Sen. Portman Heard From ‘Dozens’ Of Black Leaders; His Office Won’t Name One

From the Ohio Capital Journal:

By
Tyler Buchanan
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U.S. Sen. Rob Portman has touted his participation in a conference call with “dozens” of black leaders discussing how COVID-19 and racial injustice has impacted their communities.

However, what those leaders discussed and who was involved in the call is not being disclosed.

Ohio’s elected officials, from city councils to the halls of Congress, are facing pressure to take action to address issues of systemic racism and police misconduct.

The Cincinnati Republican has spoken on the Senate floor about the need for police reforms and finding “solutions that promote strong families and communities that treat each other with respect and dignity.”

Portman and his office have also repeatedly noted his participation in a June 3 conference call with religious, business and civic leaders to discuss these issues:

The call with black leaders was first organized last month with the purpose of discussing the coronavirus. Plans changed following the May 25 death of George Floyd during an encounter with police in Minneapolis. His death has since sparked widespread protests across the United States and in numerous Ohio cities.

This led Portman to discuss both the virus and race relations during the June 3 call.

The Ohio Capital Journal asked numerous times for more details about who participated and what was discussed, but his office is declining to identify any individual or organization the senator spoke with.

Portman’s office has not been shy to name participants in other calls. Using examples from April, press releases identified Portman calls involving the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Dayton Development Coalition and the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce. A spokesperson offered no explanation as to why the details of the June 3 call were not similarly being given.

OCJ independently searched for call participants on Monday, contacting nearly two-dozen black leaders and organizations around the state. This outlet has been unable to locate even one participant, though several people contacted confirmed they were not invited.

This includes U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus; Columbus City Council President Shannon G. Hardin; the African American Leadership Council of Toledo; and the Central Ohio African American Chamber of Commerce, which represents black entrepreneurs in Columbus, Franklin County and other counties in the region.

State Reps. Emilia Sykes and Tavia Galonski, both Akron Democrats, also described having not been invited. Both are members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus; Sykes is the Ohio House Minority Leader, while Galonski serves as the caucus secretary.

The Capital Journal left messages Monday with a number of other organizations and officials, including NAACP chapters in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo and Dayton; the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cincinnati; and Urban League chapters serving Columbus, Akron, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton. This story will be updated if messages are returned.

Some of these offices remain closed with staffers working from home due to the coronavirus.

While Portman’s office is staying mum on the June 3 call, spokesperson Emmalee Kalmbach did provide details about a separate call held June 5. Portman reportedly spoke with Surgeon General Jerome Adams and black clergy members of United Pastors in Mission, based in Northeast Ohio. The topics of discussion were not provided.

The Capital Journal was also pointed toward the senator’s support for two pieces of legislation meant to address racial disparities.

The first calls for creating a Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, which would study Americans’ experiences within a variety of subjects, such as education, criminal justice and health. This bill was introduced in July 2019, with Portman and other Republicans recently joining as co-sponsors. No other legislative action has been taken on the bill since it was introduced.

Another bill, sponsored by Portman in May 2019, calls for collecting information from Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program for the purpose of determining racial disparities in society. No action has been taken on the bill since it was introduced.

Here is the full statement from Portman’s website about the conference call:

“When we scheduled this call with African American leaders representing clergy, business groups and CEOs, and civic organization [sic] from all corners of our state a couple weeks ago, our plan was the focus on how the COVID-19 health care and economic crisis is disproportionately impacting communities of color. Ohioans lived in a different world when we scheduled this call. It was a world where George Floyd was still alive. It was a world where our cities didn’t have curfews. It was a world where our National Guard was being deployed to help inside of hospitals instead of outside on the streets. But it was a world where the underlying racial injustice – where the pain and frustration we are seeing play out across Ohio and our nation still existed. Today, it was important for me to hear directly from these African-American leaders, to learn, and to discuss how to work together to address these long-standing injustices going forward and cultivate hope for a better world.

“In addition, we discussed several issues related to the COVID-19 crisis, including our work to increase testing statewide to address the fact that communities of color are getting hit the hardest by coronavirus and how some African American small business owners have had challenges accessing the Paycheck Protection Program. I appreciated the robust discussion and input and will share the concerns and insights the African-American leaders brought up on today’s call with my colleagues as we continue to work to help individuals, families, and our communities stay afloat during these uncertain times.”

This story was originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. For more stories from the Ohio Capital Journal, visit OhioCapitalJournal.com.