Lakewood mayor Ed Fitzgerald got the nod from the Cuyahoga Democrats as their choice in the race for County Executive. And he’s picked up endorsements from the Cleveland Teachers Union, plus the North Shore AFL-CIO. He’s a political climber, known for his ambition…though he prefers terms like methodical and focused.
He likes to tout his past experience as a special agent for the FBI … for three years, plus years as in the county prosecutor’s office… as making him an ideal candidate, ready to root out governmental corruption. But Fitzgerald opposed the government reform initiative that grew out of the county’s corruption probe. He says there were some details in the charter he didn’t like.
Fitzgerald can point to a record of accomplishment leading Lakewood, an inner-ring suburb. When he was elected mayor in 2007, he says the city was pretty dysfunctional. He talked about it at a recent eastside candidates forum. ,
FITZGERALD: We were facing our worse budget problems in our history, we had a crime rate that was rising and we had a culture within City Hall that did not reward merit or performance. It was based on who you knew, and not what you knew.
Fitzgerald’s supporters say he's been able to trim costs and reduce crime. He also says that leading Lakewood puts him in a unique position to unite a county that sometimes seems paralyzed by a diverse set of economic challenges.
FITZGERALD: My particular suburb kind of has one foot in suburbia and one foot in an urban environment. We have affluent neighborhoods, we also have neighborhoods where a large percentage of the people are on public assistance. I have experience as a mayor where I have dealt with both.
Fitzgerald’s leading opponent is Terri Hamilton Brown. She too has an impressive resume, including a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT and an array of backers, including Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and state representative Nina Turner.
Brown says she has a strong record of executive experience and effectiveness in a number of local agencies. She started building that record in Cleveland's Community Development Department, during the administration of Michael White.
TERRI HAMILTON BROWN: I initially led the housing construction office where we built over 2500 hundred new homes in the inner city. I believe we need a strong core city for our entire county to be strong.
One of her biggest challenges --- and major accomplishments supporters say --- came when she took over as head of a Cuyahoga County Metropolitan Housing Authority that was rife with scandal, 12 years ago.
TERRI HAMILTON BROWN: It was a mess when I arrived. The books were not audited, there had been corruption, there was low performance and low morale.
Brown has been widely praised for turning the troubled agency around…”she won’t tolerate mess,” as one former board member said; supporters say she can be “in your face” but that “she’s not a dictator” and is “inclusive” in her management style. Critics say she lacks the political expertise needed to negotiate the turf issues she would face in leading eleven very diverse districts.
While Fitzgerald and Brown have held the spotlight, others are vying for the Democratic nomination.
Diana Lynn Hill hasn't gotten any major political endorsements, and that suits her just fine. The Cleveland Ward 14 community activist and Army reservist likes her outsider status, and pledges to bring a sense of discipline to county government.
HILL: I'm not a politician --- I'm a soldier. The leader of Cuyahoga County needs to know what accountability is all about.
Hill might also be described as a bit of a dreamer. Her plan for reviving the regional economy? Convince the Walt Disney organization to build a theme park or resort in Greater Cleveland.
She also says her experience as a jobless, single mom and client of the county’s social services system, gives her a lot of insight on how to improve those agencies.
Another candidate for Cuyahoga County Executive…that you’ve likely never heard of till now… is a bus driver from Brooklyn.
JAMES BROWN: I figured not to make too much of a show. I'm not putting too much into my candidacy, like yards signs or anything like that.
James Brown, no relation to Terri Hamilton Brown, figures it’s enough to publicize his low profile campaign by talking to a few visiting newspaper reporters --- one from Youngstown. And he doesn't have much to offer in the way of a platform or stump speech.
JAMES BROWN: I would figure, just appoint the right people to the right jobs. Not have any friends or anything like that, you know? Just find the right people for the right jobs and fill those positions.
Hiram College political analyst Jason Johnson says the challenge for all of the county executive candidates is to convince voters that it's worth their while to show up on election day.
JOHNSON: This is a brand new position that, so far, there's a tremendous amount of apprehension on the part of the public as to what this position will even do. So, people can't get enthusiastic about voting for something that they don't understand what the impact is going to be.
The winners of the Republican and Democrat primaries on September 7th will go on to share the ballot with the Green Party candidate and several independents in the November general election and some of them look particularly strong at this point.
