Dennis Kucinich

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Dennis John Kucinich is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 10th district of Ohio.

Early life/education

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^[1].

Cleveland politics

Dennis Kucinich was elected to the Cleveland, Ohio City Council at age 23 and was elected mayor in 1977 at the age of 31. At the time, he was the youngest person ever elected to lead a major American city^[2].

Links to Communist Party

Dennis Kucinich has reportedly been close to the Communist Party USA since his days in Cleveland Ohio council politics in the 1960s^[3].

Take Kucinich first. As mayor of Cleveland in the late 1960s, he represented one of the most “left” elements in the Democratic Party during the heyday of the radical protest movement. He was closely allied with the Stalinists of the CPUSA, who still had significant influence in the working class of Cleveland, particularly in such unions as the UE and UAW. With the collapse of the protest movement and the shift to the right in American bourgeois politics, Kucinich was driven out of political life for two decades, before returning to office as a state legislator and ultimately winning a congressional seat.

Congressional record

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.

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 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^[4].

Communist controversy

During Kucinich's 1996 Congressional run, there was considerable controversy over his ties to Communist Party USA member Rick Nagin.

Writing in the Communist Party USA paper People's Weekly World Ohio Communist party chairman, Rick Nagin, detailed the campaign which led to Kucinich's election to Congress:^[5]

The election of Dennis Kucinich in Ohio's 10th Congressional District was a ground-breaking event demonstrating the powerful political potential of a mass, grassroots coalition led by labor.

Trade unionists and seniors provided the largest numbers of some 5,000 volunteers but many others came from Hispanic, environmental, peace and other organizations.

According to the campaign staff, the volunteers canvassed at least 600 of the district's 750 precincts, some as many as four times. They turned the western half of Cuyahoga County and especially the west side of Cleveland into a sea of 15,000 bright yellow yard signs reading "Light Up Congress! Elect Dennis Kucinich" -

Many organizations also issued their own literature and did their own mailings including the AFL-CIO's Labor '96, the UAW CAP Council, the Sierra Club, Peace Voter '96, gay rights and senior groups. The United Auto Workers and the Steelworkers did plantgate distributions. The Ohio Council of Senior Citizens distributed 12,000 pieces with the positions of Kucinich and his opponent, incumbent Martin Hoke, on senior issues to senior buildings, nutrition sites and bingo games.

Then First Lady Hillary Clinton, Congressmen Louis Stokes, Joe Kennedy and Barney Frank also helped out.

The coalition embraced many political viewpoints: Democrats, independents, Greens, socialists, Communists, members of the Labor Party, even some disgruntled Republicans. Democratic Party figures, including First Lady Hillary Clinton, Congressmen Louis Stokes, Joseph Kennedy and Barney Frank visited Cleveland to help in the effort.

But it was the grassroots, labor-community coalition that Kucinich had in mind on election night when he gave his impassioned victory speech with jubilant leaders of organized labor standing behind him, their right fists held high, chanting, "We are the party of the people! We are the party of the people!" The coalition was inspired by both Kucinich's personality and his program.

The Republicans reacted with fury to this open challenge to their decades of labor-baiting bully tactics. Kucinich's program, Republican county chairman Jim Trakas announced, is "very similar to the Communist Manifesto" and is "what Lenin stood for." Kucinich blasted this reversion to "McCarthyism."

The smears were endlessly propagated by a right-wing talk show host who made it his mission three hours every morning to stop Kucinich. The poisonous attacks, aimed at suppressing voter turnout, caused the race to tighten considerably. In the final week before the election the focus of the Hoke campaign shifted to virulent red-baiting directed at this writer.

In what was probably a first since the beginning of the Cold War, Kucinich refused to knuckle under, calmly stating that I was one of 5,000 volunteers and declaring, "It's Halloween and Hoke is dressing up as Joe McCarthy. Karl Marx is not running my campaign but apparently Harpo Marx is running his."

On Nov. 5 Hoke was defeated by a vote of 108,000 to 102,000 with 10,000 going to a candidate of the Natural Law Party. It was a stunning rebuke to Hoke's shameful attempt to whip up hatred and hysteria. Although he spent a million dollars - over twice as much as Kucinich - he could not shake the solid majority of voters who showed outstanding maturity.

