Pictured are Richmond Heights Mayor Miesha Headen and Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairman Stuart Garson
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog. Email:editor@clevelandurbannews.com, Tel: (216) 659-0473). Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 20 year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio- Democratic Richmond Heights Mayor Miesha Headen, the city's first Black female mayor and the only Black female mayor in Cuyahoga County, was recalled by voters on Tuesday after Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairman Stuart Garson would not support her, and after the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper, led by Reporter Sara Dorn, went on a mission to seek her removal from office.
The recall election was close with Headen losing by only a 410 vote margin,
Voters supported the recall 1573 votes to 1163 votes, according to unofficial results by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, which will certify the outcome on Oct 7.
Headen had only been in office for 10 months and was elected in a four way non-partisan race last year where none of the candidates got the majority vote, and where incumbent Republican 24-year Republican mayor Daniel Ursu lost with some 75 percent of the voters casting ballots for other candidates.
By the city’s charter, Republican Council President David Roach will serve as mayor for the remainder of Headen's four-year unexpired term.
Headen told Cleveland Urban News.Com during an interview that the county Democratic party needs to do more for Black elected officials and those seeking office, a sentiment supported by the Cleveland NAACP, which has taken on Garson in the past year.
The local Cleveland NAACP says that not enough Blacks work for the county Democratic party, and that Democratic Black candidates seeking office or those running for reelection often are not getting enough support.
"The Cuyahoga County Democratic Party has not given me support and they have not supported state Senator Nina Turner in her race," said Headen, 42, and married with two young children.
A Cleveland Democrat, Turner is running for Ohio Secretary of State in a close race against the well-funded Republican incumbent Jon Husted.
A middle class Cleveland suburb, Richmond Heights has a population of some 10,000 people, and is roughly half Black and half White.
A group of residents had submitted enough signatures for certification by the county board of elections for the special recall election, which cost taxpayers about $23, 000.
Democratic operative Charles E. Bibb Sr, a member of the East Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustees and a former East Cleveland city councilman, blamed the Tea Party for Headen’s loss.
An Internet website dubbed www.recallmayorheaden.com, genuine or not, sought the Black mayor’s ouster, and names Husted as pushing for the recall.
“The Tea Party is behind this,” Bibb told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio’s most read digital Black newspaper.
Also gunning for Headen was the powerful law firm of Walter Haverfield.
Among others, Headen fired city law director F. Scott Hunt and city prosecutor Jonathan Greenberg, both of whom are attorneys with the Haverfield law firm, a law firm that Headen says represents more municipalities, townships and villages of Cuyahoga County than any other law firm.
The mayor's job is a part-time position that pays $15,000 annually.
Headen told supporters at a rally on Sunday that she had enhanced outcomes for the city in the short time that she has been mayor, including economic development, effective personnel changes, and initiatives that have served to raise the credit rating in the city so that it can function financially.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
