Congratulations On Your Re-Election, Congressman Kucinich
Submitted by Jerid on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 11:06am.
Public Policy Polling with the latest poll on OH-10
Bad news. Dennis goes back to Congress.
Cimperman: 29%
Kucinich: 55%
This is a bogus poll
Submitted by Susan on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 1:50pm.
But if Cimperman loses, that's definitely GOOD news for the people who live in the 10th District.
Kucinich v. Cimperman
Submitted by Nifty Lawrence on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 1:53pm.
I'm far from a Kucinich fan & was, until very recently, one of his constituents.
But if the choice is Kucinich or Cimperman, I'd take Dennis, although it sort of pains me to say so.
Really, if Dennis is going to get so much flak (some of it deserved, some of it not) for not adequately representing his district, what makes anyone think Cimperman - who cares so much about the district he doesn't even live there - would be any better?
What exactly has Cimperman done for his ward or constituents while serving on Cleveland City Council? And I'm not talking about "no-brainer" votes or actions that any council member would take.
Anyone care to share a list of Cimperman's accomplishments.....other than his name isn't Dennis Kucinich?
Cimperman's accomplishments
Submitted by Susan on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 2:00pm.
Good News!
Submitted by mvirenicus on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 3:40pm.
Anybody else volunteering for Dennis? I'll be sporting my yellow polo and black turtleneck at a polling station in North Olmsted on election day.
I've had a good feeling about the 10th primary for the last couple weeks based on the recent proliferation of Dennis! yard signs and feedback from some of his constituents. Although I don't believe the spread represented in this poll, I think Cimperman is toast.
No, but I have and will
Submitted by downtownmike on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 5:19pm.
No, but I have and will continue to volunteer for Joe Cimperman. I'll tell you why:
* I am a resident of Cleveland's 13th ward. (Are any of you?) Joe Cimperman is present in our city every single day. Joe cares most about his residents and stands up for us. In fact, I bet you'd be hard pressed to find many residents of Ward 13 who are unhappy with his services. The only downside of Joe Cimperman being elected to Congress would be that he would no longer be serving a part of our ward.
* Secondly, Joe has actually made things happen in our city. I'm talking about:
--> Getting the Euclid Corridor project on-track. This will be a MAJOR success for the region and will, for the first time, appropriately connect downtown to University Circle.
--> Joe's been leading the charge on developing East 4th Street, the East Bank of the Flats, and the Warehouse District. Say what you want about developers contributing to his campaign (at least they live in the district as opposed to Shirley McClain, Bonnie Raitt, Larry Flynt, etc), but these are very, very good projects for downtown. As a downtown resident, I am glad to see old, abandoned warehouses turning into offices, restaurants, living spaces, etc.
--> Under Joe's nose, downtown has gone from a place where suburbanites drive in to work into a thriving live/work neighborhood. There are more people living downtown than ever before. For the people that say that there is nothing going on downtown -- it's about time you packed up your car and drive on down to my neighborhood. You will see people now walking or taking the trolley to work. This wasn't the case 10 years ago.
The above are just a couple of examples -- but it's worth mentioning that these things weren't even being talked about until Joe Cimperman was involved. More importantly, as a resident of his ward, Joe has personally made time and been there for me and my family when we were in times of need.
I am inclined that many of you who are so ardently against Joe Cimperman have not had the opportunity to live in his ward or work with him directly. If you did, then you'd know all of these things. Say what you want about supporting Dennis Kucinich (after all, you're allowed to support whomever you'd like)...but don't try to say with a straight face that Joe Cimperman has not done anything for the city or for the region. You'd simply be misinformed.
You're aware that this is a national office, correct?
Submitted by Susan on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 6:14pm.
What does Joe know about foreign policy? Has he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately?
RE: No, but I have and will
Submitted by Nifty Lawrence on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 11:24am.
Serious questions:
1) What specifically did Cimperman do to facilitate the downtown building projects? Is it wise for a nearly broke city to give hundreds of millions of dollars in public money to developers? Isn't there a lesson to be learned with the slow failure of Tower City? Is Cimperman concerned the Flats project might simply move business from end of downtown to another, creating development in one part while abandoning it another?
2) What specifically did Cimperman do to facilitate the Euclid Corridor Project? (And I think it's far too early to say whether spending a couple hundred million dollars to shave a handful of minutes off the drive from Public Square to University Circle is worth anything).