Later, the Communist Party USA itself contradicted Kucinich's claim that Nagin was merely "one of 5,000 volunteers."

In 2005 Rick Nagin campaigned unsuccessfully in his own right for City Council, and was heavily criticized over his Communist Party ties. Nagin had resigned as chairman of the Ohio Communist Party (but had remained a member) to take a position as executive assistant to Nelson Cintron Jr, the first Latino in City Council and a protoge of Kucinich's

According to the People's Weekly World^[6];

Nagin was continuously targeted as a member and former chairman of the Ohio Communist Party, yet his strong showing was impressive and stemmed from a number of factors....

Nagin also had seven and a half years of experience as executive assistant to Nelson Cintron Jr. who represented an adjacent ward. Furthermore, he had been a key organizer for Dennis Kucinich's campaigns for Congress and president and for the 2004 John Kerry presidential campaign.

Congressional Progressive Caucus

In 1998 Dennis Kucinich Democrat was listed as a vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.^[7]

On November 19 2008 the Congressional Progressive Caucus announced its elected leadership in for the 111th Congress:^[8]

Co-Chairs are Congressman Raul Grijalva (AZ) and Lynn Woolsey (CA)

Whip Diane Watson

Vice-Chair Liaison to Black Caucus Sheila Jackson-Lee

Vice-Chair Liaison to Women's Caucus Hilda Solis

Vice-Chair Liaison to Asian Pacific American Caucus Mazie Hirono

Vice-Chair Liaison to LGBT Equality Caucus, Dennis Kucinich

As of November 16, 2009, Kucinich was listed as a Vice Chair^[9]of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Supported by Council for a Livable World

The Council for a Livable World, founded in 1962 by long-time socialist activist and alleged Soviet agent, Leo Szilard, is a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to "reduce the danger of nuclear weapons and increase national security", primarily through supporting progressive, congressional candidates who support their policies. The Council supported Dennis Kucinich in his successful House of Representatives run as candidate for Ohio.^[10]

Supported by Bruce Bostick

Communist Party USA activist and Steel Mill worker, Bruce Bostick endorses Kucinich in the 2008, video to the right.

Kucinich and communists, kindred spirits?

The Communist Party USA appears to see Dennis Kucinich as a man worthy of support and someone who can be relied on to push the correct agenda in Congress.

In a 2004 report to the CPUSA National Board, the Party's Political Action Committee chair, Joelle Fishman wrote a report on Party work in the U.S. Presidential elections. She included a comment on Dennis Kucinich and the Democratic Party National Convention^[11].

Dennis Kucinich's 50 delegates to the national Democratic convention, will be presenting a platform plank for a Department of Peace, voted favorably by four state conventions, including dramatically in Texas just this week. The efforts of Kucinich together with Jesse Jackson and others, to bring forward more advanced demands, will make an important contribution to the convention. A very special contribution will be made by an expectedly large number of labor union delegates who will work together in one bloc to get a strong platform for jobs, health care, and pensions.

The Communist Party USA would also be at the convention;

We project our role at the convention as distribution of the Peoples Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo and literature to delegates and in free speech areas, and participation in the Kucinich-led issue events. We hope to have reporters inside the convention, we hope to speak with any labor delegates we know in their home states before the convention, and to participate in the Boston Social Forum which will be held the weekend prior to the convention".

DSA support

Ohio Democratic Socialists of America backed^[12]Kucinich in his difficult 2004 Congressional race.

Ohio Progressive Dennis Kucinich is working hard to keep his West Cleveland 10th CD seat after his presidential primary campaign failed to catch fire, and DSAers are committed to returning the firebrand veteran politician and Progressive Caucus co-chair to Congress.

Kucinich and Howard Dean were top priorities for DSA in the 2004 elections, according to a report on the 2003 Democratic Socialists of America conference in Detroit^[13];

The business sessions of the Detroit convention were characterized by cooperation, a sense of everyone working together on projects. Most of the discussion dealt with the 2004 presidential election and the urgency of getting George W. Bush out of the White House. While DSA members are working for various Democratic candidates (especially Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich), the general consensus was that our organizational priority must be supporting any reasonable candidate against Bush, while at the same time helping to build a broad progressive coalition that can pressure the next president to address our issues.

