The Hangover: Garson, Democrats' new chairman, promises integrity

"The Hangover," my piece on Stuart Garson, the Cuyahoga County Democrats' new chairman, is out now in the August issue of Cleveland Magazine.

Jimmy Dimora was the good-timey, devil-may-care Democratic chairman; Garson's the guy stuck cleaning up the place now that the Party's party is over. The trial lawyer and former fund-raising chair for Sherrod Brown is every bit the reluctant volunteer, but he's ready to do his part to restore voters' trust in local Democrats.

"I'm going to have a very low threshold of tolerance for any ill-toward behavior," he told me, including "anybody who's attempting to use their office to enhance their own financial gain."

My Garson piece appears on the Politically Minded page, one of the many alternating elements in Lake Effect, the magazine's front section. Politically Minded debuted in June with this piece by Ryan Dezember on Kenneth Merten, U.S. ambassador to Haiti, who's from Hudson.

Dems pick Bedford's Bob Reid as new sheriff

Democrats chose Bob Reid, Bedford's city manager and safety director, as the new Cuyahoga County sheriff this morning.

Reid (pictured), who was Bedford police chief for 10 years, beat Clayton Harris, police chief and police academy commander at Cuyahoga Community College, by a 280-206 vote. Jimmy Dimora, party chairman and county commissioner, said Reid will likely take over from interim sheriff Frank Bova on Wednesday.

"Professional law enforcement will always be first," Reid promised the county Democrats' central committee members, gathered at downtown's Music Hall, before the vote. "If appointed this morning, I can assure you that the residents of Cuyahoga County will be extremely proud of the Cuyahoga County sheriff's department." Reid also promised diversity in hiring at the sheriff's office. He said he supported the efforts to process county jail prisoners faster, including early release for defendants accused of non-violent felonies.

Reid also said he would listen to his staff and value their input -- which sounds like an everyday promise unless you read today's Plain Dealer story about life under ex-sheriff Gerald McFaul. "Talented people work best when they know their opinion counts," Reid said.

Reid joined the Bedford police in 1975 and worked his way up to police chief, then switched to the civilian side of Bedford City Hall to manage the town for the mayor and city council.

Lakewood Mayor Ed FitzGerald, a Reid supporter, told me he likes Reid's combination of law-enforcement and city management experience. The sheriff's office is "crying out for professional management," FitzGerald said. "He's a good fit."

Dimora presided over the meeting, but FitzGerald told me the party chair had kept a low profile in the race. Though Dimora is reportedly a friend of Reid's, FitzGerald says he did not know of Dimora making any calls to lobby for Reid.

Reid's support came mostly from suburban mayors and councilpeople, while Harris had the backing of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge.

Most suburbs went for Reid, while most Cleveland wards went for Harris. Lots of East Side wards gave all their votes to Harris, and he won a majority in only five suburbs: Cleveland Heights, Fairview Park, East Cleveland, Shaker Heights, and Warrensville Heights. Reid racked up totals such as 30-0 in Strongsville and 11-0 in Middleburg Heights, and also won in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn, Detroit-Shoreway and West Park neighborhoods. Applause broke out when Fairview Park and Cleveland's West Side wards 18 and 19 went for Harris -- which struck me as a sign that Harris supporters were surprised and excited when a community's votes didn't follow racial lines.

Music Hall, the city's beautiful and under-used 1910s theater behind Public Auditorium, looked great in a rare public moment. Stone comedy and tragedy masks smiled and frowned at the crowd from far above the blue stage curtains. The city may sell Music Hall and Public Auditorium to the county this week as part of the convention center deal. Mayor Jackson, who was greeting Democrats on the Mall after the vote, confirmed to me that he hopes to nail down a deal on Monday.

Democrats sweep county offices again

Cuyahoga County's corruption and patronage scandals had very little effect on this week's election. The three county Democrats with Republican challengers beat them as soundly as ever.

