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CLEVELAND -- Mayoral candidate Ken Lanci said he would fire Safety Director Martin Flask and Police Chief Michael McGrath.
"I would termninate them both if I were in the position of mayor and they were in my administration. I would terminate them both, absolutley I would. I think that they've failed," he said.
Lanci said officials should be accountable for a wild police chase with a deadly ending and problems in Fire Department management.
Lanci made the remarks at a press conference called to announce a citywide healing event he is holding.
It's called "Faith, Hope and Love for a Better Cleveland."
It will be held Sunday, Sept. 15, at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center.
It's aimed at promoting community unity and will feature choral groups from all over the city.
The event is consistent with Lanci's unconventional and idealistic campaign message and platform that seems to be more platitude than specific programs.
"I don't want to be a politician. I want to be a public servant. ... The foundations of our platform is faith, hope and love. ... Thy will be done." he said.
Lanci grew up in a Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority project at East 110th Street and Woodland Avenue.
He later graduated from Maple Heights High School. He did not go to college and saved a family business.
Later he became a takeover artist, saving a number of struggling businesses and liquidating others.
He now runs a graphics firm in Cleveland, employing about 150 people.
He drives a Bentley.
"I am no Bloomberg. ... Do I have yacht ? No. Do I have jet? No," he said, referring to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is a billionaire.
He puts his wealth at under $50 million.
He and his wife Linda have made significant donations to help young people in Cleveland.
They've contributed to Project Love, a mentoring program helping promising but struggling Cleveland high school students in poor and often violent Cleveland neighborhoods. At Collinwood, 80 percent of students in the program graduate, far exceeding normal rates.
"Our approach is to open the heart and the mind will follow," he said.
For seven years, he's helped bankroll a program to buy glasses for Cleveland students with impaired vision.
"We've done over 12,000 students," he adds.
His campaign stresses a disconnect between bustling and booming downtown and struggling residents in hard-pressed neighborhoods.
His main issues are education, crime and poverty.
"I don't know of any businesses who have a lot of money who need help from the city to make more money. I think they've figured that out. The job of the mayor and the city is to serve the residents," he said.
Lanci is motivated largely by a personal spiritual experience.
He "died" once. He had a heart attack and was revived by defibrillators.
"I saw the white light and had a feeling I can't describe," he recalled.
He ran an unsuccessful campaign for Cuyahoga County executive and is now running for mayor, believing he is answering a higher calling and "there was more to do," he explained.
His wife Linda first balked at the mayor's campaign but is now wholeheartedly on board.
"The one best quality Ken has is in here, in the heart," she says.
Lanci declares, "I know what it's like to be without. I know what it's like to struggle."
Most observers believe he faces a struggle to connect with down-and-out voters in a largely African-American community with a two-term mayor.
But no polls have been publicized.
And despite lacking officeholder or organizational endorsements, Lanci has faith his campaign of faith will connect with ordinary Cleveland residents who feel left out of the good or promising things happening around them.
WKYC-TV
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