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

Pictured are Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, President Barack Obama (Black man in blue tie), Ohio state Rep. John Barnes Jr (D-12) (in orange tie), Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald (in red tie), Ohio Secretary of State John Husted (White man in blue tie),  U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. (White man in judicial robe), and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (grey-haired Black man in judicial robe)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a 5-4 ruling that President Obama and congressional Black Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-11) of Ohio, who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Black members of Congress, are calling an unprecedented step backwards to decades of Civil Rights gains.

The nation's high court, in Shelby County v. Holder, invalidated the portion of the Voting Rights Act enacted with other provisions in the 1960s that required 15 states that historically discriminated against Blacks to get federal approval to change state voting laws. And though Ohio is not among those states, it is impacted relative to other provisions that pertain to all states across America.

"Today's decision invalidating one of its core provisions upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent," said Obama in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr (pictured), the swing vote that won for Obama for the Healthcare Affordability Act just months before last year's presidential election, also a spit 5-4 decision, said that the formula for determining compliance with the Voting Rights Act by the affected states was outdated and antiquated. The justices said that the voting rights provision at issue, under section 4 of the Voting Rights Act,  must be updated to deal with the "changing times."

How Ohio fits into any revised formula is not quite clear.

Justice Clarence Thomas, the only Black on the U.S. Supreme Court, sided with the majority, and drew disdain from Minnesota state Rep. Ryan Winkler, who called Thomas an "Uncle Tom," a historical term used in the Black community for Blacks that are subservient to the White establishment and sellout to White racism.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the dissenting opinion where the justice brilliantly chastised her colleagues that supported the elimination of a watchdog provision that she and the three other liberal justices of the high court say is necessary in voting and in a plethora of other cases, including cases challenging discrimination in public education.

Flanked by members of the Congressional Black Caucus including seasoned congressional legislators Reps. Clyde Rayburn of South Carolina, John Conyers of Michigan and John Lewis of Georgia, Fudge, a Warrensville Hts. Democrat, said at a press conference yesterday that the controversial decision represents "one of the worst days for Civil Rights and civil discourse in this country's history."

Fudge called for a federal law that addresses Ohio in particular saying that efforts by Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to stop weekend voting coupled with other shenanigans during last year's presidential election to target those that use it most, mainly minorities and poor people, lends credence to the harm the court's decision brings to the Black community, and to poor people.

Husted's efforts though were circumvented after the Obama for America Campaign sued Husted and won in federal court, and on appeal to the Sixth Circuit, but on the provision that permitting weekend voting for military personnel and not for other Ohioans was inequitable and thus unconstitutional.

The president went on to beat Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for reelection to a second four year term after winning Ohio, a pivotal state for presidential elections.

But the stink behind Husted's scheme to silence the Black and Democratic vote in hopes of pushing Romney to victory upset Ohio Democrats, and outraged Black elected officials, including Fudge and Black members of the Ohio General Assembly.

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision is extremely disappointing and an effort to keep all voters  from engaging in the political process," said state Rep. John Barnes Jr. (D-12), a Cleveland Democrat and an Obama delegate at last year's Democratic National Convention.

Some Cuyahoga County elected officials are upset too.

County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a Democratic candidate for the 2014 race for Ohio Governor, voiced dismay at the high court's decision.

"I'm incredibly disappointed in today's Supreme Court ruling, which is a step backwards for voting rights and weakens the progress we've made toward equal opportunity for all," said FitzGerald. "The court's decision implies that an individual's race and zip code no longer have an effect on equal access to the ballot."

From The Metro Desk Of 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 state Sen. Shirley Smith (D-21) (pictured)), a Cleveland Democrat who this month formally announced her candidacy for Democratic Cuyahoga County Executive, a seat held now by 2014 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald, would be the first Black and first female to hold the post if she wins the 2014 Democratic primary and goes on to win the general election later that year.

“We must work together on a county and regional basis to tackle our shared challenges and pursue future economic development opportunities,”  Smith told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper. “During the campaign I will emphasize the need to address foreclosed and abandoned properties and strengthen the health, human and social services provided to the residents of Cuyahoga County.”

Under a charter amendment that voters adopted in 2009, an elected county executive,  who gets paid $175,000 annually,  and an elected 11-member council, a part time job that pays $45,000 yearly,  are the Cuyahoga County governance bodies.

The controversial change in county governance, which Black elected officials and Black leaders overwhelmingly opposed, took effect in 2011 when FitzGerald took office. It took the county from a three- member county Board of Commissioners and the once elected but now appointed positions of county sheriff, clerk of courts, corner, engineer, auditor, treasurer and recorder to a county executive and county council, a  governance venue separate from the the 19- member Cleveland City Council, whose members collectively adopt city ordinances.

Smith has the support of several Black elected officials of greater Cleveland including state Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10) of Cleveland,  Cleveland councilpersons  Kevin Conwell, Mamie Mitchell and Zack Reed, East Cleveland Council members Dr. Joy Jordan, Barbara Thomas, Mansell Baker, and Shantell Lewis, and East Cleveland School Board Member Una H.R. Keenon, a retired East Cleveland judge who leads the Black Women's Political Action Committee.

