|
To date,
our efforts have raised a little over $76,000 for the
Foundation and at no cost to the organization. And, I have
enjoyed asking for the money. We have another $20,000 in
pending requests.
Shifting to
politics … are you ready for State Representative WilliAnn
Moore?
Moore is pondering a run to succeed State Representative
Edna Brown who will be term limited if she is successful in
this upcoming November contest.
Moore challenged Brown years ago but Brown prevailed then.
Moore has great strength in housing (ONYx president) and has
a long-time background as an NAACP branch leader. Moore was
also a teacher for more than 30 years.
Look for
Nate Ford, formerly the Toledo police chaplain, to be in the
mix of state executives working on homeland security. Ford,
a talented guy, had turned down police chief desks in
various localities. Ford came within a whisker of being
appointed Toledo top cop a few years ago.
Telegram to
Mike Bell! If you are running for mayor, you need to start
acting like it. Let key people know precisely what you plan
to do.
I got
confused by Calvin Brown, commissioner of the Office of
Affirmative Action/Contract Compliance, this week. Brown
said that Toledo hit 30 percent minority compliance last
quarter in contracts awarded by the City of Toledo yet a few
days later, Brown said Toledo only has single digit
capacity. How do you go from 30 percent to less than 10
percent? Either the city can deliver that much minority
participation or they did not?
Marc Dann
may be out as Ohio Attorney General by the time this goes to
print. Dann, who admitted last week to an affair with a
staffer, can not survive this scandal no matter how he tries
to tough it out. He rode to power on the white horse of
indignation over Tom Noe. There is no way Ohio will allow
him to remain in office. The statewide peers and the GOP
will be unrelenting in urging Dann to resign.
Look for
either Lt. Governor Lee Fisher to take the attorney
generalship or Ben Espy, executive assistant attorney
general and deputy attorney general for criminal justice,
who is leading the investigation into the sex inquiry. Espy,
a former Ohio Senate minority leader, is a veteran attorney
from Columbus where he played football at The Ohio State
University under Woody Hayes. Espy’s selection would add
diversity to the Dem ticket next time around.
Mike
Ashford’s recent fundraiser at Manhattan’s was a huge
success. He raised around $8,000 which is not bad for a guy
who is not up for election anytime soon – he just won his
re-election campaign this past November.
Ashford is
a nice guy when he is not fighting Mayor Carty Finkbeiner or
Council President Mark Sobczak or whomever. But he is mighty
expensive and he takes politics very seriously. Ashford ran
candidates in his wards to ensure that no one would encroach
on his territory. Now, that is developing a political
machine. And, Ashford has quietly put together his machine
in the Old West End.
I hear that
most of the African-American House Democrats in the
Cleveland area have cut their deals with State
Representative Armond Budish if the Dems take the majority
in the Ohio House this November. Budish will be vying for
the Speaker of the House post. This means that our own Matt
Szollosi can not count on too many Cleveland rep votes in
his bid for the top job. However, if he has counted
accurately, it may not make a difference. You only need 50
percent plus one to be speaker – possibly as few as 26
votes.
Let’s see
who gets a street named after them next. Last week it was
Rev. John E. Roberts of Indiana Avenue Missionary Baptist.
The very next day, it was Rev. Robert P. Wormely of Southern
Missionary Baptist Church.
Expect a
section of Norwood Street to be renamed next for St. Mark’s
Baptist’s Rev. I.J. Johnson, who is the dean of local
Baptist pastors with over 50 years of service. Pretty soon,
the name of every pastor will adorn a local street sign.
Contact Jack Ford at
jack@thetruthtoledo.com.
Coffee
with the Fords Line-Up
6:30 am every Sunday WTVG-3abc
And throughout the week on Buckeye Digital Cable, Channel
614
|
