With the passage of Issue 6, Cuyahoga County government gets rid of a bunch of career politicians.  Yay.  And it creates a bunch of new ones.  At the moment, it’s unclear who any of them will be.

 

Most of the speculation since passage has been about candidates for the County Executive position, which will soon be the most powerful political position in all of Northeast Ohio.  It would be quite a surprise if the actual winner of the seat comes from outside the obvious and old crowd currently on the list. But there are some wildcards.

For one, the FBI isn’t done looking at county government. Won’t be anytime soon. And passage of Issue 6 may have just given them another angle to look at. 

Prosecutor Bill (don’t call me ‘William’) Mason stitched the whole Issue 6 thing up rather nicely for himself with the help of a lot of money from a lot of rich people. The only elected countywide position remaining after Issue 6 beside the county executive is Mason’s prosecutor position, an office that controls the largest pool of politically-minded employs in Cuyahoga. Conveniently, Mason can run safely for the county executive seat without jeopardizing the prosecutor position he holds. Mason’s ally in Parma, Mayor Dean DiPiero, could be looking at the county executive position, too, even as subpoenas spread over Parma like lake effect snow. Rumors have hit fever pitch that Mason is using Issue 6’s passage to help Lt. Governor Lee Fisher stage a coup of the county Democratic Party, in service to Fisher’s May primary campaign for US Senate.

A federal prosecutor knee deep in subpoenas and helpful guilty pleas from people surrounding both Mason and DiPiero, might find this coupe d’etat very, very interesting.             The Plain Dealer is pimping Matt Dolan, Indians owner Larry Dolan’s Republican fortunate son.  I wouldn’t bet on it.  Not only would Dolan have to move from Geauga to Cuyahoga County, but if Ohio Republicans take over the Ohio House in 2010, which looks increasingly likely, Dolan would be a front runner for Speaker of the House.  Scratch him from the county executive race.

Then there are the laughable jokers who just love seeing their name in print. Chris Ronayne? Please. Ronayne went from the failed Jane Campbell administration to University Circle Inc., without making a stop on any ballot.  Mentioning Ronayne for this race, as the PD did last week, is fantasy.

Entrepreneur Ken Lanci, according to some, is considering a quixotic run at the windmills. Consider him the dark horse in this strange Preakness.

Former commissioner Tim McCormack got mentioned. Is he still alive? Irish last names work on the county level ballot, which I’m quite certain is the only reason McCormack would think he has the support to win. Ask him in an honest moment, even McCormack himself might admit that.

State Rep. Nina Turner’s chief attribute, aside from supporting Issue 6, would be that she is a she. And African American. At least she’s elected to something. Maybe we’re getting warmer.

Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman keeps getting mentioned.  Gruzz. I don’t really understand why. Cimperman’s never run countywide, did poorly against Dennis Kucinich in the primary last year, and rather enjoys being councilman for downtown, Tremont, and Ohio City. Who wouldn’t? Forget Cimperman. 

Ironically, the crop of elected officials who opposed Issue 6 is probably the most likely group to produce a winner, largely because they have been on the ballot a lot, and are Democrats.  County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones led opposition to Issue 6, and is one of the few countywide electeds who seems clean. Pencil him in. Fellow Commissioner Tim Hagan has a good Irish name and runs for stuff all the time. He’s a maybe. Lakewood Mayor Ed Fitzgerald has a nice Irish name, too, that could work! 

But Treasurer Jim Rokakis is the most likely frontrunner. 

Rokakis is a good Democrat who will have an inside track on support from Democratic constituency groups like labor, the black community, and local ward leaders. Rokakis also seems untouched by the FBI fun, has been around forever, is a proven administrator and good government type. If Rokakis runs, he probably wins, even if Mason runs (God help us).

But the real interesting races will be for the eleven county council seats, largely because it’s hard to imagine any sitting politician giving up their current gig for this new seat. Those positions will likely become the playground for bigger power brokers to create a nice farm team of stooges culled from their ward leader lists (a bigger Water Department, if you will).

First, there’s the money. County council seats are budgeted at a $45,000 salary, which is about a $20,000 pay cut for a Cleveland city councilman or an Ohio State Senator, a $10,000 pay cut for a member of the Ohio House, and a real big drop for any sitting mayor. Who wants a big pay cut?

Second, there’s the issue of power. City councilmen, even in small suburbs, wield some serious power, locally. They can get roads paved when they want, zoning decisions, etc. If a councilman for, say, Berea, moves to county council, what do they control? Like all new devolved legislatures, the power relationships between the new county council and the executive, localities, the state, the federal government, etc. will be decided organically over time in an evolving, living political environment. It’s possible county council executives will eventually have real power, but that is not immediately apparent. Local politicians who must leave behind an electoral base for a stab at the county council seat probably won’t like taking that type of risk unless they can do so from a safe seat.

It’s also possible that the eleven council races will be the arena for a rebuilding of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party at the grassroots. Bill Mason is congenitally incapable of avoiding the vacuum these eleven new seats represent – they are ripe for Mason to attempt building more of a power base (a similar restructuring of power worked will for Chancellor Palpatine, after all). 

Others will certainly notice this vacuum, and use it to flex their own muscle. County Republicans will use the eleven seats to plant seeds for long term candidacies at the local, county, and congressional levels. Good luck with all that.

Bottom line? My money is on Rokakis at county executive, and an entertaining circus in the eleven council seats.

-Tim Russo tim@clevelandindependent.com

Real reform!