CLEVELAND, Ohio – The executive committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, led by party chair and 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Shontel Brown, overwhelmingly endorsed former University Circle Inc president Chris Ronayne on Wednesday for Cuyahoga County executive over two Black candidates. The endorsement comes amid claims by some Black Cleveland activists and Black members of the executive committee that it is premature and unfair since the deadline for filing petitions with the county board of elections is not until Feb 2.

Former Ohio Sen Shirley Smith, the other Democrat in the race along with Tariq Shabazz, who, like Smith, lost a crowded primary last year for the congressional seat in the largely Black 11th congressional district, was nominated also for the party endorsement, though Ronayne, who is White, was the clear party favorite who won 92 percent of the vote from executive committee members Wednesday night.

The winner of the May 3 primary will likely face Republican Lee Weigart for the Nov 8 general election, Weingart a former county commissioner. Two-term county executive Armond Budish, also a former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, is not running for reelection for another four-year term after a turbulent last three years in office plagued with more than 10 inmate deaths in the troubled county jail and an ongoing FBI investigation of his administration.

Ronanye's party endorsement on Wednesday follows a recommendation of support by city and ward leaders at a meeting held last Saturday.

"I totally disagree with the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party doing endorsements when the deadline for filing petitions with the county board of elections to possibly get on the ballot isn't until Feb 2," said activist Marcia McCoy, a Democrat who has run unsuccessfully for Cleveland City Council and is currently president of the Cleveland chapter of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

Mike Seals, an executive precinct committee person representing Cleveland Ward 7 who participated in Wednesday's endorsement meeting for county executive and judges on Zoom that was led by Congresswoman Brown as party chair, agreed with McCoy.

Seals said that the premature endorsement of Ronayne is unfair to other potential candidates and that it creates "an unequal playing field."

Facing opposition from former Ohio senator Nina Turner for the May 3 primary, Brown, who beat Turner and 11 other candidates during last year's congressional primary, announced at the endorsement meeting that after the May 3 primary she would be stepping down as party chair and could not be reached for comment. Instead, outgoing county Democratic party executive director Helen Sheehan responded to complaints as to the endorsement debacle.

Sheehan, who announced on Wednesday that she is stepping down as executive director, said by text that the practice of endorsing candidates before the deadline for filing petitions with the board of elections has been going on for some 50 years and that it gives candidates who lose the endorsement the opportunity to file petitions to run for another office before the filing deadline.

Seals called Sheehan's explanation unacceptable, and said he wants to know how county Democratic party operatives established a list of candidates to potentially endorse when some likely candidates have yet to pull petitions.

Ronanye was elated with winning the endorsement and tweeted afterwards that he was appreciative of the support.

"Thank you Cuyahoga County Democrats for your endorsement of our campaign for Cuyahoga County executive," Ronanye tweeted. "This is about all of us, team Cuyahoga. Excited to move Cuyahoga County forward with you."

While Ronayne, who has never held public office before, may be the favorite of the mainstream media and some core county Democrats, some Black leaders had hoped that the front-runner for county executive would be a loyal Black Democrat.

Warrensville Heights Mayor Brad Sellers, a former NBA player for the Chicago Bulls and the protégé of U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Secretary Marcia Fudge, and who succeeded her into office to lead the majority Black Cleveland suburb when she became a congresswoman, was the favorite for county executive among Black leaders and some party operatives. But he abruptly dropped out of the race after the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a negative article on his candidacy and his alleged mishandling of tax abatement's as mayor, including relative to his own home in Warrensville Heights.

Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell, who is Black like Sellers, had also entered the race but quit shortly before Sellers announced that he was running.

Had Sellers stayed in the race he would have likely enjoyed Fudge's political machine, what's left of it since she became secretary of housing and urban development with President Biden's administration in March of 2020. Fudge, however, is limited in what she can do politically under the Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice president, from engaging in some forms of political activity. This also includes campaigning for a political candidate.

A Democratic stronghold, Cuyahoga County, with Cleveland its largest city, has a population of roughly 1.2 million people and is the second largest of Ohio's 88 counties, behind Franklin County, which includes the capital city of Columbus . It is governed by a county executive, Budish, and an 11-member county council, a  county governance structure that took effect in 2011 after voters scrapped the three county commissioners and the elected offices of the county sheriff, auditor, treasurer, and clerk of courts.

