Dennis Kucinich

Dennis John Kucinich (born October 8, 1946) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, for the 10th District of Ohio (map). He also sought the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2004 presidential election. Though he won no primaries, he continued campaigning for months with the goal of influencing the Democratic Party to shift its platform in the progressive direction, especially on the issue of withdrawing from Iraq. On July 23, 2004, Kucinich ended his campaign and endorsed Democratic Senator John Kerry for President.

Mayorship

Kucinich's political career began early. He was elected to Cleveland City Council in 1969, when he was 23. In 1972, Kucinich ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives, losing to incumbent Republican William E. Minshall Jr. In 1974, after Minshall's retirement, Kucinich sought the seat again. However, this time, Kucinich did not get the Democratic nomination, which instead went to Ronald M. Mottl. Kucinich ran in the general election anyway, as an independent. While he came in third, he still managed to garner almost 30 percent of the vote. Interestingly enough, Democrat Mottl still managed to win the race, even with such a large chunk of the Democratic vote going to Kucinich.

Related Topics:
Cleveland - United States House of Representatives - Ronald M. Mottl

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In 1977, he became the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. At 31, he was the youngest mayor of a major city in the United States.

Related Topics:
Mayor - Cleveland - Ohio - United States

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The "boy mayor" ran on a ticket promising to cancel the sale of the city's publicly owned electric company, Municipal Light, to a private electric company, the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (CEI).

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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 determined that CEI blocked Muny Light from making repairs to its generator by lobbying the Cleveland City Council to place restrictive conditions on Muny Light Bonds. Because of the delay in repairs, Muny Light had 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 began "price gouging," sharply increasing and sometimes tripling the cost of power to Muny Light. As a result, Muny Light began to lose money. The current mayor of Cleveland agreed to sell Muny Light to CEI, but after Kucinich won the election, he canceled the sale.

Related Topics:
Antitrust - Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Price gouging

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CEI went to court to demand that Muny Light pay $15 million in damages for power it had purchased. The previous mayor had intended to pay that light bill by selling the light system, 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 a United States federal court to get an order attaching city equipment. Kucinich moved quickly to pay the bill by cutting city spending. On December 15, 1978, Ohio's largest bank, Cleveland Trust, told Kucinich that they would not renew the city's credit on $15,000,000 (USD) of loans taken out by the previous administration unless Kucinich would agree to sell.

Related Topics:
Damages - United States federal court - December 15 - 1978

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At midnight on December 15, 1978, Cleveland Trust put the City of Cleveland into default, the first time a city went into default since the Great Depression.

Related Topics:
December 15 - 1978 - Great Depression

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Later, it was revealed, that Cleveland Trust and CEI had four interlocking directors. Cleveland Trust was CEI's bank. 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. Muny Light is now known as Cleveland Public Power and is still in public hands.

Related Topics:
1979 - First Energy - Cleveland Public Power

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Estimated total savings due to this decision had reached over $300,000,000 (USD) in 1998, when 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 North America blackout, First Energy was identified as a contributor to the disaster due to various failures. Kucinich began to advocate for liability proceedings.

Related Topics:
Cleveland City Council - Courage - 2003 North America blackout

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Critics of Kucinich's performance as mayor cite the city's economic decline during his stewardship. Kucinich was often lampooned in editorials and editorial cartoons as "Dennis the Menace," a reference to the comic strip of that name, Kucinich's name and youthful appearance, and his positions, which in that context were often characterized as extremist and anti-business. The boy mayor also had a reputation for being bombastic. He famously fired Cleveland's police chief live on the 6 o'clock news without informing the police chief beforehand.

Related Topics:
Comic strip of that name - Extremist

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One book, Best and Worst of the Big-City Leaders 1820-1993 (Penn State Press) by Melvin G. Holli in consultation with a panel of experts, placed Kucinich among the ten worst for reasons of temperment and performance.

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After being drummed out of Cleveland, Kucinich, in his own words "on a quest for meaning," lived quietly in New Mexico for nearly a decade.

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