The Checks and Balances Of Two Parties

In the last couple of days, the Cleveland area has been rocked by a Federal raid on two prominent Cuyahoga County officials, Jimmy Dimora, a county commissioner and head of the county Democratic Party, and Frank Russo, the county auditor. There were a number of other people listed in the warrants, most either family members or employees of the two named above. I have a link below, if you are interested in more details.

Now, don't be shocked by what I'm about to say, but what we lack in the Cleveland area is a viable Republican Party. For quite some time now, Republicans have had a dismal record of being elected to county offices. I can't tell you the name of the county Republican chairman, and I pay a good deal of attention to politics. Republicans do hold some local offices as city council members or mayors in some suburbs, but by operating out of such small bases, they have trouble moving to the bigger, county level. The Cleveland area is staunchly Democratic, with the exceptions of suburban Lake County on the Eastside, and suburban Medina County to the southwest. Cuyahoga County itself is overwhelmingly Democratic in voter sentiment.

A number of years ago, however, the Republicans had a man named Bob Hughes as county chairman. Hughes was great at developing candidates to compete on the county level for the Republican Party, and several, including George Voinovich, moved up the ladder to hold or compete for statewide offices. Since his death a number of years ago, the Republicans have been a mess, and they have essentially ceded the county elections to Democrats, with VERY few exceptions. Things have gotten so bad, that Republicans have trouble recruiting credible candidates for many positions. Folks, this is NOT a good situation for the public. We need both parties to be vibrant and on guard against abuses by the other party and to force the other party's candidates to have solid, well thought-out positions on issues important to us all. In more recent times, if a candidate can get the Democratic nomination, that's the same as winning the office, as the general election is a mere formality. Under these kinds of circumstances, recruiting viable candidates to face Democrats is tough for the Republicans to do, as their candidates have less chance against the Dems than General Custer did against the Indians at the Little Bighorn.

Now, there's been some speculation that with this Democratic scandal (if the charges are proven true), Republicans might be able to rebound somewhat. To be quite honest, I seriously doubt it. Many Republicans have openly supported free trade agreements that have devastated this region. Many people have lost jobs, as their work was shipped overseas. Many others have suffered wage and benefit cuts. The economic situation here is pretty dismal. The medical industry is in good shape here, and there is a blossoming tech sector, but overall, the region is depressed. Further, Republicans are identified with George W. Bush, and he's about as popular in these parts as poison ivy at a picnic. The Republicans have lots of work to do to rebuild their party in Ohio in general, and the Cleveland area especially. They certainly need to get back into politics right in the City of Cleveland, too.

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