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Rep. Dennis Kucinich
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Having been elected to Cleveland's City Council at age 23, Dennis J. Kucinich was well-known to Cleveland residents when they chose him as their mayor in 1977 at the age of 31. At the time, Kucinich was the youngest person ever elected to lead a major American city.

In 1978, Cleveland's banks demanded that he sell the city's 70 year-old municipally-owned electric system to its private competitor (in which the banks had a financial interest) as a precondition of extending credit to city government.

When Mayor Kucinich refused to sell Muny Light, the banks took the unprecedented step of refusing to roll over the city’s debt, as is customary. Instead, they pushed the city into default. It turned out the banks were thoroughly interlocked with the private utility, CEI, which would have acquired monopoly status by taking over Muny Light. Five of the six banks held almost 1.8 million shares of CEI stock; of the 11 directors of CEI, eight were also directors of four of the six banks involved.

By holding to his promise and putting principle above politics, Kucinich lost his re-election bid and his political career was temporarily derailed. But today, Kucinich stands vindicated for having confronted the Enron of his day, and for saving the municipal power company. "There is little debate," wrote Cleveland Magazine in May 1996, "over the value of Muny Light today. Now Cleveland Public Power, it is a proven asset to the city that between 1985 and 1995 saved its customers $195,148,520 over what they would have paid CEI." He also preserved hundreds of union jobs.

In addition to being Mayor of Cleveland, Kucinich has served on the Cleveland City Council (1970-75, 1981-82); served as the Clerk of Courts for the Cleveland Municipal Court (1976-77); been an Ohio State Senator (1994-96); and in November 2004, was elected to his fifth term as a Member of the United States House of Representatives (1997-present).

Kucinich was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 8, 1946. He is the eldest of 7 children of Frank and Virginia Kucinich. He and his family lived in twenty-one places by the time Kucinich was 17 years old. Kucinich graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Speech Communications from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio in 1974.

Kucinich has held many jobs outside of politics including being a hospital orderly, newspaper copy boy, teacher, consultant, television analyst and author.

Since being elected to Congress in 1996, Kucinich has been a tireless advocate for worker rights, civil rights and human rights.

In Congress, Kucinich has authored and co-sponsored legislation to create a national health care system, preserve Social Security, lower the costs of prescription drugs, provide economic development through infrastructure improvements, abolish the death penalty, provide universal prekindergarten to all 3, 4, and 5 year olds, create a Department of Peace, regulate genetically engineered foods, repeal the USA PATRIOT Act, and provide tax relief to working class families.

Kucinich has been honored by Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters as a champion of clean air, clean water and an unspoiled earth. Kucinich has twice been an official United States delegate to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (1998, 2004) and attend the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In his district, Kucinich has been recognized by the Greater Cleveland AFL-CIO as a tireless advocate for the social and economic interests of his community.

Kucinich led the effort to save Cleveland's 90 year-old steel industry and the thousands of jobs and retiree benefits it provides. While hundreds of community hospitals have been closed throughout the country, Kucinich led a community-based effort to reopened two Cleveland neighborhood hospitals.

Kucinich worked with the nation's largest railroads to create a merger agreement that improved rail safety while diverting a heavy volume of train traffic away from heavily populated residential areas of his district.

In Cleveland, Kucinich has been honored by the Cleveland AFL-CIO, the Ohio PTA, the NASA Glenn Research Center, the Salvation Army, the United States Post Office, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, Ohio’s Boys Town, and the Human Rights Campaign.

Kucinich is a current member of The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States (IATSE), an AFL-CIO affiliated union.

Blog Entries by Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Why Won't FirstEnergy Tell the Truth About Davis-Besse?

5 Comments | Posted February 8, 2012 | 2/8/12

When FirstEnergy discovered the cracking in the concrete wall of the aging shield building at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant and until the public hearing held by the NRC at my request on January 5, 2012, FirstEnergy consistently told the public that the cracks were confined to "architectural...

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Super Bowl Ad Offends Working People

554 Comments | Posted February 7, 2012 | 2/7/12

During this year's Super Bowl, many Americans were subjected to a biased piece of political advertising by D.C. corporate lobbyists that was offensive to working people.

An anti-worker front group calling themselves the "Center for Union Facts" aired a distasteful and misleading ad promoting a piece of...

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Fact Checking the Media: Iran

449 Comments | Posted February 3, 2012 | 2/3/12

During an interview last month on CBS' Face the Nation, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta set the record straight on Iran: "Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No." But if you read recent news reports lately, you'd think otherwise.

The media coverage on Iran is...

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Protecting Our Seniors Should Be Our First Priority

11 Comments | Posted February 1, 2012 | 2/1/12

Today the House of Representatives is voting on legislation to repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program. This is counterproductive.

Seniors need our help. Congress should not even be taking a vote on whether to repeal the major provision in the health care law that tries to help...

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The Future of American Democracy

423 Comments | Posted January 21, 2012 | 1/21/12

This is not a progressive issue or a conservative issue. This is not a Tea Party issue or a liberal issue. This is an American issue. Money is destroying our politics and our political system. The signs are everywhere. A "super PAC" supporting Mitt Romney spent $3.5 million to knock...

