Dennis John Kucinich (born October 8, 1946) is a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives, for the 10th District of Ohio. He is also a candidate in the the 2004 presidential elections.
Kucinich is considered to be a green liberal; he is sometimes described as a "Wellstone Democrat". He is the only presidential candidate who voted against the Patriot Act in the House. He has been praised as "a genuine progressive" by Ralph Nader, who has hinted that he might not run against Kucinich as he did against Clinton in 1996 and against Gore in 2000, should Kucinich actually win the nomination. In 2003, Kucinich was the recipeient of the Gandhi Peace Award.
Mayorship
In 1977, Kucinich, at the age of 31, became the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest mayor of a major US city, after running on a ticket promising to cancel the sale of the cities publicly owned electric company, Muny Light to a private electric company, the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (CEI). CEI had been responsible for numerous violations of federal antitrust law in its attempt to put Muny Light out of business. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in an extensive investigation, determined that CEI blocked Muny Light from making repairs to its generator by lobbying the Cleveland City Council to place special conditions on Muny Light Bonds which made the bonds more difficult to sell, thereby depriving the city of revenue it needed to repair its generators in order to provide its own power. The delay in repairs to the generators caused Muny Light to have to purchase power. CEI then worked behind the scenes to block Muny Light from purchasing power from other power companies. CEI became the only power company Muny Light could buy from. At that point, CEI sharply increased and sometimes tripled the cost of purchase power to Muny Light. And, as a result, Muny Light began to lose money. The mayor of Cleveland, against the will of the people, gave in to pressure from local business interests and agreed to sell Muny Light to CEI.
Kucinich won the election and quickly canceled the sale. CEI immediately went to court to demand that the city pay 15 million dollars for power which it had purchased while CEI was running up charges to the city. The previous mayor had intended to pay that light bill by selling the light system and simultaneously disposing of a 325 million dollar antitrust damage suit. Kucinich's election not only stopped the sale, but kept the lawsuit alive. CEI went to federal court to get an order attaching city equipment as a means of trying to destabilize city services as still another desperate effort to try to try to create a political climate to force the sale. Kucinich moved quickly to pay the bill by cutting city spending. The Muny Light issue came to a head on December 15, 1978, when Ohio's largest bank, Cleveland Trust, the 33rd largest bank in America at that time, told Kucinich that they would not renew the city's credit on 15 million dollars worth of loans taken out by the previous administration unless Kucinich would agree to sell.
Alleging concern about skyrocketing bills to the City and the city's poor, he said no again to the sale of Muny Light to CEI. At midnight on December 15, 1978, Cleveland Trust put the City of Cleveland into default. Later, it was revealed that Cleveland Trust and CEI had four interlocking directors. Together with another bank, Cleveland Trust owned a substantial share of CEI stock and had numerous other mutual interests. Public power was continued in Cleveland.
Kucinich lost the election in 1979 with default as the major issue. CEI was subsequently acquired and is now part of First Energy.
Critics of Kucinich attribute much of the city's economic decline and stagnation to his mismanagement. During his stewardship, many companies either left Cleveland for the surrounding communities or fled the NorthEast Ohio area altogether.
Achievements in the House of Representatives
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In 1998, the Cleveland City Council stated that "[Kucinich had] the courage and foresight to refuse to sell the city's municipal electric system." After the 2003 Canada US blackout, First Energy was singled out as a probable contributor to the various failures. Kucinich began to advocate liability proceedings against the company that would destroy it and bankrupt its directors.
Presidential Campaign (2004)
Platform and Criticism
Kucinich's platform for 2004 includes arguments against continued WTO and NAFTA membership. He opposes the death penalty, drug war, 2003 invasion of Iraq, and privatization of Social Security. He supports the ABM Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, instant-runoff voting, universal healthcare, and the formal creation of a "Department of Peace".
This Department technically exists, having been created by a grant in land and a provision in the will of George Washington to establish it.
Kucinich was criticized for his flipflopping on the issue of abortion by Chris Matthews during a broadcast of cable channel MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" (July 15, 2003) [1]. Matthews implied that Kucinich was "pandering" by switching from a pro-life to a pro-choice position.
Ralph Nader and most Green Party of the United States members are friendly to his campaign, some going so far as to indicate that they would not run against him. However, this is widely seen as a ploy to increase Kucinich's support among Democrats who fear a permanent spoiler effect by the Greens.
Polls and Primaries
The June 2003 MoveOn.org "online primary" put Kucinich in second place among those voters, after Howard Dean. This was not, however, an official primary.
National polls have consistently shown Kucinich's support in single digits, but rising, especially as Howard Dean has lost some support among peace activists for refusing to commit to cutting the Pentagon budget.
Quotes
- "I offer a different vision for America..."
References:
- http://kucinich.us - official Kucinich For President site
- http://kucinich.com - site opposed to Kucinich
- http://www.house.gov/kucinich - official House site
- http://www.denniskucinich.us/index.php?topic=blog - Kucinich blog
- http://radio.weblogs.com/0120875/ - Kucinich wiki
- http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/kucinich.html - MoveOn interview