After 36 years, will Kucinich’s City Hall portrait debut in 2015?

This could be the year that Cleveland corrects a historic snub. Thirty-six years after he left the office, Dennis Kucinich is the only modern Cleveland mayor who doesn’t have a portrait hanging at City Hall.

Now, an official portrait of him is finally finished, and Kucinich says he's pleased.

“I’m very happy to learn about its completion,” Kucinich tells me. “I appreciate all people who made the effort to bring it about. I look forward to seeing it. If it’s posted at City Hall, I will be very glad to attend an unveiling.”

Artist Matthew Hunt completed his portrait of Kucinich as mayor last year (see my earlier story here). Kucinich says he doesn’t want to judge the portrait based on the photograph on my blog.

“I can’t comment about portrait unless I see it,” Kucinich says. “I don’t think it’d be fair to assess its value.” He says he doesn’t know if it’s up to him to approve or disapprove.

That’s significant, because some supporters are pausing to be sure Kucinich really wants the honor.

When a Cleveland mayor leaves office, the business community usually pays for a formal portrait to hang at City Hall. But the city fathers were in no mood to honor Kucinich, the fiery young populist, when his two tumultuous years as mayor ended in 1979.

So Kucinich is missing from the mayor’s Red Room -- where, during press conferences, legendary former mayor Tom Johnson looks over Mayor Frank Jackson’s shoulder. Recent mayors — Mike White, Jane Campbell, George Voinovich — gaze down from other walls.

In 2002, after Kucinich revived his career and was elected to Congress, supporters set out to right the wrong. City councilman Joe Cimperman and John Ryan, then president of the local AFL-CIO, got then-mayor Campbell to agree to accept a portrait.

Cimperman, Ryan and others held a pierogi and kielbasa fundraiser in Tremont with tickets at $20 a person. Kucinich attended; so did Campbell. (Here’s my coverage of the event.) Hunt won a competition to paint the portrait in 2003.

Then the project stalled. First, it took Kucinich three years to meet with Hunt. Finally, in 2006, Hunt spent a morning observing Kucinich in his Lakewood office and ten minutes photographing him. Then the portrait took Hunt eight years to finish, due to health problems, business setbacks and a flooded house.

Now, the portrait waits in Hunt’s Akron home. The artist is unsure whose job it is to accept the portrait and pay him.

Ryan, now an aide to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, says he’ll get it done. Cleveland Jobs With Justice, a nonprofit he founded, is holding the money in an account just for the portrait, and will pay the artist, Ryan says.

“My guess is, what they have to do is see if there’s a way to get the former congressman and mayor to participate, even if they have to hold it off for a couple months,” Ryan says.

“If he just refuses, well, we’re going to put this darn thing up,” Ryan adds. “I think it should be some kind of event. Mayor Kucinich’s term of office was not just about him, but about the whole town.”

Officially, City Hall is ready to take in Kucinich's likeness. “We would welcome the opportunity to place his portrait here in City Hall,” a spokesperson for mayor Jackson told me.

But Cimperman says Jackson and Harriet Applegate, Ryan’s successor at the AFL-CIO, want to make sure that Kucinich is OK with the portrait going up.

Though no one says so, Kucinich’s Cleveland friends seem to wonder if he is ambivalent about the honor. Ryan says Kucinich accepted the portrait effort “reluctantly” in 2002, and that he “disappointed” some supporters by taking years to meet with the artist. Perhaps being enshrined in an establishment institution like City Hall feels odd to Kucinich, the proud maverick.

The worst-case scenario, Cimperman says, is that the portrait will end up displayed somewhere other than City Hall. He hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“I’m feeling the need to get the portrait closer to the city, closer to the Red Room, where it deserves to be,” Cimperman says. (Though Cimperman challenged Kucinich in the 2008 Democratic primary for Congress, the two have reconciled since, most publicly at a 2011 benefit for Cleveland Public Theater.)

“Like or dislike, support or not support, history is history,” Cimperman says. “This was a person who served as mayor during a fundamental time in the history of Cleveland. The absence of his portrait is conspicuous.

“I think if people saw it, they would recognize it for being a great piece of art and a missing piece in that portion of our history.”

After 35 years, Dennis Kucinich’s City Hall portrait is finished at last

Matthew Hunt pauses before the reveal. From an easel, he lifts his painting of a young woman looking over her nude shoulder. Behind it stands a portrait Cleveland has awaited for 35 years.

Dennis Kucinich, his hair still black, looks to one side, his eyes narrowed into a thoughtful squint, serious and enigmatic.

“I was hired to go in and try to find the person behind the name and TV interviews, the stuff that everybody knows,” says Hunt.

When Kucinich was voted out of the mayor’s office in 1979, no one commissioned the traditional City Hall portrait. Moneyed civic leaders, aghast at Kucinich’s confrontational two years as mayor, wanted to forget him.

“I wanted a more quiet side,” says Hunt. “Especially because this was such a wrong that was done. I felt that I had a responsibility to try to make it right.”

In 2002, a new generation tried to correct the snub. Then-mayor Jane Campbell, city councilman Joe Cimperman and labor leaders threw a $20 kielbasa and pierogi fundraiser in a church hall in Tremont. The party raised about $12,000.

Then? Silence, delays, small occasional updates in The Plain Dealer’s “Whatever Happened To” feature.

Now, 12 years later, the portrait is finished.

Hunt, 42, won a contest to paint it in 2003. “They said [Kucinich] saw my work, and he really loved it,” he says.

Self-taught, Hunt began painting in 1998 and debuted with a show that year at the McCormick Place gallery in Hudson. He has a gift for painting realistic, psychologically profound depictions of people that invite the question, what is he or she thinking?

Paid a $7,250 advance to paint Kucinich, Hunt tried for three years to meet his subject. First, the then-congressman’s 2004 campaign for president got in the way. Then his office cancelled a post-election photo shoot in Washington. A year later, Kucinich called Hunt to say he’d make it happen. At last, in September 2006, Hunt spent a morning observing Kucinich at his Lakewood office.

