SENTIENT TIMES August/September 2003

Dennis Kucinich’s Grassroots Presidential Campaign Builds Momentum

The financial figures for the Kucinich campaign during the April-June quarter showed the biggest percentage jump in fundraising of any presidential campaign, climbing to more than $1.5 million. “Our goal was to raise a million dollars in our first full quarter,” said Congressman Kucinich. “We far exceeded our expectations. A grassroots campaign like ours, with thousands of volunteers, doesn’t need to match the other campaigns in fundraising, we will invest our cash on hand in expanded field operations. We are showing that a campaign based on a progressive issues agenda can resonate with voters and gain momentum—despite those in the media who want to write us out of the race.”
Leading peace and justice activists also continue to add their support and influence for Dennis Kucinich’s insurgent campaign. Granny D, the unstoppable social change activist, who in 1999 marched for political reform from California to Washington D.C., said in her statement of support:

“I am proud to endorse Dennis Kucinich for President. When I walked 3,200 miles across the United States and inquired of people why they were not voting, they said: ‘Find us someone who understands us, who cares about us.’ I’m talking about people living in trailers; people living in small towns with boarded-up windows on Main Street; people coming out of farmhouses in Iowa, squeezed out of their livelihood by stinking agri-hog farms; people living in cities who have been out of work for over a year; people whose well-paid jobs have been shipped overseas. I promised to look for someone who would understand them, that had a vision of the future for them, that believed in Peace, Love, Justice. Well, here he is: Dennis Kucinich. I believe he is the candidate who can bring new voters and disgruntled voters into the political process. To those people I met on my walk across America: ‘Now keep your promise to me and come out and vote for him!’”

Tom Hayden, another renowned activist, endorses Kucinich, who he refers to as “the candidate with the best stands and the best history.” A civil rights activist, author, and leader of the anti-Vietnam War movement Hayden, was an effective California State Assemblyman and Senator for 7-terms. He is a leading figure and writer in today’s peace movement and the movement for global justice and against sweatshops.

Arun Gandhi heads the M.K. Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence in Tennessee, where he carries on the work of his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi. Arun is a US citizen who is endorsing as an individual, not as a representative of any group. He issued this statement: “I am happy to support Dennis Kucinich because I believe he is our only hope. Never before has it been so important that the nation rally around one candidate as today. This nation has been hijacked by right-wing politicians who are leading us on to certain disaster. Dennis Kucinich, with his progressive policies and love of peace, is the only candidate who can bring us back from the brink.”

Willie Nelson, one of the most beloved figures in popular music and culture has also endorsed the populist presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich: “I am endorsing Dennis Kucinich for President because he stands up for heartland Americans who are too often overlooked and unheard. He has done that his whole political career. Big corporations are well-represented in Washington, but Dennis Kucinich is a rare Congressman of conscience and bravery who fights for the unrep-resented, much like the late Senator Paul Wellstone. Dennis champions individual privacy, safe food laws and family farmers. A Kucinich Admini-stration will put the interests of America’s family farmers, consumers and environment above the greed of industrial agribusiness. I normally do not get too heavily involved in politics, but this is more about getting involved with America than with politics. I encourage people to learn more about Dennis Kucinich at www.kucinich.us and I will be doing all I can to raise his profile with voters. I plan to do concerts to benefit the campaign.”

Consumer activist Ralph Nader said “If Dennis Kucinich gets the nomination, it’ll be less reason to have a third-party challenge. He’s a very progressive Demo-crat. Unlike some of his rivals, Kucinich says publicly what he believes privately … At this point, I am urging Democrats to vote for him in the primary.”
Jan Corderman, president of Iowa’s influential AFSCME union, with 13,000-members union the state’s second largest, said “Our folks are impressed with his position on issues. He’s definitely a man of the people. But he’s also one that people need to hear more about.”

David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World, calls Dennis “one of the most dedicated, honest, and visionary leaders ever to come onto the U.S. political scene.”

When Dennis Kucinich calls for more spending on healthcare, education and environmental cleanup to be paid by cutting the bloated military budget, he is often outnumbered on the campaign trail. (Howard Dean has challenged Kucinich on that stand.) He is also typically out-numbered in Congress, as an Associated Press report stated “Though the defense bill accounts for about one-sixth of federal spending, it has generated little debate. After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, law-makers have been reluctant to deny the Pentagon the equipment it says it needs to defend the country. But Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, an anti-war Democratic presidential candidate, said the bill does little to make America safer. ‘The only thing this Congress will take care of today are the profit-gouging defense contractors,’ he said.”

