So I asked the Center for Families and Children what is going on with Lee Fisher’s treasurer, Jan Roller, holding some cryptic meeting in their building “about” the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. Here was the response from Lisa Goss, their spokesperson.
The event scheduled for tomorrow morning is not a CFC-sponsored event.
The Center for Families and Children’s Mandel Community Room is available for rent to any member of the community. There is both a nonprofit and for-profit room rate.
In lawyer land, we call this….um….nonresponsive! So I asked who is renting the room, and at what rate. Here’s the response from Lisa Goss.
It’s a private group, paying the for-profit rate + the contact’s first name is Angela.
Thanks…
Well, that explains it all, doesn’t it! I don’t know if Lee Fisher’s campaign is planning to use the Center for Families and Children for campaign purposes, or to conduct a coup of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, or for a seance, but if the Center for Families and Children wants to play cryptic like this until the May primary, they are certainly free to do so. Probably not the best idea, though.
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Throughout Lee Fisher’s 30 year political career, the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party has been an afterthought for Lee, at best. Sid Cargle, the ever present ward leader in Lee’s home suburb of Shaker Hts., used to say to me all the time, “What’s Lee ever done for the party?” The answer was always, “nothing.”
All of a sudden, Lee’s own treasurer Jan Roller is holding a meeting tomorrow morning at Lee’s old employer’s offices “about” the county party. I’ve talked to a number of people who believe this meeting is the first step in closing a deal to hand the county party over to Lee. The belief is that Lee endorsed Issue 6 as part of a deal to get Bill Mason to help Lee insert Jan Roller as Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chair, at an expected county party election this spring, in advance of the May primary. It’s a classic Redfern-esque stitch up.
The problems with this more-Machiavellian-than-thou flight of fancy are endless. First, I can’t imagine any group of county party executive committee members deciding that a chosen Lee Fisher plant, be it Jan Roller or anyone else, is a logical choice for party chairman over the interim chair Pat Britt or anyone else, whether or not Bill Mason is suddenly behind her. It beggars belief. I can hear Sid Cargle laughing right now. Second, getting in bed with Bill Mason at this particular moment is just bizarre. The FBI is circling Mason cronies like a vulture, any one of whom might drop a dime on Mason at any minute.
Third, what exactly is the prize here? The Cuyahoga County Democratic Party endorsement? Is this some kind of a joke? Who the hell is going to translate that endorsement down to the grassroots in a party that is in the midst of total meltdown? Is Lee Fisher doing all this just to get the discounted mailing on a sample ballot? Really, Lee, it ain’t worth this much trouble, trust me.
But more substantively, any Cuyahoga County internal party election inevitably, LIKE THE SUN COMING UP TOMORROW, breaks down along racial lines. And Mason is always on the wrong side of that line, i.e. the side with no black people. Just what Lee Fisher needs in advance of a Democratic primary – more reason for hard core Democrats in his own east-side base to line up against him. Genius.
This tells me that Lee is in a total panic over his Cuyahoga County base. In a non-panicky world, Lee would avoid this rat’s nest like the plague, count on his base to just show up and vote for him, and focus outside the county. Instead, Lee is attempting a messy coup, to take over a messy party apparatus, for a marginal benefit. If this is how bad it is in Cuyahoga County for Lee Fisher, Jennifer Brunner may have already won the nomination.
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Interesting email going around. Remember Lee Fisher’s $300,000 per year job at the Center for Families and Children, about which no one could figure out (a) why so much money, and (b) to do what exactly? Maybe we should ask Jan Roller, Lee’s treasurer, on Tuesday morning at the Center for Families and Children offices.
Meeting About Cuyahoga County Democratic Party
This meeting being hosted by Jan Roller, Executive Committee member, Ohio Democratic Party; Angela Shuckahosee, member, Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus, ashuck33@hotmail.com; and Tom Bullock, Executive Committee member, Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, trbiii@yahoo.com, will be at 7:30 AM at the Center for Families and Children located at 4500 Euclid Ave.in downtown Cleveland. Please park in the parking lot accessed from E. 46th Street and enter the building from its east side. RSVP to janrollercuyahoga@gmail.com.
So many questions here. Is it proper for a non-profit to be hosting partisan activities like this? What’s this rather cryptically named “Meeting About Cuyahoga County Democratic Party” …er…. about? Why is Lee Fisher’s treasurer, who is also on the Executive Committee of ODP, hosting it and sending out invites, and taking RSVPs? Is ODP planning a coup against Pat Britt, current interim county chair? On the property of a non-profit? Which happens to be Lee Fisher’s old employer?
Something doesn’t look kosher here. I’m emailing this to the Center, and asking, basically, WTF?
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