“He would look down when thinking about something,” Hunt recalls. “He would hold his left hand to his head, but he would do this sort of squinting. It was really warm the way he did it, but it was very sincere, and it wasn’t for anyone else.”

Hunt watched Kucinich during a press conference and a meeting with aides and spent ten minutes taking reference photos of him. He headed back to his home studio in Copley, that look on Kucinich’s face still in his mind.

It took Hunt seven years to paint it. “I own the fact that it’s taken as long as it has,” he says.

At first, Hunt’s other work took precedence. Commissions rained down. Parents hired him to paint their children, companies their CEOs, universities their administrators.

Then, three setbacks brought Hunt’s work to a halt. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes; when it was uncontrolled, his painting hand shook. His basement studio flooded, destroying much of his work. The financial crisis hit, and clients cancelled and retreated.

Now, Hunt has recovered. A sharp doctor helps keep his health troubles in check. “I’m able to work now the way I was,” he says. Jobs are flowing to him again. He recently accepted a commission to paint retired Lincoln Electric CEO John Stropki.

He also turned back to Kucinich. He collected ’70s photos to re-create how Kucinich looked in his early 30s. He studied ’70s suits and tie patterns to paint wide lapels and a diagonally-striped tie.

Thinking hard about Kucinich’s two years as mayor, he decided to add no symbolic props -- concerned that a hint of, say, the Muni Light battle might reduce his subject’s work to a single accomplishment.

Instead, Hunt depicted Kucinich in the mayor’s office, sitting on the edge of a bare desk. The viewer looks on from just above him, an unusual perspective meant to evoke Kucinich's populism. “I don’t think he has the need to be above anyone,” Hunt says.

Kucinich’s interlocked hands rest in the foreground, a symbol of him “bringing together people and different sides, and the struggle that he had,” Hunt says. (That’s a generous interpretation of Kucinich’s mayoralty, commonly criticized as divisive.)

Hunt worked hardest at Kucinich’s face, especially his mouth, which is caught between a slight smile and a hint of satisfaction.

“I didn’t want to have a degree of defeat or worry,” Hunt says. “I wanted to convey someone who was in charge, but someone who was taking the issues very seriously. He might be young, but he’s not a boy.”

Hunt painted the final brushstroke about six months ago. He plans to take it to Cleveland’s Bonfoey Gallery for framing.

When will the public see it? That’s unclear. Hunt’s not sure what’s next, because “there’s no client,” he says.

A portrait committee, made up of representatives of two unions and the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, owes him a second payment of $7,250 if the portrait is accepted. But whose job is it to accept the painting? The committee? Mayor Frank Jackson? Kucinich himself?

The long wait for Kucinich to join the pantheon of mayors is subtly symbolized in the painting itself. In 2006, Hunt noticed that Kucinich wore his watch upside down -- clasp up, face downward. He painted it that way. The clasp is just barely visible under his sleeve. “Time did sort of get flipped,” Hunt says.

LaTourette, moderate with a sense of humor, retiring from Congress

As if you needed any more proof that the center cannot hold in Washington, that Congress can't get anything done, that moderates are disappearing as the parties' ideologies harden, U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette announced last week that he's bagging it and retiring.

LaTourette, a moderate Republican, is the congressman people count on to help defend Cleveland when Republicans control the House. He led the effort to keep the Pentagon payroll jobs from moving out of town a few years ago. He's been working to get more money to tear down some of Cleveland's thousands of abandoned houses.

But he's fed up that Congress is at a stalemate, that Tea Party Republicans are scuttling attempts at getting bipartisan agreement on anything. His departure raises questions about whether House Speaker John Boehner truly leads his Republican caucus, or whether the Tea Party hardliners lead him. (Boehner, a friend of LaTourette's, tried to help him pass a transportation bill with funds for mass transit, only to see more conservative congressmen slash it apart.)

I also wonder whether LaTourette is leaving too soon. Congresss will be forced to strike a grand bargain on taxes and spending in December or January, and moderates will have to play a key role in negotiating it.

But another reason to miss LaTourette is his sense of humor. This is the guy who hired humorist Dave Barry as his press secretary for four days when he arrived in Washington, and actually read a Barry-written speech on frivolous lawsuits into the Congressional Record. It began, “As a lawyer, I am the last person to suggest that everybody in my profession is a money-grubbing, scum-sucking toad. The actual figure is only about 73 percent.”

And -- how much more biapartisan can you get? -- LaTourette is the Republican who befriended Dennis Kucinich, worked with him on bills, and appeared on The Tonight Show with him, singing "Kum Ba Ya," riding a tandem bike, playing on a playground swing, practicing trust falls, and wearing blue-and-red-state snuggies.

To commemorate the political career of a practical moderate, let's go to the video.

Wash. Post's premature obituary for Kucinich's Dept. of Peace

Now that Dennis Kucinich is leaving Congress, the Washington Post's David Fahrenthold has written a eulogy for his signature idea, a federal Department of Peace.  It is somewhat less condescending than the usual reaction to it, which is open mockery.

"The idea behind it is that the federal government could stop wars, pacify street gangs, and distill violence out of the American soul itself," Fahrenthold writes. "All it would take was a new Cabinet-level department and $10 billion a year in taxpayer money."

The Department of Peace, like Kucinich himself, is easily caricatured. It usually appears in mainsteam media as a one-liner, a joke about a flower-power dream from a peculiar socialist elf.  (Like I said, easy.)

Fahrenthold, at least, knows something about the bill. He knows the idea has been around since the Founding Fathers. He knows it would create a peace academy to train people in nonviolent conflict resolution. "It would also seek to stop bloodshed in U.S. cities, by funding stop-the-violence programs, programs in schools and 'unarmed civilian peacekeeping,'" he writes.

