Seren emphasized his independence from the council during the meeting, making it clear that he did not consider them to be his superiors. He also quoted author and activist James Baldwin, stating, “I am not your Negro,” to further assert his autonomy.
The tension escalated during a special meeting of Cleveland Heights City Council’s Committee of the Whole, which had to be abruptly ended due to the controversy revolving around Mayor Kahlil Seren and allegations against his wife, Natalie McDaniel. She has been accused of making discriminatory remarks that target the Jewish community.
The conflict arose from a federal civil rights complaint lodged by former city employee Patrick Costigan, in which he accused Seren’s wife of creating a hostile environment with her antisemitic comments. Despite not holding an official supervisory role, McDaniel’s behavior was still deemed detrimental to the work atmosphere, as stated in the complaint submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
The complaint also included text messages Costigan claims were sent by McDaniel, messages that include “coded” and antisemitic language towards a number of Orthodox Jewish families and children. Among other things, Costigan says McDaniel referred to City Planning Commission Chair Jessica Cohen as a “brood mare” who “is destined for the glue factory,” and also dubbed a resident who had lodged complaints against the city as “that Jewish b—-.”
Seren told councilmembers and the community during Monday’s regular meeting that he would have a statement on the matter the next day. However, he was silent all day Tuesday and most of the day Wednesday, before releasing a 15-minute statement on Facebook. In the video message, Seren defended both himself and his wife from charges of bigotry against the city’s Orthodox Jewish community. He asserted that many of the purported conversations and remarks were “altered” or taken out of context, and alleged that Costigan only made the claims after Seren rejected his offer to stay quiet in exchange for $300,000 and a job recommendation.
During Friday’s meeting, Seren said he received a text message from Council President Tony Cuda during the period of time between the council meeting and Wednesday’s Facebook message asking if he was OK. It led to a shocking statement by the mayor.
“For a variety of reasons that I’m sure people can understand, it didn’t feel like I should answer a question that seemed disingenuous as that. So I did not answer you as to whether or not I was OK, but I just want to say this council by no means is my overseer, and I am not your Negro,” Seren told the committee, quoting writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin.
THE COUNCIL RESPONDS
Councilwoman Gail Larson said the recent events involving Seren and his wife “disqualifies him” to serve as the city’s mayor.
“The mayor has not assumed accountability for his wife’s unacceptable behavior, nor for his practice of enabling her access to City Hall. The lack of action disqualifies him as our mayor. The statement the mayor made May 21st (Facebook video) did not even come close to providing healing to this city in this moment. People are still hurt and very upset. The mayor has not sincerely apologized to all those who’ve been hurt. The mayor’s apparent lack of concern for the city staff and residents disqualifies him as our mayor,” she added.
Cuda and Councilman Craig Cobb both expressed disgust at Seren’s admission that McDaniel did refer to Cohen as a “brood mare” in what he described as a “private personal characterization.” In Seren’s own words, “Cohen has exhibited behaviors toward me that, in my view, invoked the racist trope of the ‘Mandingo’ — a reduction of Black man to physicality without intellect,” so his wife “dolled out a creative shorthand for her (Cohen) … assigning the corresponding term ‘broodmare’ to Ms. Cohen to reframe that power dynamic and help reduce the negative impact of that experience on me.”
“This private, personal characterization was in response to Ms. Cohen’s actions, and was never a statement about Jewish people — Orthodox or otherwise,” Seren said, instead tracing the term’s origins back to American Slavery. “(It) was never intended to be shared or to embarrass Ms. Cohen publicly.”
“I’ve known Jessica for over 10 years,” Cobb said. I know her character, it’s above reproach. By essentially calling her a racist, the mayor aggravated the situation. She is hurting so bad. Her family is hurting so bad, and we still don’t have an apology for those remarks. Instead, we have an excuse as to why they were made.”
Cuda said Seren “further divided the community” with his “ill placed” remarks about Cohen.
“This is a woman of such integrity and dedication to this community. She’s the chair of the planning commission, a very selfless person that cares deeply about this community. I’m watching this video and there’s all this verbal contortionism, when a simple apology would have gone such a long way to healing and bringing us together,” said Cuda.
“LAUGHING STOCK”
As the meeting continued, the committee started discussing the possibility of a resolution calling for Seren to resign.
“The city is tearing itself apart. We’ve become the laughing stock of every other suburb,” Cobb exclaimed. “The residents have lost faith in their government and their mayor. How can we go forward for the next seven months (November mayoral election)? We can’t and it’s up to the mayor, if he loves the city, to decide — if he truly loves this city — what he needs to do.”
Seren responded by calling the meeting “an exercise in electoral politics” and accusing councilmembers of not being willing to engage in a “conversation about actually looking at division within our community in a constructive way that can sometimes be uncomfortable. You view it as tearing it apart.”
He added that according to Cobb, “if somebody brings up race, they’re playing the race card.”
“We’re not talking about something that happened in the 60s or the 70s. We’re talking about the here and now. And when you open this meeting with your remarks that you’re not your Negro, that’s the race card that you’re playing instead of accepting responsibility for where we are. This council didn’t put us here in this moment. You put us in this moment,” Cobb shot back.
As Seren went to reply, Cuda abruptly adjourned the meeting. You can watch the full session below.
Concerns over McDaniel’s purported role in city affairs have been boiling for weeks, particularly after City Administrator Dan Horrigan resigned in March. In April, 3News media partner Cleveland.com reported that Horrigan had raised alarms about McDaniel’s “improper and un-ethical” behavior towards staff members, which other employees claim has led to a number of high-profile departures.
At the time, Seren denied any wrongdoing.
“At no point did my wife believe she had the authority to give directives to my staff,” he told 3News. “On many, many occasions, (she) has made it clear — as have I — that her opinions are her own and that the mayor may or may not share them. I think it’s important for people to recognize that. Anybody can be consulted.”
The next Cleveland Heights City Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 2.
