By Kathy Wray Coleman, Publisher, Editor-n-Chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper
CLEVELAND,Ohio- The Cleveland Chapter NAACP will hold its every-two-years election of branch officers on Sunday, Nov. 11 from 1 pm to 5 pm at the school behind The Cathedral Church of God in Christ in Cleveland, 2940 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
To vote members must have their dues paid 30 days in advance of the election, according to organizational bylaws. (Editor's note: For more information contact the Cleveland NAACP offices at 216-231-6260)
The election is the first of its kind in terms of enthusiasm since former Cleveland NAACP President George L. Forbes (pictured in eye glasses and grey suit), a former city council president who lost a bid for Cleveland mayor against Michael R. White in 1989, reigned as president of the local branch of the nation's most renowned Civil Rights organization.
Branch president from 1992 until his official resignation in April of this year, Forbes, 81, leaves a legacy with the organization of leadership, and controversy.
Cleveland NAACP officials said that a representative from the National NAACP will help supervise the election, activity that is not extraordinary for such an election.
Those competing for branch president are Real Estate Entrepreneur Clint Bradley (pictured in blue tie), Executive Committee Member and Long time NAACP Affiliate Jocelyn Travis (pictured), and the Rev. Hilton Smith (pictured in red tie), senior vice president for corporate and community affairs at Turner Construction Company in Cleveland and an associate minister at Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Cleveland.
The only other contested race is that of third vice president, which pits retired Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge Sara Harper, a former branch president, against Dr. Eugene Jordan, currently the second vice president and a well known East Cleveland dentist and community activist.
The third person in that race is Danielle Sydnor.
Jordan, a longtime Forbes ally, is under fire by some members of Cleveland's Old Black Political Guard for allegedly speaking to the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper on the nominations committee process as flawed initially because some people nominated to be on the committee were not verified as members.