The story makes the practical point that $10 billion for peace is way more money than the current Congress would be willing to spend. That's true, but it is also Kucinich's point.  He sometimes says the Department of Peace should get 1 percent of what the Department of Defense gets. The House just passed a $643 billion defense budget for next year. 

Here are a few of the things the Department of Peace would fund: programs at home to fight domestic violence, child and elder abuse, gang violence, and violence in schools, to rehabilitate ex-convicts and teach students non-violent ways to resolve conflicts.  It would sponsor peace summits and conflict resolution in other countries, train U.S. personnel in post-war reconstruction, counsel victims of wartime rape, and train inspectors to enforce arms embargoes.

Hilarious stuff, huh?

Say what you will about Kucinich's ego and his missionary zeal (I certainly have), or his naïveté about murderous dictators, but you've got to give him this: Kucinich is a serious and unconventional thinker. Just because his thinking is outside the mainstream doesn't mean he's always wrong.

"At Kucinich’s political passing, we pause to remember it," Fahrenthold writes, implying that the idea of the Department of Peace could wither and die when Kucinich leaves Congress.  That's unlikely.  It has 52 co-sponsors.

Making a Department of Peace a Cabinet-level priority is Kucinich's way of getting peace taken seriously in Washington. The government already established a U.S. Institute of Peace in 1984 to do many of the things Kucinich proposes.  Its budget?  Cut from $50 million to $40 million in 2011, or 16,000 times smaller than the defense budget.  As Elvis Costello once sang, what's so funny?

My debut on WCPN Reporters' Roundtable

I'm hosting the WCPN Reporters' Roundtable for the first time tomorrow morning. Starting at 9, I'll be talking about the week's state and local news with Plain Dealer assistant metro editor Chris Quinn, WKSU news director M.L. Schultze, public radio statehouse reporter Karen Kassler, and the show's listeners.

We'll be talking about legislators who want to drug-test welfare recipients, new developments in Ohio's fracking industry, and the opening of the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland. We'll probably also talk about some frequent characters from this blog, including Ed FitzGerald, Jimmy Dimora and Dennis Kucinich.

Tune in to 90.3 FM at 9 a.m. tomorrow or listen live at wcpn.org. You're invited to call in and talk with us at (216) 578-0903 or (866) 578-0903 or e-mail us at news@wcpn.org.

Kucinich won't run in Washington State, prepares for activism after Congress

Dennis Kucinich has made it official -- he's not going to carpet-bag and run for Congress in Washington State.

Dennis's flirtation with Seattle always seemed like a feint, meant to stir up buzz among his West Coast donors and keep up his profile as a beloved figure on the national Left.  It's also a "what-if" he entertained because unconventional ideas intrigue him.

Now he's let us know he's not heading west.  He just sent out a message to supporters, preparing them for his attempt to become a national activist after his term in the House expires:

At this time, I can best serve from outside the Congress. My commitments to peace, to workers' rights and to social and economic justice are constant and are not dependent upon holding an office. They are dependent upon my continuing to stand up, to speak out, to organize... . This I promise I will do with great energy and heart.

... We shall meet again in our celebration of the potential of citizen activists to change the world.

... We will need to continue to work together for change outside Congress, as we have worked for it from within. This is just the beginning!

Kucinich loses to Kaptur and Republican gerrymander

In the end, nothing Dennis Kucinich could've done mattered.

Aggressive to the end, he fought back when Marcy Kaptur, his now-former friend, slammed him in radio and TV ads. At the City Club debate, he tagged his defense-friendly opponent as a tool of the war machine. He got Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Russell Simmons, Willie Nelson, and Gore Vidal to come out for him. He declared that the 9th district congressional race was a fight that would define the Democratic Party.

But Kucinich lost to Kaptur by such a wide margin -- 56 percent to 40 percent -- that it looks like the gerrymander was stacked against him from the start.

No one who looks at the creepy-looking lizard-shaped 9th district can deny it: Toledo and Cleveland were fused together unnaturally, just to throw Kucinich and Kaptur together into a cruel, friendship-destroying cage match.

Much will be made of the fact that Kaptur dominated the Toledo vote and snatched some of Cleveland's vote away. She got 94 percent of the vote in Lucas County, while the vote in Cuyahoga County came in at 73 percent Kucinich, 24 percent Kaptur.

Surely if Kucinich hadn't pressed his luck with his hometown voters by running for president twice and meeting with Syria's dictator, Kucinich could've run up the numbers in Cuyahoga County more. Had he stayed closer to home, he also wouldn't have lost a chance for Ed FitzGerald's endorsement -- check out his New York Times quote about how Kaptur's staff has been a better help to the county government than Kucinich's.

But that didn't matter either. Kaptur got 7,633 votes in Cuyahoga County. She won by 12,563 overall. I haven't seen whether Toledoans turned out more than Clevelanders, but we didn't give Kaptur her margin of victory.

Clevelanders who fixate on Kucinich's ego and flaws may try to attribute his defeat to them. Not true. He didn't defeat himself. She beat him because the map was on her side.

Now the question is, what's next for Dennis? Washington state is still theoretically an option. He's got nine more months to use his congressional soapbox to champion lonely causes and warn against war with Iran. And after that?

He'll certainly aim to remain a national figure. He's hinted at a new direction for his "movement" (meaning his national constituency). I've already placed my bet: executive director of a peace nonprofit, traveling activist, or, possibly, MSNBC talk show host. Like the rest of Cleveland, I'll be curious to see for sure.

You can read my 2007 profile of Kucinich, "The Missionary," here. Also check out Cleveland Magazine's 40 year archive of Kucinich coverage, "The Complete Kucinich."