Those offices, and all but the judges and county prosecutor, which is now Mike O'Malley, are appointed positions under the purview of the county executive, though county council has some leeway as to the selection of the county sheriff pursuant to a subsequent charter amendment that voters also approved.

Black leaders, led by the NAACP, then county  commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, and Fudge, who was a congresswoman at the time, opposed the change in county governance, arguing that it would dilute Black leadership, though county voters approved it by a two-to-one margin.

The county's second county executive behind former county executive Ed FitzGerald, Budish is Jewish, and four of the county councilpersons are Black, including county council president Pernel Jones, a Black Democrat. The other three Blacks on county council, who, like Jones are also Democrats, are Meredith Turner of Shaker Heights, Yvonne Conwell of Cleveland, and Cheryl Stephens. a former Cleveland Heights mayor and candidate for lieutenant governor this year on the ticket of Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Dayton mayor Nan Whaley.

clevelandurbannews.com and kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief. Coleman is a former public school biology teacher and a seasoned Black political. legal and investigative reporter who trained as a reporter at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years,

COLUMBUS, Ohio-Once again, the seven-member Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission, which includes Gov. Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, has been accused of approving racist and unconstitutional four-year state legislative district maps, plaintiffs in lawsuits pending with the Ohio Supreme Court raising such concerns on Monday in filings that ask the court to reject the maps for a second time in under two weeks.

Representatives for the redistricting commission (ORC), which voted 5-2  on Saturday to approve the new maps, and along party lines, have until noon on Friday to respond. The newly-passed maps give Republicans who seek office or reelection to the Ohio state legislature advantage in 57 of 99 districts in the Ohio House and 20 of 33 districts in the Ohio Senate, the plaintiffs say.

The court,  on Jan 12.,  struck down the first set of GOP drawn state House and Senate district maps, ruling 4-3 that the maps were unconstitutional and did not meet the mandates of the anti-gerrymandering rules established by voters in 2015. The court ruling sent the maps back to the ORC for a new plan that was required to be adopted within 10 days, and after meeting at length this past weekend, the commission submitted newly-approved maps to the court as ordered.

The plaintiffs in the three lawsuits who convinced the court to reject the maps the first time around, including the League of Women Voters of Ohio and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, say basically the same thing. They argue that the maps are unconstitutional because they are drawn to carve state legislative districts where voters collectively favor Republicans over Democratic candidates for elections to the Ohio House and Senate. This, says the plaintiffs, is blatantly racist and against the 2015 voter approved referendum that changed redistricting rules.

A Republican and former lieutenant governor, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor broke with her party and joined the three Democrats on the seven member largely female and majority Republican court to bring Democrats and voting advocates a win regarding the court decision that struck down the maps initially and sent the ORC back to the drawing board.

The court's majority opinion was written by Justice Melody Stewart, a Democrat and the first Black elected to the court. A former 8th District Court of Appeals judge out of Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, Stewart's opinion on behalf of the majority says the maps the first time around disproportionately favor Republicans.

Those preferences, she wrote, were 54% for Republican candidates and 46% for Democratic candidates over the past 10 years and since the last census report.

“The commission is required to attempt to draw a plan in which the statewide proportion of Republican-leaning districts to Democratic-leaning districts closely corresponds to those percentages,” wrote Stewart. “Section 6 speaks not of desire but of direction: the commission shall attempt to achieve the standards of that section."

The court heard oral arguments last month relative to three lawsuits that challenge the Republican-approved state legislative district maps, controversial maps approved in September by the Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC), which  is accused of  approving illegally drawn maps that are racist and that favor Republican candidates for office. (Editor's note: The ORC also has jurisdiction under state law to approve congressional district maps when the state legislature reaches an impasse on the issue but this article pertains to the controversy around the ORC's drawing of maps for state legislative districts, and three pending lawsuits that say the new maps are unconstitutional).

Set to take effect for the 2022 elections for open seats on the  Ohio state legislature, such maps determine state district boundaries for elections of state representatives and state senators in Ohio, and in a discriminatory fashion, the lawsuits say. Currently, Republicans control the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate, which is partly why the ORC is largely Republican.

An amendment to the state constitution approved by voters in 2015 changed the way the process for drawing congressional and state legislative maps occurs and created the ORC, though districts are still drawn initially in conjunction with population dynamics in response to the U.S. Census every 10 years. The year 2020 marked 10-years since the last applicable census and, accordingly, this year is the first time that the new process that employs authority to the ORC to step in for the state legislature when a partisan conflict ensues over the maps has been put to a test.

