Barack Obama -- You've Got Company

In fairness to Kucinich, the city's big business leaders wanted him to sell the city's electric utility. When he refused, the banks called in their loans, thus forcing bankruptcy. In retrospect, Kucinich made the smart move in holding onto it.

Not that he's made a lot of smart ones since. But his was a lesson in that if you really stand up to big business, they will mow you down if they have to.

 

Actually, I did one better than a Google search and discovered that the bank that called in the loans happened to share seven directors with the company that was attempting to buy the public utility. In my view, it smacks of corruption. I'd say there's a fair chance that Kucinich was fighting against the forces of evil.

Kucinich definitely saved the public utility from falling into private hands, and we know what the Enrons of the world do once they get their claws on something. I'd say that people should be proud of his work.

According to Wikipedia, for whatever that's worth, Kucinich was indeed referred to as Dennis the Menace. Cleveland Magazine apparently was among those who coined the nickname. Years later, the same magazine noted that Kucinich's effort likely saved customers a combined $195 million from what the private utility would have billed.

Of course, there was that one little deal where he put the city $15 million into debt. But it was apparently forgotten by the city council, which actually later commending Kucinich for not selling the utility.

But, you know, there's no real reason to resort to such irrational behavior as citing the facts. It's much easier to tell the public that the terrorists will win if a democrat is elected. Most folks just gloss over and nod in agreement. That is, until kids start coming home in caskets.

 

When I lived in Cleveland (1996-97), Cleveland Magazine did a big mea culpa on "Dennis the Menace," citing all the stuff HeinekenMan brings out. Yes, Kucinich is a bit of a wing nut, but he's beloved in his district because he truly looks out for working people first. Maybe he's not always right in how he does so, but at his least his motives tend to be purer. A lot of mayors before and since were essentially puppets of the big businesses in Cleveland, whose directors and managers of course live nowhere near the city limits. The feudal business system in Cleveland is like something out of Olde England. Although in the years since the 1978 bankruptcy, a good number of those businesses (in olde industry) themselves have fallen on hard times as well. But the executive community there is still extremely clubby and strong.