Kaptur pulls away from Kucinich; Santorum, Romney close in popular vote

Marcy Kaptur is pulling away from Dennis Kucinich in the race for Congress. She now leads him by 9,000 votes in the Secretary of State's tally, after earlier results showed them very close. She spoke at her campaign party a few minutes ago, sounding very confident.

Kaptur is completely dominating in Toledo's Lucas County, with 95 percent of the vote. Kucinich is barely running ahead of Graham Veasey there. Cuyahoga County Democrats didn't line up the same way for Kucinich. He's got 74 percent of the vote here, Kucinich 24 percent.

Meanwhile, the Rick Santorum/Mitt Romney race in Ohio is very close, at least in the popular vote. CNN is going crazy about the tight results, with John King saying a Santorum victory here will have great "moral power." But this race is about to become a long slog for delegates, and Romney could easily win more of them here, since Santorum's less-organized campaign failed to file complete delegate slates in some Ohio congressional districts.

The case for Kaptur, the case for Kucinich

The race between Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur race has gotten more hostile than anyone expected. Last week at the City Club, Kucinich basically tarred his former friend as a tool of the war machine. Now Kaptur's out with a new radio ad linking Kucinich to Jimmy Dimora. As Dimora's bribery trial nears its end, Kaptur blasts Kucinich for praising him -- seven years before the FBI raided Dimora's home and office (which is totally unfair) and eight months after the raids (which is totally fair).

As the mud flies, it's easy to forget what's really at stake in Tuesday's primary election. Voters in the new 9th district have a choice between two liberal congresspeople with very different approaches to the job.

In the March issue of Cleveland Magazine, I make the case for Kaptur and the case for Kucinich. From a bridge over Toledo to a principled stand on Iran, I take a look at what they stand for and explain their styles, strategies, and priorities. I think my twin pieces answer the question: If you vote for this person, what kind of representative will you get?

To read "A House Divided," my Kucinich and Kaptur pieces, click here.

U.S. EPA forces Jackson to scale back trash-to-gas plant

The dueling press releases started flying yesterday afternoon. By evening, the news about Cleveland's proposed trash-to-gas plant became clear:

The U.S. EPA, tipped off by Dennis Kucinich, says Mayor Frank Jackson has to scale back his proposed gasification plant. It has about 20 more questions for the city and state to answer before the plant can get a federal permit.

The Jackson Administration knew the EPA's rejection was coming, and they already have a scaled-back plan. But the plant's critics, including Kucinich and city councilman Brian Cummins, still want to kill it.

That's my four-sentence summary of yesterday's events. If you, brave reader, want to dig deeper, here's Kucinich's press release with his interpretation of the letter, Jackson's press release about making the plant smaller so it'll pollute less, and Cummins' long list of problems the opponents still have with the plant.

Most important, here's the U.S. EPA letter (pdf) that laid down the law. Basically, it says the plant was going to be too big and could generate too many nitrogen oxides. Also, the feds are listening to the critics' environmental justice concerns, and they have a 3-page list of questions about the project.

Meanwhile, the Plain Dealer reports that the city's trying to cut loose Peter Tien, the controversial consultant who got the city interested in Japanese gasification plants and whom Scene made to look really bad in December.

Is this thing ever going to get built? Or will Jackson suffer a major setback in his efforts to reduce the city's reliance on coal plants and landfills, because too many Clevelanders think the trash-to-gas plant isn't environmentally friendly at all? Stay tuned.

Kucinich, Kaptur clash on defense spending, job creation at City Club debate

The peace candidate came out fighting. Dennis Kucinich, enraged at Marcy Kaptur’s new attack ad against him, opened yesterday’s City Club debate with five attacks of his own in a minute’s time.

“She’s taken hundreds of thousands of war contractors while voting half a trillion dollars to continue Bush’s wars,” Kucinich complained. “Her votes for the Iraq war cost my Cleveland district and her own Toledo district two billion dollars.”

Kucinch, pitted against Kaptur in the new 9th congressional district, also accused the Toledo congresswoman of taking campaign contributions from a company that locked out workers and from beneficiaries of congressional earmarks she obtained. But he seemed to want to sting her hardest for taking money from defense contractors.

Throughout yesterday’s debate, Kucinich worked to frame the March 6 Democratic primary race for Congress as a contest between peace and war.

He and Kaptur actually voted the same way on authorizing the war in Iraq (both against) and Afghanistan (both for it). Kucinich voted to end the wars by pulling their funding, while Kaptur voted to keep funding them and end them more gradually.

But the contrast between the Toledo and Cleveland representatives goes deeper. Kaptur sits on the House’s subcommittee for defense spending, and often arranges to bring a piece of federal defense programs to Ohio – something Kucinich’s principles would never allow him to do.

“The gentleman has never voted for a defense bill in his life,” Kaptur said at one point.

Moderator Henry Gomez asked Kaptur and Kucinich, “What is one recent bill you’ve championed, in effect today, that’s helping to create jobs in your district?” Kaptur chose the 2010 defense appropriation bill. She ticked off six ways it’s leading to work in northern Ohio, including solar energy and hydrogen research, a study of veteran’s mental health at Case Western Reserve University, and spending on strategic metals industries such as aluminum and beryllium.

Kucinich said he’d voted for the 2009 stimulus package, which included spending in greater Cleveland. Then he pivoted to talk about a bill of his that hasn’t passed and has one co-sponsor. It would “rebuild our roads, our bridges, our water systems, our sewer systems, our colleges and universities,” he said. “We can’t simply rely on the war machine to develop the jobs we need in the future. We need to start developing jobs and technologies for peace.”

The room belonged to Kucinich, the local favorite. His rousing answers inspired the most mid-debate cheers. Kaptur got only polite applause at the end. The third candidate, local entrepreneur Graham Veasey, who's running on a pledge to slash the national debt, had more supporters in the room than Kaptur did.

When Veasey called his opponents “Congressman Status And Congresswoman Quo” and promised to renew the national war on poverty, Kucinich picked up both themes.