The first lawsuit for which the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in December was filed by the ACLU primarily on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio and the A. Philip Randolph Institute and the second by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee on behalf of a group of Ohio voters. A third suit was brought by plaintiffs who say the maps dilute Black Muslim votes. It was filed by the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the Ohio Environmental Council.

All three of the lawsuits were filed in the Ohio Supreme Court and allege in large part that the ORC purposely gerrymandered the maps to help Republicans win elections over Democrats for state House and Senate races with the plaintiffs in the third lawsuit claiming also that the maps have racial implications that raise constitutional questions since a majority of Black and Muslim voters and voters of color in general are Democrats.

"OOC believes that the maps currently under scrutiny by the state's highest court are unconstitutional because of the ways they dilute the power of voters in Black, brown, immigrant, and Muslim communities through "cracking and packing," a spokesperson for the Ohio Organizing Collaborative said in a statement to clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader.

The maps that Ohio's highest court struck down for the first time on Jan 12  and sent back for revision, were approved by the commission (ORC) 5-2 on Sept. 16 with Democrats Emilia Sykes of Akron, then the minority leader of the House, and her father, state Sen Vernon Sykes, also of Akron, refusing to support the measure. Both of them are Black. The younger Sykes' successor as House minority leader,  state Rep Allison Russo, an Upper-Arlington Democrat, now serves on the ORC in her place as the commission.

The five Republican members of the ORC, including Gov DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, eagerly voted for the maps  when they were rejected by the court and again this past weekend, and the commission has issued press releases praising the process in the past. The issue moved to the seven member commission (ORC) after state lawmakers as a whole and along party lines could not agree to the redistricting maps. Under the new redistricting rules that Ohio voters approved at the ballot box in 2015 the maps are for four years because Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature could not agree on 10-year maps.

Ohio lawmakers are term-limited. State law restricts state legislators in Ohio from holding office for more than eight years, and only after a four year period out of office. In conjunction with the redistricting controversy.  bill is pending in the state legislature that seeks to extend this year's primary election by a month, from May 3 to June 7.

clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Fox Charitable Foundation funds trips for seniors to visit area institutions

Cleveland, OH – Every day at Eliza Bryant Village we see the negative effects of COVID-19 on our senior community living in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. We know, through our one-on-one conversations with our participants, that, outside of the people with whom they live, often we are their only source of face-to-face contact for many of the seniors who attend our Adult Day program. As soon as restrictions were lifted, we began welcoming our senior community back to Eliza Bryant Village. What is the most difficult to put into words is the sadness, fear and anxiety our residents and staff have experienced during this time. Throughout the pandemic, many of our seniors have had a limited ability to go beyond the immediate neighborhood, except for necessary doctor visits. We are working to change that.

The Village has re-instituted visits to local arts and cultural institutions, including Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Goodtime III, Karamu House, Lolly the Trolley and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, and, most recently, the Greater Cleveland Aquarium. And these trips are funded in part through the generosity of the Fox Charitable Foundation.

Two busloads of seniors explored the Aquarium, observing the exhibits while also enjoying each other’s company in a new and different location. Before the buses ever arrived, participants eagerly gathered in the lobby of the Village’s Inez Myers Senior Outreach & Adult Day Services Center to connect with friends and discuss the day ahead. Several adults expressed their excitement about going out, specifically since most haven’t visited the Greater Cleveland Aquarium in many years.

Upon arrival, participants were so eager to start exploring that they had to be asked to wait until everyone could be escorted into the building. Before long, the years seemed to slip away, replaced by wonder and awe. While the Aquarium’s shark exhibit is always a crowd-pleaser, it was perhaps the eels darting in and out of their pipes that elicited the most excitement.

The Village’s Inez Myers Senior Outreach & Adult Day Services Center offers one of the most comprehensive adult day programs in Cuyahoga County, providing seniors a safe environment with structured activities to enhance and enrich their daily lives. Programs are specially tailored to assist our participants with a wide variety of activities that help maintain their independence, promote feelings of self-worth and stay in their home longer.

Adult Day Services at Eliza Bryant Village are offered Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., offering a daily routine to participants and respite for caregivers who may need time to work, relax or take care of other obligations. We also provide daily transportation to our facility for programming.

Our Adult Day Services Center has a limited number of spaces available. To learn more about our Adult Day Services, to enroll a loved one, or to make a donation, visit www.elizabryant.org or call 216-361-6141.

clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.