Mayoral Primaries
today we vote on who we want to vote for. the primaries for city mayor weed out two candidates for clevelanders to decide between in november. here's a quick overview of the 8 options (complete with my own personal bias and spin, of course).
Anthony Brown: this guy doesn't stand a chance. a former city auditer under mike white, brown offers few new ideas and even less experience. he does, however, possess an admirable and powerful knowledge of the city's budget. still though, when a candidate's biggest claim to fame is the cowboy hat that he wore to last week's debate at the city club, there's problems.
Michael Nelson: this lawyer's level of experience makes brown look like a seasoned veteran. he is however, very active in the community, and the president of cleveland's chapter of '100 black men', a national mentoring organization that just 2 weeks ago brought bill cosby and his self-responsibility message to town. his biggest goal is to end mayoral control of the school system, an authority first granted to mike white, and to return to an elected school board so that the citizens get their voice heard on issues regarding their children's educations. my take? the citizens have already voiced their opinions about their children's educations many times in the past. they don't care. nelson's got a fresh perspective, but doesn't seem to understand the way things work in city hall, and doesn't really warrant a second look on the ballot.
Bill Patmon: patmon was a city councilman for 12 years, but lost the trust of his ward, and hasn't been involved in public service since 2001. i actually agree with his stances on several key issues (no to casinos, no to wal-mart, yes to lakefront development, et al), but his extended absence from the city's inner-workings and his extraordinarilly anemic campaign make him irrelevant in this vote.
David Lynch: current lawyer, and former mayor of euclid, lynch is well educated. the experience as euclid's head guy is nice, and he's got a lot of energy, and is a good public speaker, but he's only recently moved to cleveland, so you have to question his commitment, motivation, and knowledge of the city. considering that his big plan to save cleveland is to "blow up parking meters" so that the city becomes more inviting, i highly doubt that lynch is fully aware of what he's getting himself into.
Robert Triozzi: former municipal court judge, triozzi is credited with being a thoughtful decision maker, and is one of the more driven candidates out of the bunch. he's also got the nicest website, but it's been down lately, though the blog is still functional. as a testiment to the positive attitude triozzi brings to the campaign, he held a fundraiser concert known as 'triozzifest' starring local rock megastar, michael stanley. triozzi's very likable and full of vigor, though i disagree with a number of his opinions regarding city development. still, he holds a very enthusiastic stance on protecting, educating, and developing the city's children, which i love. triozzi probably won't win that many votes in the primary, but i do hope that he gets a job somewhere in city hall with whoever does become our next mayor.
James Draper: cleveland's former public safety director has been campaigning ambitiously with billboards and bus ads all over the city. he's got west side support, and is a union-man in a union town. he has diverse work experience as a police officer, lawyer, city administrator, and board member on multiple social service organizations. ideally, his work as safety director would afford him an advantageous position when it comes time to difuse the tensions arising from within the city's race-torn firefighting ranks, and also between the city's police and citizens who are at odds after police shootings and reports of other violations of officer conduct. Draper comes off as a disagreeable old man (64 yr), speaking out against popular opinions like redeloping burke lakefront airport for public use and refusing to defend cleveland's residency laws, which mandate that city workers live in the city. what draper does possess over his opponents, however, is a strong opinion with an actual direction. he may be short on novel ideas, but draper is the kind of man to powerfully take charge of the city's reigns.
Frank Jackson: the city council president has been endorsed by many of the city's 21 council members, as well as congress woman stephanie tubbs jones, a staple and stalwart in the city's black community. jackson is soft-spoken, and hardly the most charismatic or commanding personality in the election, but he understands city hall, is a lifelong clevelander, a dedicated advocate for the poor, and served on a city wide scale as council's chair of the city's community development, economic development, and finance committees. i have been disappointed however in how little jackson has said in the last month in regards to the issues, and how he seemingly intentionally worked his position as council head for political purposes the second he decided to run against jane campbell. jackson has also been pegged as anti-business, but his positions within council's committees would indicate that he does in fact understand big-business. frank jackson is very quiet, but a very good man, who has the experience and name recognition to give jane her biggest challenge. hopefully, if he does move on to the election's final vote, he will open up more to the citizens and take official stances on the issues.
Jane Campbell: as incumbent, campbell has had the best experience of all the candidates, actually being mayor of cleveland. after a very rocky first two years in office, campbell was able to guide the city through very positive gains in employment, housing, and technology. additionally however, campbell is equally held responsible for the failing schools, income problems, and failed city programs. after 3 years of being charged with ineffective and directionless leadership, jane tried to jam as much executive decision making in her term's final year as she possibly could. these efforts resulted in a failed scheme to get casinos into cleveland, underhanded tactics to get a wal-mart within city limits, and a half-heartedly misguided levy election that was voted down miserably. in the absense of viable options, i voted for jane four years ago, since she had the greatest administrative experience as county commissioner. but the last four years have been difficult for cleveland under her leadership. and while i will admit that she has done a much better job in the second half of this term, as she's cleaned up much of city hall, i no longer trust jane campbell to guide cleveland in positive directions.
verdict:
i do feel that cleveland needs a change in direction, and jane campbell is too concerned with tooting her own horn and trying to win elections while sending her own children to school in shaker heights, to provide the city with the kind of honest, direct, innovative leadership that she needs. rather, i support either jackson, draper, or triozzi in the primary, and hope that in the month that follows, the two that survive will be able to develop a more stable and thought out plan to lead our city.
