Chasing Justice Challenges Cleveland's Charter: Law Director Should be Elected

Justice: Do the Right ThingPhoto byGayatri MalhotraonUnsplash

Cleveland, OH. - A recent Press Release calls for the examination of the City of Cleveland's City Charter.

Attention, citizens of Cleveland: It's time to take a closer look at our City Charter. A recent press release has called for examining the document governing our city. The organization, Chasing Justice, has filed a Writ of Mandamus in the Eighth District Court of Appeals, demanding that we scrutinize the Charter and make necessary changes. Mariah Crenshaw, the Lead Research Analyst, and her team want to ensure that Cleveland is governed by a Charter that truly serves the needs of our city.

According to the Cornell School of Law, "A (writ of) mandamus is an order from a court to an inferior government official ordering the government official to properly fulfill their official duties or correct an abuse of discretion."

The press release sent by Crenshaw to various news outlets says, "The Writ is seeking to enforce the state statute which requires municipal law directors to be electors and elected to public office. The legislation passed in 1977, and the City of Cleveland has relied on vague and ambiguous language to allow the Mayor [s] to continue appointing them to office. I (Crenshaw)believe the City Charter does not contain specific language regarding the law director being appointed versus elected to office. It is further my (Crenshaw) contention that because the statute does have specific language, the General Assembly's passage of the language in 1977 prevails and because no one has ever challenged it before the prior administrations continued to appoint persons to public office. I have also included a voter suppression issue in the mandamus," Crenshaw wrote in the press release.

Crenshaw added, "As we read other surrounding city charters, home rule allows the Mayor, like the City of Euclid, to continue appointing their law directors to the public office. The language in Euclid's Charter is language-specific, whereas Cleveland's Charter is not clearly defined for the law director; therefore, home rule does not apply. Other residents, activists, and I will circulate several petitions in the upcoming weeks. One will contain specific language to ensure the law director's office complies with the state statute if the Court does not issue the Writ."

The Writ was filed on January 24, 2024, with the Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas against the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and the City of Cleveland's Mayor Justin Bibb.

According to the Final Call newspaper, Chasing Justice LLC's Mariah Crenshaw is a lead researcher and analyst for Chasing Justice, LLC, a watchdog group that exposes corruption in politics and police misconduct.

This story is developing. We will continue to update as events arise.