3) Does Cimperman support the millions of dollars of public subsidies & sweetheart loans for private developers to build along Euclid Avenue & the Euclid Corridor Project while Cleveland remains of the country's poorest cities?
4) Did Cimperman support seizing the private property of other developers through the Port Authority to favor a single developer's plan in the Flats?
5) Did Cimperman support the unilateral increase in county taxes to fund a new convention center? Is Cleveland even going to get the promised Medical Mart? What's Cimperman role?
6) What specifically has Cimperman done for Cleveland's schools - easily the single biggest barrier to attracting families to live within the city limits?
7) Does Cimperman support a reduction in the size of City Council? Why or why not? Does Cimperman support the de facto policy of Council whereby a single member can effectively veto any plans for their own ward if it goes against their wishes, despite what might be best for the city?
I'm not Joe Cimperman, so I
Submitted by downtownmike on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 11:46am.
I'm not Joe Cimperman, so I can only address certain issues best I can...which probably won't be very well, since I'm admittedly not a political well-to-do or an expert by any means. All I am saying is that people need to bring up specific examples of Joe not doing anything. So far, nobody has done that. People have pointed to where Joe's received his money (and I'm still curious why only 3% of Dennis's money has come from Ohio) -- but that's really it.
I will say this. Business is not a bad thing. The East Bank of the Flats is going to be a great project. Tower City was a downtown mall....but the East Bank of the flats is mixed-use -- live/work/play. It's becasue of projects like the East Bank of the Flats...or East 4th Street...that the downtown neighborhood is GROWING. I'm a specific example of this. People forget that there are tens of thousands of people living downtown...and the number is growing, not decreasing. If we don't do things to help grow downtown, how will we expect to prevent Brain Drain?
You've completely missed the point on the Euclid Corridor project. The point of the project isn't to "shave a few minutes off of a drive from downtown to University Circle" -- its to CONNECT the neighborhoods so that things are seamless. This will improve Midtown. This will improve Fairfax. Talk to those neighborhood associations and see what they think about the Euclid Corridor. This city is one of the poorest -- and we have to DO things to turn that around...not just talk the talk.
Hollywood $ saves Dennis...
Submitted by modernesquire on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 6:39pm.
Maybe we'll see a different Dennis now. After all, he did finally debate his primary opponents this time.
And if this poll is accurate (the only reason I would doubt it is because it's an automated poll which are usually less trustworthy), then it means that the presence of the other candidates probably didn't make a difference unless you believed that the infighting between the anti-Dennis camps was such that it prevented Cimperman from getting any real traction and distracted from making this a straight up referendum on the incumbent.
Despite her prior run, Farris is only pulling 5% of the vote with O'Grady one point behind her. I'm shocked that Rosemary Palmer has loaned her campaign $100k that she's polling at 1% which is statistically insignificant. That's embarassing for a candidate who was "first out of the gate" and seemed to have a lot more potential that this result shows. These (Farris, O'Grady, Palmer) are the kind of numbers we ridiculed Kucinich for having in his presidential runs. How can the supporters of these candidates attack Dennis for running for President as a vanity campaign when their candidates are doing this poorly?
What's really surprising is how the anti-Cimperman people have been so focused on Cleveland developer money going to him that they've completely overshadowed that most of Dennis' money is coming from Hollywood and East Coast elitists who consider this district part of "flyover" country.
I hope to see a different kind of Dennis, in style, not necessary substance. I'm pleased that Dennis cancelled his Presidential campaign and took his congressional primary seriously. I'm thrilled that he debated his primary opponents more so than he has ever done. And as the nominee, I definately support him over Jim Trakas.
While I disagree with some of Dennis' views, my main complaint was his tactics and his rather obvious hypocracy between his views about debates in his presidential runs versus his congressional bids. Hopefully, he's learned not to take his seat for granted anymore and he'll achieve more legislatively for his district.
Oh My Gaaawd!
Submitted by mvirenicus on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 10:51am.
most of Dennis' money is coming from Hollywood
Shock! Horror! Dismay!
|||The Chosen People®|||, who so obviously run that Sodom and Gomorrah known as HOLLYWOOD, have stuck their filthy pornography-peddlin noses into our local politics!
I could sooooo run with this topic but I'm just gonna leave it alone. You can thank the common decency of an atheist for that. 
You'd change your tune
Submitted by modernesquire on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 11:35am.
