Brandon King, the Mayor of East Cleveland, is facing allegations of accepting city contracts that benefited him and his relatives. The City Council President, Lateek Shabazz, is poised to take over as the interim mayor.
A group of three judges has made the decision to suspend Mayor Brandon King from his position while he deals with charges of corruption. The City Council made an announcement regarding this suspension.
City Council President Lateek Shabazz will address the media on Wednesday morning at City Hall. According to East Cleveland’s laws, Shabazz will step in as the acting mayor during King’s absence, which might not have a definitive end date.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted King back in October on 11 counts of alleged wrongdoing, including felony charges of theft in office, theft, and having an unlawful interest in a public contract. Among other things, prosecutors say King signed off on a contract that saw the city’s domestic violence department lease office space in a Euclid Avenue owned by King’s own company, a deal that netted the mayor’s private business well over $100,000 throughout a five-year period.
King, who has been mayor since 2016, pleaded not guilty in November and was released from custody after posting a $5,000 bond. The state of Ohio moved to have him suspended, citing a state law that allows public officials to be removed from office if they are charged with a felony related to official conduct. The Supreme Court of Ohio then appointed the panel of retired judges to oversee the matter.
Per the East Cleveland charter, the city’s finance director would ordinarily become acting mayor if the chief executive “is temporarily unavailable for any cause to perform his or her duties.” However, “In the case of death, resignation, removal or long-term absence of the Mayor,” then the city council president would be first in line to take over on an interim basis.
City council appears to be viewing King’s suspension as a “long-term absence,” and a date for his trial has not been set. Lawmakers also say the three offices in the line of succession to take over if the mayor is “temporarily unavailable” are all currently vacant:
- The office of the finance director is officially vacant, with Latasha Williams handling the job on an interim basis.
- Willa Hemmons serves as the city’s law director, but according to lawmakers, “There is a current contractor agreement that affirms that Ms. Hemmons is not a full-time employee of the city.”
- There is currently no one serving in the role of public service director.
King will still officially be the mayor during his suspension, but will be barred from performing the duties of the job. He and council have clashes for years, and his office even previously accused Shabazz of being illegally appointed to his Ward 3 seat. The dispute went all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled in Shabazz’s favor this past November.
Since taking over for the ousted Gary Norton, King has been elected to two full terms as mayor in his own right, and also survived recall elections in 2022 and ’23. East Cleveland’s next regular mayoral election is scheduled for this November.
3News Justin McMullin and Anna Meyer contributed to this report.
