The Observation Deck

Karolyn Isenhart was elected City Leader yesterday by the Lakewood Democratic Precinct Committee.
This signals that the local party establishment will maintain its status quo, despite humiliating defeats in the two most recent elections.
In fall 2017, Establishment Favorites Cindy Marx and Ryan Nowlin became the first incumbent council members to lose re-election in 24 years.
In May 2018, "Endorsed Democrat" Tom Bullock was soundly beaten in his state rep race against Mike Skindell. Fellow "endorsed Democrat" Martin Sweeney was beaten in the State Senate primary by Nickie Antonio, thanks in large part to landslide margins here in Lakewood.
The results in these elections reflected voter weariness with backroom dealing.

During her term as president of the Lakewood Democratic Club, Isenhart was part of the attempted purge of future Council Member Tristan Rader and other members.
As you may recall, this purge took place right before a key endorsement vote.
Isenhart's re-election mirrors the results in the County wide Committee result, where insiders Shontel Brown and Kevin Kelley were re-elected a few weeks ago.
Among other things, Brown and Kelley supported the scuttle of a public vote on the "Q Transformation Plan", despite the fact that 20,000 vaild signatures were gathered in support of said vote.
Now that LeBron is (predictably) gone, how is that "Transformation" idea looking?

Naturally, there are calls for "party unity" in the wake of these selections...but those ring hollow.
The insiders have chosen to stick with the "same old, same old"....and that plays right into the hands of the GOP.

So keep voting them in and here’s what you get:

Continued population loss
Continued tax increases
Continued corruption
Continued stagnation

Bridget Conant wrote:So keep voting them in and here’s what you get:Continued population lossContinued tax increasesContinued corruptionContinued stagnation

From a partisan perspective, it also means:
Continued statewide GOP domination
Continued viability for the Reality Show President


The current county leadership is far more concerned with maintaining its local fiefdom than it is with energizing voters to help turn Ohio into a progressive state.
On issue after issue (Q Renovation, Lakewood Hospital, Fight for 15, etc) it has chosen to stifle grass roots activism in favor of serving corporate interests.
They want to keep voter turnout low so that they can continue re-electing empty suits like Frank Jackson.
Cuyahoga voter apathy affects the statewide level, helping to turn Ohio very "red".

And let’s not forget the failed and laughable gubernatorial fiasco of Ed Fitzgerald, which handed the GOP a decisive win and helped all the other GOP candidates in the other races.

You’d have thought the Dems would have learned a lesson. But no, they did not. Same mistakes. And Fitz has his hand back in, too.

Corruption in government has played an important role in the slow destruction of Cuyahoga County. It's not necessarily the bag of money type of corruption although that is always a factor. Corrupt City and County government leads to misallocation of resources, waste of tax dollars, squandering of opportunities and calcified leadership.

We can find a small example in our very own Mary Louise Madigan. She played a key part in the campaign of lies and deception that led to the loss of Lakewood Hospital. More recently she played a part in the removal of a public official who dared to report problems at the County Jail:

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-he ... om-the-job

County corruption is so pervasive that "reformers" are quickly co-opted by threats and promises. Just ask Tristan Rader.

Don't look for any good news

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local ... -570935536


until "reformers" start standing up.