“We have to see the connection between war and poverty,” Kucinich said, and promised to repeal the Bush tax cuts and free-trade laws. “I’m the guy who’s been taking on the status quo in Washington ever since I’ve been there.”

That finally got the mild-mannered Kaptur riled up.

“I can see you can take on the status quo,” she snapped, “but who actually makes a difference in bills that get passed?”

Which is how Kaptur wants to frame the March 6 vote: not as peace versus the war machine, but as talk versus results.

Kucinich, in his opening statement, spoke forcefully about his fights to “protect” or “save” jobs. It’s a litany Clevelanders know well: Kucinich’s efforts to keep hospitals open, intervene in the LTV steel bankruptcy, protect NASA Glenn’s funding, preserve DFAS defense payroll-processing jobs.

Kaptur’s opener, by contrast, focused on creating jobs. She said she’d secured federal research and development funding for local efforts in “solar, sensors, biomedicine, advanced energy [and] maritime interests.” She claimed the R&D has created 6,500 solar-energy jobs in the Toledo area and led to several new spinoff companies. Toledo’s port got $20 million in the stimulus bill for new cranes, and Lorain’s port got $4 million, she added; Cleveland’s port got zero. She touted her status as the second-ranking Democrat on the House appropriations committee.

“I think you have to look at the record,” she said, “and say, ‘Who is the job creator across the coast? Who has the committee positions to make a difference?’”

Kucinich, too, said he’s gotten results: a veteran’s clinic in Parma, a new bridge in Berea, a new Social Security office in Lakewood. He mentioned his role in obtaining $422 million from the federal Hardest Hit Fund for foreclosure prevention in Ohio and $29 million to help treat Gulf War veterans’ illnesses.

His closing argument noted several differences between him and Kaptur: she supported the Patriot Act and the Keystone pipeline (he doesn’t), and he supports gay marriage and the DREAM Act immigration reform (she doesn’t).

Kaptur blasted Kucinich for opposing the pipeline, talking about closing the Davis-Besse nuclear plant, and voting no on defense funding that supported local industrial jobs.

“The people of the 9th District have a serious question to ask themselves,” she concluded. “Who can deliver?”

Opposition to city trash-to-energy plant grows

Frank Jackson calls it part of his sustainability efforts. Opponents call it a polluter. They'll have it out over the new few months.

Cleveland's plan to build a waste-to-energy facility on the West Side looks like it'll lead to a serious battle, with both sides claiming they're defending the environment.

Protesters hit City Hall last night, trying to stop the plant. (See NewsChannel 5's coverage here.) Councilman Brian Cummins predicted it'll never be built.

The Jackson Administration wants to heat trash and turn it into energy using a technology popular in Japan called gasification. The mayor traveled to Japan last year to look into it. He touts it as part of the city's plan to reach a goal of "zero waste" by 2019. He argues it'd be better for the environment and the city's budget than the current practice of dumping trash in a landfill near Canton.

"If I don’t have to pay a $7 million dumping fee and all the fuel it costs to get a garbage truck to the dump and back, not only have I dealt with being environmentally friendly, because I’m not putting something in the environment, then I’m also saving millions of dollars," he told me last month.

Opponents refer to the plant as an incinerator. They think the new technology will pollute the air as conventional trash-burning incinerators do.

Dennis Kucinich came out against the plant this month (and three days later, claimed he was leading the opposition to it). Jonathon Sawyer of Greenhouse Tavern, touting his sustainable-restaurant credentials, just wrote a letter to Jackson opposing the plant. It's an interesting moment -- a Cleveland chef trying to leverage his growing celebrity into influence.

"The process will greatly increase the amount of soot, carbon monoxide, and mercury that our community ingests daily," Sawyer argues.

Jackson still has to convince a skeptical city council. I wouldn't be surprised if opposition lines up much as it did against Jackson's failed LED lighting plan.

Both ideas were originally promoted by businessman Peter Tien. Scene ran a good story last month that poked holes in Tien's plans and credentials. Now, after giving him a $1.5 million contract to design a gasification plant, the city is seeking informational bids from other plant designers instead.

Kucinich's future at stake on March 6; state approves new map, single primary

Here's what you need to know about yesterday's compromise on a single primary date, March 6, and a new redistricting map:

• Voters may end Dennis Kucinich's long political career in March. The new map adds a big chunk of Toledo to the ridiculous new lakeshore district linking Toledo and Cleveland. That gives Toledo congresswoman Marcy Kaptur an advantage in a primary against Kucinich.

Now comes the guessing game: what will Dennis' "new direction" be, now that he's faced with a map he opposed? Will he run against Marcia Fudge and Nina Turner? Will he revive the move-to-Seattle talk? My guess is he stays in the lakeshore district and fights -- and he may well lose. (Update, 12/30: He's running in the lakeshore district. And getting very chatty in e-mails to supporters, calling Kaptur his friend and saying he faces a difficult election.)

• The map didn't change much for Fudge, who's off to a fast start against Turner, picking up support from Democrats in Akron. Now Turner has less than three months to build a case against the incumbent. (Update, 12/30: Turner has decided not to run, citing the short time span.)

• Ohio may actually have a say in the Republican presidential nomination. The race is so wide-open, it may still be unresolved by March 6 -- a way more influential date than June 12.

• Cuyahoga County Democrats will pick a new prosecutor the same day as the Kucinich-Kaptur and Fudge-Turner races. Here's Mark Naymik's update on the prosecutor's race, and mine.

• Betty Sutton may have a decent chance to stay in Congress after all. Redistricting threw the Democrat into a November contest with Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci. The new district leans Republican, but Sutton just released a surprising poll that shows her and Renacci tied 45-45. The new map won't change her odds by much.

