From Eric J Brewer:

It's 1967. Attorney Carl Stokes is running for mayor of Cleveland in the general election and his opponent is the grandson of President Howard Taft, a man by the name of Seth Taft. Where does Taft's family live? Pepper Pike. How is he running in Cleveland? He rented an apartment in the city. Thanks to a friend for reminding me of the Stokes / Taft residency issue.

I'm 63 and remember the stories of my father and those older than me in politics. When the Descendant of Slaves (DOS) community gained a political majority in a neighborhood, white men would rent addresses in their area to run for an office. The parties would suppress the black vote and the white candidate would win over the DOS candidate.

It's 2017. 50 years after Stokes became Cleveland's first DOS mayor. Instead of white men playing the "rent an address" game, DOS men are playing it. Today, however, pursuant to R.C. 3503.02 enacted in 2005 it's illegal. Residence is where your family resides.

Cleveland councilman Jeffrey Johnson's family resides in Twinsburg in Summit County and Basheer Jones has one wife in South Euclid and another in Atlanta, Georgia. Neither of his families resides in Cleveland and we already know the story about the Hough house he doesn't live in.

The petitions Jeff and Basheer submitted to the elections board contain fraudulent information about their residency which they have declared under oath to be true. They signed it. They're grown and educated men who know and should fully-understand the legal consequences of their deceptions on Cleveland voters. It's worse for Jeff because he's an attorney and has already been convicted federally for crimes while in elected office.

Election fraud is a 5th degree felony. Why candidates today think they can get away with this shit is illogical with all the information that's online. What? Do you think no one's going to check or that the people of Cleveland are just stupid? Jeff's not even thinking about losing his law license all over again, and this time permanently because he didn't learn his lesson the last time.

Anyone who believes they have been harmed by their unlawful doesn't have to wait for the board of elections to make a determination. File a "complaint on knowledge" against them directly with a "reviewing official" who is either a judge or a prosecutor. Support it with allegations of election fraud against officials at the board of elections for accepting and validating the fraudulent petitions. Title 35 gave board officials instructions they disobeyed.

Pat McDonald and Brent Lawler operate the elections board like a vote stealing, voter disenfranchising racketeering criminal enterprise to protect law breaking elected officials from both parties. Notice the complaint against Basheer but not one against Jeff. Keep in mind that the board doesn't have to receive an actual complaint. They can act and have a duty to do so when they "learn" through unofficial sources that a candidate has violated laws. If you simply emailed my posts to pmcdonald [at] cuyahogacounty [dot] us that would be notice to McDonald of Jeff's election law violations and he would have a duty to initiate a complaint against him on his own.

Right now as I write there are elected office holders in every category holding office illegally because they failed to turn in their campaign finance reports and took office anyway. R.C. 3517.10 sets forth timetables of 12 days before a primary and 38 days after a general election as the drop dead filing deadline at 4 p.m. R.C. 3517.11 does not authorize the board of elections to issue certificates of nomination or election to candidates who fail to meet these deadlines; and the candidates are instructed not to enter upon the performance of the duties of the office if they don't comply with R.C. 3517.10.

The politics and lawbreaking at the board makes it impossible for Cuyahoga County voters to have confidence in this county's election process. File a complaint with the county prosecutor, Mike O'Malley, even though he's the board's legal advisor. He should have advised them to obey and enforce election laws. I'd also send a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Sessions. He's looking for voter fraud cases. He can assign federal prosecutors to investigate the election stealing elections board, its officials and the fraudulent candidates.

The statutory "complaint on knowledge" process in Ohio's revised code is 2935.09. If you file the complaint with a prosecutor, and that official refuses to move it forward, you can use the same Ohio Revised Code to file a complaint against them with a judge in 309.05. That heading is captioned, "Removal of prosecuting attorney." And when this law makes reference to the word "removal," it means to "remove their ass from office."

Candidates. Refuse and ignore the advice of those who have their preferred candidates and don't want you to expose them. The residency of your opponent is a valid issue. Your critics are only crying because there's something in it for them if their candidate wins and they don't want you hurting them. That's when you go HAM on their asses.

Voters who are watching the two stories unfold. Many have been lulled into a false sense of reality of what constitutes "mud" and "personal attacks" in contrast to valid issues. It's understood that voters have personal favorites and friends in politics, but you're just as bad as the law breaking candidate if you support their unlawful conduct. Neither of you should be trusted and I mean that with all sincerity. The only way we're going to stop this bullshit is if "we" stop it.

I'd play pool with Carl Stokes when I saw him occasionally at either Jillian's or Sharkey's. We talked. He was a guest on my radio show. I was the last journalist to interview him. This shit is real to me in ways most of you will never understand, which is why I give no weight to the words of my critics. If I was concerned about what was going to be said about me I wouldn't be campaigning to become Cleveland's next mayor.

I would be a disgrace to Carl's legacy if I was running to lead the same city he did and I let black politicians do to DOS's what segregationist politicians did to us back then. This is the main reason I'm running against Mayor Frank Jackson. He's worst than Ralph Locher when Carl beat his ass in the primary in 1967. Read your history. Locher didn't give a shit about DOS's or Cleveland.

Jeffrey Johnson is not eligible to serve on Cleveland city council or to campaign for mayor; and he along with SEIU have committed felony election fraud. I am aware of three separate individuals who are planning to file criminal complaints against him and the board. Like Frank, Jeff is a disgrace to Carl's legacy. The Stokes brothers viewed him as a sychophant and a grandstanding ass kisser.

Basheer Jones is not eligible to seek or serve on Cleveland city council as a dual resident of South Euclid and Atlanta. For both of these men, you would be well-advised to withdraw your petitions as candidates for Cleveland offices. This shit's historical for us and ain't nobody playing. You're no better than the segregationists who worked to disenfranchise the DOS vote. Run where your families live.

Jeff, you'd be well-advised to resign the council seat, withdraw from the race, return the money and apologize. Don't cast another vote or accept another check. You know better and I've already gotten a preview of your argument. It's weak.

Michael L Nelson Sr called me while we were in the middle of blasting each other on Facebook. He played that lawyer "not necessarily" game and offered a feeble attempt to defend your misconduct. That shit got shot down in the face of the plain language of the statute. Even he had to admit he was toying with words. That's not being a good friend and you need to change your friends if they're always around when you get into trouble. There's a reason I avoided the political crew that makes up your inner circle