By Roldo Bartimole
It’s time to applaud Senator George Voinovich. Clap with only one hand, though.
That’s because as soon as we celebrate him for opposing casino gambling in Cleveland and Ohio, we can slap him hard for voting for the bankruptcy law, which will damage many Clevelanders and Ohioans.
“If this raises its head, we’re going to go out there and chop it off,” said Voinovich, about proposals for casino gambling.
He should have said that about the bankruptcy bill. It’s a payoff for banks and credit card companies and slams ordinary people who get in financial trouble. The facts show that health problems, divorce and job losses are principal causes for most cases of bankruptcy, not people trying to cheat the friendly credit card companies.
The beneficiaries of the bankruptcy bill – credit card companies and banks – do their stickups with the assistance people like Voinovich.
Voinovich takes pains to portray himself as a good Catholic, as a family man and above the cut of usual politicians. It’s a sham. Even his opposition to casinos could be self-serving. Does he really care about gambling’s effect or could he be protecting bingo for his bishop?
Here’s Washington Post political writer David Broder on the bankruptcy “reform” – voted favorably by Voinovich and fellow Republican Senator Mike DeWine: “When it comes to blatant hypocrisy, nothing beats the Senate record on the just passed bankruptcy bill."
“This ‘reform,’ which parades as an effort to stop folks from spending lavishly and then stiffing creditors by filing for bankruptcy protection, is a perfect illustration of how the political money system tilts the law against average Americans."
“The simple fact that for eight straight years it has gained a place on a crowded congressional calendar is testimony to the impact of the millions of dollars that banks and credit card companies have spent on lobbyists and campaign contributions.”
Voinovich has been at the head of the line.
The State of Ohio placed among states with the highest category of bankruptcies per household, according to the Wall Street Journal. It’s no wonder. Ohio is a state riddled with job loss and unemployment, thus bankruptcies. The state placed in the same class as bankrupt households in southern states such as Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
In fact, Cleveland and Ohio have fallen upon desperate times. If you understand these events don’t happen overnight, another thought might cross your mind. Voinovich, who has been Mayor of Cleveland, Governor of Ohio, and its Senator, has been at the scene of the crime when it took place.
The bankruptcy law requires those seeking protection, despite a desperate situation, pay for five years on the debt that put them into insolvency. Of course, they have already lost all of their assets.
Voinovich has spent a long political career paying little attention to the needs of working and low-income people. As Governor, he cut off general assistance to poor single people. Gov. Voinovich enacted a more stringent curb on welfare than he needed to under federal law. Voinovich insisted that Ohioans could have three years on welfare. Federal law allowed as many as five years. These are lifetime limits.
That hurt the lowest economic level of Ohioans and cost Cleveland and Cuyahoga County tens of millions of dollars of payments that could have been spent here, multiplying with each dollar spent.
Gambling, said Voinovich in a letter to Mayor Jane Campbell, destroys families, boosts crime and drains dollars that could be spent on cars, appliances and other items. No argument.
The money taken by credit card companies and banks under the new bankruptcy law can destroy families too. It would drain dollars used to buy necessities, clothing and food, too.
Voinovich rates high in hypocrisy.
But let’s not stop there.
Do you think you can name the largest donor to Voinovich’s campaign treasury in the period 1997 through 2002?
Of course you can - MBNA, the credit card company and a chief beneficiary of Voinovich’s vote.
MBNA was a principle proponent of the bankruptcy bill. MBNA’s top corporate owners are members of the Lerner family in Cleveland; they are recipients of much largess from the city of Cleveland. The city built the Lerners a $350 million stadium, which rents at less than Art Modell paid fifteen years ago.
MBNA gave Voinovich the most money of any corporate source in the period of 1997-2002: $92,500.
MBNA gave another $29,250 in the 2004 period with KeyBank, $35,905 and National City, $59,750 for 2004.
Other financial companies contributed to Voinovich before the 2004 campaign: National City Corp., $33,750; Huntington Bancshares, $31,801; Key Corp, $29,650.
DeWine in recent years got $52,800 from MBNA; $25,750 from Fifth Third Bank, $24,375 from National City; $19,500 from KeyBank and another $16,950 from Key subsidiary, McDonald’s Investments.)
In fact, commercial banks gave Voinovich in total $227,850 and financial and credit corporations, $99,500 in the 1997-2002 period.
I didn’t notice any of this accounting in The Plain Dealer article on votes by Voinovich and DeWine. The PD has protected Voinovich for near 40 years. Why stop now. It takes less than five minutes to gather the above financial information on the web site, “Open Secrets” http://www.opensecrets.org
This is becoming more and more a vengeful society. We pay the price for it in ways that don’t connect easily. A couple of weeks ago Dick Feagler wrote a column of our problems and concluded sadly that we cannot change the people who act irresponsibly.
“We can’t fix the schools until we fix the people. And we can’t fix the people. So let’s say so. Let’s stop kidding ourselves,” Feagler concluded.
That’s not a good assumption. It’s not the people to be changed. That is a one-by-one impossible solution. The society has to change. That doesn’t mean only people who give us problems but the rest of us, too, and then the people will too change behavior.
A mean, money-grubbing society produces mean people. And we get meaner almost by the minute.
The Campaign
Will The Plain Dealer force the mayoral campaign into a tit-for-tat catfight for the next eight months? For a number of years, the PD has been telling us that we are in “Quiet Crisis.” Thus far, it seems the newspaper ignores directing this early mayoral campaign into a discussion of solutions. Instead, we’re treated almost daily now with newspaper-encouraged backbiting between Council President Frank Jackson and Mayor Jane Campbell. Both the candidates, of course, are helpful in this cause. Can’t you kids all work together?
Corrections: I was reminded that Jim Barrett, who was Carl Stokes’ police driver and bodyguard, was made Safety Director under Dennis Kucinich not Stokes. PR man Tom Andrzejewski also reminded me that he technically did not “run” Michael White’s 1989 winning campaign but did “media and collaborated on issues.”
from Cool Cleveland contributor Roldo Bartimole Roldo@Adelphia.net
(:divend:)