Tim Russo ran one hell of a race. A race worthy of a vote. I am not afraid to say that, yes, I voted for a sex offender to run Cuyahoga County.
There were many more people out there who punched a ballot with Russo's name on it. He gathered 9,171 votes in the race, well behind Armond Budish, who was pretty much anointed the new king of the Democratic Party at the county level before a ballot was even cast, and Shirley Smith who currently serves as a state rep. Russo, with all of his baggage, did manage to yield far more votes than former Sheriff Bob Reid and former North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O'Grady.
He did this while wearing a scarlet letter that was displayed loudly every time his name was mentioned (which was as infrequently as possible). He also did this by not accepting a penny in campaign contributions.
The Plain Dealer, who has often had an adversarial relationship with the sometimes over-the-top Russo, quickly wanted to diminish his solid results on election day by using the excuse that his showing was due to his last name. Pee Dee columnist Henry Gomez tweeted last night
Does the Russo name still have currency in Cuyahoga County? Tim Russo, who raised no money, is beating former sheriff in county exec race.The Pee Dee's Mark Naymik, who helped carry the water to get issue 7 passed for the big players in the town, was more direct in his assault. Naymik sharpened his pen saying:
Cuyahoga County Democratic Party: The party should be embarrassed that more than 9,000 of its members voted for blogger/activist Tim Russo, whose candidacy for county executive was more akin to a performance art gag than a serious campaign. A one-time political consultant -- whose past includes a 2002 felony conviction related to his attempt to have sex with a 13-year-old boy -- mugged for cameras and railed against the establishment. He finished third behind Budish and State Sen. Shirley Smith. Russo even topped former Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid, who actually worked his way around the county and offered one of the more visible campaigns in the race. Sure, Reid failed to inspire voters. But the election proved Democratic Party members will still blindly vote for anyone named Russo.
Maybe the party, and Naymik himself, should be more embarrassed by bowing to the billionaire owners of the professional sports franchises by helping get the Sin Tax passed. That is where Russo won the bulk of his votes. He boldly made Issue 7 an issue when everyone else in the party had their rubber stamps out to accept doling out the corporate welfare paid in large part by the poorest among us.
Even the least educated person who cast a vote in the election knows that the Russo name was dragged through the mud during the last half decade due to corruption. That was due to a far more famous Russo, Frank, who is now behind bars and is of no relation to Tim. The Russo name is hardly the gold standard it once was in this county and had it not been tarnished he probably would have won even more votes.
A vote for Russo was a vote against the Sin Tax, a vote against billionaire owners who take advantage of the citizens. A vote for Russo was a vote against The Plain Dealer and the other media cheerleaders in the town who have led the citizens down the wrong path time and time again.
Russo, a prolific blogger who used the tool in his campaign, sees the third place finish as a positive sign writing.
The light bulb is going on. Our plutocrat oligarchs’ days are numbered. They have a choice.For the Pee Dee to blatantly discredit Russo's accomplishment of getting votes with his baggage, and not accepting any campaign contributions, is just more of the same distortion we have become accustomed to. I wasn't embarrassed by voting for Russo, as Naymik thinks I should be, but I was ashamed that I had to pull a Democratic ballot after the party kowtowed to Jimmy Haslam, Dan Gilbert, and The Dolan family. ..Source.. by Eugene McCormick
They can unrig this game themselves, or it will soon be unrigged whether they like it or not, with not a care in the world as to who gets run over, how they get run over, or what’s left by the side of the road. History is littered with their remains in every corner of the globe. They think it can’t happen in America? How un-American.
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