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A fascinating five-way Democratic primary for the 10th District Ohio House seat, and a grassroots effort against the Port Authority levy. It's going to be a fun election.
First of all, let me get one thing straight. The Dettman yard sign in front of our house belongs to my wife, okay? They asked her, not me. I like David Dettman, but I'm still undecided with less than 24 hours before the polls open.
Admitting some bias on my part: as Dettman's a fan of Cleveland Pages, I just have to like the guy back. In fact we were introduced when David's wife Louise did a Google search on something like "archwood cleveland" looking for someone who might know more about a house they had their eyes on. They were actually outbid on the Archwood house but ended up with the "Fulton Castle" just south of Denison, so we're decently close neighbors too. Which leads to me getting more ongoing commentary directly from Dettman than all the other candidates put together.
I don't have a problem with that, because none of the others even visited our house on their daily rounds. Dettman on the other hand has visited every registered Democrat on this block three times. Granted, that doesn't qualify him as a legislator--but Shirley Smith (to name one) could at least stop by and say hi every two years if she's going to claim incumbency. If I'm paying more attention to one candidate it's merely because he's paying more attention to Archwood Avenue in return.
My unscientific survey--based on who's making those annoying phone calls, rough counts of yard signs in the western half of the district, general "buzz" and what the neighbors say--indicates that it's mostly down to Dettman and Alex Sanchez. It's a somewhat crowded field, to be sure, and there's not much to visibly distinguish most of the candidates. (Wednesday update: Don't listen to me when I predict elections. Sanchez was far back in second place and Dettman didn't break out of single digit percentages the whole night. The seat is Shirley Smith's to defend this fall.)
On balance, I'm most likely to support Dettman this Tuesday because he has gone to the trouble of carefully reading and writing about Ohio's economic development in a fairly good fourteen-page pamphlet called Sowing the Seeds of Prosperity: A Plan for Ohio's State Government to Foster a Growth Economy in Northeastern Ohio. It's a tad heavy on the policy-wonk side (R&D tax credits, adjusting depreciation schedules, incentives for donating computers to schools) and probably about 50% too interventionist for my classically liberal tastes.
But Dettman is clearly fascinated by the important economic issues facing the state and this district. He loves to talk about this stuff, and gets particularly animated when discussing the relationship of voters to elected officials. I guess you could describe him as a technocrat-populist, if that makes any sense.
As a bonus, supporting anyone but Sanchez would be a poke in the eye of Jimmy Dimora, who surely would prefer to do away with primaries and to revive Tammany Hall in Cleveland.
There's a greater than 50% chance I'll vote for Dettman. You should consider it too. (Tuesday morning update: yeah, I did it. Go Dettman.)
The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority seeks renewal of its 0.13 mill countywide levy. I'm voting NO and hope you will too. Ray Saikus tells a story of cluelessness and deceit at the Port Authority. But even if you disagree with his facts or conclusions, it's simply wrong to support a non-elected taxing authority--that goes for the Metroparks and the library too. Unlike the parks and library, however, the Port Authority has gone far beyond the necessary nuts and bolts of running a dock. It's used its bonding authority for several projects which have utterly nothing to do with shipping, to wit:
Commissioner Jimmy Dimora stated on WCPN that he'd like to use Port Authority financing "tools" to finance a new downtown convention center and perhaps some biotechnology venture.
The Port Authority has no legislated debt limit, so it can issue bonds as often as it likes. It makes payments on the bonds based on reimbursement from the project beneficiary.
It's about time we reined in the dozen or more boards and agencies that all claim open-ended authority for "economic development" in Cleveland. If your project isn't good enough to get the necessary approvals from City Council or the county commissioners, sorry, it's not good enough.
The Port Authority is exempt from the state requirement of holding public hearings on its proposals, and its board membership is only very indirectly responsible to voters through a long-term appointment process. This makes it an ideal tool for political investors, the people who regularly put their money into political campaigns for profit-making ends. You get on the board by being well connected, you get connected by working for the power boys. Serving the taxpayers isn't there.
(Tuesday morning update: Judy reports that the prerecorded phone call from Jane Campbell urging voters to vote yes on Issue 10 says it will "save jobs" but carefully avoids mentioning the Port Authority in any way. We both thought that sounded like a way to bank on her reputation without dragging inconvenient facts into the matter. Score minus one for Mayor Sunshine!)
Issue 10 doesn't directly fund these development efforts. But defeat or at least a high percentage of NO votes will remind the Port Authority board that the public is watching and that we don't approve of appointed boards with unlimited spending authority meeting in secret. Vote NO. (Wednesday update: It passed by about 65-35. I'd love to see the city vs. suburb numbers.)
(As an aside, the suburban mayors' complaint of having too little voice in the authority ring hollow and pathetic. They forget that the port is part of Cleveland; it's yet another instance of our neighbors' whiny refrain "what's mine is mine, what's yours is ours." They don't like their representation, tough, they can build a port in Euclid or Bay Village. Good luck!)
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