The Division of Light and Power

I have been following the career of Dennis Kucinich for many years, and most people are unaware that when in the House of Representatives he twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, but received very little press coverage. As one commentator notes, this is the real-life David versus Goliath story of one man taking on powerful corporations and political interests with great political integrity, but at very considerable personal cost. The author gives an insider's account of his battles when he became Mayor of Cleveland in his early 30s and found himself pressured to sell the city's publicly owned electricity system, Muny Light, whereby a lot of operatives stood to make a great deal of money at the expense of ordinary people. The potential buyer, CEI, employed a range of dirty tricks (p. 495) to put pressure on the municipality. Dennis is told by a senior colleague that 'the shedding of innocence is the beginning of wisdom' -- for which read corruption. When Kucinich could not be bought, the Mob (Cleveland Mafia) fraudulently sets him up for sexual harassment and a hitman is hired to kill him (the man speaks about this on p. 542), as actually happened to Mayor Moscone of San Francisco. The local police chief tells him that he is getting in the way of some people making a lot of money -- this is the essential issue.

The assumption is that everyone has a price, but this does not apply to Dennis. He is taking on not only a bank and the utility, but the entire system: 'it's not only corporate ties, it's relationships - they are friends who socialise and do business with each other.' The result is ferocious attacks in the media and loss of the next election following a series of manufactured crises that left him politically vulnerable. The price of saying 'No' was very high at the time, and also affected his close associates; he himself was subjected to an unwarranted IRS investigation and considerable financial hardship, also resulting in the breakdown of his marriage. Three years after the default, CEI admits its plan to achieve the monopoly, and the truth gradually emerges. This includes the intelligence information that his murder contract was due to him causing 'considerable problems for local dishonest businessman, politicians and criminals', impeding organised criminal activity and its ability to make money in the city.

Dennis himself forgives all those who were involved in any plot and sets himself free from polarised thinking. 20 years later, he movingly receives a special award from the council for his courage and foresight in refusing to sell Muny Light! He notes that politics is inherently transactional, making it hard to distinguish between normal and corrupt politics. Every new officeholder has to decide early on if he or she will participate in 'The System', or challenge it: 'once elected, you must either join The System or fight it. Dennis felt he had no choice 'if I wanted to live an authentic life with integrity.' The same issues relating to systemic corruption continue today, as is only too evident in the mainstream pandemic policies dictated by the financial interests of Big Pharma with their extensive lobbying power, media influence, campaign contributions and capture of federal agencies.