Presidential nomination attempt

In 2004, Kucinich also made a shortlived attempt to gain the Democratic Party's U.S. presidential nomination. Kucinich ran as a hard left, "peace" candidate in the Democratic Presidential primary in 2004 and attracted strong socialist support. Leading endorsers of his campaign included;

Tim Reynolds of the Dave Matthews Band, Ani DiFranco, Michelle Shocked, Willie Nelson, Pete Seeger, Joaquin Phoenix, Shelley Morrison, Staceyann Chin, Danny Glover, Ed Asner, James Cromwell, Mimi Kennedy, Hector Elizondo, Roy Scheider, Elliot Gould, Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel and Barbara Ehrenreich^[14], Wendell Berry, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Michael Males.

Ambassador John W McDonald, longtime U.S. and international diplomat, also thrown his support behind Kucinich^[15].

DSA event

In 2006 Neil Abercrombie and Dennis Kucinich spoke at a Democratic Socialists of America Political Action Committee event in Washington DC at the home of Stewart Mott, for Bernie Sanders^[16].

The questions and comments actually had to be cut off to let Bernie get to the plane.

He flew to Washington and the next day attended the Washington, D.C., DSA PAC party at the home of Stewart Mott. Not only did Bernie Sanders speak; so did members of Congress Neil Abercrombie (HI) and Dennis Kucinich (OH). Christine Riddiough, former DSA National Director, served as host/ moderator

Backing Barack Obama

In 2008, rather than making a serious bid for the presidency himself, Dennis Kucinich urged his supporters to back Barack Obama.

According to the Communist Party USA's Political Affairs editors Blog

Polling about 1% in Iowa just a day before the Iowa Caucuses, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) urged his supporters to back him, but in places where they do not have enough votes to make an impact, to throw their support behind Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).

Kucinich was quoted in the Baltimore Sun as saying:

"I strongly encourage all of my supporters to make Barack Obama their second choice. Sen. Obama and I have one thing in common: Change.”

To which Obama replied:

“I have a lot of respect for Congressman Kucinich, and I’m honored that he has done this because we both believe deeply in the need for fundamental change. He and I have been fighting for a number of the same priorities -- including an end to the war in Iraq that we both opposed from the start."

In 2004, Kucinich served as a pole to unite left left wing voters behind his campaign-which he then delivered to John Kerry.

Kucinich did the same for Barack Obama in 2008. That is, run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Consolidate a base of left wing support, then stand aside, handing that support base to another leftist Democrat with more chance of success.

The Communist Party USA seems to have foreseen and approved of this scenario.

Communist Party Chairman Sam Webb, wrote in a July 2007 report to the Party's National Committee^[17];

Finally, we should have a positive attitude toward the candidacy of Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Despite the efforts of the media to sideline him, Kucinich is emerging as a leading voice of the broad people’s coalition. He brings consistent anti-right, anti-corporate, pro-peace positions to the presidential primaries and debates. None of the other candidates can make the same claim. The more he speaks to audiences of the core forces, the better positioned the movement will be to win in 2008 and to fight the good fight in 2009.

Still working with Communists

Rick Nagin of the Communist Party USA was Labor Coordinator for Dennis Kucinich's 2008 primary campaign^[18].

Dennis Kucinich, (center rear), endorsed Rick Nagin (second from right) in his 2009 City Council race^[19].

I've known Rick Nagin for more than 30 years. He's honest, hard-working and conscientious. The people of Ward 14 have a chance to elect a Councilman who will be totally dedicated to them. What more can you ask for?

I'm proud to join with the AFL-CIO in supporting Rick Nagin

Dennis Kucinich, Congressman, 10th District

The Progressive

Kucinich has been a contributor to the liberal magazine, The Progressive.

Staff

The following have worked as staff members for Dennis Kucinich:^[20]

External links

• The Progressive website
• Kucinich's website with the House of Representatives

References