Jane L. Campbell

Jane L. Campbell, (born May 19 1953) is an American politician of the Democratic party who served as the 56th and first female mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from January 7 2002 to January 2 2006.

Personal details

Campbell, the daughter of former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, Joan Brown Campbell, was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She attended Shaker Heights High School and earned her first degree at the University of Michigan and a master's at Cleveland State University. She married urban planner Hunter Morrison, who is the head of Youngstown State University's Center for Urban and Regional Studies and is currently redeveloping Youngstown, Ohio through its Youngstown 2010 renewal plan. [Skolnick, David. [http://www4.vindy.com/content/local_regional/313999616829547.php Edwards called city's 2010 plan 'visionary'] . The Youngstown Vindicator, 18 July 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2007.] Now divorced, Campbell and Morrison have two daughters, Jessica and Katie.

Early career

Campbell's political career began in 1984, when she was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives as a majority whip and later an assistant minority leader. She was president of the National Conference of State Legislatures in 1995.

In 1996 she was elected Cuyahoga County commissioner. Holding that position she presided over both the Welfare Reform: Next Step Task Force for the National Association of Counties and the Human and Youth Committee.

Mayoralty

In November 2001, Campbell won the Cleveland mayoral election with 54% of the vote, defeating a former official with the Clinton administration and attorney Raymond Pierce, who received 46% of votes. She took office on January 7, 2002, becoming the city's first female mayor.

Campbell's first two years in office were challenging. Upon taking office she proclaimed that the city's budget was $11 million short, and blamed former Mayor Michael White for leaving the city in terrible shape. She then "found" the $11 million shortly afterwards but never publicly apologized to White. Police shot 24 men and teenaged boys during her first 27 months in office. One unarmed 12-year-old black boy was shot by a police officer near the front of her home. The U.S. Department of Justice investigated and learned that police investigators who were reviewing the shootings admitted to lacking formal training.

Campbell negotiated an expensive collective bargaining agreement with the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Associated that resulted in each officer receiving $1100 in addition to a four percent retroactive pay increase in 2002. In 2003 she faced a $61 million deficit and was forced to lay-off up to 400 police officers.

Campbell soon ran afoul of the Black community, which made up more than 60 percent of the city's population, when she unveiled her top administrative team with only one Black administrator serving in leadership. She drew loud boos from the majority Black audience at a college classic basketball game that generated national attention from the Tom Joyner Show. This came after she was caught telling a colored joke at an NAACP fundraising dinner.

She was mayor of Cleveland during the Northeast Blackout 2003. She was flying from Houston, Texas when Cleveland lost power. She ordered a curfew and boil orders for water.

She also was mayor of Cleveland during the shooting at Case Western Reserve University in May 2003 when an irate Biswanath Halder went on shooting spree inside the Peter B. Lewis school of business building.

On October 4, 2005, after serving only one term as mayor, Campbell came in second to Frank G. Jackson, president of Cleveland City Council, in a field of seven candidates in the non-partisan mayoral primary. Only 16% of Cleveland's population participated in the primary, the lowest voter turnout in the city's history; the turnout levels were skewed to a degree by the high voter enrollment levels of the 2004 presidential election cycle. In the November 8, 2005 general election, Jackson defeated Campbell by 55% to 45%. At 11:25 p.m. (EST), she conceded to Jackson, who became the city's mayor on January 2, 2006.

After leaving office, Campbell accepted a short-term position at Harvard University as part of a fellowship at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Her teaching covered issues in city governance and Ohio politics. She taught at the school during the spring of 2006.

She is currently managing director of public private partnerships for Colliers International in its Cleveland, Ohio office.

References

# "The Plain Dealer", December 27, 2003. "Recall Drive Against Campbell Dies As Clerk Denies Extension" by Mike Tobin.
# "The Plain Dealer", September 25, 2005. "Cleveland Mayor: After A Bumpy Start, Jane Campbell Has Grown In Office And, Given The Alternatives, Earned A 2nd Chance From Voters", editorial.