9th District candidates make attacks during Cleveland debate

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, left, makes a point during a debate with U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, center, and businessman Graham Veysey at the City Club in Cleveland Monday. The two sitting congressmen and outsider Mr. Veysey competed in a debate as they vie to win the Democratic primary for the new 9th District in northern Ohio. AP Enlarge

CLEVELAND — Two veteran congress members argued their successes as well as what they labeled as their opponents’ failures while a new name in politics argued the need for fresh ideas during a lively debate of Ohio’s 9th Congressional District candidates.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, (D. Toledo) branded herself the “jobs candidate” of the race for the newly designed district that includes fellow U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, (D., Cleveland), also 65, who highlighted that he has “delivered” for his constituents by saving companies and jobs.

Cleveland entrepreneur Graham Veysey, 29, noted dismal current approval ratings for Congress, and promised someone with fresh ideas to tackle what he labeled as the $15 trillion deficit left for his generation.

The three candidates met for a mid-day debate before about 190 spectators at the City Club of Cleveland, which was aired live on-line and will be rebroadcast on the organization’s Web site,www.cityclub.org.

The candidates fielded questions about legislation that would lead to job growth, health care reform, the needs of the educational system and abortion rights.

Miss Kaptur, who was first elected to Congress in 1982, pointed to her support of the “fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill” as one way she helped foster job growth along the Lake Erie coast, as well as her support of industries such as solar energy and hydrogen research.

Miss Kaptur questioned how Mr. Kucinich could label himself a jobs candidate and be opposed to items such as creation of jobs through the Keystone pipeline — a system to transport synthetic crude oil from the Canada to multiple destinations in the United States — or the defense measures that have help support local companies.

“I think people should ask themselves, who has been fighting harder for jobs along the [Lake Erie] coast, whether the solar industry, the maritime industry, the steel industry …,” she said. “I am the strongest jobs candidate in this race, and the people of the northeastern [communities] have a serious question to ask themselves, ‘Who can deliver?’”

Mr. Kucinich, first elected to Congress in 1996 and a two-time candidate for president, countered that the country’s issues must stop being sacrificed “to keep feeding the war machine.” Noting his support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Mr. Kucinich said he instead has focused on investment in the country, such as rebuilding infrastructure, so as to “put millions of Americans back to work.”

“I’ve delivered for our area,” he said, pointing to specific examples including saving a Cleveland steel mill, helping to save 375 jobs at the Hugo Boss manufacturing plant in Brooklyn, Ohio, and bringing a social security office to Lakewood, Ohio.

Mr. Kucinich, who was decidedly the favored candidate in the room with five of the nearly two dozen tables dedicated to his supporters, further noted differences between himself and his “friend from Toledo,” noting his support of safety measures at Davis-Besse nuclear power plant and of “marriage equality.”

Distinguishing himself as the “vote for the future,” Mr. Veysey said the communities along the Lake Erie coastline must reinvent themselves to be successful and attacked his opponents as being leaders during a time when the cities of Toledo and Cleveland became noted for their poverty rates.

“I think that we can, as a region, build on the manufacturing base that made this region as strong as it was and as strong as it will be. We need to shed the rust belt image and become the digital belt,” Mr. Veysey said, adding that the area should also look at the opportunity of becoming “a vacation belt.”

Mr. Vesey further attacked the 40-plus combined years his opponents have had in Washington, saying that “Congress is broken and needs to be fixed.”

“Sitting on this stage next to me is congressman status and congresswoman quo. They are status quo,” he said.

The most heated portion of the debate was when Mr. Kucinich vehemently denied Mr. Veysey’s assertions that he received campaign contributions from a “super-PAC” in Texas.

“Stop making false charges,” Mr. Kucinich said, saying that he doesn’t support any super-PAC nor “take their money.”

Miss Kaptur jumped in to say that the group in question has thrown support behind the opponents of women and African-American candidates.

Mr. Kucinich again called the allegations false but was cut short by the moderator who determined that the question was far a field of the question of whether the candidates supported a constitutional amendment to end “corporate personhood rights.”

The super-PAC Campaign for Primary Accountability based in Houston, Texas, is spending money to advertise in the 9th District in support of Mr. Kucinich. Super-PACs are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on political advertising but are prohibited from coordinating with a candidate. The Campaign for Primary Accountability has conservative backers but is backing Mr. Kucinich, who is not conservative, saying he is an “independent.”

Spectators Anne Bingham, 50, of Cleveland, and Mary Anne Garvey, 56, of the Cleveland suburb, Rocky River, said that they were unaware of the super-PACs’ support of Mr. Kucinich and intended to learn more about it.

Seated at a table not designated for a particular candidate, the women said they attended to learn more about their choices. They said that they were most impressed with Miss Kaptur’s distinction as being a high-ranking member of the defense appropriations committee.

Although impressed by Mr. Veysey’s passion, the women agreed that they would prefer to look to his past actions, nothing that he didn’t have a “record to stand on.”

“It would be a shame to give up a high-ranking position like that for a new guy,” Ms. Bingham said.

Contact Erica Blake at eblake@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.