CLEVELAND, Ohio — I spent five years covering Cleveland City Hall, and among generations of reporters on that beat, City Council’s obsessive self-preservation has always been something of an inside joke.
It seems that once a candidate crosses the Rubicon from outsider to council member, they become intoxicated by their own sense of power. They think less about the people who put them there and more about their membership in what they see as an elite fraternity. For the most part, that phenomenon has amused City Hall observers more than it has harmed the city. But lately, it’s taken a dark turn.
Council is staring down undeniable evidence supporting the accusation that Councilman Joe Jones threatened to kill a staffer — on top of years of complaints about bullying, harassment and inappropriate behavior — and most of the body’s 17 members are choosing silence. Council President Blaine Griffin, to his great credit, has stripped Jones of his committee assignments and pushed for his censure…