(born 1946), U.S. politician. Expectations were uncertain but mildly hopeful in November 1977, when 31-year-old Dennis John Kucinich was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. He was the youngest person ever to become mayor of a major American city. Cleveland was beset by economic and social problems on a massive scale, and Kucinich had promised to reverse the decline of what had once been a prosperous industrial city. Less than a year later Kucinich narrowly avoided being turned out of office in an unprecedented recall election. Government came to a standstill as the mayor battled with Cleveland's political and business establishments. Instead of improving, the city's financial plight grew worse, and by December, Kucinich found himself presiding over the first major United States city to default on its obligations since the Depression of the 1930s. Born in Cleveland in 1946, Kucinich was raised in the city and graduated from Case Western Reserve University there. His political career began as soon as he was old enough to vote. He served in the city council and was elected clerk of courts before winning the close race for mayor. Kucinich campaigned against the big-business special interests and won support from both Cleveland's black and working-class ethnic communities, despite the opposition of his own Democratic party. As mayor, he began to veto city council development programs and insisted that private enterprise be responsible for saving the city's disintegrating central business district. His young cabinet members were viewed as inexperienced and arrogant, and most of his major appointments were highly controversial, including that of Police Chief Richard D. Hongisto. When the police staged a “sickout” in a contract dispute, Kucinich ordered Hongisto to patrol the streets personally and later charged that the police force was corrupt. Ironically, it was the firing of Hongisto after he publicly accused Kucinich of trying to force him to commit “unethical acts” that catalyzed the recall movement. Kucinich barely survived the special August election, winning by fewer than 300 votes. The default came December 15, when the city failed to pay off 15.5 million dollars in short-term notes. Kucinich ostentatiously closed his account at a bank that was demanding repayment from the city, but eventually the financial community agreed to defer action until referenda on two money-raising propositions had been held in February 1979. While the other Great Lakes industrial cities were slowly recovering from the urban blight that overcame them in the 1960s, Cleveland seemed to be sinking deeper into a morass of rising debts, declining industry, political turmoil, and government paralysis. The city had been losing 17,000 jobs a year for a decade, the population had been dropping at a rate of 20,000 per year, the city's ethnic minorities were at odds with the black population (some 40 percent of the total), and six city council members were under indictment for fraud and taking kickbacks. In 1979 Kucinich was defeated by George V. Voinovich, and subsequently the mayoral term was extended from two to four years and the city council size reduced from 33 to 21. |