note: A particular policy at issue is McGinty's illegal stance that cops that kill people, unlike others, mainly Blacks, cannot be charged preliminary with felonies at the municipal level before a grand jury convenes. This, data show, protects them from arrest and high court-issued bonds in the event that a municipal court judge finds probable cause following a complaint by a city prosecutor. And it  is illegal, in particular under state law. See Ohio Revised Code 2935.10).

McGinty has taken more than a year to present the Rice case to the county grand jury, a departure from his typical anxiousness to prosecute felony cases. That too has caused tension in the Black community.

Some Black elected officials  that will not tell Cleveland Urban News.Com one way or another who they intend to endorse for county prosecutor agree that McGinty is in deep political trouble.

"This is an unprecedented rejection of a Cuyahoga County Prosecutor by his own party," said state Rep. Bill Patmon, a Cleveland Democrat and former city councilman.

McGinty has been campaigning and asked executive committee members in a letter dated Dec 16 to support him, though time will tell if his political machine can out do that of Mason, now a partner in the Cleveland office of the law firm of Bricker and Eckler.

A former longtime common pleas judge, McGinty is also in conflict with several of the 34 largely White and majority Democratic judges of the general division of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, and undercurrent in his office is rampant, sources say.

He is combative, and acts erratic at times, his critics say.

He attacked chief common judge John Russo and common pleas judge John Sutula, both Democrats, in a Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper article published in July, saying they are slow in processing criminal cases.

Sutula shot back and accused McGinty of rushing criminal cases through the common pleas court and denying defendants, a disproportionate number of whom are Black, due process of law.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE ON THE CONFLICT BY COUNTY PROSECUTOR TIM MCGINTY WITH CHIEF COMMON PLEAS JUDGE JOHN RUSSO AND COMMON PLEAS JUDGE JOHN SUTULA AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS

In May McGinty allegedly orchestrated an acquittal before his friend and former judicial colleague Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell in a voluntary manslaughter bench trial in  which the judge acquitted Cleveland Police Officer Michael Brelo, who is White, of gunning down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell in 2012, and while firing 49 bullets. Twelve other non-Black police officers involved in the deadly shooting, who together fired the remainder of the 137 shots at Williams and Russell, escaped prosecution with McGinty's help.

Last month a multi-cultural group of  area clergy, led by Olivet Institutional Baptist Church Senior Pastor the Rev Dr. Jawanza Colvin, joined community activists in calling for McGinty to step aside relative to the grand jury process after he released expert reports from biased experts that he handpicked, and that critics say tainted the forum to protect the cops at issue. He also publicly harassed Rice's grieving mother, Samara, Rice, a political plunder, and the catalyst for the demands from community activists and the Black community that he resign.

Community activists also want McGinty, who is currently serving the third year of a first four-year term,  voted out of office.

"We want Tim McGinty voted out of office," said veteran community activist Art McKoy, founder of the grassroots group Black on Black Crime Inc. "He was supposed to be fair and serve the people and all he did was serve the police."

Tamir Rice was gunned down on November 22, 2014 in less than two seconds when White police officers Timothy Loehmann, who pulled the trigger, and Frank Gamback, pulled up at a public park and recreation center on the city's west side where the Black kid was toting a toy gun, and following a foiled 9-11 call.

Experts commissioned by the Rice family attorneys regarding the grand jury process that may or may not result in criminal charges against police say in their reports that the fatal police shooting, which has gained national attention, was excessive force, coupled with gross negligence by untrained and trigger- happy cops.

Posted February 27, 2008 and published in the Call and Post Newspaper. This is a one-on-one interview with Barack Obama (pictured) by  journalist Kathy Wray Coleman, who covered the presidential election for the Call and Post in 2008, including some 26 published articles.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com)/(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).

(Below is a reprint of the one-on-one interview with Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman and now U.S. President Barack Obama. It was published on February 27, 2008, days before Ohio's March 4 Democratic Primary, and ran as a cover story in the Call & Post Newspaper, Ohio's most prominent Black print newspaper with distributions in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Then a junior senator from Illinois, Obama won in the largely Black 11th congressional district, which includes the city of Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs, but lost Ohio's Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton in 2008. He went on to win the Democratic nomination and ultimately the presidency over Republican nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain. America's first Black president, Obama won a second four-year-term in 2012).

A one-on-one interview with Barack Obama by reporter Kathy Wray Coleman.

Published February 27, 2008 in the Call and Post Newspaper

CLEVELAND, Ohio-On Monday the Call & Post had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Illinois Sen.Barack Obama in an exclusive interview. The nation's first Black presidential front runner is in a heated race with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America. Both hope to win Ohio's March 4 Democratic primary by wooing voters in Cuyahoga County's delegate-rich 11th Congressional District, which is majority Black, and includes the city of Cleveland].

Sen. Obama's stances on many issues are relatively known and have become part of the core of his campaign platform. He is pro choice, pro-affirmative action, pro-labor and anti- the North American Free Trade Agreement in its current form. He voted against the Iraq War. Additionally, the senator supports stem cell research and universal health care. He also advocates a timely end to the Iraq war and a revision of the Republican-centered No Child Left Behind Act. Unlike Sen . Clinton, he supports the retroactive application of the new sentencing guidelines recently adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court to address the racial disparities between crack and powder cocaine.

