CLEVELAND — East Cleveland City Council member Pat Blochowiak often writes newsletters about the latest issues facing the city. Lately they’ve been about Mayor Brandon King.

What You Need To Know

  • East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King is facing his second recall election in a year

  • He survived the last recall election by a handful of votes

  • A city council member has been an active supporter of the recall

“We’ve had problems getting the mayor to have his department chiefs come to the council meetings," Blochowiak said. 

She’s also been helping spread the word about the Dec. 5 vote on whether to recall the Mayor, which is something she supports.

“All I can say is that the people I know and trust, virtually 100% support the recall because the Mayor is not a good manager," Blochowiak said. "He’s not an honest manager.”

Spectrum News 1 reached out to King multiple times to talk about the recall. He sent Spectrum News 1 a link to a video he posted to YouTube in May, where he refers to Blochowiak and called her allegations "very disturbing and false".

"Pat actually made local history being a seated elected official leading recall efforts against other elected officials," King said in the video. 

King survived a recall by just eight votes in November of 2022. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections sent Spectrum News a notice from the city’s clerk of council, telling the mayor that the city received signatures from at least 25% of the voters to begin this second recall.

East Cleveland's police department has been plagued by scandal, with more than a dozen officers being charged with crimes, including the former police chief.

But Blochowiak said her main concern is the city's finances, which she said the mayor hasn’t sufficiently managed.

“We have this situation, we haven’t had a monthly finance report since March, and they don’t give you answers to questions when they have it," Blochowiak said. "We were supposed to come up with a fiscal recovery plan in April of 2022 because we’re in a fiscal emergency.”

The city’s law director responded to her allegations, accusing Blochowiak and the council of not passing the appropriations budget. The law director added that the city has been in a fiscal recovery plan since July, meeting weekly with the interim finance director before writing any checks.

Blochowiak said she is not the leader of the recall, just a supporter. She said this isn’t about politics, it’s about voters telling city leadership that they want a new person at the helm.

“The important thing is that we get someone who values the law and who values supporting, having the finances done correctly." Blochowiak said. 

If King is removed from office, the city council president would serve as mayor for the rest of King’s term.