Say goodbye to the three county commissioners. With the voters’ endorsement of Issue 6, Cuyahoga County will soon have an elected executive and 11-member council. Voters also trounced competing measure Issue 5, with just 28 percent of voters going for the plan that would have created a group to study reform for another year.
Issue 6 even got 60% of the vote in the city of Cleveland, despite fears among many black leaders that reform would hurt their communities and political influence.
There have been reform efforts since the early 1900s, but none has succeeded until now. Supporters and critics both think the ongoing corruption investigation and the sluggish economy spurred interest in reform.
Judy Rawson is an Issue 6 co-chair.
RAWSON: I think the corruption probe clearly made people pay attention more. It also made clear that none of us had any idea what was going on behind closed doors in the county. And I think people wanted transparency as well as reform.
Backers of Issue 6 promise the new government will be more efficient, accountable, and will focus on economic development.
Issue 5 supporters Harriet Applegate and Ron Johnson say now is the time to come together. And, they’re starting the post-mortems on their own campaign.
REPORTER: Are you second guessing not having a more formal list of criteria for your side?
APPLEGATE AND JOHNSON: Interesting thought. Yeah, it is interesting.
Both Applegate and Johnson have offered to help in the transition to the new government.