Word: perk
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...anyone of needed further convincing, the recent Cleveland mayoral election illustrates the rapid demise of that city from "The Best Location in the Nation" to "The Mistake on the Lake." Through a strange concatenation of events which made the political prognosticators cringe with shame, law-and-order candidate Ralph Perk became Cleveland's first Republican mayor in 35 years by winning an election dominated by the Democrat who was leaving office...
Responsibility for Perk's victory must lie with Mayor Carl Stokes' unsuccessful political maneuvering, maneuvering which only heightened already existing anti-black and anti-Stokes sentiment in the city. For in his bid to gain nationwide political power by demonstrating his ability to weld a citywide coalition of blacks and liberal whites, Stokes committed the cardinal sin of permitting his political vision to become obscured by ego considerations. Stokes grossly overestimated his ability to manipulate the black vote, and his success during the primary in personally crushing his chief tormentors ultimately resulted in the defeat of his chosen successor...
...rejoicing at Carney's victory. Immediately after the primary, Stokes elatedly proclaimed that the way was now cleared for a race between "two gentlemen." And in words that would come back to haunt him, he added, "I am discounting the man who raised our real estate taxes, Mr. Perk." For despite every effort to switch black votes back to Pinkney, including two letters and another recorded message from the Mayor, the inroads that Carney had made in the black community could not be counteracted. Stokes badly underestimated the resistance of black citizens to his efforts at manipulating them, as well...
...ultimate beneficially of Strokes' miscalculation was Perk, the man whom the Mayor "discounted." Perk would not have stood a chance against Garofoli, since the latter would have carried traditional Democratic areas. With Carney as an opponent, however, Perk could count on a large Democratic crossover. He was able to equate both of his opponents with Carl Stokes, and therefore capitalized on the white backlash. The anti-Stokes support that would have gone to Garofoli now gravitated to Perk. While both Pinkney and Carney were unfolding detailed plans to help cure the city's financial problems. Perk based his entire campaign...
...Cleveland's voters are black. Most politics-watchers had expected the two white candidates to divide the majority vote, allowing Pinkney and Stokes black machine to win. It didn't happen because Cleveland's whites, a collection of Bohemians, Lithuanians, Slovaks, Croats, Polish and Irish, united around conservative Perk. They did this despite their traditional attraction to the Democratic party. Once again, race beat party...