Charles Lewis "Charlie" Butts (born February 16, 1942) is a former Democratic

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, who served as a member of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...

from 1975 to 1990.

Education and early career

Butts attended Oberlin high school then

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

in Ohio. He took a break from Oberlin from the summer of 1962 to 1964 to work as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

for the civil rights movement. He returned to Oberlin to finish college, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government in 1967. By then, he had married his wife, Alice (née Gould). Together, they had four children: John, Paul, Joanna, and Helen. Butts worked on the 1964 and 1967 election campaigns for

Carl Stokes Carl Burton Stokes (June 21, 1927 – April 3, 1996) was an American politician and diplomat of the Democratic Party who served as the 51st mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Elected on November 7, 1967, and taking office on January 1, 1968, he wa ...

, who was in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

and became the first black elected mayor of a major U.S. city.

Political career

Butts served in the 23rd District from 1975 until 1990. Butts originally defeated Republican Senator Anthony F. Novak in 1974 to take a seat in the Senate, which represented the near westside of Cleveland at the time, including parts of the Detroit-Shoreway and Ohio City neighborhoods. He was reelected in 1978, 1982, and 1986. After the 1980 elections, Butts was elected as minority whip, and was elected as assistant president pro-tempore in 1982. Butts served on the Ways and Means Committee, Energy and Public Utilities, and the Rules Committees. He was appointed Chairman of the Elections, Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, as well as chairman of the Public Improvements Inspection Committee. Butts was generally known as a hard working legislator, but he also could antagonize opponents, once considered of the "worst" legislators by ''Cincinnati'' magazine. The 23rd Senate District would later be

gerrymandered Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. Th ...

, expanding westward to include the eastern portions of Lakewood. In 1990, Butts was defeated for reelection by former Lakewood mayor

Anthony Sinagra Anthony Sinagra (born 1940) is an American Republican politician in Cuyahoga County. He was the city prosecutor and mayor of Lakewood, Ohio, and member of the Ohio Senate. He served in the 23rd District, which represented the western suburbs o ...

1979 mayoral campaign

In April 1979, Butts announced that he would enter the 1979 Cleveland mayoral election, challenging fellow Democrat, the beleaguered incumbent

Dennis Kucinich Dennis John Kucinich ( ; October 8, 1946) is an American politician. Originally a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Kucinich served as U.S. Representative from Ohio's Ohio's 10th congressional district, 10th congressional district fro ...

. Kuicinich was considered vulnerable, having narrowly survived a

recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls ...

the year before by just over 200 votes out of more than 120,000 votes. The field quickly grew in July with additions of

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

majority leader

Basil Russo Basil M. Russo (born March 10, 1947) is an American attorney, politician of the Democratic Party, and judge. He was majority leader of the Cleveland City Council. Later he served as a judge of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and a ju ...

and Republican

George Voinovich George Victor Voinovich (July 15, 1936June 12, 2016) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Ohio from 1999 to 2011. He previously served as the 65th governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998 and as the 54th mayor of Clev ...

, who was

Lieutenant Governor of Ohio The position of lieutenant governor of Ohio was established in 1852. The lieutenant governor becomes Governor of Ohio, governor if the governor resigns, dies in office or is removed via impeachment conviction. Before 1852, the president of the Oh ...

. Also, Thabo L. Ntweng of the socialist worker's party would also join the race. One of Butts' top senate aides, A. Lamont Eanes, helped run the 1979 mayoral campaign. Eanes would eventually be nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

as deputy Social Security administrator in 2014 Butts would finish fourth in the nonpartisan primary in the crowded field, garnering a respectable 19,431 votes, or 15.28%, behind eventual winner Voinovich, Kuicinich, and Russo.

After politics

As of 2015, Butts was a managing director for a blog, Takingonthegiant.com, which chronicles the work of creative young people who want to change the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butts, Charles L. Democratic Party Ohio state senators 1942 births Living people Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut 20th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly