FOES HAVE MUCH IN COMMON
Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH) - September 25, 1995
Author: THOMAS J. QUINN PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

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For the two Democrats who would be mayor, the problems in this suburban community include absentee landlords, troublesome teenagers and their parents, and Republican Mayor David R. Harbarger.

To this, add complaints about high taxes and fears of middle-class flight, and Democratic candidates Edward M. Graham and Madeline A. Cain have much to campaign about in the fight for their party's nomination.

Neither Graham, a former councilman, nor Cain, a state representative, will have to challenge Harbarger, because he decided not to run again.

But they will face off in the Oct. 3 primary. And the winner will face Republican Councilwoman Pamela Smith and independents Brian P. Daw and Paul Hunady in the general election Nov. 7.

The only other primary race features two other Democrats, Ward 4 Councilwoman Nancy Roth, 51, a Cain supporter, and her opponent Joseph Mazzarella, 71, who supports Graham. The winner gets the seat because the general election is uncontested.

Graham, 58, and Cain, 45, are walking the streets these days - along with other candidates for mayor, school board and City Council - talking up their campaigns in door-to-door chats.

The two candidates blame absentee landlords for deteriorating housing stock, have called for holding parents responsible for the actions of their crime-prone teenagers and have accused Harbarger of spending unwisely and reducing city services.

Both seek to encourage homeownership in a community where nearly half the nearly 60,000 residents are renters.

On another point, the candidates also agree: no new taxes. And on public safety, they sound much alike. JUMPLAKEWOOD/2-B

"There are other important issues facing Lakewood," Graham says in his campaign literature, "but safety comes first."

Cain's literature says, "Neighborhood safety must come first."

Talking tough on crime has become prevalent on the campaign trail since the fatal stabbing and robbery of Vincent Drost Jr., 37, on Madison Ave. July 9 and a nonfatal stabbing in a traffic dispute several days later.

Five months earlier, anxiety among some city and school system leaders had heightened when a New York Times article with a Lakewood dateline said the city faced big-city problems and was losing to outlying suburbs the middle-class home buyers and businesses it needs to support its tax base and head off decline.

Graham said high taxes and concerns over safety are driving people out of Lakewood.

In the Drost killing, five teenagers were quickly arrested and charged.

Twelve days later, Cain announced she would introduce a bill in Columbus that would make it possible to fine the parents of a child who appears repeatedly in Juvenile Court.

Graham has called for a reasonable curfew, parental accountability, protection of the elderly from con artists and "street thugs," and increased neighborhood police patrols.

He has also attacked what he describes as unwarranted expansion of subsidized housing. "We have to have some people who pay the taxes," he said. He also wants Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority tenants screened for criminal records.

Cain has a program to improve safety for the elderly and others and to develop a gang prevention strategy, but she told a house-party gathering, "I will not pander to racism, to fear."

She added that Lakewood has "all the makings to remain a good, strong community" and that her campaign seeks to bring the community together, "as opposed to taking advantage of our differences."

Cain places the upkeep of housing - along with safety - as the city's most pressing concern. "The city cannot allow rental property to go down any more," she said, vowing that if elected, she would walk the streets with housing inspectors.

She said that under Harbarger, "prosecution of absentee landlords is not a high priority."

Graham said he would like the city to set up a short-term loan program to get owners of single- and two-family homes to bring their properties up to standard before selling them, as part of a better program to enforce building codes.

Graham accused Harbarger of "playing a shell game" with city funds, transferring money from one account to another to balance the budget.

He questioned whether the administration has overspent on construction projects, including $500,000-plus for the Women's Pavilion at Lakewood Park.

Harbarger, who defeated Graham for mayor in 1991, defended his administration's record, saying the city has not wasted funds, has maintained basic services and has reduced the cost of providing those services. He said the city was safe, no one was fleeing, and property values were going up.

He described the stabbings as isolated incidents and said any attempt by candidates to capitalize on them was political pandering. He also said he still believes a small increase in the city income tax is needed to finance street repairs.

Cain and Graham said they would replace administrators who have served under Harbarger, who was law director in the scandal-tainted administration of his predecessor, Anthony Sinagra.

Sixteen years ago, Graham and Cain competed for the Ward 3 council seat in the Democratic primary. Graham won with 63 percent of the vote and went on to win in the general election.

Both Graham and Cain grew up on the West Side of Cleveland, graduated from Catholic high schools in Lakewood and went into teaching.

After 16 years of teaching mathematics in Cleveland schools, Graham quit, because, he said, "You had a bunch of apathetic people you were supposed to be teaching."

Cain left teaching after two years at St. Augustine Academy in Lakewood, when she decided to leave the convent.

Graham, who now practices law, served on the City Council from 1980 to 1991. Cain was council clerk and legislative aide from 1981 until 1985 and later was a legislative liaison for the Cuyahoga County commissioners. She has been a state representative since 1988.

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