Deja Vue (Or Light Bulbs Appearing Over My Head, In Cartoon Character Fashion)

But first, Kudos to the Service Department

I had to mail a letter tonight. I began sliding across Richmond Road as I attempted to turn into the Richmond Heights post office parking lot. (Richmond Heights streets tend to be snowy and slippery in winter.)

That reminded me to take a moment to send kudos to the Highland Heights service department. The service department crews have done an outstanding job keeping our streets plowed and passable in response to what seem to be never-ending lake effect flurries.

Thank you for your efforts to keep us all safe and mobile!

Now to the main event

I don’t know if you read the Dec. 23rd Plain Dealer front page story that detailed a “sham (political) race” involving Joseph Gallucci. He filed to challenge incumbent Democrat Frank Russo for the position of County Auditor in the November 2006 election, but withdrew from the race two days before the filing deadline expired—late enough to prevent anyone else from challenging Russo for the job.

As reported by the PD, an indictment filed in federal district court alleges that Gallucci never really intended to run for the county auditor’s job, that he entered and then left the race with the intended (and pre-arranged) purpose of handing a walk-in reelection to Russo, and that, as a reward, Gallucci was given a post-election $ 70,000 a year job in the county auditor’s office (which he has since given up).

Read the story at: http://topics.cleveland.com/tag/joseph%20gallucci/index.html
Post-script: Galluci pleads guilty. Read that story at:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/gallucci_pleads_guilty_in_coun.html

The Galluci indictment illustrates politics at its worst. It feels like a slap in the face to our democratic values when politicos “game the system” and deliberately deprive voters of a choice of candidates for public office.

The Plain Dealer story brought to mind an interesting pattern of events surrounding the last two Ward 4 council elections here in Highland Heights.

By bringing this up, I in no way mean to suggest that the Ward 4 races involved similar “sham” elections like the Gallucci case, but I do find it interesting to take a closer look at these elections and their outcomes for the participants. See if you find it interesting too:

First Round: Ward 4 Council Race: November 2007.

1. Jim Austin served as the Ward 4 councilman in 2006 and 2007.

2. Everyone expected that Jim Austin would run for reelection in Ward 4 in the November 2007 election--a logical assumption given that incumbents typically have a great advantage when running for reelection and Austin seemed to be well-liked by his constituents. Austin surprised everyone, however, by filing as a candidate for an at-large council seat, going up against 3 very well-established incumbents (Mills, Hargate and Legan). That decision left newcomer Ted Anderson unopposed. Anderson walked into the Ward 4 council seat, while Austin was soundly defeated.

3. Two months later, in January 2008, Mayor Coleman created a new, well-paid city position, that of “Assistant Building Commissioner,” and appointed Jim Austin to that job.
Austin received the appointment even though he did not possess certification as a Chief Building Official (CBO), which certification is necessary to keep the city’s Building Department legally viable under state law and which certification prior building commissioners had possessed.

To preserve the building department’s legal status, Mayor Coleman also hired (and agreed to pay) Tom Jamieson (who is a certified CBO and is currently the fulltime head of Mayfield Heights’ Building Dept.) to act as the city’s part-time ‘interim” Building Commissioner.

Mayor Coleman told council, when asking them to approve Jim Austin’s initial appointment in January 2008, that Austin was already in process to receive the required CBO certification. This dual-hire arrangement has remained in place for two years. According to state records, Austin still does not possess the required CBO certification.

Here are the links to minutes pertaining to these hiring events:
http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/special%20meetings/2008/01-02-08_special_meeting_minutes.htm
http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/minutes/2008/01-08-08_city_council_minutes.htm


Second Round: Ward 4 Council Race: November 2009

4. In February 2009, Ted Anderson takes out petitions to run for re-election in Ward 4.

5. Summer 2009. Ann D’Amico, a former councilwoman (who was the top vote-getter when she ran for an at-large seat, but who later chose not to run for re-election) takes out a challenger petition for the Ward 4 seat. D’Amico collects signatures and even marches in the Highland Heights’ Home Days parade as a Ward 4 council candidate.

Two days before the filing deadline expires, however, D’Amico announces that she is pulling out of the race, thereby leaving Anderson poised to walk back, unopposed, into the Ward 4 council seat for a second time. D’Amico later tells people (myself included) that she withdrew from the race because she is planning to move out of the city in the near future.

6. A month later, in a December 18, 2009 memo, Mayor Coleman informs council that he intends to appoint Ann D’Amico, who is an attorney in private practice, to a paid position on the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission beginning in January 2010--- for a term that expires in December 2011. (So much for moving out of town, I guess.)

To Recap:

We've had candidates in the last two elections, either switching races or pulling out from the Ward 4 council race at the last minute, both times to the apparent benefit of Ted Anderson (who, as a result, walked into the Ward 4 council seat the first time and almost did a second time). And following those elections, Mayor Coleman either appointed or declared his intention to appoint both of the switching/withdrawing candidates to paid city positions.

Interesting coincidences, no?

In any case, that’s where any comparison to the Gallucci story ends--- because despite D’Amico’s last minute pull-out, Ward 4 residents were lucky enough to have a choice in candidates after all, after newcomer Lisa Stickan (an assistant county prosecutor) quickly collected signatures and managed to file as a Ward 4 challenger at the last minute. After running a hard race, she beat incumbent Ted Anderson quite handily.

Anderson later told a Sun Messenger reporter that it “should not be a two party race” and that Lisa Stickan won due to the “involvement of the Republican party”—an ironic charge given that Anderson was himself endorsed by two well-known local Republicans. Based on his reported comments, it certainly appears that Anderson expected to walk back into the Ward 4 council chair a second time and that he was stunned to find himself in an actual political race for that seat.

But don’t feel too sorry for Ted Anderson because he will get a mayoral appointment too. Mayor Coleman has already stated publicly that he intends to appoint Anderson to serve on the city’s 2010 Home Days Committee.

end