UPDATE from Congressman Grayson! Alan Grayson Endorses Dennis Kucinich

[sabrina 1]

Last edited Fri Jan 27, 2012, 03:23 PM - Edit history (3)

From one Congressman with guts to another Congressman who he admires because he too has guts as this story told by Grayson about Kucinich, demonstrates:


Courage and a nice tie

Mitt Romney did not invent predatory capitalism. It’s been around for a while.

Predatory capitalism was already alive and well in 1978, in Cleveland. That was when the One Percent who controlled the banks, and pretty much everything else of value, decided that they wanted to steal the local power company from the people of Cleveland.

By way of background, Cleveland Public Power was founded by the Mayor of Cleveland, more than a century ago. It provides the people of Cleveland with electricity -- without the price gouging, poor service, pollution and monopolization for which Big Energy seems to strive.

The One Percent didn’t like that idea at all. So they invested in a private company called Cleveland Electric Illuminating. They wanted to steal Cleveland Public Power from the people, and then jack up the rates, and make lots and lots of money.

They then issued this ultimatum:
(1) hand over the assets of Cleveland Public Power to us, or
(2) we will pull the plug on Cleveland.

By which they meant that they would boycott the City of Cleveland’s bonds as they came due, and drive the City into bankruptcy.

Which they then did. The One Percent forced the City of Cleveland into bankruptcy.

But they didn’t anticipate one thing. What the 32-year-old, first-term Mayor of Cleveland would say.

That was Dennis Kucinich. And Dennis said no.

No matter what the banks said, Dennis said no.

No matter what the City Council said, Dennis said no.

No matter what the bankruptcy court said, Dennis said no.

A newspaper on December 22, 1978 quoted Dennis as follows: “They are maneuvering to offer the city terms so bad that we will feel pressured to beg.” And Dennis would not beg.

No. Just no.

And Dennis paid a price for that. The “Boy Mayor of Cleveland” went down to defeat that year. The One Percent made sure of that. But the people of Cleveland kept their power company.

Twenty years later, the Cleveland City Council honored Dennis Kucinich for having the “courage and foresight” to stand up to the banks, for the sake of the people. They calculated that Dennis had saved the people of Cleveland $195 million in one decade alone. And Cleveland elected Dennis Kucinich to Congress.

Let me tell you something. There is not one person in a hundred -- Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, male or female, white, black, red or brown -- who would have the courage to do what Dennis Kucinich did. For the good of the people.

That’s why we need Dennis Kucinich in Congress.

Thanks to Republican gerrymandering in Ohio, Dennis is facing the fight of his career. His election is on March 6. And absentee ballots in his district will be mailed out next Tuesday.

Dennis needs your help. He needs to contact thousands of absentee voters, and that costs money. If you helped him before, then help again. If you didn’t help him before, then help now. Please click on this special ActBlue link, and make a contribution to Dennis Kucinich’s campaign today.

Because Dennis has guts. And that’s what we need in our leaders.

Courage,


Alan Grayson

So two great endorsements for Dennis today, Barney Frank http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002226497 and Alan Grayson.

I still wish there was a way to keep Barney Frank and Marcy Kaptur in Congress also. Grayson, Kaptur, Kucinich, Barney Frank are all great Democrats and we need all of them.

Edited to add links for Kucinich's and Grayson's Act Blue page: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/grayson4kucinich?refcode=nationaljan26

Also, there was more to that story about Kucinich. The Cleveland Mafia put out a hit on him after he refused to sell the Energy Co. to the 1%, among other things he was doing they did not like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sinito#Kucinich_assassination_plot

These aforementioned reasons propelled mob boss, James Licavoli, with the advice of Lonardo to order a hit on Kucinich in 1978. In face of some opposition by lower level associates, Sinito stubbornly defended Licavoli's decision and it was then decided to use the services of an outsider professional hitman, since using local associates for the job would only trace all the way back to them.[8]

Sinito’s uncle Joey Maxim, who worked in an Atlantic City casino helped him make contact with a contract killer. However, the supposed contract killer was, in fact, an undercover Maryland State Police officer using the name Gene, who specialized in posing as a contract killer. The two met in the Atlantic City casino where Maxim worked. Gene walked into the casino’s lounge where he’d been told to meet Sinito. During the meeting, Sinito introduced himself only as Tommy and successfully hired Gene for the Assassination plot. Gene was initially paid $25,000 for his services. After the meeting, Gene informed Cleveland Police who soon made the connection to Sinito, after checking the police records.[8]

Several bizarre plans were discussed. One was to kill Kucinich as he left Tony’s Diner on West 117th and Lorain Avenue. Gene would perch on an outside steel fire escape across the street, armed with a sniper rifle and shoot Kucinich when he came out of the diner. A second plan was to shoot Kucinich as he marched down Euclid Avenue in the 1979 Columbus Day Parade. But the hit didn't happen because an ulcer inside Kunicich's stomach burst before the event and the mayor was rushed to the hospital. The assassination plot continued for three long years, and never came into fruition.[8]

The assassination plot was eventually called off after three years when Kucinich lost the next election.