Update, 12/16: Kucinich sent a message to supporters this morning with no mention of the new map or the congressional race. Sounds like he's hedging his bets. "We have big initiatives we will be unveiling over the next few months -- a national campaign to revitalize our democracy, a new website and toolset to more effectively organize our movement and create change. ... I look forward to doing great things over the next year with this movement."

To read my profile of Kucinich, "The Missionary," click here. To see The Complete Kucinich, an archive of Cleveland Magazine's coverage of Kucinich's career, click here.

Kucinich & Forbes' redistricting moves, Election Day preview on WCPN's Roundtable

I just appeared on WCPN's Reporters' Roundtable, where we talked about two Cleveland personalities' reactions to the latest twists in Ohio's redistricting battle.

Republicans have drawn a new map, in a failed attempt to please black Democrats. Dennis Kucinich is trying to kill the map, which revises the peculiar lakeshore district he wants to run in to favor Marcy Kaptur -- it throws in much more of Toledo and subtracts a piece of Lorain County. George Forbes, who tried to broker a deal, can't believe the black caucus didn't go for the new map. But most other Democrats hate the new map and the old map. They're using the threat of a referendum as leverage to shut down the whole process and try to get something better.

Roundtable host Rick Jackson ad libbed a question about Issue 2, Tuesday's referendum on SB 5, which prompted the usual torrent of anti-SB5 calls. (No one in favor of SB5 ever calls in to WCPN.) Polls predict a big defeat for Issue 2.

We also talked a bit about local school levies and a few mayor's races, especially Lorain's and Euclid's.

Bill Cervenik, Euclid's mayor, is facing challenger Charlene Mancuso in a race that revives the conflict I've written about between the town's pro-Cervenik and anti-Cervenik factions. Cervenik has survived past battles over whether he was right to let a black church move into town and settle a voting-rights suit with the Justice Department.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Joe the Plumber vs. Dennis the Menace? Seriously?

I can see this coming from 100 miles away, streaking toward Cleveland on Route 2 like a drag race between a Ford pickup and a Prius. Everyone from Stephen Colbert to Fox News, from Politico to The Onion, will want a piece of this action. The most cartoon-colorful congressional race in the nation: Dennis "The Menace" Kucinich vs. Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher.

Seriously, it could happen. Joe the Plumber announced his run for Congress this week. Laugh if you want, but the conservative media darling's name recognition seems to have scared Rob Frost, the Cuyahoga County Republican chairman, out of the race.

Now we are faced with the unholy spawn of Republican gerrymandering, a Frankenstein-monster district that has unnaturally stitched Toledo's peculiar politics together with Cleveland's. One congressional race. Two candidates whom the national media doesn't take seriously and who inspire political satirists to new heights of YouTube-able ridiculousness.

Only two things can stop it.

Joe the Plumber isn't running to take Dennis down. He wants to unseat Marcy Kaptur, Toledo's longtime progressive congresswoman. But the impending Kaptur-Kucinich primary is tough to call. Lots of people think Kucinich has the edge. Brent Larkin is the only person I've seen who's explained why Kaptur has a good chance.

Also, Democrats in Columbus have shrewdly used referendum petitions as leverage to try to force a compromise on redistricting and a new map fairer to Democrats. Negotiations might dismantle that ruthlessly gerrymandered lakeshore district.

I'm not going to get into whether Wurzelbacher is actually a serious candidate. Hey, the guy had the good taste to announce his candidacy at Tony Packo's, which wins him points in my book.

My take on the Plumber phenomenon goes back to his first minute of fame. Why is it that he becomes a hero, a celebrity, a political character, just for asking a presidential candidate a tough question?

Joe Wurzelbacher's life changed the day Barack Obama campaigned at a picnic in his neighborhood. Like anyone would, Joe headed over to see what was going on. Like any good citizen who doesn't like a candidate's politics, he got a second with Obama and challenged him.

Though he's a working-class guy, Joe is the type of conservative who doesn't much like progressive taxation. He told Obama that his tax plan -- to raise rates on people making more than $250,000 a year -- would keep him from buying a business. So John McCain championed Joe in a debate, leaving Obama to make the point that most plumbers don't make $250K.

I see why McCain would make Joe a hero. Populist solidarity with the rich is key to the Republican electoral strategy, no matter how illogical liberals think that alliance is.

My question is, why is it so rare to see a voter challenge a presidential candidate? It should happen all the time. We should expect them to face questions in unstaged situations. But hand-shaking and conversation are old-fashioned in an age of security cordons, nine-figure campaign funds, and stage-managed "town hall meetings." Once the candidates get past Iowa, New Hampshire, and the other tiny early-primary states, facing voters one on one is a rare thing.

You can just imagine presidential candidates' strategists looking at Joe's fame and saying, "That's it. After February, none of this 'regular people at a picnic' crap."

They don't want to risk a gaffe, or any cable-ready unscripted moment. But now it's more than that: They don't want to accidentally spawn a congressional candidate.

To read my profile of Kucinich, "The Missionary," click here. To see The Complete Kucinich, an archive of Cleveland Magazine's coverage of Kucinich's career, click here.

(Photo: Rona Proudfoot of Lorain, Ohio)

Primary moves back to March 6; Kucinich-Kaptur, prosecutor races to heat up

UPDATED with Kevin Kelley campaign announcement.

Buried in the news that Ohio Republicans rushed their ruthlessly gerrymandered congressional map through the state House and Senate this week was another change: Ohio's 2012 primary will be on March 6 after all, not May.

So if Mitt Romney and Rick Perry battle to a near-tie this winter, Ohio Republicans may actually get a say in who their presidential candidate will be, as Democrats here did in the tight 2008 race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

It also means campaigning will start soon in two big local races. Dennis Kucinich will be fighting to stay in Congress, forced to compete against fellow progressive Marcy Kaptur from Toledo.

And the race to succeed Bill Mason as county prosecutor will get hot fast.

