By Roldo Bartimole

Frank Jackson becomes the first progressive mayor since Clevelanders narrowly elected Dennis Kucinich in 1977. That does not mean he’s anti-business. He just wants economic activity to benefit more people and especially people it doesn’t help now.

That may go against the corporate community’s desires in a Cleveland mayor. Power people enjoy subservience rather than independence. Therefore, there may be early problems.

Jackson is not a Kucinich urban populist who is ready to lead an economic revolution. (That reminds me, why was Kucinich in Jane Campbell’s camp and not with Jackson? It remains a schizoid political stance for him; left positioning nationally; a more conservative home posture.)

However, Jackson may face the same resistance Kucinich did. What reminds me of that was a casual encounter with one of the more perceptive Plain Dealer reporters just before the recent election. The reporter feared that if Jackson were elected it would mean four years of conflict between him and the newspaper. It would be hard for the Pee Dee to be too negative too soon. Kucinich had only a short two-year term and he could be waited out without too much damage to the city (or so it might seem). With a four-year term, damaging Jackson early would mean a city in jeopardy for too long.

Early confrontation would be a tragedy for Cleveland. It suggests ominously a negative attitude that already exists at the newspaper of Jackson and what he might bring to City Hall. The anti-business tag was never well examined during the campaign.

Of course, the Plain Dealer endorsed Mayor Jane Campbell for re-election so the newspaper already had made its choice of whom it wanted to see running the city for the next four years.

Kucinich faced the same resistance from the Pee Dee back in the late 1970s (though it had endorsed him for mayor) and both sides fed each other’s resentments. The result was two years of brutal civic conflict.

Jackson, however, isn’t Kucinich and Cleveland isn’t the same city as the late 1970s when Cleveland’s corporate community was one of the most powerful in the nation with a score of Fortune 500 companies. The population was still about 750,000 but now sits around a dismal 400,000. Kucinich also was able to raise the income tax one-half percent, an option not available to Jackson who faces a continued tight budget. (Though you would think there’s plenty of room for budget tightening as population continues its decline.)

Yet, throughout the campaign Jackson’s votes against the massive subsidies to Gateway, the Browns Stadium and Playhouse Square were cited repeatedly as negatives.

No one seemed to ask Jackson WHY he voted against these massively subsidized ventures. It is relevant that Jackson coming from the most impoverished city ward and area of Cleveland might object to use of city taxes for millionaires instead of dealing with the source of deprivation he saw. In fact, his vote appears rather logical. (After Gateway, Gund family interests sold the Cavaliers for $375-million, having paid only $20 million in 1983 for the franchise. Dick Jacobs sold the Indians for some $320 million after taking some $60 million in a previous stock dealing for the team, said to cost him about $45 million. Public subsidy made these franchises golden.)

Jackson, in my observations of him, typically wants something if he gives something. He’s a bargainer, a trader. I believe that will be his method of dealing with developers and economic development interests as mayor. He will want something for everything he gives. His success reveals itself in how much economic activity, most of it with government subsidies, went into his ward during his 16-year tenure.

That guiding principle, I think, will rule in a Jackson administration.

However, he’ll face an early trial. Jackson got the backing of Forest City interests. (Who else could the Establishment back; pickings were very lean.) Forest City wants a new convention center to be located contiguous with its Tower City shopping center extending to the Cuyahoga River.

The Tower City site is flawed and bad for the city, to say nothing of the city having an old convention center to care for and convert to something. To what and at what expense no one knows.

The question is has Jackson made a deal for the support he received from the Ratner family, owners of Tower City.

With Jackson giving so much emphasis to the city schools’ problems it’s hard to see why he would go for a new convention center. It’s the old guns and butter argument – how can you have both when you really can’t afford either.

A new convention center also certainly demands a new hotel or a vastly expanded present hotel. The city has absolutely no money for such a venture. Essentially, cities around the nation are themselves financing convention hotels, not an option here.

By pursuing a new convention center instead of quick action on the Cleveland schools, Jackson could damage his most prized asset – his integrity. The common attitude would be that he paid off contributors and supporters.

Reluctance may be the best description of the Cleveland voters in this election despite Jackson’s comfortable margin. It didn’t appear either candidate really excited the populous but a decision had to be made. In one election between Tim Hagan and Mary Rose Oakar, I wrote that the best a voter could do was “Hold your nose and vote for Mary Rose.” They did.

Jackson became less inspiring with each debate. I believe many voters were taking a chance because they believed Campbell was a failure as a mayor. She never was a Cleveland Mayor because she simply lacked the street smarts necessary in a tough city with tough problems.

Campbell failed to manage well from the beginning. She surrounded herself with too many incompetent people. Her administration lacked urgency.

A defeat for her does not have to end her political life. She should know more about herself and a political comeback elsewhere cannot be ruled out. Check Kucinich.

Jackson now faces similar urgency. He even put more pressure on himself with his statements that “I want to see results” and Cleveland “has a bright future.”

It’s delivery time. His early top appointments will reveal just how serious he is about those pledges and how competent he will be in achieving them. (:divend:)