Update from Alan Grayson: I Forgot to Mention the Hit Man

The Columbus Day Parade. Cleveland, 1978.


Yesterday, I told you how Dennis Kucinich single-handedly saved Cleveland’s public utility from a takeover by the banks. Even though it cost him a job he loved, being Mayor of Cleveland.

But I neglected to mention that Dennis’s courage could have cost him more than his job. It almost cost him his life.

When Dennis Kucinich refused to turn over Cleveland Public Power to the One Percent, they decided to kill Dennis. Not kill Dennis’s political career. Kill Dennis.

You don’t have to take my word for it. You can read the chilling account in the Cleveland Free Times cover story, which includes quotes from the police interview with the hit man.

The plan was to shoot Dennis in the head, during the Columbus Day Parade. The Cleveland Cosa Nostra brought in a professional hit man from Maryland to do the hit. The hit man bought an untraceable rifle, and came to Cleveland.

Why didn’t the hit man kill Dennis? Because on Columbus Day, an ulcer in Dennis’s stomach burst. Dennis spent that day in the hospital, not in the parade. Or the morgue.

The hit man then staked out Tony’s Diner, an old rail car converted into a greasy spoon restaurant, on the corner of Lorain Avenue and West 117th. Dennis liked to eat breakfast there.

But then the banks found that they could force the City of Cleveland into bankruptcy, and force Dennis Kucinich out of office. So the hit was called off.

(By the way, of the thousands of people who have served as mayor in the United States, only three have been assassinated. Mayor Carter Harrison of Chicago, the hero of the Haymarket Riots, was killed by a disgruntled office seeker. Mayor Anton Cermak, also of Chicago, was killed by a bullet intended for FDR. And, as you may recall, San Francisco Supervisor Dan White killed Mayor George Moscone, and Harvey Milk.)

In order to save Cleveland’s municipal power company, Dennis Kucinich stuck his neck out so far that the banks and the Mafia tried to kill him. For the people of Cleveland, Dennis put his life on the line.

If the One Percent is so angry at you that they want to take you out, and they’re willing to enlist the Mafia to do it, then you are doing one heckuva good job for The People.

So I’m asking you again, as I did yesterday. Please do whatever you can do to help Dennis Kucinich, before the absentee ballots get mailed out in his district next Tuesday. And click here to do it.

Because Dennis Kucinich is a hero. A real-life hero.

Courage,

Alan Grayson

[OhioChick]

1. Good to hear!

[upi402]

2. Wonderful!

Both are great men.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

3. Outstanding.

[napoleon_in_rags]

4. +1. Dennis should be celebrated by Dems.

Why has "normal" moved so far to the right in recent years? Because the right celebrates its purists, grimly tolerates their moderates. The left celebrates its moderates, grimly tolerates its purists. Gallup scientifically reported the whole thing:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/145541/Conservative-Americans-Leaders-Stick-Beliefs.aspx
Its all right there: The left loves compromise, the right hates it. So in the tug of war, the right seeks to move away from the middle, the left seeks to move toward it. So the left constantly loses, a loss that stems not totally from "spineless leaders" in DC, but actually from their very constituencies who they are faithfully trying to represent.

At some point change in political axis is necessary to keep the political process fruitful. That's why I value leaders who stick to their principles, people who buck expectations and don't tell the crowds what they want to hear, like Kucinich. The structure of government was designed from the beginning to create a functional dialectic between people with different principles, it can deal with real disagreement in DC on those principles. That's what the left needs to learn and understand is not to worry about compromise, that will happen automatically through the political process enshrined in the constitution. The name of the game is not to have your first asking price be a compromise: Get in their and say what you want, as Kucinich does. Get in their and say what you're after, and let the constitutional process take care of the rest. Choose purists, because literally EVERYTHING will run better in a government of honest, principled purists. Beware "compromisers", because all that means is that the real dealing will be worked out in unaccountable back rooms.

