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Nov

23

Candidate options for Cuyahoga County County Executive


The media has been fairly quiet since this now-two week old story on possibly county executive candidates. And yet the primary is about 10 months away.  I started in April for a November run.  So it would seem that anyone interested in running in a primary and then a general election would need to get it together and soon in order to have a real shot.

Of the ones mentioned, I’ll just make a couple of comments:

Matt Dolan (R) I’m still not over how you messed up the wine tax law and this whole carpetbagging thing is really not endearing.

Nina Turner (D) I find Turner very intriguing, if only because anytime someone is described as not being supported by or “running against” the establishment around here – that makes me perk up. I hope I get a chance to hear her in person, if not meet her personally.

Parma Mayor Martin Zanotti’s assertion that people who opposed Issue 6 – such as County Treasurer Jim Rokakis – should drop all thoughts of running should be ignored as petty (that link contains references to multiple other possible candidates).

Finally, let’s get something straight: no one’s made it easy for the voters to affect the implementation of Issue 6 and the new county government. I still want a public advisory body to be created for monitoring its implementation. So the focus as I see it right now is to get as much sunshine as possibly on who is supporting the different candidates and what ideas they have for what they want to do with this clean slate.

What do YOU want them to do with a purported clean slate, other than not dirty it up with the same old same old?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:38 am November 23rd, 2009 in Campaigning, Cleveland+, Elections, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Transparency, Voting, leadership 

Comments

3 Responses to “Candidate options for Cuyahoga County County Executive”

  1. 1 Mark W. "Some Guy on Bridge" Schumann on November 23rd, 2009 8:18 am

    My crazy idea? Benny Bonanno. He’s smart, a good leader, articulate, well-liked throughout at least the west side, and a capable negotiator. That past issue with the office computers was a looong time ago and overblown to begin with. He’s a good man and would do outstanding work.

  2. 2 Anthony Fossaceca on November 23rd, 2009 7:07 pm

    When she gets back from her blogger cruise, Councilwoman Jill Miller Zimon should enter the race for County Czar.

  3. 3 Anastasia Pantsios on November 24th, 2009 11:10 pm

    Honestly, I think it’s too big and comprehensive a job for the skills of anyone I can think of. Someone like a Chris Ronayne, who has been widely mentioned, would be perfect to start cutting his teeth in government as one of three county commissioners — if we still had commissioners. I’m a little more dubious about the scorpe of his experience suiting him to be county executive at this time. Plus he said something last week at a meeting that would disqualify him for me, if indeed he didn’t misspeak (I still have to call him and find out because I honestly can’t believe he meant that).

    As for Zanotti, his comment is laughable and it’s even more laughable that the Plain Dealer gives him a soapbox and even keeps referring to this as the “Mason-Zanotti Plan,” two names that suggest it will fail. Zanotti HAS no constituency; he represents no one. He is not a “Democrat” in the sense that he represents a group of county Democrats and he stepped down as mayor of Parma Heights when challenged, probably becuase he suspected he would be defeated. So he doesn’t even speak for Parma Heights. He’s nobody — no more important than you or me — and should be treated as such unless … ah, but the PD has pooh-poohed the idea that he could be fronting for his brother David and his business pals. But if not them, who? The PD hasn’t bothered to find out, or if they have, to share it with us — just as they failed to share so much critical information about the county “reform” campaign.

    I think you are going to see a lot of recycled people, wannabees and never wases on the county council. The job is weirdly structured and the districts are awkward. It will be hard to find credible people who can run in many of them. I’m hearing a lot of groan-worthy names being tossed around my district.

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