It’s well known by now — and well-covered in Weekly Chatter — that Mayor Justin Bibb puts in plenty of time on the road. The mayor has been pitching Cleveland and building national political connections around the country since he took office. 

By our count, Bibb has traveled to about 50 out-of-state destinations since the start of his first term in 2022. Last year, for instance, he attended a commercial real estate conference in Toronto, met with Salesforce executives in San Francisco and talked with a top Goldman Sachs exec in New York City.

Ward 13 Council Member Brian Kazy drilled into the cost of that travel during February’s budget hearings. One trip especially popped his eyes: Bibb’s visit to the Black Economic Alliance “The Gathering” summit on Martha’s Vineyard. The event is billed as a convening of “cross-sectoral thought-leaders, policymakers, and innovators to discuss their efforts to advance Black work, wages, and wealth.”

It cost Cleveland taxpayers more than $46,000 to send Bibb and two members of his police detail to Massachusetts, according to city employee travel logs that the administration gave to council. (Few stories could be so perfectly up the alley of the Fox 8 I-Team, which first reported on the costs.)

Last year, the mayor’s trips cost around $120,000, including more than $83,000 for the security detail, the travel logs show. Kazy gave Police Chief Dorothy Todd a hard time about the spending during budget hearings. 

“It doesn’t seem fiscally responsible that we spend that much money on one individual to have police officers travel with him, no matter really where he’s going,” he said. “It’s not like he’s the president. It’s not like people know who he is and he’s got some rockstar fanbase where he needs protection.”

Fanbase or not, City Hall says the travel pays off. Bibb’s communications team credited their boss’ nationwide networking for Cleveland’s winning $130 million in federal grants for the downtown lakefront land bridge. The Martha’s Vineyard trip put Bibb in contact with leaders from major companies, they said. 

“Simply stated – if the Mayor does not take these trips and develop these necessary relationships, the City does not receive these extraordinary investments,” city spokesperson Tyler Sinclair wrote in an email. 

The Trump-shaped shadow over the consent decree

Here’s something Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno has in common with Cleveland’s Party for Socialism and Liberation. Both see President Donald Trump as a protagonist in the effort to end federal court oversight of Cleveland police. 

Last year, Trump ordered his attorney general to review police consent decrees and “modify, rescind, or move to conclude” measures that “unduly impede” police.

After Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice moved to end the city’s consent decree, the Party for Socialism and Liberation responded with an eye-catching Instagram graphic. The headline: “Mayor Bibb and Trump unite to attack police accountability.”

Moreno had a more celebratory take. “President Trump and DOJ are finally liberating Cleveland cops to enforce the law—city officials should give them their complete support,” he wrote on X. 

The Bibb administration jointly filed with the federal government to terminate the decree. But both City Hall and the DOJ have tried to distance themselves from Trump. 

“This is not about the politics of the federal government,” Cleveland Chief Ethics Officer Delanté Thomas told reporters after a court hearing. 

Instead, it was about the city’s progress under the decree, he said. A DOJ attorney echoed those sentiments in court before U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver.

Kamala Harris boosts Emilia Sykes in Cleveland

Former Vice President Kamala Harris swung through Cleveland to promote “107 Days,” her book on the 2024 presidential campaign. The Playhouse Square speaking appearance last week was the main event, but it was just part of her itinerary in town. 

Beforehand, Harris headlined a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes at the Metropolitan at The 9 in downtown Cleveland. Photos of the meetup were in no short supply in the social media feeds of Northeast Ohio politicos. 

Sykes is one of five Ohio Democrats left in Congress. Democrats have about a three-point edge in her redrawn Akron-area district, according to data compiled by the website Dave’s Redistricting.