Congressman Kucinich has called on the House Floor for cutting wasteful military spending to fund domestic programs. In debate last July on the $368 billion Defense Appropriations Bill he continued to critique Pentagon waste and our misplaced priorities: “We will pass this bill today, the Ready to Teach Act, and in doing so, we all agree that the country needs the federal government to spend $300 million on teacher preparation and retention. But in fact, we won’t spend that much. The President has asked that we spend only $90 million, or 30 percent of what we today all agree is necessary … we passed a Defense spending bill that spends $8.9 billion on the National Missile Defense system that doesn’t work, and today we will pass an education bill that, if fully funded, would work. We could re-allocate the $8.9 billion for missile defense and put it into education. We’d have money to hire and train thousands more qualified teachers. We’d have money to buy 9 million new computers for our children and schools. We’d have the money to fully fund and expand the Head Start program, IDEA, and The No Child Left Behind Act. National Missile Defense doesn’t work. Teachers do. They work for our children, they work for America, and they work for our future.”

Dennis Kucinich continues his antiwar leadership in Congress by speaking out against White House deception that led to war, and demanding public hearings: “There is no question that the President’s statements—we now know were false and misleading—influenced the debate in this House and the decision to go to war. It is imperative we have open, public hearings to wash this stain from our national reputation.”

In 1977 Dennis Kucinich was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio on a promise that he would not sell off or privatize the beloved and trusted city-owned power system, though Cleveland was deeply in debt. Cleveland Magazine explained: “Kucinich refused to yield to bankers who gave him a choice: Sell the Municipal Light System to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. or the city will go into default. The mayor said no.”

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

By holding to his campaign promise and putting principle above politics, he lost his re-election bid and his political career was derailed. But today Kucinich stands vindicated for having confronted the Enron of his day, and for saving the municipal power company. He also preserved hundreds of union jobs.

Dennis Kucinich speaks truth to power. And the word is getting out about what Dennis is doing on the campaign trail and in Washington.

Dare to dream. Kucinich can win this nomination. With so many candidates in the race, everyone is a long shot. To find out more about Dennis Kucinich please visit www.kucinich.us.

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Feminists For Kucinich

Eight diverse feminist writers and organizers have initiated a statement in support of Dennis Kucinich, which will be widely circulated to attract new supporters. The original signers include Barbara Ehrenreich, political essayist and author of Nickel and Dimed, Angela Gilliam, professor and expert on Black feminist anthropology; Ynestra King, writer and activist on environmental, feminist, and disability issues; Gail Lerner, organizer in the global women’s movement and with U.N. agencies; Grace Paley, peace activist and author of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute; Rosalind Petchesky, international feminist activist and political science professor; Digna Sanchez, Latina community activist in New York; Meredith Tax, novelist, essayist and international organizer of feminist writers. Here is a summary of the statement:

“Rather than waiting to hear what all the Democratic candidates have to say, then jumping on the bandwagon of the least offensive, we decided to make our own list of priorities and see who agrees with us.

1) We want a candidate who will stop the war on the poor.

2) We want a candidate who stands for peace, respects international treaties and institutions such as the U.N. and the International Criminal Court, and tries to resolve problems through negotiation.

3) We want a candidate who will defend the separation of church and state, and the individual rights guaranteed us by the Constitution.

4) We want a candidate who opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and who stands for women’s reproductive rights and recognizes that these rights depend on universal health insurance.

5) We want a candidate who will add-ress questions of global economic imbalance and stand up for the rights of immigrants.

6) We want a candidate who will challenge racism domestically and inter-nationally.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate who not only agrees with all these points but has developed policies to support them: starting a cabinet-level Department of Peace; supporting unions and the right to organize; cutting the bloated military budget; restoring environmental regu-lations and launching a “Global Green Deal” to benefit developing countries; withdrawing from NAFTA and the WTO and challenging IMF/World Bank policies; repealing the “Patriot Act”; upholding Roe v. Wade; working for universal health insurance; and abolishing the racially and economically biased death penalty.

Because we feel that he comes closest to representing our priorities, we have decided to support Dennis Kucinich for President.”

For the full statement, and to sign on, visit http://www.ipetitions.com/cam paigns/feminists_4_kucinich.

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