McGinty had come under local and national fire for his handling of the grand jury in the Tamir Rice case, in which he advocated against charges for the two Cleveland police officers involved in the death of the 12-year-old, as well as his handling of other cases involving police use of force including those of Tanisha Anderson and Kenny Smith. Given tonight’s results, it’s hard not to see the vote as a referendum on McGinty’s handling of those cases.
O’Malley was a relative late comer to the primary race, only officially entering the fray in early to mid-December just as the Cuyahoga County Democrat city leaders were gathering to hear from candidates before giving a recommendation to the executive committee. O’Malley got that recommendation, but the race didn’t make many headlines otherwise. (He didn’t even hold his official campaign kick-off event until January 21.)
The two traded blows at the City Club and battled in media interviews on the topics of police, grand juries, transparency, and O’Malley’s criticism that McGinty’s office had failed in building relationships with the community. They debated the general perception that O’Malley, who until recently served as Parma’s safety director and who had been Bill Mason’s No. 2 during Cuyahoga County’s more patronage-loving days, was nothing but a return to the old, shady business.
But rarely did one or the other grab the headlines, nor did the race seem to gather the sort of momentum that one would have assumed given tonight’s vote. Among casual voters, and even among local reporters, that it was a close vote was a surprise. That O’Malley gradually ran away with it — every update throughout the evening pushing his lead higher and higher — was a bigger one. Inside the party though, at least from conversations late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, the result wasn’t all that surprising. And it was the result many top level Dems had not-so-secretly been hoping for all along.
O’Malley echoed his sentiments tonight that the office needed to reconnect to the community and rebuild what he says has been trust lost in the system.
“I truly believe that over the last three or four weeks people started hearing the message that my campaign team was putting forth, and it was that this county needs to rebuild confidence in the criminal justice system and they need an individual who is willing to work to do that,” O’Malley said.
“They need an individual who is willing to go out and meet with individuals and restore some type of confidence in that office and I’m that individual and I will be doing that. I will be meeting with people I will be talking with people on the streets. It’s going to take a large effort to bring this system back, but I am willing to work with the common pleas judges, the public defenders, all the people who thought they were perhaps bullied in the past will have a partner, and that partner will be me and my team,” said O’Malley.
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2016.
McGinty campaign workers knew their candidate was in trouble when neighborhood lit drops included his résumé .
I used to think that sanity was gone for good in Cleveland. Now I KNOW it’s gone for good in the entire county.
TAMIR RICE was a sad sorry mess that took on life of own. Never quite know WhAT happened aka did cop panic, let popular culture influence Him, etc. the 2 who got shot in that old junker ’82 Chevy Malibu have MORE or LOT more contribution to THEIR deaths then what Tamir did and idea of BRELO playing Rambo like THAT out in the parking lot that nite… HE lucked out. ONLY lost some work time, His job. SURE a pain getting ANOTHER One….can be SURE it will be FAR AWAY in some remote rural area or TAME area w/few or no minorities and little ‘action’…..sure a WAKE UP call for THAT One
O’Malley…. WHATEVER ELSE say HE saw what happened to OTHERS including DIMORA in DIMORA DEBACLE and if ANYONE wont pull BS cuz of THOSE lingering ghosts say it is HIM….I COULD be wrong… I THINK McGINTY TRIED to do best thing,etc.whether the IN PRISON education thing to rest of it…. RAPE KIT thing? SAD took THAT LONG AND ELECTIONS to FINALLY get THAT RESOLVED….read WHATEVER into THAT too as do ‘election polling and posturing”…..
All I see is a messed up bohunk system where finally the COPS have to PRIORITIZE and JUST PRAY One of THEM doesn’t have ax to grind or CIRCUMSTANCES like YUPPIE areas &/or a RNC thing going on….SAD thing to say but IS what it is. SEEN some cops in action and when a semi drunken Yup gal semi started a fight EVEN THOU got sassed by SOMEONE else and NO one charged say THAT cop did a good job…. People say it is sad, bad when lose population,etc.etc. but quite HONESTLY considering it all going on NOT sure WHAT ELSE can do ….hang onto some slobs for some Fed grant $ to come back to area for some half baked ‘project’ and meantime got loopy *$*@* BS going on down on a Storer Ave or a Colgate or Central and THEN wonder WHY 30% of the County fled…… TIME for some dynamite, bulldozer, matches, some mulch spewing tree shredder, seed, some cheap quick grow creek saplings and call it a day…. WHEN FCE is peddling a GRAFFITI park as ‘part’ of revival project down @ SCRATNON PENINSULA and good old CSU LUC goes along w/THAT ‘concept’ what are they ‘saying, admitting to’…..Gads….