The state lawmaker, whose bills include legislation on breast cancer awareness and a  state law that took effect this year that permits the sealing of Ohio criminal records (Senate Bill 337), including a felony and misdemeanor or two misdemeanors,  is the only Black in the race thus far . To date she faces a 2014 Democratic primary election  against state Rep. Armond Budish (D-9) of Beachwood,  a licensed attorney  with likely support from Ohio Democratic Party Chairperson Chris Redfern  , and former county sheriff Bob Reid, also a Democrat, and a former Bedford City Manager whom FitzGerald fired this year from his appointed sheriff's job.

Reid can brag of endorsements from some eight suburban mayors of cities such as Bedford and Bedford Hts. But with no support from Black elected officials, and endorsements from only a handful of suburban mayors from Cuyahoga County, Ohio's largest of 88 counties statewide, his candidacy might be an uphill battle, and an effort to annoy FitzGerald for firing him as sheriff.

Among Black movers and shakers of greater Cleveland  Budish enjoys support from political strategist Arnold Pinkney, an integral part of the Old Black Political Guard That guard, however, some of whom elected the first Black mayor of a major American city when Carl Stokes won for Cleveland mayor in 1967, is narrowing with age, and so is its clout.

The Old Black Political Guard does have clout though, but so does Smith, and sometimes across partisan lines.

Republican Gov John Kasich helped Smith, a smart and strong lawmaker, and a diva whom her peers and some constituents say dresses to the nines, win Republican state legislators to get her criminal records sealing bill (SB 337) through, an unprecedented measure most will agree.

Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Hts Democrat, has not taken sides yet. Her treasured endorsement as a member of Congress who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus speaks volumes.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is being quiet on the race for now too. And county council president C. Ellen Conally, a retired Cleveland Municipal Court judge, is likely not running, political pundits say. Black leaders want her to stay put so Blacks can keep that seat, they say.

A two-term Black mayor of a major American majority Black city  running for reelection this year who faces, among others,  millionaire businessman Ken Lanci for a September 10 non-partisan primary election Jackson, 67, has substantial political influence And he has  Cleveland votes he can toss to the candidate he supports, and enormous power across racial lines.

From The Metro Desk Of 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-Democratic Cleveland Mayoral Candidate Ken Lanc (pictured)i kicked off his campaign for mayor in hopes of unseating popular two term Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson before a crowd of some 150 supporters at the Embassy Suites in Independence on Tuesday evening. (Editor's Note: Lanci will distribute food and other goods to residents on Imperial Ave in Cleveland with Community Activists Art McKoy and others at 5 pm on Tuesday, June 25. Imperial Ave. is infamous internationally and across the country where 11 Black women were found murdered on the street on the city's largely Black east side in the home of since convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell, who sits on death row waiting for the Ohio Supreme Court to here his appeal. For more information on this event contact Art McKoy of Black on Black Crime Inc. at 216-253-4070).

In addition to political strategist  Larry Rush, others at the campaign kickoff include Carl Stokes Brigade President James Barrett,  who is a former city of Cleveland safety director, and local area community activists Art McKoy, Ada Averyhart, Amy Hurd, Willie Stokes, Denise Taylor, Brett Jackson, Al Porter, and Donna Walker Brown, among a group of other community activists.

Lanci took on Jackson in his campaign speech Tuesday saying that unemployment in the city has gone from 27 percent when Jackson took office in 2006 to 34 percent now, and that the public schools that the mayor controls under state law met three of the State Board of Education Standards in 2006 and none currently under Jackson. He said that the city's crime rate has more than doubled in recent years and that the quality of life for residents under the Jackson administration has dwindled.

From The Metro Desk Of 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- Democratic Cleveland Mayoral Candidate Ken Lanic (pictured) will host an appreciation dinner at 5 pm this evening at Embassy Suites in Independence on Rockside Woods Blvd. for those community activists and others that support his candidacy and that helped him collect petition signatures to get on the ballot. For more information contact the Lanci for Cleveland Mayor Campaign east side coordinatorat 216-501-7368.

"We filed petitions last week, the campaign is gaining momentum, and the event this evening is to show appreciation for campaign supporters, including people that helped collect petition signatures" said Vernon Bryant, Lanci's east side campaign coordinator.

The millionaire businessman who grew up in a housing project on Cleveland's majority Black east side filed petitions to run for mayor last week with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

County board of elections officials said that the petitions are being verified for potential verification and that candidates for Cleveland mayor need 3,000 signatures to make the ballot this year. Cleveland City Council candidates need 200 verified signatures and the petitions filing deadline for mayor and city council is June 27.

Lanci, who ran unsuccessfully for Cuyahoga County executive in 2010, then as an Independent, hopes to unseat two term mayor Frank Jackson,  a Democrat who is seeking reelection this year.

The nonpartisan runoffs elections for Cleveland mayor and Cleveland City Council are September 10 with a general election on November 5.