Former U.S. Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar and Ohio Senator Nina Turner were among those who gathered yesterday in front of the county offices to publically endorse candidate Terri Hamilton Brown.
Turner, who is black, faced a storm of criticism from African American leaders for supporting the new charter that will replace the county’s three commissioner with a single county executive. In endorsing Hamilton Brown, Turner criticized rival Democratic candidate Ed FitzGerald, who is currently Mayor of Lakewood, for his original resistance to county reform.
TURNER: “We need someone in that office who’s going to build bridges and not walls, we need someone in that office who is going to set the right conditions.”
Tuesday FitzGerald added five Cuyahoga County mayors to his list of endorsements. The North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor backed FitzGerald earlier in his race, as did the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.