Put differently, will the secretive, backroom gerrymandering of maps by Council President Blaine Griffin and the consultants he controls remain hidden until there is less than a week for a coherent public response?
But this is not just a question of the public’s right to know but of the moral compass each member possesses.
A member who sees that her or his district is basically intact will have a self-preservation instinct to remain silent. But will that same member have the courage to speak out if another member, specifically Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer, has been singled out and basically stripped of all the constituents she served so exceptionally the past three years?
After the overwhelming support of Clevelanders for the anti-gerrymandering Issue 1, will members now become MAGA people to save their seat? A more Trumpian display of prevarication and pettiness would be hard to find than Council President Griffin’s outburst on Nov. 25. He insisted that the map drawing had been “fair and transparent” according to the incisive coverage of the meeting by Courtney Astolfi of Cleveland.com.
That whopper drew the appropriate outrage of Cleveland.com/Plain Dealer editor Chris Quinn the Today in Ohio podcast. He pointed to the complete inconsistency of using the word “transparency” coupled with Griffin’s refusal to release the maps. In a raised and incredulous voice he explained “No one has seen the maps” but this guy fraudulently claims he is being open and forthright!
Griffin also castigated Maurer as not being a “team player,” betraying how his personal animosity towards her had clearly been an element of the gerrymandering. This personal animus sounded like the 1964 movie about the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket when King Henry II blurts out “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
Totally ignored was Quinn’s observation shared by so many that “She is one of the best council people to emerge in the entire time I have been in Cleveland. She works hard. She cares about it.”
The “works hard” statement likely refers to her extraordinary 20-page analysis of consistent services. The June 2022 deep-dive focused on how to increase constituent services. Or it could have been her efforts to bring about a lead-safe Cleveland.
Maurer’s main concern has been how to make the lives of her constituents and residents across the City better – always placing residents first. This summer she was one of only three members to vote against legislation that doubled allowable contribution limits to members. But it’s not simply that courageous vote. Maurer clearly gained the enmity of Blaine, a previous council president and some other council member by pointing out the corrupting influence of the corporate-funded Council Leadership Fund during her insurgent campaign in 2021.
Once on Council, she rejected taking money from the Council president’s discretionary “slush fund.” This principled approach as an elected leader has not endeared her to members receiving funds from the Council President for being “team players.”
Maurer has clearly not learned to click her heels when Griffin speaks. She recognizes the wisdom of Walter Lippman’s words that “When all think alike, no one thinks much.”
Or as a prosecutor explained on the TV show Bluebloods when being thanked for being a “team member” tartly responded: “I am not on a team, I represent the people of the State of New York.”
Rebecca Maurer is not on a team nor is Council President Griffin a team manager who calls all the shots. Instead, she represents the residents of Ward 12 and working families all across our City.
Bridget Kelley is a resident in Ward 15.
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This article appears in Nov 20 – Dec 3, 2024.