CLEVELAND, Ohio-As grassroots factions such as The Imperial Women Coalition, in cooperation with the Audacity of H.O.P.E Foundation , The Cleveland African-American Museum Cleveland City Council members, and other community affiliates, prepare for a candidate's debate for Cuyahoga County prosecutor on Thurs. Jan. 5 from 5:30 pm. to 8:00 pm at Lil Africa Party Center at 6816 Superior Ave in Cleveland, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's Largest Newspaper, is fighting with county prosecutor Bill Mason and the Cleveland Call and Post Newspaper on whether the county prosecutor should be appointed rather than elected.
Contacts for the debate, which will be moderated by Cleveland Ward 7 Councilman T.J. Dow and is dubbed "The First Ever Inner City Debate For Cuyahoga County Prosecutor," are Audacity of Hope Foundation Founder Griot Y-Von at 216-355-3374, Cleveland African-American Museum Executive Director Frances Caldwell at 216-421-0929, and Kathy Wray Coleman, Publisher and Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com and the leader of the Imperial Women Coalition at 216-932-3114.
The county prosecutor's candidates are James J. McDonnell, Cleveland Ward 13 Councilman Kevin Kelley, Timothy McGinty, Subodh Chandra, Stephanie Hall, and Robert Triozzi, the latter three of whom have conformed attendance for the debate and the others of whom have been invited and are expected to participate too.
Panelists for debate questions to the candidates, in addition to the audience at a 30 minute segment after the debate, include Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson, Community Activists Art McKoy and Ada Averyhart, Criminal Defense Attorney Michael Nelson, Ward 6 Precinct Committeeman John Boyd, Cleveland Jobs With Justice Executive Director Debbie Kline and East Cleveland City Councilman Nate Martin.
The dispute with Mason and the Plain Dealer unraveled when Brent Larkin, a retired editorial page director for the newspaper that still writes editorials, wrote an editorial on Dec. 4 calling for the county charter to be amended to take away the right of voters to continue to elect the county prosecutor and for County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a former Lakewood mayor and FBI agent, to appoint people to the position.
Some sponsoring and participating organizations include: Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.clevelandurbannews.com), The Imperial Women Coalition, The Cleveland African-American Museum, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, Occupy Cleveland, Occupy the Hood, Occupy the Dream, Members of Black on Black Crime Inc. and The Carl Stokes Brigade, Peace in the Hood, Enlightened Jewels, Spirit of Sankofa Center for Women, The Social Justice Committee of Greater Cleveland, The Urban Justice Society, The Underground Railroad Society, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, People For The Imperial Act, The Spot Youth Organization, Organize Ohio, Govabuse.Org, The Women's Federation, The Oppressed People's Nation, The Family Connection Center, The People's Forum, The Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, The Committee To Bring Home Jamela and Jamyla, Cleveland Jobs With Justice, Ohio Family Rights, The National Organization For Parental Equality, The Joaquin Hicks Real People's Movement, Bailout The People Movement, The People's Fight Back Center, Revolution Books, The Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network, Cleveland F.I.S.T., Cleveland City Council Members, The Northeast Ohio's Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Divine Mind Grind Inc., The Committee For The Bronaugh Sisters, The Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party, and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). (Note: The sponsor list is expanding and will be increased by the next press statement before the debate)
Under state law the county prosecutor recommends indictments for the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury and prosecutes people indicted on felony and other criminal charges coupled with representing the county and its employees in civil litigation, if the employee were acting within the scope of his or her employment.
Outraged by the editorial Mason, who is not seeking a fourth term next year, shot off a letter to the Call and Post, Ohio's Black Press, blasting Larkin and the Plain Dealer.
"To start, the appointment of a prosecutor would destroy the independence necessary for effective law enforcement," wrote Mason in a letter to the Call and Post that ran in its Dec. 21 weekly edition. "On a daily basis prosecuting attorneys and their assistants make a decision [to file charges] on a commitment to justice. Prosecutors should not and cannot request permission of an employer, or worst yet be ordered by an employer, to file charges or to dismiss charges that may not be consistent with that mission."
Data compiled by the Cleveland NAACP show that Blacks in Cuyahoga County are disproportionately prosecuted and given harsher sentences by the 34 judges of the general division of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas than their similarly situated White counterparts for convictions on the same crimes.
Published by nationally renowned boxing promoter Don King, with Connie Harper as its assistant publisher and editor, the Call and Post has had influence on major political actions since its inception into the news circuit 95 years ago.
Plain Dealer Editor Debra Adams Simmons, the newspaper's first Black female editor who has increased Black employees there since replacing former editor Susan Goldberg in 2012, could not be reached for comment.
A Democrat, FitzGerald swept into power after a 2010 election with Mason's help pursuant to a new county charter where voters swapped the three-member Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners and an elected county sheriff, recorder, coroner, auditor, clerk of courts and treasurer for a county executive and an 11 member Cuyahoga County Council. The sheriff, coroner and clerk of courts are now appointed coupled with a fiscal agent.
Mason angered Democratic Party officials and Black leaders who opposed the new form of government dubbed Issue 6 because he and a group of Whites crafted it without any input from the Black community, Black leaders say.
Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes, also general counsel for the Call and Post, said then that Mason was hurting the Black community with Mason countering that rampant corruption among elected county officials warranted a new form of county government and that the local NAACP president was being "disingenuous. "
Forbes responded by putting State Sen Nina Turner (D-25), a Cleveland Democrat and the only prominent Black elected official out of the county that endorsed Issue 6, in an Aunt Jemima suit on the cover of the newspaper., a decision that garnered national news coverage.
And other Black leaders were vocal against Issue 6 too, saying that FitzGerald has too much power.
"They gave all the power to one White man," said state Rep. Barbara Boyd (D-9) after FitzGerald won election last year.
Mason, who has quarreled with FitzGerald and the county council on the role of Cuyahoga County Inspector General Nailah Byrd on civil litigation matters that Mason says his office by state law controls such as representing judges and other county officials, has not endorsed a candidate for the March 6 Democratic primary for county prosecutor.
The winner of next year's Democratic primary is likely to be the next prosecutor since the chances of a Republican winning the seat in the general election are slim to none.
