Cool Cleveland exclusive interview with Presidential candidate Representative Dennis Kucinich
Interview conducted 5/4/04 by Thomas Mulready
What have you heard from your home district in Cleveland? Are they supportive of your campaign, or do they miss you?
Well, you know I got 86% in the primaries, so they have indicated their support for my years of work in the community. People voted for me to say they wanted me to be in Congress, and some said they wanted me to be President. And I got some delegates, not only in my district, but also in the 11th District next door. And I’ll tell you why my support is holding in Cleveland. The very things I’m talking about in Cleveland: peace, health care, jobs, changing NAFTA, the Patriot Act, tuition-free education at all public universities, many of those issues I’ve been talking about for the past four decades in the city of Cleveland. So my campaign for the Presidency is a direct outgrowth of my work in Cleveland, and it reaffirms that people all over this country feel that those things are important. And I’ll give you an example, I’ve picked up delegates in Maine, North Carolina, North Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, Washington state, Alaska, Hawaii, just to name a few. From one end of the country to the other, the things I talk about are what people are concerned about. And it means that Cleveland is one of the centers of political thought and public policy in America. People know what direction America should be going in. There is a wisdom in Cleveland, in the neighborhoods. That’s what I’ve carried with me in the national campaign. It’s been an advantage to me. It’s the fact that I come from Cleveland that enables me to be in the race and still gather delegates from one end of the country to the other.
It seems the effort to install a Mayoral portrait of you is moving forward. Do you know who the artist might be, and when do you think you might be sitting for the portrait?
I just want to say how grateful I am for that. I didn’t seek it, I was actually discouraging it. But they went forward ‘cause that’s the Cleveland way. I guess there’ll be a decision on the artist soon. The only difficult part is that I’ve never sat down for more than a half hour, anywhere, any time.
You’ve been on the road with this campaign longer then anyone but John Kerry. How do you keep going? When I work hard, I have to quit caffeine and adjust my diet and exercise schedule? Have you made any adjustments to keep your energy up?
My energy comes from... I try to stay with my diet. I don’t eat animal products. I eat a lot of grain-based and carbos. My spirit keeps me going. When people meet me, I say there’s a lot more people like me back in Cleveland. People know how to stay in there everyday. That’s the spirit of Cleveland that’s inside of me. To keep pushing and to make something happen. Not quitting, just moving forward everyday. There’s a community spirit that just keeps moving ahead. That’s where I come from. If there’s out of work they keep going, if they’re in poor health, they keep going, if the factory is closed down, they keep going. Think of how many communities lost hospitals and steel mills, and we rallied around and kept going. How many communities lost control of their electric system, and we retained it. Look at our football team. We lost it and we fought to get it back. Cleveland is an unusual city. It’s a magical city. They have demonstrated the capacity to turn things around when other cities can’t.
Even in Oregon, where your message is resonating, the Center City Weekly Press, which compared you favorably to poet and artist William Blake, is saying that you are unelectable because you are not “average.” What do you think they are saying?
Well, I think I’ll take the compliment in the spirit in which it was intended.
What about your not being average?
They’re probably talking about my height.
What is your height?
I’m about 5’6” or 5’7” When I elected Mayor I was 5’1, but they put me on a rack. If I’d have been reelected, I’d have walked out of that office about 6’6”. It’s like mMyor Campbell, she’s going to be very tall person…
You’ve been on Fox TV a lot, and when I’ve seen their interviews with you, they seem to ridicule your positions on the issues, although you have seemingly developed a very thick skin and a straight face. Do you see this rhetoric useful, or does it just undermine your ability to gain respect?
You’ve got to understand, Fox TV is really underrated for their ability and willingness to open up to alternative messages.
Are you being serious?
People think Fox TV is only open to one point of view. But they are not afraid to have a debate. Alan Colmes has a radio show in NYC with FOX Radio. How would that happened?
What about undermining your ability to gain respect?
Look I appreciate every chance I get to be on Fox TV. I’m grateful to them.
Support for the Patriot Act is still surprisingly strong in recent polls, although politicians on both sides of the aisle are resisting the extension of it’s provisions. What do you think are the most harmful aspects of the USA Patriot Act, and what would you propose in it’s place?
That’s because people think if they support it, it makes them patriots. Ben Franklin said if you give up your liberty to gain your security, you deserve neither. Think about this, what business is it of government what books you’re taking out of the library? There are fear merchants in Washington, trying to get people to vote the way they want. Just like Nineteen-Eighty-Four.
What would you propose in it’s place?
What I would propose is to let local law enforcement to do their job. We don’t do that. We have all these people falling all over themselves and they don’t know half of what the cop on the beat knows. Give me a local cop anytime. They know the ports and the river. 171,000 people in one government department!
I heard the Department of Homeland Security was the largest government department in the history of mankind?
I think the pyramids had more people. This is a workforce without a pyramid as a product. At least with a public works project, you can fill a hole in the ground. Here, they’re chopping a hole in the Constitution.
Look, we’re sending 138,000 troops to defend liberty, then we take away liberties at home. What is that about? Look, we have a right to be secure in a society. That’s one of government’s responsibilities. They only way we’re going to be secure is by cooperating with the international community and track down terrorists and bring them to justice. I propose we have to build a structure of international law and have everyone involved in enforcing it. All of these municipal budgets are being cut. How can we defend ourselves, when federal budgets are being cut, and state budgets are being cut.
What would you propose?
I’d do it differently for sure. That’s where my local government experience counts. I think we should have more people to do local law enforcement. We need more people. We don’t need a Federal police force. We don’t need troops in our cities. We need to make sure local law enforcement can do its job. Any policeman will tell you when the Federal government encroaches on local law enforcement responsibilities, it never works out. Ask anyone. No one knows a community better than the local law enforcement. Forget Homeland Security, I’m for Hometown Security. Make sure they have the resources. They’ll take care of business. If there is something different going on in the neighborhood, they’ll know. ?
How many delegates do you think you will have when you arrive at the Democratic Convention?
As many as I can get.
How many do you have now?
Rough? I’ve got a few dozen.
How do you envision the Democratic Party platform development process taking your positions into account? How exactly would that work?
It’s taking place right now. On getting out of Iraq, and health care for all, getting out of NAFTA & WTO & the Patriot Act. The process is that Democratic leaders start to notice that people are paying attention. I’m going to have a presence at the convention, and we’ll go into platform meetings. For example, I don’t know how the Democrats think we’ll win the election by offering a Democratic version of corporate health care. Or a Democratic version of the war in Iraq. We have to offer a different version of these policies. Then the power of Ralph Nader’s candidacy starts to dissipate. I don’t say anything bad about Republicans. We’ve got to give them real choices. (:divend:)