Call & Post:

Let's talk a little bit about Barack the candidate, and about your position on issues that may or may not be widely known to Ohioans and other members of the American public, the Black community in particular.

Sen. Barack Obama:

Okay

CP:

People are excited about the recent endorsement from Don King and the Call & Post of your candidacy for president of the United States of America. It is not easy getting an endorsement from Mr. King.

Sen. Barack Obama:

Thank you Kathy, for this interview, and give my thanks to Don King and the Call & Post.

CP:

What advice do you have for at-risk Black males in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and elsewhere who are on the verge of giving up because of the obstacles that they routinely face?

BO:

You can't give up. I was raised by a single mother. My father left when I was two- years old. Giving up is no solution. They must stay in the books and strive to be successful.

CP:

What are you major concerns about the North American Free Trade Agreement?

BO:

I am against NAFTA in its current form. Trade agreements without strong labor and environmental standards undercut workers and unions and permit corporations to leave this country and take the jobs with them.

CP:

The Cleveland Voucher Program was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 as constitutionally sound, under the rationale that the public monies used to send students to private schools went to the parents not the students. In spite of this decision by the high court, is it your position that school vouchers violate the separation of church and state clause of the First Amendment as to the prohibitive use of public monies to fund private education?

BO:

Yes. I am against the use of public monies to support private schools. We should be supporting teachers and reinvesting in our public schools.

CP:

What would you recommend as an effective mechanism for monitoring the achievement gap between Black and White students in Cleveland's public schools in the absence of the now defunct desegregation court order that once measured the successes and failures of Black children, and in consideration of your promise to revise the Republican-centered No Child Left Behind Act?

BO:

The No Child Left Behind Act actually has provisions for monitoring the achievement gap between Black and White children. Whether they are doing it on the local level, I don't know.

CP:

What is your position on the urban agenda, described as Cleveland's blueprint for the future, that Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has offered to enhance the future of the predominantly Black major metropolitan city?

BO:

I have pledged $10 billion for foreclosure relief, if elected president. This would be relief for Cleveland and other cities.

CP:

You have said that the No Child Left Behind Act needs revision. What is your major concern?

BO:

There should not be punishment for standardized testing. And let me again add that we have got to support teachers and reinvest in our public schools.

CP:

Will Blacks and women be represented in your cabinet if you are elected president of the United States of America?

BO:

Yes

CP:

Last year a bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision that struck down public school intra-district choice plans in Seattle, WA and in Louisville, Ky., saying they relied on an unconstitutional use of racial criteria. Some believe that this ruling is contrary to the 1954 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education that outlawed racial segregation in public education. Do you agree and what is your position on this issue, given that you are a former Civil Rights attorney?

BO:

I do believe that the decision is contrary to Brown vs. Board of Education. I think the Supreme Court ruling was wrong. Voluntary efforts to desegregate public schools are supported by the Constitution.

CP:

Who is your favorite actress or actor and what is your favorite past time?

BO:

My favorite actor is Denzel Washington and my favorite past time is playing with my daughters.

CP:

Thank you senator for permitting the Call & Post to get to know you better.

BO:

Thank you Kathy.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com)/(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, OHIO-WASHINGTON, D.C.-President Obama (pictured), on Thursday, signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law, a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which,  itself, was a re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965.

Calling the new education law a Christmas miracle, the president said that “there is nothing more essential to living up to the ideals of this nation than to make sure every child is able to live up to their God-given potential.”

Once dubbed an unfunded mandate by teachers unions reluctant to embrace the legislative initiative, ESSA  minimizes the role of the federal government by giving states  and local school districts more autonomy.

It does, however, maintain  the standardized testing mandate that Obama says is in place to hold school districts and educators more accountable relative to educational outcomes.

Whether standardized testing is the proper yardstick for assessing student achievement is debatable, some educational scholars  argue, particularly since Black  children,  due in part  to cultural bias, socioeconomic factors, and still existing vestiges of racial discrimination, traditionally do not fare as well as their White counterparts.

The president said yesterday that the K-12 federal legislation transcends the educational arena.

“I want this not just because it’s good for the students themselves, the communities involved, and for our economy, but because it really goes to the essence of what we are about as Americans,” said Obama..

The bipartisan  measure includes many of the reforms the Obama administration has called on Congress to enact and follows more that eight years of infighting between congressional Republicans and Democrats.

Key components of ESSA include the following:

-Holding all students to high academic standards that prepare them for success in college and careers.

-Ensuring accountability by guaranteeing that when students fall behind, states redirect resources into what works to help them and their schools improve, with a particular focus on the very lowest-performing schools, high schools with high dropout rates, and schools with achievement gaps.

-Empowering state and local decision-makers to develop their own strong systems for school improvement based upon evidence, rather than imposing cookie-cutter federal solutions like the No Child Left Behind Act did.

-Reducing the often onerous burden of testing on students and teachers, making sure that tests don’t crowd out teaching and learning, without sacrificing clear, annual information parents and educators need to make sure our children are learning.

-Providing more children access to high-quality preschool.

-Establishing new resources for proven strategies that will spur reform and drive opportunity and better outcomes for America’s students.(www.clevelandurbannews.com)/(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).