Council President Blaine Griffin’s political action committee has bought billboards backing four Cleveland City Council incumbents: Danny Kelly, Richard Starr, Kevin Conwell and Stephanie Howse-Jones.
Their faces may not be as recognizable as the arched eyebrow of a certain baldheaded personal injury lawyer. But the Council Leadership Fund is asking voters at least to remember their names in the Sept. 9 primary this year.
Griffin has also dispatched a fleet of mailers supporting his team. It’s too early to say how much the council president’s PAC paid to support the quartet of incumbents in the Sept. 9 primary.
On its website, Lamar Advertising prices each display at $1,250 for four weeks. A total of 490,000 pairs of eyeballs pass by the four billboards every seven days, the company estimates.
How many of those eyeballs belong to registered Cleveland voters — and how many flit away from the lane markers long enough to read the signs — is anyone’s guess.
Campaign chatter
Ward 8 endorsement: Democratic Party executive committee members couldn’t reach a consensus on whom to endorse in Ward 8. It takes 60% to win the endorsement, but the committee was split between incumbent Howse-Jones and candidate Charlotte Perkins.
The vote was greeted with some discontent that was tied up in the new ward lines and the weeds of the Democratic Party endorsement process.
The old Ward 7 and new Ward 8 both cover much of the Hough neighborhood. But the boundaries shifted enough to exclude Howse-Jones’ address. She told Weekly Chatter that she moved into another house she already owned that was both in Hough and in the new Ward 8.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to relocate,” she said.
Executive committee members who live in the newly drawn Ward 8 voted on the endorsement. As an appointed member of the executive committee, Howse-Jones voted too.
That didn’t go over well with Mike Seals, the ward leader in Howse-Jones’ current ward — but who does not live in the new ward. He objected to Howse-Jones’ being allowed to vote as an executive committee member after updating her address to one in Ward 8.
Brock, the party chair, disagreed. He said that Howse-Jones was “not the first person to move while on the executive committee.”
In any event, the endorsement vote was a wash, and the party is not picking a preferred candidate in Ward 8.
Pocket watching: The next deadline to file campaign finance disclosures is Aug. 28. This is the last look we’ll have at candidates’ fundraising and spending before the Sept. 9 primary. Take a look at the top fundraisers so far here.
Asked and answered: In case you missed it, many Cleveland City Council candidates took our 2025 election survey. Read what they think about housing, safety and casino tax spending. And if you’re a candidate who hasn’t yet taken our survey, drop us a line.
