Mayor John Cranley and former mayor Dwight Tillery, both Democrats, used to be close.
Not anymore.
The fracture in their once-cozy relationship has grown steadily and could have implications for Cranley’s re-election bid.
The tension was on full display at a March 9 meeting by black organizers ostensibly about disparities in city code violations. At that meeting, Tillery and his allies lambasted the mayor and mounted a full-throated pushback against recent local media stories about Tillery’s nonprofit and calls from Cranley for an audit of the city-funded group.
The turbulence between Cranley and Tillery, a prominent leader in the black community, presents a big change. In 2013, Tillery was instrumental in helping Cranley court the black community leading up to his mayoral victory.
Black voters — roughly half the voters in Cincinnati elections, by the estimation of Hamilton County Democratic Party Chair Tim Burke — were a big part of the coalition that propelled Cranley into office in 2013.
During the two-hour meeting last week, which drew about 300 people to Woodward High School, Tillery blasted recent investigations by The Cincinnati Enquirer and WCPO into the nonprofit Center for Closing the Health Gap, which he heads, and cast them as the work of the mayor. The Black Agenda, a group that describes itself as a coalition of black leaders and activists, had organized the meeting about code violations, which at times became a forum for complaints about the Cranley administration’s perceived treatment of the black community.
Tillery is heavily involved with The Black Agenda, which has also drawn big crowds to past events, including a Dec. 19 Cincinnati City Council meeting in which leaders of the group asked the city for $18 million to support the African American Chamber of Commerce. The group rallied hundreds to that meeting, many wearing Black Agenda T-shirts.
Both The Enquirer and WCPO published stories about the Health Gap on March 8. They detailed questionable spending practices, including about $3,600 in crossover spending by Health Gap on Black Agenda expenses. The city rejected invoices for that spending and questioned whether Health Gap employees were working on Black Agenda political organizing initiatives. That’s not in the Health Gap’s contract, city administration has said.
The reports also looked into Health Gap initiatives like one designed to bring fresh produce to 11 corner stores in low-income neighborhoods. Both stories described less than half of the corner stores still participating in the program, which launched in September last year. Cranley called for an investigation into the group as the media outlets rolled out their stories.
Health Gap has called those stories “hit and run journalism,” saying their side of the story, and a full accounting of their work, were left out. Meanwhile, Tillery on Twitter has accused Cranley of being behind the investigation because Tillery won’t endorse him.
Tillery, as well as prominent local faith leader Bishop Bobby Hilton and other allies, characterized those reports and Cranley’s call for an investigation as “attacks” at the Woodward meeting.
“Two media sources had the audacity to attack one of the very few leading black organizations in this city,” Hilton said. “The Center for Closing the Health Gap has done great things in the city and in the county.”
Hilton also made reference to Cranley during his remarks.
“The story is, ‘Give them 48 hours, and they’ll go home.’ But I need to tell you, not this time,” Hilton said to cheers from the crowd as he admonished attendees to vote during upcoming elections.
The comment referenced a statement Cranley wrote in an email last year to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel about controversy around the firing of Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell. In those emails, Cranley told Emanuel that “black radio and electeds went nuts,” but that the “controversy died in 48 hours.”
Cincinnati City Councilmen Charlie Winburn and Wendell Young, at the meeting to address code complaint issues, also came to Tillery’s defense.
“John Cranley is bad for black Cincinnati,” Young, a frequent Cranley critic, said, telling the crowd to vote for either of his opponents, Councilwoman Yvette Simpson or Rob Richardson, Jr.
Both Richardson and Simpson were at the event. Simpson spoke specifically about code violations during that portion of the meeting, not addressing controversy around the Health Gap or mentioning Cranley. Richardson did not address the crowd.
Winburn, a major Cranley ally, refrained from criticizing the mayor but did praise Tillery and the Health Gap and blasted negative stories about black leaders.
A long line of attendees stretched through Woodward’s cafeteria to make public comments during the event. Some came to talk about code violations, some to air grievances with the administration, some to support Tillery, some for all of the above.
“We need to vote for people who will support our interests,” Tillery said to big cheers from the crowd. “We’re going into battle. I’m not afraid. Don’t you be.”
The mayor’s office did not provide CityBeat a reply to Tillery’s comments by press time.
Cranley and Tillery’s relationship hasn’t always been so fraught. Tillery is an influential local Democrat and served as co-chair of Cranley’s 2013 campaign. The Center for Closing the Health Gap has received increasing amounts of money in the city budget, written in by city administration, every year that Cranley has been in office.
Under former mayor Mark Mallory, the organization got $200,000 in the budget, despite cuts to other organizations and critics who repeatedly said it duplicated services provided by the Cincinnati Health Department.
The amount Health Gap received in city budgets shot up after Cranley’s election: The group received $500,000 in the 2015 budget, $750,000 in the 2016 budget and $1 million in the 2017 budget. During this time, the city was approving invoices for the work the nonprofit was doing. Cranley’s office did not immediately answer questions about the Health Gap’s increasing levels of funding or the process by which invoices were approved.
Black Agenda leaders, and one assumes Tillery, have been aware of the media investigations into Health Gap since at least late last month.
“Why is (Enquirer reporter) Sharon Coolidge investigating the Health Gap? Is it because of Dwight Tillery’s leadership on the black agenda,” the group tweeted Feb. 23. “Such Racism!!!”
The relationship between Cranley and Tillery began to sour last summer when the two battled over the contentious search for a new Cincinnati Health Commissioner. In early January, Tillery was front and center at a press conference with Cranley’s mayoral opponent Simpson, as well as other Cranley foes, condemning the mayor for the firing of Chief Blackwell. Later that month, Tillery declined to endorse Cranley, saying he had let the black community down.
The rift between Cranley and Tillery comes as other black groups have expressed frustration with the mayor. Cranley drew criticism for missing a March 6 mayoral forum in Walnut Hills and declining an invitation to another forum March 28 sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati NAACP.
“By refusing to appear at this forum, the membership of the NAACP and of the Prince Hall Masons as well as the voters of Cincinnati will not have an opportunity to hear directly from the current mayor, who is asking these same voters to return him to office,” reads a sternly worded letter from the Cincinnati branch of the NAACP released last week. The branch is run by Rob Richardson Sr., the father of one of Cranley’s mayoral opponents Richardson Jr. “If Cranley wants to turn his back on the African-Americans in Cincinnati, he should not be surprised if they turn their backs on him on May 2.”
Cranley’s office cited mayoral duties and family obligations for missing the Walnut Hills event. The mayor’s campaign reversed course on the NAACP event after backlash.
“In the interest of fairness and in order to give the most people possible the chance to see debates, Mayor Cranley agreed to participate in an unprecedented three televised debates, while declining all other invitations,” a news release from Cranley’s office says. “However, upon reflecting on the fact that one of those debates is being hosted by the NAACP, Mayor Cranley decided to make NAACP debate work. Mayor Cranley respects the organization and the work that it has done to improve the quality of life for African Americans.” ©
This article appears in Mar 15-22, 2017.