The Franklin County Democratic Party endorsed three candidates for the Columbus City Schools' Board of Education amid a debate about whether the party should even throw support behind any candidates.
The party voted overwhelmingly Thursday with 96 "yes" votes to 9 "no" votes and "10" abstentions to endorse Jermaine Kennedy, Patrick Katzenmeyer and Antoinette Miranda for the three open seats. The three are running in a crowded 10 person primary where each candidate is trying to stand out from the pack.
A debate over the county party's endorsements was sparked last year, when first-term Franklin County Prosecutor Shayla Favor successfully lobbied the group not to endorse in the three-person primary race she ran in for her new position.
The county party opted not to endorse in the three-person primary for Columbus City Council District 7, which is Favor's old seat.
Kennedy said he wants to make Columbus City Schools a national model of equity, partnership and what centering students can look like.
"I believe wholeheartedly that all the work that I've done for the last 20 years has been in the support of our young people in this city," Kennedy said.
Kennedy has one child in the school district and another who has graduated from the district. He is an educator and community advocate and is chief program officer for the Boys & Girls Club of Central Ohio.
Katzenmeyer said he appreciated the endorsement. He works with Columbus developer Pizzuti Companies and has children in the district.
Katzenmeyer and the party screening committee touted his deep connection to the Central Ohio Democrats through work with U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty and former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. He is also the husband of former Columbus City Councilmember Liz Brown and the son-in-law of former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.
"I really want to bring a progressive, pragmatism to the board," Katzenmeyer said.
Katzenmeyer and Kennedy are also members of the county party's executive committee.
Miranda was at the meeting, but did not speak to the crowd. Miranda is a former member of the Ohio Board of Education and a current professor of psychology in Ohio State University's Dept. of Educational Studies.
Other candidates running for the three seats who were present at the meeting included Julie Trabold, Liz Caslin-Turner and Mounir Lynch.
There was potential for a member to force a floor vote to endorse in the council race, but that did not happen.
Candidates Tiara Ross and Jesse Vogel were both at the meeting, but Kate Curry-Da-Souza was not. Each candidate expressed support for the party's decision to stay out of the race.
Favor was not present either, but she was invoked by county party executive committee member Will Petrik, who motioned to table the endorsement for the CCS positions.
"(Favor) urged all of you, please keep your hands down all around so that voters can raise their hands all around town," Petrik said.
Petrik said he didn't want to endorse in the race in order to build trust in the Democratic Party again. He said he didn't oppose supporting Kennedy, Miranda and Katzenmeyer, but wanted to let the primary play out.
"If and when we actually build a level playing field, we can get more people involved, engage more voters, volunteers and donors. We can build trust with our base, build a stronger bench of emerging leaders," Petrik said.
Former CCS board member Eric Brown also spoke up in favor of tabling the motion to endorse in the election.
"I think that this is one where we should and can trust the voters," Brown said.
That motion failed.
Gretchen James, the chair of the party's screening committee, said they chose to endorse in the CCS race due to the high number of candidates and potential for voter confusion.
"Our voters count on us as the party to give them guidance. And this is a responsibility we take very seriously," James said.
Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, John Esterly from the Central Ohio Labor Council of the AFL-CIO and several other executive committee members spoke in favor of endorsing in the race.
Esterly said his organization endorsed the same three candidates, and stated it would be difficult to expect voters to do research into all 10 candidates.
"I would say to tax our residents, the people that I represent, with having to take those same lengths to figure out which of the 10 people are the best for Columbus City Schools, I think is a bit of a difficult proposition. It is incredibly painstaking," Esterly said.
Hardin said the party's endorsement is important in what is likely to be a low-turnout primary election.
"We have an opportunity...no, we have a responsibility, right now, as a party with all that is going on to use our collective voice," Hardin said. "These are our folks. These are the values that they stand for. And this is who we think, this is what we put our stamp of approval on."
Hardin and all eight other members of Columbus City Council have endorsed Ross in the city council race as did the AFL-CIO. Neither Esterly, Hardin or the other council members at the meeting tried to push for the party to endorse Ross.
Ross has faced trouble during her campaign after a political blog revealed she owed the city $3,800 in unpaid parking tickets and was driving on a suspended license.
The party also voted Thursday to endorse a "yes" vote in the May primary on Groveport Madison Local Schools' bond issue and on statewide Issue 2. The school district's bond issue would fund construction of three new schools and an expansion of the district's high school. Issue 2 is a $2.5 billion bond issue for public infrastructure.
