Bibb! Falls in Line
It's early in Justin Bibb's mayoral administration, but we can already put the anti-establishment label to rest.
I do not live in Cleveland, but if I were that lucky I would have put my misguided love of Dennis Kucinich aside and voted for Justin Bibb in the city’s recent mayoral election. He was the best candidate every step of the way.
And yes, I am jealous that Cleveland has a mayor capable of hitting a jump-shot in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, even if he’s still unverified on Twitter and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called him “Mayor Gibbs” at the conclusion of weekend ceremonies. Columbus’s Andrew Ginther, whom I call Mayor Suburbs, would humiliate our humble city if he attempted a similar feat.
Bibb is an upgrade in every relevant statistic over his predecessor, the illustrious Frank Jackson; the longtime mayor who enshrined “It is what it is” on his ridiculously sized portrait. I understand why Clevelanders were excited to elect him.
No Democratic candidate—from state auditor to president—can win Ohio without sizable turnout from Cuyahoga County, and Jackson did not give a damn about any of that. He was cynical, corrupt and maintained power through Cleveland’s long-standing culture of political patronage. Oh, and he let his grandson operate a criminal gang out of the mayor’s residence.
Bibb cast himself as an anti-establishment outsider in the campaign, and he was right to do so. The crooked Haslam family, real estate developers and the reactionary leaders of the Building Trades unions all conspired against him by funding a racist mailer that digitally darkened Bibb’s already black skin.
But you don’t go from 2% name recognition to a 34-year-old mayor of Cleveland in that amount of time without having monied interests behind you as well, which is exactly the feat Bibb pulled off before ultimately running the pockets of old-school machine candidate, then-City Council president Kevin Kelley in the run-off election.
Bibb has looked genuinely interested during city council meetings and alluded to the removal of the garish concrete barriers that blight Cleveland’s majestic Public Square. Again, this is a remarkable improvement upon his predecessor despite Bibb’s insistence on talking like a technocrat when discussing ideas as simple as protected bike lanes.
Bibb’s most recent move, however, shows that we can put the idea that Bibb will be an anti-establishment mayor to rest.
Shontel Brown will soon face a rematch with Nina Turner for whatever their new Congressional district looks like. Brown won her seat fair and square as allowed by our country’s decadent campaign-financing laws. But she aligned herself with the very interests that backed Kevin Kelley; the same ones that painted Bibb as a dangerous black man that would unleash anarchy on the city. She even took money from a laundry list of hobgoblin Republican donors.
Turner, on the other hand, endorsed and campaigned for Bibb. As did Our Revolution. His strongest districts—the poorest in the city—voted in a landslide for Turner.
And Bibb knifed her in the back just like any other career politician would do because none of these power-hungry jackals are actually friends with each other.
Yes, Bibb will continue to talk the big game expected of someone who made “#CLEcantwait” their campaign’s hashtag. Democrats politicians in Ohio’s urban centers have become adept at adopting progressive language to flaunt about their city’s while failing to do anything that alters current material conditions.
This is Bibb backing away from a political fight. And if he can’t even go to bat for somebody who worked to get him elected, it becomes easy to deduce how he will treat the lowly voters that elected him in the first place.
The much bigger tell, to me, is how Bibb dispelled the notion hours later while repeating right-wing nonsense about “purity politics,” which is the phrase people in power use to try tricking plebes into demanding less of them:
Notice Bibb won’t say which issues or communities he’s willing to sacrifice at the altar of “purity politics.”
Here’s what I wrote about Bibb back in September.
To me, I think the establishment players got what they really wanted: A win/win runoff in which neither participant is seriously invested in delivering any of the change that the city of Cleveland desperately needs. One candidate is just a little better at the razzle dazzle than the other.
Hey, at least he’s better than the last bum they had in office. Sometimes that’s the best you can hope for.
THOSE WMDs. Meanwhile, in Canada, defensiveness reaches new heights… The curious mind and mind-altering death of Justin Clark… How Heinz uses a fake number to keep its brand timeless… The work-from-home trader who shook global markets… The next affordable city is already too expensive.
Is that Ginther in front of the Ukranian flag? Is he going to broker peace by adopting a baby TO Russia??