If most of Cimperman's money came from D.C. Fact is that while most people spent enormous bandwidth bemoaning how Cimperman couldn't possible serve two masters because he lives literally blocks away from his district, Dennis has escaped any criticism that his biggest financial patrons live entirely across the country and have very little actual interest in the interest of his constituents. That, to me, would seem to be a relevant issue to this election.
Kucinich support comes from
Submitted by JeanLR on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 1:10pm.
Kucinich support comes from regular people from across the country~ his support is coming from people who recognize a good progressive, honest, diligent and principled congressman and aren't moved by the petty provincial ax-grinding that goes on in our little town.
Joe Cimperman sounds like a great city councilman! I'd hate to lose him there, and would love to see him grow and achieve good things throughout his political career, which I'm sure will be long.
So are the other candidates great citizens, putting themselves out there because they care. It's no picnic and I'm grateful that we have good people who are willing to go through the process. They will find good ways to use thier talents and passion for public service, and our area will benefit greatly from thier continued participation :-)
Jean, I tried to be nice to D.K...
Submitted by modernesquire on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 2:32pm.
Look, I'm trying to give credit where credit is due, but I still have to call B.S. when I see it. Do regular folks donate to D.K.'s campaign? Sure, but that's misleading.
The vast bulk of his campaign is being bankrolled by Hollywood and East Coast elitist who responded to D.K.'s plea that he was being attacked by Cleveland's "developers and corporate interests." So, D.K. has gotten them involved based on petty, provinical ax-grinding.
Most of D.K.'s money comes from people who don't live in Ohio and have no interest in the needs of his district. D.K. is beholdened to them. It's a fair line of criticism, and frankly, the only real bone I have with D.K. anymore (for now.)
Like I said, I'm hopefully optimistic that D.K. will not take his seat for granted given this campaign, and he'll take a more productive tact in the future.
Modern, re Dennis
Submitted by JeanLR on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 4:11pm.
I just want to let you know that the support Kucinich got from around the country came because people like me who belong to activist type e-groups based around the country chain emailed to our groups. It's grass roots support and doesn't have anything to do with the kind of pettiness I refered to coming from our local haters, present company excepted, as I see you have only this last little bone to pick :-)
Let's throw away all our pickin' bones until 2010 race, k? we have a lot of work to do! We can strive to be more productive too :-)
Hey, I also want it to be
Submitted by downtownmike on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 5:08pm.
Hey, I also want it to be known that I'm not trying to "hate" on Dennis. But knowing Joe personally, being a resident of his ward, seeing him active in my community, and knowing that he cares so passionately about his residents -- I sometimes feel that I have to stick up for him when people rush to conclusions. I only bring up the location of DK's money when others try to criticize Joe's.
At the end of the day, I hope that no matter who is voted in, we can look back two years from now and say that the region has improved.
I hope that's something we can all drink to...
Susan, I'm just saying...
Submitted by downtownmike on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 6:56pm.
I answered the question "What has Joe Cimperman done?" This, indeed, is a national office -- however I have no reason to believe that Joe can't operate in a larger district within a state considering his success in a metropolitan, downtown ward. Your argument before wasn't that Joe wasn't qualified to operate on a national level -- it was "he's bought out by corporate interests!" I answered the question -- and now you're trying to change the question.
Look, I'm not saying that Dennis Kucinich hasn't been involved in national issues. That's his job-- that's not Joe Cimperman's job (at least not yet). On election day, people will decide who's better suited to solve these issues. That's how it should be.
But again -- if people want to say that Joe Cimperman hasn't done anything -- provide the facts to back it up.
Cimperman has done things all right
Submitted by Susan on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 7:50pm.
See the article linked in my earlier post.
You've backed a loser
Submitted by mvirenicus on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 10:44am.
if people want to say that Joe Cimperman hasn't done anything -- provide the facts to back it up.
Cimperman has done plenty, just as he's going to lose in the 10th while sticking his nose someplace it doesn't belong. That's a fact.
Already read the article...
Submitted by downtownmike on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 12:25pm.
...and I already responded.
oh, Stop it! :-) "bad" "news"?
What's so "bad" about Dennis Kucinich apparently winning the majority of voters? And what's "news" about Dennis Kucinich apparently winning a majority of voters?
I just didn't want it to appear that everyone here agrees with this premise.
I think Dennis being supported again in his work is *good* news for everyone who believes in all the issues he stands for. It's good for the nation too. We need his voice in the congress and I'm proud that our district is the one sending him.
So there!