If Chicago is bad off, who isn't?

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by edsg25

you never had a chance here, tribe. the fact that your city once had the ultimate mayor who should not only be a presidential candidate but be the winner in the form of a (very, very,non-corrupt) Dennis Kucinich is enough to put hatred for you deep into chet's (virtually unlocatable and miniscule) heart, our friend chet being somewhere to the right of Atillia the Hun, politically speaking, but without the horse. or the charming personality.

Whoa there, edsg25. I've stayed out of this discussion so far, but I have to say that I just can't share your love of Dennis Kucinich.

I lived in Cleveland when Kucinich was mayor, and believe me, it wasn't pretty. I even had a summer job working in the Press Department of his office (I was 17 at the time), and my aunt told me, "You know, you're working for the Devil!"

During that summer that I worked there, people were so mad at Kucinich that there was a special recall election to try and boot him out of office mid-term. He managed to remain in office by only 300 votes. Later that year, on his watch, Cleveland became the first city to default on its debt since the Great Depression.

Kucinich had a reputation for being very abrasive and confrontational. He lured a new police chief to town from San Francisco, touting him as the greatest thing since sliced bread, only to turn around and fire the man three months later. He liked to spout that he was "the People's mayor" and a lot of anti-business rhetoric... he blamed "Big Business" for all the city's woes and alienated the business community, never stopping to consider the fact that it was that very same "Big Business" that provided the jobs that allowed Clevelanders to thrive.

He only served one mayoral term, after which Clevelanders elected a Republican mayor (George Voinovich). Voinovich set about to mending fences with the city's business community, after which the downtown area, at least, started on the upswing again, with new construction projects, new office towers, etc. In the early 1980s, downtown Cleveland experienced a building boom the likes of which it hadn't seen in over 20 years.

Meanwhile, Kucinich disappeared from the limelight for awhile, but resurfaced some time later as representative in one of Greater Cleveland's Congressional districts. I've never gotten just what he accomplished in Congress, nor why his constituents keep voting him in time and time again.

[linicx]

I think we've had enough fun and insults to last for a few minutes. anyway.