"My political future would be guaranteed, with the swipe of a pen. The endless calls to sell would end. The media trumpeting the so-called deficiencies of Muny Light would stop their barrage. The equation of the sale of Muny Light with the avoidance of default would end. If I sold the electric system under these intricately-contrived circumstances, the people of Cleveland would never know I did not have to sell. They would be offered a fictional tale of a happy outcome, agreed upon by the media, the business community, CEI, the banks, and the political establishment. It would be the fairy tale of a young Mayor who finally came to his senses and did the 'right thing.'"But I knew the truth.
"The people would end up paying millions of dollars in higher taxes to the city for street lighting and other services. Without competition, CEI would continually raise rates. People in the city would pay millions more in higher electric bills. Yes, the city would have credit. It could borrow money and go deeper in debt. If I agreed to sell, no one in Cleveland would ever know what happened in this boardroom. Today the world's attention was briefly on the impending default in a major American city. If I sold, tomorrow the big story would be 'The Escape from Default,' the bookends of a complete political soap opera. Only I would know that Muny Light was stolen. I would have to conceal that knowledge, as I rocketed to political stardom with my new-found friends. I'd wave from a high platform at 'the people.' Unaware, they would think they were the ones who sent me to higher office."
His enemies did not forgive him once they removed him from office. He and those who worked in his mayoral administration were blacklisted by the city's elite, often unable to find work. Kucinich was meant to be an example to all who thought of defying the system.
"Most of those who worked for me could not find jobs, blackballed by the Cleveland establishment," he writes. "Several members of my team had to travel many miles out of town to find work. Most found themselves at a significant financial disadvantage. One, a brilliant city planner who had courageously challenged developers' schemes to extract millions from the taxpayers, committed suicide. It was my decision, and I paid a price, but regrettably, others also paid."
"After I left office, I had time to absorb what had happened to me in Cleveland, my 10-year climb to become Mayor, my collision with corrupt interests amidst the highest of hopes for the city," He writes. "However hard I tried, I could not find a moral to the story. I was shattered, not so much from losing an election, as from the pillorying of the ethical sign-posts of my life: Right was wrong and wrong was right. The inversion of reality was particularly shocking. The banks, the business and political establishment had now constructed, and the Cleveland media carried forth, a new fictitious narrative. The city on its way to recovery...from me."
Nevertheless, Kucinich, sacrificing his position as mayor, had indeed, with the support of a grassroots army, saved the city's public utility.
Near the end of his first term in Congress he was invited to attend a meeting of the Cleveland City Council on December 14th, 1998, the eve of the 20th anniversary of the city's default. The council presented him with a resolution of recognition. It read:
"Today the City of Cleveland has one of the fastest-growing municipal electric systems in America. Currently, Cleveland Public Power is expanding to provide low-cost electricity to more and more people, providing power for city facilities and streetlights, thereby helping to keep taxes low and encouraging economic development. None of this would have been possible had Mayor Kucinich not refused to sell the City's electric system on December 15, 1978... now, therefore... BE IT RESOLVED, that Cleveland City Council hereby extends its deep appreciation to Dennis J. Kucinich, for having the courage and foresight to refuse to sell the City's municipal electric system, which has saved the people of Cleveland over $300 million since that time."
Cleveland City Council
Members of the city council stood and applauded.
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