Cleveland City Council voted Monday night to censure Joe Jones over a string of complaints that the Ward 1 council member mistreated staff.
Council President Blaine Griffin described the move as the result of a “deliberate, sober and difficult process” of progressively more serious discipline.
Jones, in a nearly 10-minute speech, said he had been deprived of due process, that his words had been twisted and that and his ward was suffering the punishment.
The vote capped months of public scrutiny on Jones that began with the revelation in January that council had hired a law firm in 2024 to investigate complaints about his behavior.
Those complaints reached a tipping point when a council employee informed Griffin and others in May that Jones told him, “I’ll f—ing kill you,” three times. Jones has said that his comment was meant as a joke and that he said, “I’ll blow you up on your motorcycle.”
That same month, another employee, who had previously complained about Jones’ treatment of her, said that Jones sat next to her at a meeting despite past instructions to keep his distance. Jones said he had inadvertently taken a seat next to her.
At the meeting Monday night, Griffin asked council to approve the censure resolution in order to “uphold the dignity and integrity” of the institution. The resolution called Jones’ conduct “disorderly” and said he “exhibited inappropriate and unprofessional behavior” that violated council workplace policies.
“We are here today because the actions of Councilman Jones have left us no other choice,” Griffin said. “This vote is not about personal animosity or political difference. It is about accountability.”
Fourteen council members voted in favor of the resolution. Jones and Council Member Richard Starr voted against it.
Before the vote, Jones, who began his remarks by thanking God, said his community was being punished.
“There’s no justice here for all,” he said. “There’s no due process here,” he said.
He called for council to establish its own human resources department to investigate complaints. He said the law firm that council hired had conflicts of interest and had leaked information.
“What is happening to me is not just about Joe Jones,” he said. “It is about whether any member of this body can be silenced, stripped of their duties and have their ward punished without the safeguards we would all demand of ourselves and this thing we called democracy here in terms of city government.”
Starr was the only council member to rise in Jones’ defense. He said that other council members hadn’t faced similar consequences after being accused of sexual harassment or charged with federal crimes. He referenced a conflict earlier this year in which Council Member Michael Polensek called a public commenter a “punk ass” without facing a censure vote.
“Today it is Joe Jones,” Starr said. “Tomorrow, it could be any one of us.”
In censuring Jones, council formally recorded its disapproval of the Ward 1 incumbent days after he won a primary election by a wide margin.
The censure’s ramifications for Jones are largely symbolic. He will continue serving out his term. Griffin already banned him from speaking or asking questions at committee meetings.
Jones faces state Rep. Juanita Brent in the November election. So far, voters have been on his side. He won the September primary with 60% of the vote. Brent, the second-place finisher, won 30%.
Law firm reviews complaints about Jones
Jones’ treatment of employees was already under the spotlight. In January, council acknowledged that it had hired a law firm to investigate past reports about Jones’ behavior. Those included complaints that he yelled at a council employee and made unwelcome comments to an artist about her physical appearance while meeting about a mural in his ward.
That investigation by law firm McDonald Hopkins concluded that Jones likely violated workplace policies, according to a memo released by council. Jones gave up his chairmanship of the committee on mayoral appointments. In January, Jones apologized while saying that his actions were “unintended.”
Then came the new complaints in May. Griffin did not release those complaints until August, shortly after Jones sat for an interview with the law firm investigator.
Jones has met these new complaints with defiance, suggesting that the latest controversy was political.
“This is an election time,” he told Signal Cleveland in an interview last month. “During an election time, you have a lot of politics that’s going on.”
It’s uncommon for council members to punish one of their own. But council’s long history is peppered with some examples.
In 1989, council suspended Tyrone C. Bolden for two weeks after a legislative aide said he threw dirt on her and then kissed her. Bolden, who died in 2018, said he had done nothing wrong, but voted for his own suspension nonetheless.
Council considered punitive measures against several members in the tumultuous 1970s. For instance, the body censured Paul Haggard in 1974 for interrupting a meeting while trying to introduce a piece of gun control legislation.
