Akron PACs on either side of police reform in Issue 10 make last-minute appeals to voters

Retired top cops in Akron. A former mayor and chair of the Summit County Democratic Party. An Akron attorney who frequently sues the city. And the campaign manager of a lame duck mayor.

In these critical days before the Tuesday election, an assembly of sometimes competing interests have lined up against Issue 10. The charter amendment, which was signed by nearly 7,000 people to appear on the ballot, would replace Mayor Dan Horrigan’s recently enacted civilian oversight board, which has yet to form. (Nearly 60 people have applied to serve on the new board.)

In the past two weeks, phones rang with anti-Issue 10 robocalls recorded by retired Akron Police Capt. Danny Zampelli. A second recording by retired Akron Police Chief Craig Gilbride is now buzzing phones.

At-Large Councilman and former Mayor Jeff Fusco, who’s been criticized and threatened — politically and personally — since rushing into Council a dead-on-arrival resolution opposing Issue 10, asked Zampelli to record the message as part of a concerted effort to defeat the charter amendment.

Voters across Akron opened their mailboxes this week to find flyers opposing Issue 10.

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This broader anti-Issue 10 campaign is run through Akron Citizens for Safety and Justice, a political action committee (PAC) formed last month by Horrigan’s campaign treasurer, Jenee Valle. Horrigan isn’t running for reelection next year. But his soon-to-be-defunct campaign is sitting on $95,000. And no one from his campaign has said if any of the leftover cash on hand is bankrolling the attacks on Issue 10.

On a separate track heading the same direction, Akron attorney Warner Mendenhall and his law firm’s head of labor and government relations — retired Akron public works supervisor and former president of AFSCME Local 1360 AFL-CIO George Johnson — are advancing claims in public and private conversations of potential lawsuits and eroding collective bargaining rights should Issue 10’s more aggressive and independent oversight of policing come to pass.

On the other side, canvassers who circulated petitions, particularly in wards 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10, are knocking on the doors of newly registered voters to remind them that it's time to vote yes on Issue 10. In the parking lot of the Summit County Board of Elections, canvassers are asking early voters if they’re Democrats, then handing them flyers in support of Issue 10.

NAACP President Judi Hill is out front in the push to pass Issue 10, under the banner of its own PAC, the Committee to Improve Police Community Relations. The pro-Issue 10 movement has attracted reform-minded clergy from a wide array of religious and interfaith institutions in Akron, members of the Jayland Walker family, the Akron League of Women Voters, the Federated Democratic Women of Summit County, the Black-led Freedom BLOC, Serve the People Akron, the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and more.

Because of campaign filing deadlines, the opposing PACs won’t have to disclose their donors or spending until long after the ballots are counted. But what they’re saying and the people running them are now locked in a battle to influence voters on the fate of police reform that’s dividing liberal Akron.

The result is a robust, necessary and "messier than ideal" debate, said Councilman Shammas Malik, who continues to support Issue 10 as a member of the petition committee.

"I always wanted more than 13 people to be able to weigh in on this proposal," Malik said, referencing the mayor's plan, which Malik and a majority of Council's 13 members approved. "And so I think it's valuable that we're having conversation as a city. Do we want a citizen review board? Do we not? What structure do we want?

"These are difficult issues: how we create stronger police-community relations, how we create safety, how we create an effective and accountable Police Department," Malik said. "These are tough conversations, but let's have them as a community."

Who's behind the opposing PACs

The names of the people supporting Issue 10 are listed at yesonissue10.com, the campaign website for The Committee to Improve Police Community Relations, which was created in August "to strengthen police-community relations and build a safe, equitable, just community where all Akron residents are valued and respected."

The Akron NAACP's Hill is chairing the committee. Members are the Rev. Ray Greene, executive director of Freedom BLOC; City Council members Malik and Linda Omobien; the Rev. Dr. Joyce Penfield of Akron Interfaith Social Justice Group; the Rev. Nanette Pitt of First Congregational Church of Akron; the Rev. Dr. Roderick Pounds of Second Baptist Church; Summit County Councilwoman Veronica Sims and state Sen. Vernon Sykes.

Who's on the other side is harder to tell.

