"Tim Hagan has been my friend for 25 years so I want to make it clear that I come at any discussion of his candidacy with that bias, but that is only a minor part of my disappointment in Cool Cleveland's slant on the Hagan-McCormack race.

I also have been involved in a host of community activities over the years, including more than eight years as the County Administrator, and this experience has given me a pretty clear sense of what it takes to actually get something difficult done in a diverse place. (As opposed to merely pontificate and then complain that things aren't getting done.) At the top of the list has to be an ability to collaborate with all kinds of people.

Regrettably, our community faces a serious shortage of collaborative leadership right now, and that is precisely the quality that sets Tim Hagan apart. Tim is a liberal Democrat, and he's not afraid to say so. But he also keenly appreciates that we need business to succeed in order to create jobs, generate taxes, support the arts, etc. That appreciation doesn't make him pull punches. I've seen him say things straight to the face of many a business leader that few politicians have the guts to say except via the media, and yet somehow Tim manages to keep from burning bridges in the process. His candor becomes the basis for collaboration, not a barrier to it, because he stays at the table and remains engaged in the process of achieving worthy outcomes.

Contrast this approach to what has been happening in Greater Cleveland lately. As an example, consider public funding for the arts as one challenging issue that needs a broad collaboration in order to achieve success. There has been a great deal of time and money, including a lot from the Gund Foundation, invested in laying the groundwork for public arts support. But rather than fully embrace this need and do the hard work of building a strong coalition, the County Commissioners have surprised everyone with a bizarre ballot issue that actually threatens to set back the cause of public arts funding for up to a decade.

Why could it do that? Because a drubbing at the polls will cause most politicians to treat it like a toxic issue for years. And a drubbing is just what will happen unless the Commissioners come up with somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million for a campaign and also get out front as active, visible leaders of it. With six weeks to go and a poll showing a high-water mark of 41% support after voters are told the case for the issue, where are the Commissioners? Have they made a single fundraising call? Have they organized a real campaign? It is not leadership to toss an issue to the voters and then effectively wash one's hands of it.

We desperately need effective, collaborative leadership. That's why I will gladly, and hopefully, cast my ballot for Tim Hagan."

From Cool Cleveland reader Dave Abbott, Executive Director, The George Gund Foundation dabbott@gundfdn.org