Kucinich Wins in OH10, Impeachment Dream Lives.

Well, it wasn’t the big one, Elizabeth, but your husband grabbing 50% of the vote in a five-way contest in OH 10’s Democratic primary was still a welcome sight.

Ya gotta love Cleveland. They stuck by their man, which I interpret as so many votes to impeach Dick Cheney. Kucinich was forced to abandon his presidential quest when he’d learned about City Councilman Joe Cimperman, whose war chest had swelled to half a million dollars virtually overnight thanks to corporate interests. What Cimperman didn't count on was that Kucinich, thanks in large part to his huge netroots fanship, was able to raise a couple of hundred thou more than that.

Kucinich, the story goes, was told by representatives from AIPAC and Nancy Pelosi during his presidential race that if he would drop HR 333, the bill that would impeach Dick Cheney, they would “guarantee” him re-election to the House. This came from high up in the Kucinich campaign, which automatically elevates it from a mere rumor. So Kucinich is well on his way to getting re-elected for the sixth time and HR 333 is still on the table, to paraphrase Scarecrow of the House Pelosi. So hats off to Kucinich’s base.

But Cleveland has so much more to recommend it to the affections of liberals and progressives nationwide. Cleveland, as with New York City, is a city of neighborhoods, greater than the sum of its parts. Take ESOP, for example.

ESOP, or the East Side Organizing Project, a homeowner advocacy group, has been around since the mid-90’s. Well before the home lending scandal began to get press last summer, Cleveland, Ohio had already been leading the national average in foreclosures. Those percentages have hardly gotten any better since last summer.

Well, ESOP had once gone after one of Kucinich’s successors, Mayor Michael White, to get him to use seized money in drug raids to help out underfunded school districts. White demurred. ESOP then camped outside his father’s house and told him to talk to his stubborn son. Then ESOP discovered that White was getting a little on the side so they went to his mistress’s house.

ESOP lost about 90% of their funding from the city almost overnight.

Not long after this this, ESOP went after corrupt and bloated home lenders. Countrywide and its CEO, Angelo Mozilo, was unfortunate enough to get on their radar screens. I don’t need to remind you, constant readers, of Countrywide’s villainies and dirty tricks on prospective home buyers, making pie-in-the-sky promises of low interest home loans in which the homeowners then saw their interest rates, hence their mortgages, literally double within 15 months of being in Bush’s Ownership Society.

To make a long story short, they pressured Countrywide into signing negotiation agreements that would bring to the table both their executives and homeowners facing foreclosure (Cleveland alone saw 15,000 in one year) to renegotiate their mortgages. For the longest time, the lender refused to sign such an agreement, trying to get by with the bare minimum by renegotiating a few dozen mortgages. But ESOP wasn’t buying. They wanted more. And, eventually, they got Countrywide to sign the agreement, which will stay in full force even now that they’ve merged with Bank of America.

Among their least popular tactics was in dumping little plastic sharks on the gardens of Countrywide’s executives. This is a tactic that warms the cockles of this middle-aged liberal’s heart. It brings to mind citizens of the early-mid 1930’s rising up in anger and forcing police to put back the furniture of evicted tenants. When push comes to shove, when government (especially laissez faire Republican government) proves worthless and apathetic, Joe Sixpack, John Q. Public and John Doe will take care of their own. But, being a nonprofit advocacy group, money’s still tight.

All they need is a new supply of rubber or plastic sharks. These little guys, which cost .20 apiece, are the cheapest ones that I’ve been able to find on the Internet. Go buy a handful and mail or have them delivered them to ESOP’s headquarters. Here’s their address:

East Side Organizing
3631 Perkins Avenue
Suite 4 C-S
Cleveland, OH 44114

Also, on a different but not unrelated topic, I also love Vermont.

Wanna know why? Well, they’re the only state that went for Obama last night. They have incredible Bed and Breakfast inns. And they make great maple syrup. But there’s another reason. Read these paragraphs from the Wa Po:

In Vermont, voters in the town of Brattleboro endorsed a measure calling for the indictment of Bush and Cheney on charges of violating the Constitution.

The symbolic article seeks to have Bush and Cheney arrested if they visit Brattleboro or to extradite them for prosecution elsewhere _ if they aren't impeached first.

OK, OK, It’s really all about the great pancake syrup but you have to admire the political independence, commitment and passion of Vermont voters.