CCPC Recommended
Local
Cleveland to hire Ernst & Young to audit how City Hall works City Council approved Mayor Justin Bibb’s plan to audit the city’s operations but warned that they were growing tired of consultants. One of the good things in the plan is a survey of all 6,000 city workers. Ernst & Young’s fee is $1.5 million. If you are a Cleveland resident, do you think this is a good use of taxpayer dollars?
City of Cleveland launches new website If you ever visited the old website you know that it was designed to make it difficult or impossible to get pertinent information. Scrapping the decades old site and replacing it with a spiffy modern one is great news. But a question for those of you who have done or purchased website design? Isn’t the $568,000 price tag excessive?
Lutheran Hospital Workers Could Start Striking Sept. 4 SEIU 1199 has filed more than two dozen unfair labor practice charges against the hospital over illegal union busting activities, retaliation, discrimination and refusal to furnish information. We wish our brothers and sisters at Lutheran Hospital good luck in their quest for a fair contract.
Disgraced Cleveland City Councilman Ken Johnson’s conviction, sentence upheld by appeals court Remember him? Councilman Ken pocketed $127,000 in cash for reimbursement for work in his ward that wasn’t done. He also was ordered to pay $740,000 in restitution for other schemes he orchestrated. Great news that the appeal failed.
State
Abortion amendment backers threaten lawsuit over ballot language they say amounts to propaganda And propaganda it is. Instead of putting the exact language of the abortion access constitutional amendment on the ballot, the Ballot Board of Bias decided last Thursday to put the Ohio Right to Life’s talking points on instead. We wish Ohioans United for Reproductive Freedom good luck in their lawsuit.
Yo – yo Yost said the petition language wasn’t a fair and truthful summary of what the amendment would do. So now Citizens Not Politicians must gather another 1000 signatures and submit new language for Yo – yo to review.
The cross – party coalition that defeated Issue 1 will be key to redistricting. Our great victory August 8 couldn’t have been achieved by just Democrats or just organized labor. The coalition also needed Independents and Republicans who believe in democracy. The same will be true next year when gerrymandering will be on the ballot. Wonder what the opposition will make up to campaign against another issue that is ultimately about preserving democracy.
Gov. DeWine wants to remove politicians from redistricting. But hasn’t endorsed the new proposal And he won’t. No Spine DeWine would never go against his party on the gerrymandering they need to stay in power or any other issue. Then what was the point of his comments? To criticize the current proposal and to pretend that he has noble intentions on this issue.
National
Progressives see promise in more diverse candidates, voters ahead of 2024. Now, at the start of the 2024 election cycle, our movement is seeing even more promising levels of diversity, particularly among Black and brown communities. And the hope is that the gradual expansion of progressive values and policies eventually becomes the mainstream of the Democratic Party.
Howard Zinn at 101. Needed now more than ever. As the fascist attacks on teaching the true history of the United States increase, it is important to remember the impact of historian Howard Zinn. If you are unfamiliar with Zinn please check out his classic A People’s History of the United States. To those of us who are Baby Boomer progressives that book is like a bible,
Experts suggest language in section 3 of the 14th amendment is very clear and should disqualify Trump from running for president. The experts are actually conservative scholars who feel that now is the time to test the theory, not after the election and the trials occur.
Many across the country believe that term limits would make Congress function better. But in Ohio where we do have term limits, partisanship and influence from lobbyists has been maximized because lawmakers know that they have a set exit date. On the other hand, without term limits it is almost impossible to defeat a decades long incumbent. What do you think?
Black Lives Matter
Thousands converge on National Mall to mark the March on Washington’s 60th anniversary Thousands converged Saturday on the national Mall for the 60th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington. The prevailing theme was that a country that remains riven with racial inequality has yet to fulfill his dream. A special thanks to those of you who were there.
Jacksonville is the latest incident of fatal violence driven by racist hatred A recent national security review found that white supremacists represented one of the most ‘ persistent and lethal threats’ ‘ facing the country. And of course when commenting on the shooting Republican politicians will not mention white supremacy.
Racism comes to the fore as Trump’s most virulent backers show their colors Three African American prosecutors have indicted Trump. And a number of the Futon County grand jurors who issued the Georgia indictment are Black. All have received numerous death threats with nooses and other vile racist overtones.
Black on campus: How Ohio’s African American college students are feeling Feeling a sense of belonging is thought to help college students be more engaged – and, ultimately stay enrolled and graduate. But nearly One in Five Black college students attending some of Ohio’s predominantly white higher education institutions said they don’t feel that way.
Immigration
Protected Status has been granted to the Ukrainians. TPS is an immigration program that allows migrants from crisis – stricken countries to obtain work permits and deportation protections. Wouldn’t it be great if migrants with brown or black skin who are also fleeing crisis – stricken countries were welcomed in the same way.
Biden Immigration Policy giving temporary legal status to thousands faces court challenges And of course it is southern Republican states who are challenging in court the parole program that allows people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the U.S. for ” urgent humanitarian reasons.” And of course the protected status of the white Ukrainians mentioned above is not being challenged in this suit.
Thousands more Mauritanians are making their way to the US, thanks to a route spread on social media Mauritania is a nation in West Africa where Black Mauritanians routinely face persecution because of their race and anti – slavery activism. The new route is through Nicaragua and was spread mostly on TikTok. The largest concentration of Mauritanian immigrants in the United States is in Ohio.
They are a string of 4 – foot – wide floating orange spheres with spiked disks between them along the Rio Grande. The barrier is anchored to the bottom with 68 concrete blocks weighing 3,000 pounds apiece. The barriers are a part of ” Operation Lone Star” which will eventually cost Texas taxpayers about $10 billion
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CCPC Rescheduled August Membership Meeting
CCPC Rescheduled August Membership Meeting: What’s Next? Thursday, September 7 from 6 to 7:30 pm @ Edgewater Park Upper Level Pavilion. The pavilion has plenty of wooden picnic tables but please bring a comfortable lawn chair if you’d prefer. We’ll have speakers covering the What’s Next question with short presentation’s about 1) The November election 2) Building a new Cuyahoga County Jail 3) Public sector financing of a Browns stadium renovation 4) One Fair Wage constitutional amendment 5) Upcoming Tri – C Levy
And in case you missed it
And Next Month
CCPC People’s Budget ( PB CLE ) Meeting Tuesday, September 12 from 6:30 to 8 pm. The People’s Budget is a charter amendment on the ballot in Cleveland this November. It would give Cleveland residents over the age of 13 the ability to directly decide how 2% of the budget (about $14 million this year) is spent on projects in the neighborhoods. How is public input from the neighborhoods going to be organized? Who’s going to decide which projects get included in this part of the budget? And will other parts of the budget be affected by what PB decides? Is this a good idea? If you want these questions answered or have other questions about the charter amendment please attend this meeting with PB CLE representatives. Please click here to register for the event and to submit a question After registering you’ll receive an email with the Zoom link.
Steve Holecko
CCPC Political Director
440 220 1874
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