海角破解版

Analysis

When then-Cuyahoga County Commissioner Lee Weingart lost to Jane Campbell in 1996, his defeat was seen as a low water mark for the local Republican Party. 

Weingart was 鈥渁 candidate who did everything right and lost,鈥� the county鈥檚 then-GOP chairman, Jim Trakas, told The Plain Dealer in 1998.

More than 24 years after that loss, as Weingart mounts a bid for county executive, the county Republican Party鈥檚 waters haven鈥檛 risen much higher. 

Republicans are 0-for-3 in county executive races since government reform a decade ago. Thanks to partisan district boundaries, Republicans' 3-8 minority on county council has never changed.

Weingart, , acknowledges that he faces a steep climb in 2022.

鈥淚鈥檓 starting early, 22 months ahead of the election, so people will understand why I鈥檓 running and what I want to do as county executive,鈥� he told me. 鈥淚 hope they will look at me for what I want to do, and not what party I come from.鈥�

Here鈥檚 what Weingart says he wants to do: launch a $100 million program for new and rehabilitated housing, focus on bail reform instead of building a new jail and extract Cuyahoga County from the hotel business.

Weingart was quick with a press release this month criticizing the county for at the publicly owned Hilton Cleveland Downtown.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to get out of that hotel as soon as we could,鈥� Weingart said. 鈥淲hen the economy comes back, maybe by the time I鈥檓 county executive, I would want to look at options to sell the hotel.鈥�

It鈥檚 a position that both libertarians and democratic socialists might support, and Weingart will need all the votes he can get.

That doesn鈥檛 mean he is completely against public spending on taxpayer-owned properties, however. As a county commissioner in 1995, Weingart helped lead the campaign to extend the 鈥渟in tax鈥� on cigarettes and alcohol to pay for a new football stadium. (It passed; just before Election Day, that the Browns would leave for Baltimore.)

Weingart also pledges to cut the county workforce by offering buyouts to employees on the verge of retirement. He claims that 鈥減eople in the county administration building鈥� have told him as many as 1,000 workers could be eligible for buyouts鈥攁nd many want it. (Michael Gallagher, one of the three Republicans on county council, .)

Cuyahoga County鈥檚 two-term Democratic executive, Armond Budish, has taken his share of lumps lately. The largest of them: a county jail declared 鈥渋nhumane鈥� by the U.S. Marshals Service and a state criminal investigation winding through the administration and the ranks of corrections officers.

That might offer a political opening to a diligent and well-funded opponent next year.

But if Budish is running for a third term, he isn鈥檛 announcing anything yet.

For the moment, Budish鈥檚 鈥渟ole focus is on getting through the pandemic and economic crisis and doing everything he can to help the people of Cuyahoga County get the help they need during these difficult times,鈥� campaign spokesman Alan Melamed wrote in an email to ideastream.

The Democratic candidate 鈥� whoever that might be 鈥� will surely have a built-in advantage. On Election Night in Cuyahoga County, Republicans typically bump their heads against a 30-to-40 percent ceiling.

In 2010, Matt Dolan finished with 30 percent of the vote, losing a six-way county executive race to Ed FitzGerald. Four years later, Jack Schron did 10 points better than Dolan, only to suffer a 20-point defeat to Budish. Four years after that, with Peter Corrigan鈥檚 loss, Republicans were back down to the low 30s.

The partisan makeup of Cuyahoga County is, as Cleveland鈥檚 mayor might remind us, what it is.

Seven years ago, Budish鈥檚 ascent as county executive was so assured that Cleveland Magazine depicted him . 

And so if Budish intends to keep his throne next year, his biggest political threat may come not from a Republican outside the castle walls, but from a usurper within the Democratic royal court.