Cleveland city councilman Kevin Kelley announced today that he's running for the job. (No, he's not Parma's J. Kevin Kelley, of corruption scandal fame.) "Kelley’s plans for the office include expanding the community-based prosecution model, improving efficiencies to save taxpayer dollars, and focusing on quality of life crimes that destroy neighborhoods," his press release says.

I've already blogged that Subodh Chandra, Bob Triozzi, and James McDonnell are running. Recently, Mike McIntyre, in Tipoff, basically confirmed a rumor I've heard: that judge Timothy McGinty is thinking about running too.

Meanwhile, Brent Larkin swiped at Mason in his Sunday column, as if to urge voters to elect a less political prosecutor this time.

Kucinich sounds like he'll stay, run against Kaptur

Looks like the Dennis-to-Seattle buzz was a feint. Here's Dennis Kucinich's reaction to the Republicans' redistricting map:

It is an amazing turn of events that the legislature decided not to dismantle the district I represent.

I have been praying that I could continue to serve my Cleveland-area constituency and it looks like I have a chance.

That is all I could have hoped for.

That's not to say the Republicans have left Kucinich an intact district. He's been thrown into a stretched-on-the-rack monster as thin and ridiculous as the original gerrymander: a piece of Toledo and a piece of Cleveland strung together by a tiny strip of shoreline. I'd call it the Route 2 district, for the lake-hugging highway, except it's so thin that even Route 2 probably slips out of it for a piece. Take a look at it in this pdf.

But Kucinich sees something most people didn't today: the map keeps Kucinich's base together -- Cleveland's West Side and Lakewood.

The new map pits him against Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, an ally and fellow member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It's a cruel dare -- will two friends fight for the same unnaturally created congressional seat?

Will Cleveland have to get to know Kaptur, and Toledo Kucinich, in the primary this winter or spring?

The map sets off a lot more drama. Marcia Fudge's district stretches down I-77 to Akron, peeling away enough voters who know her well that state Sen. Nina Turner might have more of a chance if she challenges her. Steve Latourette gets a bigger slice of Cuyahoga County. Betty Sutton is either redistricted out of a job or into an uphill fight against Jim Renacci, who also may end up representing a piece of Cuyahoga County. Meanwhile, the Democrats and Republicans are fighting over whether the primaries will come in March or May.

But the best storyline is surely the latest twist in Kucinich's 40-plus-year relationship with Cleveland. It's not over yet.

To read my profile of Kucinich, "The Missionary," click here. To see The Complete Kucinich, an archive of Cleveland Magazine's coverage of Kucinich's career, click here.

Kucinich convinces House to vote on Libya

Dennis Kucinich might be a gadfly, an "outlier," a radical solo act in Congress, but you can't say he's ignored. Not after today, when the House is finally, belatedly, debating the war in Libya.

Right now, the House is debating Kucinich's bill that would force President Obama to end U.S. participation in the NATO air strikes in Libya in 15 days. It's also debating House Speaker John Boehner's hastily written alternative, which calls on Obama to justify the operation to Congress and prohibits introducing American ground troops. Votes are set on both bills today.

It's a major shift from a few weeks ago, when Congress looked ready to give up on the War Powers Act with barely a whimper. The controversial 1973 law says presidents have to stop military actions after 60 days if they don't get approval from Congress. No president has ignored the War Powers Act like Obama has with Libya. The 60 days came and went last month, with hardly anyone in Congress raising a fuss.

But Kucinich pushed ahead with his bill, which started attracting a surprising amount of support from Republicans ready to stand up for Congress' power to declare war. Take a look at this Washington Post story on the Libya bills, which calls Kucinich "one of Congress' perennial outliers," but says his bill attracted "much broader support than expected."

Boehner almost found himself outflanked. He had to pull Kucinich's bill off the House floor Wednesday out of fear it might pass. "Boehner argued that it would be politically dangerous to essentially turn over the floor to Kucinich," the Capitol newspaper Roll Call reported yesterday.

Kucinich responded with a letter yesterday arguing that his bill is the real way to defend the War Powers Act and Congress' war-making authority.

This may not actually affect the war much. That Washington Post story also says Obama shows no intention of changing his approach with Congress on Libya. But Kucinich at least helped Congress stiffen its spine and assert itself about presidents making war. He made himself a force in the Libya debate -- or rather, he forced Congress to even have a debate about the war.

Update, 2:05 p.m.: Kucinich's bill was voted down, 265-148. Boehner's bill passed, 268-145. Interestingly, more Republicans than Democrats supported Kucinich's bill. 3:05 p.m.: Here's the Post story on the two votes.

Kucinich confirms he may run in Washington -- or Maine

Leave it to Dennis Kucinich to try something so eccentric, so nearly unprecedented, so ballsy and egotistical that you can't decide whether to admire the little guy or rage at him.

He's just sent out an e-mail confirming that he may move to another state to run for Congress.

Dropping hints about what he'll do if Ohio Republicans carve up his district, he not only name-drops Washington State, he ups the ante by adding Maine -- if only to give the idea coast-to-coast sweep.

It's not terribly different from what his spokesman said last week, but for him to announce he's bouncing the idea around is still a big deal.

Last week I said I didn't buy the idea that Dennis would embark on a nationwide hunt for a new district. I said he might be stoking the rumor for the sake of raising money and making himself more of a national figure. Sure enough, he drops the big tease in a fundraising letter. He's even opened a new e-mail address, options@kucinich.us, so his nationwide supporters can plead with him to run in their town.

I guess it's also possible that this is Kucinich's version of Sherrod Brown's feint ten years ago. Brown threatened to run against Bob Taft for governor if Republicans carved up his congressional seat. The threat worked; Taft gave the order to leave Sherrod alone.

I'm not sure it'd work as well for Dennis. Even if Republicans in Olympia or Kennebunkport beseech their Columbus brethren to spare them the pain of dealing with Dennis, John Kasich and Co. might zero Dennis out anyway, just to get him out of town.

