Let’s again consider the strange case of the species Homo sapiens vir albus, the white man. Being male, he is missing genetic material and is thus hormonally imbalanced. Being white, he is deficient in the production of skin pigmentation. So why does this doubly deficient specimen dominate City Politics? In a previous column we pointed out the fact that, in a city and county where approximately one third of the population is comprised of this minority species, a disproportionate share of the elected and appointed leadership is dominated by white guys. Here’s the sordid saga of the depth of the issue, as
evidenced by the recent flap over the appointment to replace Phil Copeland on Toledo City Council. See if you can count how many white men star in the tale.
Special masters
First it should be noted that the Republican Party is to be dismissed from the conversation, mostly because they are indeed the party of white men. From the party chairman at the local level to both Republican members of the Board of Elections to nearly every major elected Republican official, including four of five Republican Toledo Muni Court judges and all three Republican members of Toledo City Council, white, white, and men. The lone exception, Judge Amy Berling, is a white woman, and her colleague Judge Robert Christiansen is reportedly so incensed by her alleged “erratic” behavior that he’s considering running against her to knock her from the bench. You read that right.
A sitting judge running against another sitting judge to remove her. Talk about white guy angst. Christiansen was elected to muni court by beating Sam Nugent and Dan Pilrose. He defeated John Coble to keep his seat in 2011. He ran unsuccessfully against Steve Yarbrough in 2010 and James Jensen in 2012 in the Republican primary for the Court of Appeals. Still counting? That’s five more white guys.
Speaking of the Board of Elections, when you add in the two Democrats, all four members are white men. They were recently under fire from the Ohio Secretary of State, Jon Husted, who appointed two “special masters” to scrutinize their operations and make recommendations. The “special masters” were Jonathan Allison and James Ruvolo. The irony in calling two white guys “special masters” was apparently lost on Husted, who is, of course, a white guy. But we digress.
Back to the Copeland replacement story. Copeland was one of only two African American men on Toledo City Council until his election as Lucas County Recorder. Soon after publicly opining that the seat was not an “African American seat,” then-Council President Joe McNamara changed his mind and decided that former Mayor Jack Ford was the best choice to replace Copeland to maintain a proper racial balance.
This is the same Joe Mac who, in his capacity as President, recommended Council committee chairmanships in 2012. The Council at the time had two women and three African American folks. It thus would seem to defy reason and even dumb luck that every single one of eight chairmanships under Joe Mac’s leadership went to white guys.
McNamara was joined by fellow councilman Mike Craig in supporting Ford. Two white guys stepping up to the “White Man’s Burden” of paternalistically helping those more melanin enriched, “half devil and half child” as the Rudyard Kipling poem put it. The local labor leadership instead declared that the seat held by Copeland, a leader of a Building Trades union, was in fact a labor seat. The head of the AFL-CIO joined with the head of the NW Ohio Building Trades to demand the appointment of Electricians official Shaun Enright to the position. McNamara and Craig held firm, even after the LC Dems, chaired by Ron Rothenbuhler, endorsed Enright. This led statewide Trades official Dennis Duffey to rant that those who defy Party dictates should suffer dire consequences.
For those of you still keeping track, there were seven white guys in that last paragraph alone. Not counting Kipling.
Leaning to the white
Enright ultimately got the appointment. Craig and McNamara were punished by being forced to agree to support all Party-endorsed candidates in the future.
This should get interesting in this year’s race for Toledo Mayor. It is expected two Democrats will be in the race, McNamara and current County Auditor Anita Lopez. McNamara has run afoul of labor on more than one occasion, most recently in an exchange of accusatory letters with the leader of the Teamsters. It would thus seem likely that Joe Mac will not get the endorsement of his party.
If Lopez gets the endorsement, will McNamara follow his pledge and support her over himself? Or will he do the obvious, and support the white guy?
