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Jul
3
Cuyahoga County Commissioner candidate Deborah Sutherland is calling for the suspension of the recent sales tax increase – an increase she supported - because the Medical Mart project is moving too slowly.
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Sutherland, who is mayor of Bay Village, said suspending the sales tax would not jeopardize the project because the county began collecting revenue from the tax increase in October.
“We are coming on the one-year anniversary of the sales tax increase and we have yet to have even an agreement on the site of the Medical Mart and convention center,” said Sutherland Wednesday morning from the steps of the current convention center. “Our residents and businesses are paying a tax for a project that has not yet seen a shovel in the ground.”
Here’s what the commissioner she’s challenging has to say about her new stance:
Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, Sutherland’s opponent in November, voted against the sales tax increase last year.
Jones said Sutherland’s proposal to suspend the tax hike is “a reversal of Biblical proportions.”
“She was comfortable in the chorus and now she’s trying to reinvent herself as some guardian of taxpayers,” Jones said. “You won’t see a better flip-flop, somersault or back-flip in the upcoming summer Olympics.
And here’s a recent Cleveland Scene article about her, with some lines from my own Mayor:
“Certain people just show leadership potential,” says Bruce Akers, the Republican mayor of Pepper Pike. “When Debbie spoke, she made good sense. You take note of a person like that.”
So – is Sutherland’s new position a flip-flop, a calculated reversal for the gain of some votes, or a sincere effort to force…something?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:49 pm July 3rd, 2008 in Business, Cleveland+, Economy, Government, Ohio, Politics
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5 Responses to “Bay Village mayor, Cuyahoga County commish challenger calls for Med Mart tax suspension”
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all I know is I wish she had been willing to wait to run against one of the other Commissioners. That would have proven to me that she was interested in forcing something good to happen.
So – is Sutherland’s new position a flip-flop, a calculated reversal for the gain of some votes, or a sincere effort to force…something?
IMO, a calculated reversal to differentiate herself from Peter Lawson-Jones. Lawson-Jones was the only commissioner who showed any sense on the original county administration building and convention center votes. Why would I want to replace him with someone who got it wrong last July? (Of course, I would be willing to vote for Sutherland if she were running for Hagan’s seat.)
Seems we have more people looking to sabotage projects than to find creative ways to make them happen.
What is the shortage amount that prevents building on the current convention center site?
I believe the State needs to get involved, I looking for synergy here not political game playing. Cleveland State should have a college of medicine, it should be the location for a large school focused on community based health care and call for assimilation of one large healthcare network merging UH, the Clinic and Metro.
The State should be considering how to get funding and linkage into this economic venture. A large school of medicine that offers a low cost education in community based family health care management, linked into a common regional system that prioritizes that.
What do we think health care is, only big business, if we are to become a national center then we have to have the most functional cost effective system. The Clinic is selling HealthCare management services to other countries, but only to those with deep pockets. We can become the go to for a better system.
Its layering, we can be the center for specialization but if we do not have the most practical and efficient system that offers primary care to the region that is universal in coverage then shame on us. Are we oblivious to the national healthcare initiatives?
We need regionalism, we need to have community health centers that are primary care locations with family style doctors that know their patients. Then they feed a knowledge base and also funnel specialty care to the specialization facilities. We should be expert and a teaching center for the entire process.
That is the convention part, and it can be an economic catalyst and it could draw people into the city.
Sutherland is looking for a seat on a commission that is obsolescent, we need a new and better system. We need to define the system and seek both federal and state support in initiating it.
The entire region how it functions day in day out, we need a big initiative that is all encompassing. The best proposal the ideal solution will offend most yourselves why? Its because all we do is chant hurray for me and screw everyone else.
Sorry…carry on.
a definite flip flop. she was one of the leading advocates for the medmart tax last year. just as i have dismissed the democrat obama as a phony, i must also condemn this action by sutherland. she is a phony as well, although not the the degree to that of obama. i’ll vote for PLJ in november. his no vote meant nothing since he knew dimora and hagan were in the tank for the increase and probably cynically voted no only for the purpose of having the issue for this race, but at least he hasn’t changed positions. if he had been the tie breaking vote, he probably would have voted yes. it was all staged and set up like everything else around here. they do nothing that benefits the people. they’re only there to benefit themselves.
Amoxicillin….
Amoxicillin….