Anthony Brown: this guy doesn't stand a chance. a former city auditer under mike white, brown offers few new ideas and even less experience. he does, however, possess an admirable and powerful knowledge of the city's budget. still though, when a candidate's biggest claim to fame is the cowboy hat that he wore to last week's debate at the city club, there's problems.
Michael Nelson: this lawyer's level of experience makes brown look like a seasoned veteran. he is however, very active in the community, and the president of cleveland's chapter of '100 black men', a national mentoring organization that just 2 weeks ago brought bill cosby and his self-responsibility message to town. his biggest goal is to end mayoral control of the school system, an authority first granted to mike white, and to return to an elected school board so that the citizens get their voice heard on issues regarding their children's educations. my take? the citizens have already voiced their opinions about their children's educations many times in the past. they don't care. nelson's got a fresh perspective, but doesn't seem to understand the way things work in city hall, and doesn't really warrant a second look on the ballot.
Bill Patmon: patmon was a city councilman for 12 years, but lost the trust of his ward, and hasn't been involved in public service since 2001. i actually agree with his stances on several key issues (no to casinos, no to wal-mart, yes to lakefront development, et al), but his extended absence from the city's inner-workings and his extraordinarilly anemic campaign make him irrelevant in this vote.
David Lynch: current lawyer, and former mayor of euclid, lynch is well educated. the experience as euclid's head guy is nice, and he's got a lot of energy, and is a good public speaker, but he's only recently moved to cleveland, so you have to question his commitment, motivation, and knowledge of the city. considering that his big plan to save cleveland is to "blow up parking meters" so that the city becomes more inviting, i highly doubt that lynch is fully aware of what he's getting himself into.
Robert Triozzi: former municipal court judge, triozzi is credited with being a thoughtful decision maker, and is one of the more driven candidates out of the bunch. he's also got the nicest website, but it's been down lately, though the blog is still functional. as a testiment to the positive attitude triozzi brings to the campaign, he held a fundraiser concert known as 'triozzifest' starring local rock megastar, michael stanley. triozzi's very likable and full of vigor, though i disagree with a number of his opinions regarding city development. still, he holds a very enthusiastic stance on protecting, educating, and developing the city's children, which i love. triozzi probably won't win that many votes in the primary, but i do hope that he gets a job somewhere in city hall with whoever does become our next mayor.
James Draper: cleveland's former public safety director has been campaigning ambitiously with billboards and bus ads all over the city. he's got west side support, and is a union-man in a union town. he has diverse work experience as a police officer, lawyer, city administrator, and board member on multiple social service organizations. ideally, his work as safety director would afford him an advantageous position when it comes time to difuse the tensions arising from within the city's race-torn firefighting ranks, and also between the city's police and citizens who are at odds after police shootings and reports of other violations of officer conduct. Draper comes off as a disagreeable old man (64 yr), speaking out against popular opinions like redeloping burke lakefront airport for public use and refusing to defend cleveland's residency laws, which mandate that city workers live in the city. what draper does possess over his opponents, however, is a strong opinion with an actual direction. he may be short on novel ideas, but draper is the kind of man to powerfully take charge of the city's reigns.
Frank Jackson: the city council president has been endorsed by many of the city's 21 council members, as well as congress woman stephanie tubbs jones, a staple and stalwart in the city's black community. jackson is soft-spoken, and hardly the most charismatic or commanding personality in the election, but he understands city hall, is a lifelong clevelander, a dedicated advocate for the poor, and served on a city wide scale as council's chair of the city's community development, economic development, and finance committees. i have been disappointed however in how little jackson has said in the last month in regards to the issues, and how he seemingly intentionally worked his position as council head for political purposes the second he decided to run against jane campbell. jackson has also been pegged as anti-business, but his positions within council's committees would indicate that he does in fact understand big-business. frank jackson is very quiet, but a very good man, who has the experience and name recognition to give jane her biggest challenge. hopefully, if he does move on to the election's final vote, he will open up more to the citizens and take official stances on the issues.
Jane Campbell: as incumbent, campbell has had the best experience of all the candidates, actually being mayor of cleveland. after a very rocky first two years in office, campbell was able to guide the city through very positive gains in employment, housing, and technology. additionally however, campbell is equally held responsible for the failing schools, income problems, and failed city programs. after 3 years of being charged with ineffective and directionless leadership, jane tried to jam as much executive decision making in her term's final year as she possibly could. these efforts resulted in a failed scheme to get casinos into cleveland, underhanded tactics to get a wal-mart within city limits, and a half-heartedly misguided levy election that was voted down miserably. in the absense of viable options, i voted for jane four years ago, since she had the greatest administrative experience as county commissioner. but the last four years have been difficult for cleveland under her leadership. and while i will admit that she has done a much better job in the second half of this term, as she's cleaned up much of city hall, i no longer trust jane campbell to guide cleveland in positive directions.
verdict:
i do feel that cleveland needs a change in direction, and jane campbell is too concerned with tooting her own horn and trying to win elections while sending her own children to school in shaker heights, to provide the city with the kind of honest, direct, innovative leadership that she needs. rather, i support either jackson, draper, or triozzi in the primary, and hope that in the month that follows, the two that survive will be able to develop a more stable and thought out plan to lead our city.
posted by clavin at
11:39 PM
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