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I Support the #OccupyWallStreet Protesters

Posted October 5, 2011 | 10/5/11

To the young men and women who are braving the overreaction of local authorities to raise their voices against the corruption and manipulation of our nation that emanates from Wall Street: I say to you that your presence is making a difference. You are exercising the right every American holds...

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The Last Thing American Workers and Our Economy Needs...

Posted October 3, 2011 | 10/3/11

Today President Obama submitted three free trade agreements to Congress based on the flawed North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) model that has been devastating to our economy, American workers and to labor and environmental standards. Hundreds of thousands of American jobs have been displaced and outsourced as a...

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International Policy: Its Relationship to the Domestic Economy

Posted September 9, 2011 | 9/9/11

Tonight I wish to speak to this Congress and to my fellow Americans about international policy and its relation to the domestic economy. I will advocate a new direction America must take in the world so that we can meet the needs of our people here at home.
...

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Why Did the Administration Waive U.S. Law 46 Times to Help Foreign-Owned Shippers at the Expense of U.S. Maritime Workers?

Posted August 27, 2011 | 8/27/11

News outlets recently reported that the Obama Administration waived the Jones Act no less than 46 times following its decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in late June.

The Jones Act, a section of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, requires that only American-built,...

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Libya and Beyond: How Did We Get There and What Happens Next?

Posted August 23, 2011 | 8/23/11

Libyan rebels have entered Tripoli. As gun battles break out across the city, it is timely to enter into a discussion as to how the rebels arrived there. It is time to review the curious role of NATO and the future of U.S. interventionism.

A negotiated settlement in Libya was...

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The Seattle Declaration: A Call for a New Civic Activism

Posted August 22, 2011 | 8/22/11

The following speech was delivered at Hempfest on Saturday, August 20, 2011 in Seattle, Washington:

Hello Seattle. On this day, in this place of great beauty we celebrate the beauty of nature The wondrous nature of each other. Our presence here binds us as a community. It empowers us. It...

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Drones Direct Hit Upon Rule Of Law

Posted August 17, 2011 | 8/17/11

The Obama Administration continues to use unmanned drones as a tool of war - a tool that according The New York Times, the Administration claims has killed 600 militants in Pakistan and no civilians since May 2010. But the math doesn't add up. Nor does the policy.

Think of the...

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Here's How We Can Take a Couple Steps Back From the Brink

Posted July 29, 2011 | 7/29/11

First, raise the debt ceiling until December 31, 2012, without it being contingent on cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or increases in taxes or cuts in taxes or cuts in spending.

The attempt to resolve all these issues at once as a moment of reckoning arrives was never...

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We Are the United States of America, the Greatest Country on Earth -- We Don't Default

Posted July 28, 2011 | 7/28/11

Here is what we should do to avoid default: increase the debt ceiling with no strings attached.

Here is how to get out of debt: End the wars -- save one trillion over ten years. Repeal tax cuts to the wealthy: Save another trillion.

Medicare for All:...

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The White House Now Conceals Plan to Cut Social Security

Posted July 26, 2011 | 7/26/11

Last Friday, the president told the nation that he offered a plan that would cut $650 billion from Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Last night in his address to the nation, the president didn't want to 'bore' Americans with the details of his plan but threatened...

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Protect Social Security; Numbers Show Lifting the Caps Works

Posted July 25, 2011 | 7/25/11

Obama 2008: 'The best idea is to lift the cap;' Obama 2011... What Happened?

Social Security is strong. It is not a government piggy bank and it is 100% fully funded until 2036.

Social Security has been falsely interjected into a discussion about our nation's debt and deficit....

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No 'Legislative Pardon' for Boeing's Violation of the National Labor Relations Act

Posted July 21, 2011 | 7/21/11

The Education and Workforce Committee today held a hearing to examine a bill that is effectively a 'legislative pardon' for Boeing management for violations of the National Labor Relations Act. (For a legal background of the Boeing case, click here.)

This bill is wrong on...

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More Washington Doublespeak on Social Security

Posted July 19, 2011 | 7/19/11

Today the so-called 'Gang of Six' published a draft report that acknowledges the solvency of Social Security, but incorporates it into a deficit reduction plan anyway.

This latest bipartisan plan to reduce the deficit says on one hand that it will 'reform Social Security on a separate track, isolated from...

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Debt Political Theater Diverts Attention While Americans' Wealth Is Stolen

Posted July 14, 2011 | 7/14/11

The rancorous debate over the debt belies a fundamental truth of our economy -- that it is run for the few at the expense of the many, that our entire government has been turned into a machine which takes the wealth of a mass of Americans and accelerates it into...

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Efforts for Non-Violence Help Achieve Security Pull Back in Syria

Posted June 30, 2011 | 6/30/11

How the U.S. and the international community, including the media, assess the crisis in Syria will affect whether Syria experiences a transformation to democracy, or whether it becomes the flash point for a new war in the Middle East.

Too many people have already died in Syria. It is...

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