NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS
BY ARIA SELIGMANN
Itchin’ for Kucinich
Oregon Family Dental, PC
John J. Park, DDS
Eugene crowd rallies around progressive candidate.
E
fforts to bring presidential candidate
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) to Eugene
by local supporters paid off at the last
minute when the Congressman flew in
Sunday, July 20 to attend a sizzling Lane
County Democratic Party chili cook-
off at Morse Ranch Park and to
give a speech to an enthusi-
astic, 300-strong crowd on
the UO campus.
At 6 pm, following
introductions by local
Kucinich campaign or-
Dennis
ganizer Adin Rogovin Kucinich
and law Prof. Michael
Rooke-Ley, Kucinich
strode briskly through the
crowd and jumped onto the
platform adjacent to the podium
in 180 PLC. His fired-up energy drew
the crowd, which included many long-time
Eugene activists, to their feet, whooping and
cheering.
Yet the “Hello Eugene!” and “When I’m
president, I’ll sign this executive order and
that executive order” rock star persona seems
somehow ill-fitting on this 57-year-old, 5’9”
or so, roughly 150 lb., brown-eyed brunette,
who seems ultimately more sincere — and
comfortable — speaking one-on-one in a
shady campus parking lot than doing the re-
quired rah-rah stumping before an adoring
crowd that followed shortly thereafter.
Kucinich writes his own speeches that are
as full of New Age spirituality as they are of
agenda-setting rhetoric; still, you get the real
picture when he’s talking like just a regular
guy, not a campaigning politico. And during
the more intimate dialogue, he reveals that his
campaign is “gaining momentum” and
throughout the country, the public’s enthusi-
asm is fired by “a message of hope, optimism,
and joy.”
But can Kucinich dare to challenge an in-
cumbent president who’s master of money-
making? “This isn’t going to be about money,”
he insists. “I’m the only one offering real
change. I’m the one offering real reforms.”
Those reforms include jobs, corporate re-
sponsibility, social security, taxes, health care,
education, campaign finance, family farms,
energy and the environment. He is also out-
spoken on withdrawing from NAFTA and the
WTO, the rights of workers to unionize, and
the rights of women to reproductive choice.
But when asked what the single most
pressing issue that gets the greatest reaction
from the populace is, Kucinich smiles. “Hands
down, it’s the need to cut Pentagon spending,”
he says.
As the ranking Democrat on the Senate
subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the
Pentagon, Kucinich questions the gaps in in-
formation the military provides. “There is $1
trillion in accounting they cannot reconcile
and $30 billion in inventory they cannot find.
And there’s no auditor. Even Enron had
crooked auditors. The Pentagon has none.”
In addition, Kucinich points out the lies
easily bandied about by the Bush administra-
tion. For example, the National Missile
Defense System doesn’t work. “They fudged
the tests; the results were fraudulent and it still
got funding,” he says. “This administration
won’t fund school systems if kids can’t pass a
test but they will fund missile systems that
fail.”
Kucinich is calling for a 15 percent reduc-
tion in the Pentagon budget. He’s
earmarked the savings —
roughly $60 billion — to
fund universal pre-
kindergarten for ages 3,
4 and 5. “Many par-
ents can’t afford day-
care if they work,” he
says. “We’re spending
more on daycare than
college.”
But college is also
spendy. To fix that,
Kucinich would repeal the
Bush tax cuts and use that money to
fund universal college education.
In addition, Kucinich touts universal
health care as the only real option for
Americans’ well-being. “Everywhere I go,
people talk about how the private sector has
failed,” he says. He proposes a 7.7 percent
payroll tax that would pay for everything:
medical, dental, vision, mental health and pre-
scriptions. “The money’s already in the sys-
tem,” he says. “We’re already paying for uni-
versal health care. We’re just not getting it.”
Re-allocating Pentagon spending to do-
mestic programs won’t just help everybody,
but will protect us from a violent future, says
Kucinich. “The spending we’re doing on
weapons now is gearing up for World War III.
It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Weapons, war,
weapons, war. Now we’re looking at nuclear
missiles in space and first strike capability. It’s
all antithetical to what our purpose is as a na-
tion.”
And that purpose, he says, is “to permit the
unfolding of each individual into a community
where health, education and economic oppor-
tunity are assured for all, to create an environ-
ment at home and in the world based on peace,
sustainability and hope.”
If we continue on our current course, we
cannot see positive change, Kucinich says,
and he tells the crowd gathered in 180 PLC,
“This administration is preparing for the end
of the world. Now I have an idea. Let’s help
their world end in 2004.”
But what about Bush’s approval ratings?
Americans dig war. His numbers are high.
“As the American people understand we
went to war based on a lie, as we understand,
that will change,” says Kucinich. “The presi-
dent’s popularity will begin to melt and he will
face a contest in 2004. I’m the only one who
offers sharper contrast and deepest change.
I’m giving people a real choice. Why else
would they vote?”
Overly confident? Perhaps. After all, the
mainstream media have ignored Kucinich’s
campaign thus far, dismissing him out of hand
as a “no contest.” But is he daunted? No way.
“I got elected to Congress on my fifth try,”
he’s quick to remind naysayers. “You’re look-
ing at a person who, if nothing else, is deter-
mined.”
ew
For more information, see www.kucinich.us For
information on the local campaign, call 543-9616, or
e-mail snowcastle@comcast.net
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LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S
Renewable Energy
Technician Program
is accepting NEW STUDENTS for fall 2003
Student Dan Orleck with a Photovoltaic solar panel
Lane Energy Management/Renewable Energy
Technician Program is funded by EWEB & BPA
For information about the
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JULY 24, 2003 9