[sabrina 1]

7. Very good post, thank you.

That's why I value leaders who stick to their principles, people who buck expectations and don't tell the crowds what they want to hear, like Kucinich.

Yes, Dems should take lessons from him. He starts out making the demands that HE wants. If everyone in the Dem Party did that, knowing they will have to compromise something, at least they would get a lot closer to what they want. But the way it is now, they start with what they think Republicans will like, and then have to bargain down from there.

[whatchamacallit]

5. Great! K&R

[Quantess]

6. I'm awaiting the pile-on of Alan Grayson now.

[sabrina 1]

9. Don't forget Barney Frank! Lol!

What is so nice to see coming from Barney Frank and now Grayson, is how respected Dennis Kucinich is in Congress. Not just by them, but according to Barney Frank by almost everyone, because even if they do not agree with him, he says, he is passionate about the issues he talks about, and they KNOW he is sincere. Let the naysayers argue with Barney and Alan from now.

[Zorra]

8. knr

[bvar22]

10. DURec and a Kick for Dennis Kucinich.

Kucinich has never turned his back on the 99%.
I wish we had several hundred more DEMOCRATS like him!




[font color=firebrick][center]”Unlike the other candidates, I am not funded by those corporate interests.
I owe them no loyalty, and they have no influence over me or my policies.” ---Dennis Kucinich [/font]
[/center]

[LynneSin]

11. YEs and 332 voted for a man who used campaign funds to hide the fact he cheated on his wife

and knocked up another woman. I believe he's under federal investigation too.

[bvar22]

19. NO. THAT was unknown.

332 DUers voted for a man with the courage to highlight the plight of The Poor in America.

I still commend Edwards for putting the Two Americas front of front & center in Campaign 2008.
The LAST TIME "The Poor" were mentioned in Campaign 2008 was the day Edwards dropped out.

I don't care about blow jobs in the Oval office, or marriage problems in someone's personal life.
I DO fault Edwards for jeopardizing the Democratic Party by running for Pres while these issues were unresolved.

[SaintPete]

32. What's your point?

332 DUers had no idea that John Edwards was a cad - but neither did Elizabeth Edwards.

Are you trying to smear DK because--like Edwards--DUers supported him? What kind of mangled logic is that?

[LynneSin]

33. Just saying that's not really a graph I'd want to revisit

that's all

[bvar22]

35. ..and I am PROUD that the majpority of DUers had the intelligence...

...to STAND for the strong Liberal Values of Dennis Kucinich and the Two Americans campaign
of John Edwards which FOCUSED on Income Disparity & the Plight of the Poor in America.

Are you forgetting the John Edwards was picked by John Kerry as the Democratic Vice Presidential Running-mate in 2004?

The problems in his personal life were unknown at that time.

[sabrina 1]

36. Why not? That was not just DU. It was pretty much all over. Kucinich was also the

most popular candidate in 2004. But there was no way the people were going to get THEIR choice, Corporate interests would never allow someone like Kucinich to win the WH. I'm surprised he got as far as he did, they sure spend enough money to keep the people's choices as far away from elected office as possible.

But I have a feeling things are beginning to change. It will take a while and Dennis was way ahead of his time, too evolved a person for the country the way it is right now.

But there is no question that the people want someone they can trust, who is not bought by Corporate money and who has a mind of their own, who is not influenced by forces whose interests are not those of the American people.

[sabrina 1]

37. How many voted for Clinton, twice? Of course most of them didn't know he cheated on

his wife. I guess it's too bad we are not able to see into the future. Hillary knew her husband cheated, although she though he was over that. Should people trust her judgement then? Generally men who habitually cheat on their wives do not stop. Food for though I suppose.

[Zorra]

21. DK: ”Unlike the other candidates, I am not funded by those corporate interests.

I owe them no loyalty, and they have no influence over me or my policies.” ---Dennis Kucinich

Thanks for the poll and the quote, bvar!

[LynneSin]

12. Endorse him for what?

http://www.google.com/search?q=Dennis+Kucinich&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=

I mean I don't see him running for any office other than his congressional office.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

14. He's endorsing him for the Democratic congressional primary. nt

[smokey nj]

16. He has to compete in a primary against Marcy Kaptur due to redistricting.

[LynneSin]

17. Oh ok

Thank you!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. That top photo looks like a 70s buddy cop show. nt

[MineralMan]

15. I like Congressman Kucinich very much.

It's a darned shame that redistricting forces him to run against a primary opponent who I also like. Since I don't live there, I won't have to make that difficult decision.

