Posts Tagged Dennis Kucinich
Cleveland Mayor Jackson Flubs National Interview Opportunity on NPR
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Economic Development, Media, Politicians on June 10, 2010
June 10, 2010… Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson did a somewhat strange interview with National Public Radio host Scott Simon, no stranger to Cleveland.
Jackson had an opportunity to sell the city in a piece entitled “How Cleveland Could Rise Again.” However, his sights seemed to be set on the rebuke he received recently by City Council on a non-bid deal that didn’t pass the muster.
Simon, as a reporter out of Chicago during the late 1970s, made a number of trips here to cover the hectic administration of Mayor Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich attracted so many out-of-town reporters that he likely filled more hotel rooms than the city’s sports teams. But that’s another story.
Suffice to say that Simon is a lover of cities and often of Cleveland in particular.
Simon, long the host of Weekend Edition Saturday on NPR, asked Jackson “…what kind of short urgent speech he gives to convince businesses to come to Cleveland.” Sounded like a good softball opener for the mayor.
Jackson replied, “That’s a salesman and a politician. I don’t do those kinds of things. I need to get into some details. I’ll try to coral them, you know, and monopolize some time. But it’s basically things are in flux. Things are in constant transition, and the old way of doing things will dig us deeper in a hole. We have to do things differently.”
The subject matter pretty much centered on the Mayor’s thrust to attract new businesses here. At the center was his flawed attempt to get Council to agree to a no-bid, long-term contract for new technology lighting fixtures with a Chinese company called Sunpu-Opto. The company was to open shop here as part of the agreement.
The deal, as I’ve said before, stinks. It still stinks.
In the interview, disjointed by Jackson’s responses, the mayor said of the Sunpu-Opto deal that “… we didn’t have a template as to how to proceed. And so it was a little loose and sloppy in some areas.”
But he still doesn’t seem to get it – that this deal isn’t fixable. He still seems to think that Sunpu-Opto should get the contract, maybe in a different make-up.
And he seems to blame those who called him on the deal, which he himself describes as poorly done. Not encouraging.
Mayor Jackson says, “But the greatest advocates of change are the greatest defenders of the status quo. As we say on the street. Everybody talk a good game but nobody going to bust a grape.”
You can’t blame those who find serious fault in something even you cite as defective. And label that an inability to desire change. It doesn’t make sense.
He goes on to say “… the greatest advocates of change… are also the greatest defenders of the status quo.”
He wants it the way he wants it. Not the way it is.
No, Mr. Mayor. Those who are opposing this deal aren’t demanding the status quo. They’re demanding that you prove the city can benefit from what you want to do. You haven’t been able to do that.
But you stubbornly stick to the same sloppy deal maybe with a new twist or two. It won’t work. Or should I say, it shouldn’t work.
The interview is available here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127257166
C’mon Dennis, Don’t Be Another George Voinovich
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Politicians on March 8, 2010
March 8, 2010… Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is being singled out to change his vote on President Barack Obama’s health reform measure. President Obama himself pitched to Kucinich, telling him a form of single-payer option – Kucinich’s desire – is in the reform bill.
Kucinich was a no vote on the measure that passed the House. He has been pressing for an ideal single-payer measure.
Kucinich has the reputation of being a politician with strong beliefs. He has also been a rather selfish politician who thinks of his standing when making his decisions.
His intransigence not only endangers health reform – weakened as it is – but damages the Obama administration and possibly Democrats in general for the coming election.
The delayed health reform battle has set back President Obama’s ability to deal with the jobs and other issues. Republicans have denied Obama a single vote in the U. S. Senate in an attempt to fatally damage his presidency.
Rep. Bernie Sanders told the Huffington Post that he had talked to Kucinich, albeit “a while back,” about his provision that gives states the ability to provide a single-payer option using federal funds to do so.
The article said that President Obama directly addressed Kucinich’s concern about lack of a single-payer aspect, telling him a form was in the bill and that the Congressman “wrote it down.”
Dennis and a few other Democrats – mostly more conservative ones – are holding up health insurance for some 40 million people and many others facing a jobless future without health insurance.
Democrats want to pass a revised health bill under circumstances that allow the U. S. Senate, which has already passed a bill (as has the House) to dodge a Republican filibuster. A revised Senate bill from the House would require only 50 Senate votes. Democrats believe they can produce 50 votes.
C’mon Dennis, let’s not be your usual selfish self and think about the general good.
The full Huffington article can be accessed here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/kucinich-becomes-target-o_n_490280.html