Valle listed a now disconnected phone number when she filed Oct. 19 to create Akron Citizens for Safety and Justice. She remains the treasurer for Horrigan's campaign, which has been largely inactive since Horrigan won a second (and final term) in 2019.

A message was left with a publicly listed phone number for Valle. Gert Wilms, who has responded in the past on behalf of Horrigan's political campaign, did not answer an email seeking comment on whether Horrigan's political war chest is aiding the anti-Issue 10 campaign.

Fusco, a former head of the county Democrats at the center of the anti-Issue 10 movement, said "it's not my place to discuss" the anti-Issue 10 PAC.

"A report will eventually be filed with the board of elections," he said.

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Already inundated with political advertising from tight U.S. Senate and House races, Akronites haven't seen this level of phone calls, mailers and messaging on a local issue since 2017, when Mayor Horrigan successfully campaigned for a .25% income tax for police, fire and road funding.

Zampelli, who served as the police department's public information officer before retiring in 2017, said Fusco asked him to record a message on his phone for the anti-Issue 10 campaign's first robocall.

"I just think that Issue 10 is an overreach," Zampelli told the Beacon Journal. "They're asking for subpoena power. There's a question about whether they'll be able to issue discipline. And then, I know — having been there 33 years myself — a lot of this conflicts with the bargaining unit contract between the Fraternal Order of Police and the city."

Zampelli said the mayor-backed oversight board approved in September by City Council and other external oversight mechanisms — state investigations in deadly use of force cases and, if ever warranted, federal reviews of potential civil rights violations — are enough.

Unions join the debate

Johnson, retired compliance supervisor in Akron’s public works office and former AFSCME local president, implored voters at a recent City Council meeting to oppose Issue 10, which he said further erodes collective bargaining rights that have been assailed for 40 years.

Johnson said the external oversight in Issue 10 would set a dangerous precedent that preempts not only police but other organized public servants who negotiate working conditions. The thrust of Issue 10, opponents say, potentially conflicts with contractual agreements on how police conduct and citizen complaints are investigated, and how superiors decide appropriate discipline.

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While laying out his claims, Johnson turned to the Rev. John Beaty and explained that the two men sat together in council chambers moments earlier, politely disagreeing on the matter. He asked City Council and the community to debate this issue with the same goodwill.

Beaty, who spoke before Johnson, told the Beacon Journal that he supports all organized labor with the exception of powerful police unions. He called Johnson someone he has known for years. But Johnson’s support of the police union has recently strained their relationship.

“I’m pro-union, too, but not for the FOP,” Beaty said, “because under the union, [the police department] is the only governmental agency that is allowed with impunity to kill people and not face any consequences.”

Beaty and others disagree that Issue 10 would have any impact on other unions. He and other supporters are reminding the public that the petitions that put Issue 10 on the ballot expressly said the rules for the new oversight board and independent auditor’s office “shall be interpreted and applied” in a way that does not conflict with the police union contract.

Opposition mailers are focusing on the confusion caused by the Catch-22 of Issue 10 promising reform critics say could potentially conflict with the police union contract.

Issue 10 would create a board more independent of mayoral or Council control. Backers have recast the plan, which originally called for investigative and subpoena powers, as more akin to what the mayor's board would do in auditing already completed police investigations of officer behavior and use of force.

'Guy who sued the city a million times' looks at Issue 10

The head of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7 in Akron has said union attorneys will review the rules and actions of any civilian oversight board. If Issue 10 passes, City Council would legislate the charter amendment no later than July, relying on the city’s law director for legal advice.

Mendenhall said he's not involved in the anti-Issue 10 campaign, but he studied the charter amendment from a "risk management standpoint."

"Where do you want to go?" Mendenhall said of his research into whether Issue 10 would open the city up to a lawsuit. "To the guy who sued the city a million times, you know? So, that's why I took a look at it.

“I did some preliminary legal research that, to me, suggests that it may be preempted by state law, and basically the bargaining laws at the state of Ohio,” said Mendenhall, who said he has previously advised the local FOP on other matters. “And I think the other thing that's unique here, though, is we do have a police union head with Clay Cozart, who is willing to negotiate, you know, work with some citizen oversight. So, I think the police have taken a moderate position on it, unlike some other communities.”

Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.co or 330-996-3792.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Issue 10: Opposing PACs target voters on police reform plan