EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — While Election Day has come and gone in Northeast Ohio, there is still one major race to be decided, and it will fittingly take place in the city which has been at the center of a slew of controversies over the past year.
Voters in East Cleveland will once again decide if Brandon L. King should be removed from office, with early voting starting Wednesday and polls set to officially open on Dec. 5. This is the city's second mayoral recall election in as many years, with King narrowly surviving by just 19 votes in 2022.
For the past 12-plus months, East Cleveland politics have been — to put it bluntly — a mess, with King and City Council repeatedly bickering with each other and flinging accusations of corruption and wrongdoing. Highlights of the saga have included:
- Law Director Willa Hemmons declaring the 2022 recall petitions against King invalid, only for the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to leave the race on the ballot and see King win. In that same election, Councilor Ernest Smith was recalled.
- City Council voting to fire Hemmons as law director, only to have King claim they lacked the authority to do so. Hemmons is still technically in office and is recognized as law director on the city's website, but Council contends she is not legitimately in her position and says she is only acting on behalf of the mayor.
- Disputes as to the legitimate officeholders of two City Council seats, stemming from the expulsion of then President Nathanial Martin earlier this year. Martin claims, prior to being ousted, he appointed Mark McClain to Smith's old Ward 3 seat, but Council recognizes Lateek Shabazz as its Ward 3 member. In response, Hemmons states both Shabazz and Martin's purported replacement, Twon Billings, are ineligible to hold office due to "violent criminal histories" (Billings previously pleaded guilty to aggravated menacing in 2019). The East Cleveland website still lists Martin and McClain as members of Council, even though Shabazz and Billings have shown up at all meetings.
- Arguments over the employment status of Council Clerk Eric J. Brewer, himself a former East Cleveland mayor. Hemmons has asserted Brewer is "not an employee of the City of East Cleveland" and that Council has illegally given him "unfettered access to City files, fobs, computers, equipment and sensitive information."
- Council voting to recommend criminal charges against King and Director of Finance Charles Iyahen in April over budget disputes and a feared $30 million deficit within the next five years. With Hemmons still acting as law director, the pair are unlikely to be arrested.
Things came to a head in August, when video obtained by 3News appeared to show King drinking and smoking on city property. Council President Juanita Gowdy called the mayor's behavior "out of control," while King defended his desire to relax on the job and blasted the legislative body as the "most disrespectful, uneducated, unorganized, illogical city council in the history of the city."
At a September City Council meeting, residents and councilors debated everything from the proposed restoration of Forest Hill Park to the mayor's status and whether or not he is even eligible to hold the position. A defiant Gowdy declared, "I didn't vote for him. He is not my mayor." King was given very little time for rebuttal.
Later that month, Shabazz and other critics of King announced their latest recall effort after gaining enough signatures from city residents. They accuse the mayor of, among other things:
- Creating a $60 million budget deficit
- Allowing the police department to become "a criminal enterprise"
- Eliminating city services like grass mowing and park maintenance
- Towing more than 5,000 cars for profit
- Sexually harassing his former secretary
King, the former vice president of City Council, became mayor in 2016 following the successful recalls of then Mayor Gary Norton and Council President Thomas Wheeler. The Democrat was subsequently elected to two full terms in his own right, most recently in 2021.
If King is removed from office, then Gowdy would replace him as mayor with a special election to be held later. However, even that situation now comes with questions, as Gowdy lost her Ward 2 Council seat Tuesday to former Councilor Timothy R. Austin. Regardless of what happens with King, East Cleveland will have a new Council President come January.
WKYC has reached out to King for comment. Polls for the recall election will be open from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 5. In addition, the following in-person early voting hours will be available to all those in East Cleveland wishing to cast a ballot at the County Board of Elections:
- Nov. 7-9: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Nov. 10: Closed in recognition of Veterans Day
- Nov. 13-17: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Nov. 20-22: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Nov. 23: Closed for Thanksgiving
- Nov. 24: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Nov. 27: 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
- Nov. 28: 7:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
- Nov. 29-Dec. 1: 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
- Dec. 2: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Dec. 3: 1-5 p.m.