I'll still believe Kucinich is running outside Ohio when I see it. And I think he's playing a high-stakes game here. If he stays and runs for reelection in Cleveland, Rob Frost or whoever else campaign against him will surely use this flirtation as a stinging one-liner to paint him as spacey, arrogant, out of touch. "Dennis doesn't care about you! He's run for president -- twice -- and when things got tough, he talked about running away to Seattle!" But you've got to give the guy credit for knowing how to surprise and provoke friends and enemies alike.

Here's the text of his new e-mail. Bolds are mine.

My Next Move?

You may have heard some rumors over the past week, so I wanted to set the record straight with you: While I'm committed to representing the 10th District of Ohio, I will not rule out a run elsewhere should my district be eliminated or radically altered through redistricting.

From Afghanistan to workers rights, Libya to climate change, there's simply too much at stake for our voice to be eliminated. We cannot let a group of downstate politicians silence me and our movement - they would like nothing more than to stop hearing our calls for peace over violence and the people's interests over corporate handouts.

So, no, we're not going to quietly fade away, and let the corporate interests and status quo have its way. Instead, we're gearing up for a long and difficult campaign in 2012 - wherever that may be. I know it's worth it, and I know we can prevail. But I'll need your help. Can you donate $25, $50, or $100 dollars today?

I've been approached by supporters across the country - from Washington to Maine - to explore options outside Ohio should redistricting force me out of my current district. It has been truly humbling to see the support that has been expressed for me to continue my work in Congress. Right now, my efforts and focus remain on representing my constituents in the 10th District and fighting for peace and justice, but as we plan for our movement's future, I will consider all of these ideas to keep our voice in Congress.

And I say the same to you right now. Do you have a comment or idea I should consider? Is there a option you would like me to explore? If so, let me know by clicking here: options@kucinich.us

Thanks for being with me.

With respect,
Dennis Kucinich

To read "The Missionary," my profile of Kucinich, click here.

Kucinich to Seattle? Not so fast

It started Monday with a blog post from Seattle's alt-weekly, The Stranger. "Weird Rumor of the Day," read the headline. Now it's on the Plain Dealer's front page. Could Dennis Kucinich really move to Washington State to run for Congress?

Here's Eli Sanders' post on Slog, thestranger.com's blog:

I'm posting this rumor mainly because it comes from someone with a long track-record in, and deep knowledge of, Washington State politics.

This person notes the recent time Dennis Kucinich has been spending in Washington State, notes that Kucinich has likely been redistricted out of a job in Ohio, and reminds that this state has a brand new district opening up in 2012.

The rumor is that Kucinich may be lining up a run for WA-10. It's a crazy rumor. But, my source adds: "He's just crazy enough to do it."

D.C. bloggers jumped on the rumor. Kucinich's spokesman, Nathan White, fanned the flames. Here's the answer White e-mailed to the Plain Dealer, Talking Points Memo, The Stranger, and anyone else who asked:

After people found out that Congressman Kucinich's district could be eliminated ... [he] received requests from people in twenty states, including Washington State, encouraging him to move and run in their area.

Congressman Kucinich appreciates the interest expressed in his public service. As he has repeatedly said, he fully intends to remain in Congress; he just doesn't know in what district he will run. In the meantime, he is devoted to serving Ohio's 10th district as it currently stands.

Sanders even catches White possibly dropping a hint by hyperlinking the words "in what district he will run" to this article about Dennis' recent appearance on Bainbridge Island, Wash.

Sounds like he's interested, huh? And at first glance it seems plausible.

Sure, district-shopping three time zones away would be a kooky, ballsy move, even more carpetbagger-y than Hillary Clinton or Robert F. Kennedy moving to New York to get into the Senate. But Dennis has had one foot in Washington State and California for nine years now, heading west to raise money from left-coast lefties so he can "run for president" and win re-election with ever-thinning margins at home.

And because Washington state's deadlines fall much later than Ohio's, the PD calculates, he could even take two shots at Congress next year: Ohio's Democratic primary in March, then, if he lost, Washington's in August.

But let's take a closer look at one more thing White told Talking Points Memo.

White pointed to Kucinich's quotes in a recent Daily Show interview in which he and comedian John Oliver discussed the possibility of him leaving the state to run elsewhere in a parody of LeBron James' "Decision" special.

Um, yeah. So is this a joke?

It's not like Seattle, Olympia, and Co. have a shortage of ambitious homegrown liberals. They don't need to import a Clevelander whose anti-free-trade voting record plays way better in the Rust Belt than the tech-savvy home of Microsoft (as this blogger points out).

Maybe Kucinich and his spokesman see the value of flirting with the rumor. It helps Kucinich look like a national figure and could stoke excitement and donations in Puget Sound zip codes.

So, at the risk of biasing Cleveland Magazine's weekly poll, I'm voting no. I say he's not going to run in Washington. Once the Republicans eliminate his district, I think he'll run in the Democratic primary against either Betty Sutton or maybe Marcia Fudge.

The really interesting question is, what does Dennis do if he loses?

The usual ex-congressman move, becoming a K Street lobbyist, is so not him. Neither is following his brother Gary's journey from politician to car salesman. Lots of Cleveland liberals want to buy a reliable compact car from someone they trust, but it's safe to say that's not the life Elizabeth imagines for herself and Dennis.

I've been wondering about Kucinich's backup plan ever since he fixed up and moved into a house he bought a couple of years ago -- not in Washington State, but in Washington, D.C. It's not the typical move of a congressman threatened by redistricting. It's the move of a guy who thinks he's got a permanent place in American politics, whether he holds onto a seat in Congress or not.

What will Dennis do if he's an ex-congressman in 2013? I say part-time traveling activist, part-time chairman of a peacenik nonprofit, part-time MSNBC commentator. You heard it here first.

To read "The Missionary," my profile of Kucinich, click here.