Mike O’Malley Steps Down as Parma Safety Director; Will Focus Full Time on Campaign to Beat Tim McGinty in Prosecutor’s Race

Just about a week before the official kickoff of a public campaign in his quest to unseat Tim McGinty as Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, Mike O’Malley is stepping down from his full time role as Parma’s safety director.

His last day is today.

“He is committing full time to beating Tim McGinty,” says Ryan Miday, who is running O’Malley’s campaign.

“The obvious benefit to this is having the time to run a full campaign, getting out there and meeting people, attending events, raising money — we’re going to cover all of that in a very short amount of time.”

The Democratic primary is in March.

“He has strong grassroots support and also has elected officials, as well as ministers, reverends and pastors, who will carry us across the finish line,” says Miday.

Next Thursday, January 21, O’Malley will be holding a kickoff of sorts at Trinity Cathedral. He’ll be flanked by the aforementioned ministers, reverends and pastors as well as elected officials — Miday didn’t provide any specific names yet — at 6:30 p.m.

“He’ll begin to unveil why voters should elect him instead of Tim McGinty,” says Miday.

One point sure to be mentioned is the handling of the Tamir Rice grand jury, for which O’Malley has previously blasted McGinty.

This article appears in Jan 13-19, 2016.