Patmon gets newspaper endorsement -- from Renner's Independent

"Bill Patmon Must Win!" shouts the cover of The Independent, the new alternative newspaper from ex-Scene writer James Renner. I'm sure the mayoral challenger would rather have gotten endorsed by the Plain Dealer or Crain's or the Call & Post -- Renner's endorsement editorial, titled "How you should vote if you're not a total d-bag," is unlikely to pop up on billpatmonformayor.com. {Update, 10/29: Wrong!}

Still, it must have cheered Patmon up to travel the city this week and see his proud, slightly smiling face next to the cover type, "Why this man should be Cleveland's next mayor." (The October issue, available at several bars and bookstores, is the third edition of the alternative monthly, which includes lots of cheeky political coverage and the whodunit crime investigations Renner's best known for.)

Jackson, Renner argues, has "fumbled away any real involvement in the Med Mart deal, a development opportunity the city should have had a say in." Patmon, he says, "has a plan, in fact several, for Cleveland ... real, doable improvements." The challenger outlines a few in an interview with the paper: using Cleveland Public Power to create green jobs, creating an immigrant welcome center, and breaking the school system into five sub-districts.

Two weeks before Election Day, Patmon is tearing into Jackson on the Cleveland schools, calling his education record "a dismal failure." Patmon has an op-ed in Sunday's Plain Dealer that notes the city's schools have a much lower graduation rate than any other big Ohio school district. Cleveland's district has more administrators and pays its top administrators more than the Columbus school district, which has more students enrolled, he adds.

I'd link to Patmon's op-ed, but it hasn't been posted on cleveland.com. His op-ed from last weekend, criticizing the plan to move the port, is online, along with the mayor's pro-port op-ed.

Wearable satire: McFaul pin, O'Malley and Mason T-shirts now on sale

In this economy, unemployed journalists have to hustle. Former Scene/Free Times staff writer James Renner, in a fine display of local entrepreneurial spirit, has come out with a clothing and memorabilia line satirizing some of Cleveland's favorite politicians.

Choose from a Gerald McFaul clambake button, a "Free O'Malley!" T-shirt, or a bumper sticker proclaiming "I was subpoenaed to testify against Jimmy Dimora" (or Frank Russo)!

The "Mason's Mean Machine" T-shirt is named after this story about prosecutor Bill Mason, which Renner worked on this fall with Charu Gupta. (The joke about racial disparities on the front is probably best explained by my blog post here. There are other T-shirts I won't try to explain.)

A few of Renner's products refer to his love of unsolved crimes. "Run, Ted Conrad, Run!" is a reference to his fascinating story about a Cleveland bank robber who got away. "It Was the Bushy-Haired Man" is the perfect Father's Day gift for any dad who's convinced Sam Sheppard didn't kill his wife.