After An Attempt To Influence The Cuyahoga County Executive Race, Bill Mason’s Political Machine Has No King!
FEATURED PHOTO: FORMER CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTOR AND ARMOND BUDISH CHIEF OF STAFF BILL MASON
BollyInside.com, Posted March 10th 2022
It appears that soon after Chris Ronayne launched his candidacy for Cuyahoga County executive, one of the area’s most powerful power brokers began looking for a Democratic opponent.
According to persons who received the calls, Bill Mason, a former county prosecutor and a leader of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party’s “old guard,” initially called members of the executive committee evaluating support for his employer, Armond Budish, for a third term. When it became clear that Budish had lost favour, Mason began looking for a replacement.
In the weeks that followed, Mason and his allies reportedly tried soliciting other potential winning candidates before settling on Warrensville Heights Mayor Bradley Sellers. Simultaneously, neighboring Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell dropped out of the race, Sellers jumped in, and Mason and his proxies again entreated party members to pledge allegiance to their candidate.
Two executive committee members told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer that they received calls from Mason and his good friend Bedford Clerk of Court Tom Day, asking them to switch their votes from Ronayne to Sellers.
“I was worried with a Sellers administration it would be more of the same, like with the Budish administration,” one committee member said. “He would be taking close counsel from Bill Mason and Dave Wondolowski, and that concerns the heck out of me.”
Neither of the callers gave reasons for why they preferred Sellers, but committee members said they got the impression that Mason was angling for a candidate more pliable to his counsel or that of his protégées, such as Executive Secretary of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council Dave Wondolowski. They didn’t want him to succeed.
The committee members agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, for fear of retaliation, but independently corroborated the calls.
Gerald “Jerry” Austin, a long-time Democratic strategist and consultant, knows how the game is played. The 77-year-old has worked on local and national campaigns, including for former President Barack Obama and Rev. Jesse Jackson, and said it became clear in party circles that the old guard was shopping for any candidate but Ronayne.Why? Because they don’t control him,” said Austin, an admitted Ronayne supporter and sometimes adviser.
In Cuyahoga County, power is largely consolidated under three key positions: the 11th Congressional District Representative, Cleveland mayor, and the county executive. And for the first time, the old guard was close to losing all three, Austin said. Democratic party chair and political rookie Shontel Brown won the 11th Congressional District, bringing new representation to a district U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge had held for 12 years, he said. Though, some argue Brown remains loyal to the old guard, having received financial support and endorsements from Fudge and Mason’s faction of followers.