Right or wrong HALF or THIRD of Cleveland is viewed as hideous anything goes dumping ground, party land or waiting for demolition. OR bodies to get dumped off. SAD when maybe BEST can do is APE A DETROIT and JUST LEVEL STUFF…. take a REAL HARD SOBERING look @ our area,economy, etc. HOW many REALLY UP to doing BLUE BRAIN PROJECTs, or TECH REPUBLICS, or even likes raspberry dot com. About 10% of population LUCKY if can find way to coffee maker and make a pot of coffee much less ……
I find it funny and ironic that everyone posting has to speak in code. It doesn’t take a psychologist to hear the inner stupidity and cowardice being spewed by people so desensitized to the plight of your fellow man. Shame on you. Hopefully you will all take the hint and fade away . For what reason or place is there for such dimly lit spirits to co-exist on this planet.
I don’t particularly like what done, being done to fellow man but IT is what it is “Rudolph”….TRIED to be as fair, analytical and non racially biased as could be…Sure don’t like to hear it but it is what it is. DOWN to gerrymandered surviving districts w/WHAT left of politico, biz crews regrouping around pseudo survivors w/all that entails and quite frankly not gonna like a fair amount of what THEY peddle either or gain very little out of it or actually lose $….With HALF WAY decent surviving hoods ‘defending selves’. TAKE a REAL hard look @ what has gone on and with a straight face TRY n sell that to voters, FEDS or other… To be FAIR to to people a LOT HAS BEEN DONE to them that they didn’t deserve but ……Fair amount COULD have but don’t too…INCLUDES ENOUGH WHITE folks. DECADES of ALL THE drumbeats of what coming or HAS COME…NOT ‘news’. NOT sure if gender stereotyping, machismo thing, ‘survival’ (TO a 14 yr old boosting, swigging Irish Lassie is cool thing to do, or whatever) and visions of can just waltz thru plant gate and act like its 1977 all over again just seems surreal. About only wieners in all this is wannabe developers who grab latest defaulted on probate properties in bid to chase what left of Yuppie nirvana land via latest greatest musical chair toy while can….
WHICH maybe gives false illusion to ‘holdouts’ who THINK can get top $ for THEIR gig til OTHER areas beat them to the punch, ANOTHER ‘recession’ OR WORSE and every other thing and THEN put on hold for 3 to 13 or more years…or maybe never. Someone rolls in and cleans place out of whatever…. REST of officialdom draws straws to see WHO deals w/WHAT first and then goes from there…..
I TRULY feel for TODAYS kids…I AM THANKFUL can see Social Security coming shortly and what other monies have and out of the pic. TRY to help some friends, fam as best as can but LIMITS as to how much One can do… AVERAGE office politics, ‘games’,other played in average work place is soooo blank, pointless and all the rest that…LOT to put up w/. MAYBE explains WHY enough ‘kiddies’ decide to blank all this and well do ‘whatever’ which is a SAD commentary too… straight $ baby for that car or rent a wreck house down off of Broadway or whatever….
PUT THIS ANOTHER way… OWN illustrious Mayor more or less called out folks…CIMPERMAN SURE did. LOT of it is mindset, skill level,etc. STILL SOMETHING of this yah yah rah rah 1960s, 70s and even 80s mindset still running around and the brutal reality of it all… FINALLY THOU as the old saying goes its the MAN IN THE MIRROR…(lets not get started on MJ….NO idea what HIS $**@ problem was…). McGINTY IS “FLINTY” but I THINK, HOPE HE TRIED to be fair, institute some good change thou I AM SURE HE had HIS ‘politico finger’ up in the air ‘gauging things’…..
EVEN TRIED USING OWN @ mail address,name…wouldn’t take it….
CITY, school district rest going thru what to SOMEHOW revive area…. MED MART was a LITTLE LATE to the game and then some and quite frankly this pseudo make work IWA, biz self gift but leave all that alone. WHATEVER progress,other have done seems to be medical centric and TRY sousing those #s out. Ok so nurses, docs, support functions seem to be doing fine…yeah LOT are white, wealth off,etc. GUESS SOME win for immediate hoods whether donut shops, gas stations,etc. LEAST SOME $ coming in vs. nothing…. down to some fab shops, other and maybe that is it…