[sabrina 1]

20. I think everyone feels that way, however Dennis, as both Grayson and Barney Frank have

said, is their choice. It definitely is a difficult choice, I'm glad I didn't have to make, and Marcy has been in Congress for nearly 29 years. Maybe she could run for the Senate. She is a wonderful person also.

[MineralMan]

23. I don't agree with Marcy on everything, by any means, but then,

I don't agree with anyone on everything. Marcy Kaptur has won many terms in office, and may well win another one. Dennis Kucinich is also a very capable, and progressive Congressman. But his district is gone. I don't know what the boundaries of the new district are, but they may well not be conducive to his defeat of another very popular Democrat.

For that reason, and because I'm not in Ohio, I wouldn't endorse either one. It's really not my business. One of them will win, certainly, and both will do a good job of representing the district. It's a toss-up, and probably should be.

Grayson and Frank have made an endorsement. That's good for Kucinich, but may not lead to his victory. Congressional district politics are always very, very localized. I wish them both well, and will congratulate whichever wins.

[sabrina 1]

26. I believe the reason both of them endorsed Kucinich is because they feel is very

representative of what is needed in Congress. Also because he has worked with both of them. As Barney Frank said also, he did not agree with Dennis always himself, nor I'm sure, did Kucinich always agree with him. But there are not many members of Congress left who are not under the influence of Wall St and/or who are willing to stand up publicly for issues even when they are unpopular.

A lot of money has been spent to try to discredit people like Kucinich. And it's disturbing to see sometimes, that even on the left, it works. But as happened in Cleveland, when way back then he was standing up against the selling of America to the highest bidder and was not appreciated for that act until 20 years later, I think Kucinich whose ideas are always way ahead of the regressive DC insiders and always with the people in mind, he will be remembered as a great Congressman.

It's a shame that there were not more like him to back him up eg, on the War in Iraq and so many other issues. That is why electing real, progressive candidates this time is so important and there are lot of them running now who are not taking money from Corporations. I am hopeful that the political climate has changed enough that this time, people like Darcy Burner eg, who came so close even against all that money twice already, can do it this time.

[MineralMan]

29. I understand why they endorsed him.

That's fine. I'm just saying that their endorsement is not going to play much of a role in which of those two wins the primary. It's not up to anyone but those who live in that district to decide that, and I'll be OK with either. But what I think is irrelevant, anyway. I live in Minnesota, and will be working on congressional elections here, not in Ohio.

[sabrina 1]

30. True to an extent. But endorsements from highly respected Progressive Democrats

does have an effect on progressives who might have been thinking of opting out of voting at all or who were not sure who to vote for, which is understandable in this case.

As for not living in the district, that doesn't bother Corporate America, they spend their money in every district so imho, we need to do the same in time, effort and donations to make sure WE get the kind of Congress we want this time, rather than allowing them to control the election again.

I will be working for all Progressive Democrats including in my own district.

[G_j]

39. and sending money doesn't help?

[lostnote12]

18. If I recall correctly, Kucinich had

to wear a bullet proof vest to toss out the first pitch at the new Cleveland Indian Stadium........USA...USA...USA!!!!

[sabrina 1]

28. Yes, I just got another email from Alan Grayson in which he tells more of that story. I

just added it to the OP as an update. He really is very courageous.

[MrCoffee]

22. Whoa, where's Marcy going?

Last edited Fri Jan 27, 2012, 02:31 PM - Edit history (1)

I lived in her district years ago, she's leaving the House?


Bummer.

On edit: I don't live in Ohio anymore and had no idea about the redistricting. That sucks.

[sabrina 1]

25. I wish there was a way to keep her in Congress. This was a horrible choice to have to make

Do you think she could run for the Senate or some other office?

I would love to see her and Elizabeth Warren both in the Senate. Marcy has always been so outspoken about the fraud in the Mortgage crises and was one of the first to tell people how to challenge foreclosures.

[redqueen]

24. :)

[Uncle Joe]

27. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Sabrina.

[surfdog]

31. What's the story with the Amber alert?

Did he vote against a nationwide amber alert system ?

[sabrina 1]

34. Yes but as always when he votes against what seems like something there should be no

question about, he had reasons to do so, which I believe he addressed at the time.

Meantime his voting record from a Progressive Democratic pov, is one of the best in Congress.

[surfdog]

40. I have called his office many times

They refuse to explain

[G_j]

38. PDA also supporting DK

Will find link...