Incumbent county commissioner Peter Lawson Jones (pictured) defeated Bay Village Mayor Debbie Sutherland, even though she made the scandals her top issue.

Compare Barack Obama's vote totals in Cuyahoga County to the local races:

President
Barack Obama (D) 441,836 68%
John McCain (R) 196,369 30%
Total 646,994

County Commissioner
Peter Lawson Jones (D) 341,976 62%
Deborah Sutherland (R) 206,319 38%
Total 549,125

County Recorder
Lillian J. Greene (D) 351,454 70%
Cathy Luks (R) 151,438 30%
Total 502,892

Prosecuting Attorney
Bill Mason (D) 402,366 74%
Annette Butler (R) 142,227 26%
Total 544,593

How many people who voted for Obama split their tickets to vote for Sutherland? About 6 percent of the electorate. Sutherland got more votes in Cuyahoga County than McCain, a sign her arguments made some impact, but not nearly enough to break up Democrats' one-party rule.

It's also a sign of Jones' popularity and reputation. Voters knew he is not implicated in the FBI probe. Sutherland's best argument against him was that he had not done enough to curb patronage hiring.

What could ever cause Cuyahoga County voters to elect a Republican to county office again? I think the Democratic candidate would have to be facing a felony charge. (A misdemeanor charge isn't enough, we learned in 2004.)

This doesn't end the debate over the problems in county government. It just shifts it away from the ballot box. The Cuyahoga reform commission's recommendation is due tomorrow. And the FBI probe continues. Indictments of elected officials would cause big change fast.

Annette Butler debates Bill Mason

Annette Butler, the Republican candidate for prosecutor, debated Bill Mason today, trying to convince a City Club audience that the Democratic incumbent ought to go. The debate put Mason under the sort of cross-examination you don't see often in our one-party town.

Butler held up the Sunday and Monday Plain Dealer and read the headlines from the paper's exposé of racial disparities in drug case sentences. The paper found statistics and damning anecdotes that showed black drug defendants in Cuyahoga County getting felony convictions while white drug defendants -- including the sheriff's son -- were convicted of the same or worse offenses but got drug treatment or plea deals and no felony record. (See the stories here and here.)

Mason called the reports "troubling" and "disconcerting" and said he'd find funding to study the issue. The articles placed much of the responsibility on his office, but he said several parts of the justice system influence sentences, including police, the courts, and the probation department. Butler said she'd create standard practices and policies to make sure prosecutors treat defendants equally.

Butler also criticized Mason for his partial resistance to open discovery -- allowing defense attorneys open access to prosecutors' files. She said she'd guarantee open discovery for all defendants. A worker for Cleveland's rape crisis center gave Mason a big assist on this issue, saying she was concerned open discovery wouldn't protect victims and witnesses enough. Mason agreed, while saying he was open to some changes in the rules.

Mason also got grilled about the FBI's county corruption investigation. An audience member asked why the FBI hadn't informed him in advance about the July raid of county offices, and she asked where citizens could go to report corruption in the county, clearly implying she felt they couldn't go to Mason. He said his office has prosecuted 140 "public officials," including policemen and teachers. He said the feds don't always include local law enforcement in raids, and that they understand Mason has an inherent conflict of interest because the prosecutor's office represents county government in civil cases.

The audience also found a few weak spots in Butler's case for herself. A policeman asked Butler if she was going to go easier on defendants charged with possessing crack pipes. She said yes: "It's costing a fortune to prosecute them as felonies," she said. "I'll spend a lot of energy on the bad guys, not a whole lot of it on crack pipe cases." Mason replied he wouldn't choose which laws to prosecute.

Another questioner asked Butler how she would make up for a near-lack of criminal-case experience. She spent 24 years with the U.S. Attorney's office, handling civil matters. Butler said she would draw on her management, trial, and appellate experience and her three years of teaching criminal law. Mason, who suggested last week that Butler wasn't worthy of debating him, avoided criticizing her today, except to say: "I think experience in this office matters a lot."