BLACKHEART Cleveland

More on my run-through of the Issue 6 charter: The elected county executive (emphasis mine)

shall be an elector of the County at the time of filing of the declaration of candidacy, shall be nominated and elected in the manner provided for county officers by general law and this Charter and during the entire term of office shall remain an elector of the County.

Okay, fair enough so far. But what does the Charter have to say about the election of the exec? §13.02 INITIAL ELECTION OF COUNTY OFFICERS (page 26) says that:

That primary election shall be conducted in the manner provided by general law for primary elections for the nomination of county elected officials, provided that filing deadlines and other matters of time relating to a primary election, including those relating to declarations of candidacy for nonpartisan candidates, shall be adjusted as necessary relative to the primary date provided for in this section.

Which makes it sound as if all elected offices are at-large (which can’t be right, since why have council districts otherwise). I might have missed something here, but it looks like the Charter has very little to say about elections. The filing deadline might cause some issues the first time around, much like the ward redistricting in Cleveland gave such a small window that only folks with their political acts together could meet the deadlines in time. So there’s still a big question here for me.

The exec will make $175k a year and is prohibited from holding other employment or elected office unless approved by the council. Alrighty.

Hmm, from §2.04.14 (page 7):

To employ and supervise such number of deputies, assistants and employees as shall be reasonably necessary to assist the County Executive in carrying out the duties of the office.

This seems like a place where a corrupt exec could hire all of his or her friends. Now, what’s next…

§2.05  INVESTIGATIONS BY COUNTY EXECUTIVE.

The County Executive may, at any time and without notice, cause the administrative affairs or the official acts and conduct of any official or employee of any County office, department or agency over which the Executive has authority to be examined. The County Executive, or any person appointed by the Executive to conduct such an examination, shall have the same power to take testimony, administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers, books and evidence and refer witnesses to the Prosecuting Attorney to be punished for contempt as is conferred upon Council by this Charter. Subpoenas may not be issued pursuant to this section except by resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote of Council.

Sounds good, but one has to assume that the exec isn’t corrupt. Here’s how I can see this playing out in a cynical scenario: County Exec is corrupt, some other county person in a position of power is also corrupt. Exec threatens to investigate unless other county person jumps on the bandwagon. Basically, I can see this power being used as a weapon to make other officials and employees go along with whatever the exec wants. Even an honest public administrator might rethink going against the exec if he or she knows their administration might otherwise be bogged down by an investigation.

I’m not sure if §3.12 INVESTIGATIONS BY COUNCIL (page 13) covers the ability to investigate the County Executive if need be. There seems to be a little wiggle room in there on the emphasized portion.

Council may investigate the financial transactions of any office, department or agency of County government and the official acts and conduct of any County official relating to any matter upon which Council is authorized to act.

The executive seems to be in a pretty powerful position. The council members are only part-time, and aren’t prohibited from holding other jobs, and I’ve not detected any checks on executive power other than part-time council opposition.

I continue to be skeptical of Issue 6, I think there’s some good in there, but some of the permanent Cleveland distrust of elected officials or anyone else telling us what to do is starting to seep into me whenever stuff like this pops up.

UPDATE - I should note that, thought Issue 6 is being promoted by New Cuyahoga Now as reform for economic development’s sake, they obviously picked this time to run with it because of the County corruption investigation and it is implicit that this Charter will take care of the possibility of corruption. That’s why I’m looking for holes where I can see power being misused.