Posts Tagged Politicians
Broke My Rule and Crain’s Shows Why I Shouldn’t
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Media, People, Politicians on May 27th, 2010
I broke my standing rule about saying something nice about anything or anybody. Always disappointed soon after. I praised the Crain’s Cleveland Business daily blog recently. I don’t take that back. And I still congratulate the weekly business magazine on its 30th birthday. BUT…
Crain’s did a series on some Cleveland’s most influential (their selection) people in the last 30 years.
It’s fluff and puff at its worst.
Mostly done, of course, for blatant advertising revenue. The ads accompany the profiles and photos of Important People – a rogue’s gallery in my opinion. They are mostly Important People who helped produce the Cleveland of today.
Is there anyone who likes what they see?
Everyone profiled is a hero. From Art Falco at Playhouse Square to Peter Lewis of Progressive. And of course, the late Richard Shatten and the late Dick Jacobs. Fred Nance of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, of course. And even LeBron James.
And the saintly George Voinovich. Who could forget that? Get ready for the platitudes by the bushel as Voinovich’s Senate term comes to an end. If there is anything that has happened that isn’t GREAT we’ll never know. Because someone will have to explain (but won’t) why the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and the State of Ohio are in such bad shape after Voinovich served as Mayor, County Commissioner and Governor. It’s too difficult a task. And too embarrassing.
Voinovich, his profile says, should have copyrighted the term “public-private partnership.”
Yes, he should have. The problem is that the see-saw public/private sharing usually meant that the public paid and the private enjoyed. As in Gateway, the Browns stadium, downtown development, rock hall, Playhouse Square. None of these Voinovich fans ever even tries to tote the public cost, especially to the Cleveland schools.
The article says, “As he would throughout his career, Mr. Voinovich downplayed his own role.”
Of course, he did.
He had The Plain Dealer, Crain’s and every Cleveland television station doing it for him.
Somehow, Crain’s forgot George Forbes. I guess George’s law firm wouldn’t spring for the ad to accompany the flattery.
Nor did they profile former Mayor Michael White. No alpaca ads.
So they failed to highlight two of the most crucial figures – at least in politics – of the past three decades.
And it goes without saying that Dennis Kucinich didn’t make the cut.
Of course, it’s only Cleveland’s history by Crain’s Cleveland Business. So you know it’s limited.
But as the headline on the front of Crain’s 30 years special edition says, – “Make Your Own History.” Certainly, Crain’s did that.
Ed Young’s Death Reminds Us of Our Poisonous Politics
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in People, Politicians on February 27th, 2010
February 27, 2010… I’m saddened by the death of former Cleveland school board member Ed Young. His story goes to the heart of why Cleveland is the way it is. With sour and destructive politics. Personally and civically.
It is why we have such a severely damaged politics. And city.
In the mid-1980s Young represented the possibility of dedicated political leadership. He was earnest and honest.
That’s why George Forbes had to destroy Ed Young. Young was interfering in the deadly politics of Cleveland. Young wanted honesty. He was an unacknowledged hero.
Ed along with Stanley Tolliver and Mildred Madison were standing in the way of a rotten deal to sell the historic Cleveland school administration building to local developers for a fancy hotel. The school building is part of Cleveland’s Group Plan. This early 1900 plan has been hailed as unprecedented for its scope and actual achievement.
But you oppose rotten deals in Cleveland to your detriment.
Forbes and school board member Ted Bonda, millionaire businessman and one-time Cleveland Indians owner, wanted to turn over the 1930 building on East 6th Street and St. Clair to developer John Ferchill. The city was to buy the building and then sell it to developers. Forbes and Mayor George Voinovich also had readied heavy subsidies for the project.
Young and the others stood against the deal. The building was especially meaningful for African-Americans. They had just ascended to power in a school system whose make-up had become majority black. The attempt to transfer the school administration building was seen as a move to take this important symbol away from blacks as they assumed majority public ownership.
Cleveland’s school superintendent Frederick “Doc” Holliday, Cleveland’s committed suicide at the Aviation High School in January 1985. He left a note. It singled out Young for blame but not by name.
I wrote at the time, “It wasn’t but a few hours (after the suicide) before council president George Forbes, with Ted Bonda, was on television retaliating against board member Ed Young…
“Young essentially was unable to defend himself because of the labeling by Holliday of Young as out to ‘get’ him. He was raw meat for Forbes.
“The week unrolled with Forbes, a man who knows when to hide from the media, taking the offensive. He made himself very available.
“And by simply being on stage so much… Forbes helped define the event to the public …”
Forbes said of Holliday’s note, “He laid it (blame) at the proper place.” He blamed Ed Young. This was Forbes at his most despicable and self-serving.
“To a certain degree,” Forbes said, “a lot of it rest at his (Young’s) feet… He (Holliday) laid it at the proper place.
I wrote then, “A severe judgment. Not very charitable.”
I continued: “Said Forbes in that interview, ‘It’s tough. It’s sad. It’s a tough town. It’s a tough town to do business in.”
“But Forbes was doing business.”
Indeed, Forbes was doing business. This kind of rotten business cripples Cleveland.
Forbes was attacking Young for a reason. An unsavory one.
“Forbes was doing a fancy dance and no one even thought of calling him out of step,” I wrote.
“Forbes was slashing black political figures, particularly young black leaders,” I wrote.
This, of course, is the way of politics. It is particularly abusive here.
Former mayor and then Judge Carl Stokes in a radio interview at about this time called Forbes, “a foul-mouth, uncouth, unregenerate politician of the most despicable sort and I think he ought to be out of office.”
The effort to steal the Cleveland school administration building was beaten back in the 1980s.
But that battle, I suspect, isn’t over. The Medical Mart and Convention Center will be built across the street from the historic building. This will make the school board property much more valuable today. A perfect spot for a new luxury hotel.
A Plain Dealer obituary for Young can be found here:
http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2010/02/ed_young_cleveland_school_boar.html