| George Voinovich | |
|---|---|
| United States Senator from Ohio |
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| In office January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2011 |
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| Preceded by | John H. Glenn, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Rob Portman |
| 65th Governor of Ohio | |
| In office January 14, 1991 – December 31, 1998 |
|
| Lieutenant | Mike DeWine (1991–1994) Nancy P. Hollister (1995–1998) |
| Preceded by | Richard Frank Celeste |
| Succeeded by | Nancy P. Hollister |
| 54th Mayor of Cleveland | |
| In office 1980–1989 |
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| Preceded by | Dennis J. Kucinich |
| Succeeded by | Michael R. White |
| 56th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio | |
| In office 1979–1979 |
|
| Governor | Jim Rhodes |
| Preceded by | Dick Celeste |
| Succeeded by | Myrl Shoemaker |
| Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics | |
| In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007 |
|
| Preceded by | Harry Reid |
| Succeeded by | Barbara Boxer |
| Member of the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners |
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| In office 1977–1978 |
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| Cuyahoga County Auditor | |
| In office 1971–1976 |
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| Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 53rd district |
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| In office January 3, 1967 – December 15, 1971 |
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| Preceded by | "At Large" |
| Succeeded by | Edward Ryder |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 15, 1936 Cleveland, Ohio |
| Nationality | Slovene-Serbian American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Janet Voinovich |
| Children | George Voinovich Betsy Voinovich Peter Voinovich Molly Voinovich (deceased) |
| Residence | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Alma mater | Ohio University (B.A) Ohio State University (J.D.) |
| Occupation | Attorney |
| Religion | Roman Catholic[1] |
George Victor Voinovich (born July 15, 1936) is a former United States Senator from the state of Ohio, and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served as the 65th Governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998, and as the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989.
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Born in Cleveland, Ohio, his father was a Croatian Serb[2][3] (from Kordun), and his mother was Slovenian. Voinovich grew up in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland and graduated from Collinwood High School in 1954. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Ohio University in 1958 and received a Law degree in 1961 from the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University. He was also a part of the fraternity Phi Kappa Tau at Ohio University. He married his wife, Janet, in 1962. They had four children: George, Betsy, Peter, and Molly, as well as seven grandchildren. Molly, their youngest child, was killed in an auto accident at age 9.
Voinovich began his political career in 1963 as an assistant attorney general of Ohio. He then served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1967 to 1971. From 1971 to 1976, he served as county auditor of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. In 1975, he made an unsuccessful run for the Republican nomination for Mayor of Cleveland against incumbent Mayor Ralph J. Perk. From 1977 to 1978, he served as a member of the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners. In 1978, Voinovich was elected lieutenant governor on the ticket with James A. Rhodes (the first Ohio lieutenant governor not to be elected separately from the governor).
By 1979, elections in Cleveland had become nonpartisan, and with then-Mayor Dennis J. Kucinich (D) about to enter a tough re-election campaign, Voinovich began to consider running for mayor again. Twice, Voinovich suggested his intent to stand for office but then changed his mind. Finally, on July 26, he made "one of the most difficult decisions in [his] life." He resigned from the office of lieutenant governor and entered the primary election.
Aside from Kucinich, Voinovich's other opponents included state Senator Charles Butts and city council majority leader Basil Russo. As the election drew closer, The Plain Dealer announced its endorsement of Voinovich. Voter turnout in the primary was greater than that of 1977 race among Perk, Kucinich, and Edward F. Feighan (when Voinovich had endorsed Kucinich). In the 1979 nonpartisan primary election, Voinovich led with 47,000 votes to 36,000 for Kucinich. Russo (who obtained 21,000) and Butts (with 19,000) did not qualify for the general election. The biggest surprise was Voinovich's showing in predominantly African American wards, where he was expected to finish last. He trailed only Butts, with Kucinich last.
On October 8, 1979, a few days after the primary, Voinovich's nine-year-old daughter Molly was struck by a van and killed. The event brought the Voinovich campaign to a virtual halt and made it difficult for Kucinich to attack his opponent. Still, he challenged Voinovich to a series of debates to be held in various Cleveland neighborhoods. Voinovich declined the invitations, saying they would be unproductive, although they eventually did meet in a debate on November 3 at the City Club. Voinovich went on to win the election with 94,541 votes to Kucinich's 73,755.
Voinovich went on to be re-elected twice by a landslide: in 1981 he defeated former State Representative, Patrick Sweeney (107,472 to 32,940). In 1985 he defeated former councilman Gary Kucinich (82,840 to 32,185).
Voinovich was considered shy[4] and a rather low-key politician, a description he adopted himself. Once elected, he announced that he would meet immediately with Ohio Governor James Rhodes to solicit the state government's help in clearing up the city's debts. He negotiated a debt repayment schedule. In October 1980, eight local banks, with the state guaranteeing the loans, lent Cleveland $36.2 million, allowing the city to emerge from default. Despite this, the city's economy continued to decline and federal funding was cut. Two weeks earlier, voters turned down another 0.5 percent income tax increase. The opposition was led by Kucinich, who had been keeping a low profile since his defeat in the 1979 election. Voinovich said he would resubmit the tax issue on the February ballot to avoid facing a deficit in 1981. This time the voters approved the tax increase.
By the time Voinovich was elected, Cleveland was the butt of late night comedians' jokes, where the river and mayor's hair burned,[5] and the only major American city to go bankrupt.[6] When Boston mayor Kevin White remarked that the city's finances had gone from "Camelot to Cleveland," Voinovich protested. White responded by saying that Boston had survived facetious remarks from a wide range of jokesters, from Mark Twain to Johnny Carson. "I am sure Cleveland will also," he said.
Voinovich went on offense. He reversed a defensive attitude projected by the Cleveland media, going to "war...to save one of this country's greatest cities."[4] Others soon jumped on board. For instance, The Smythe-Cramer Co., a local realty firm, tried to restore the city's former glory by running a series of ads with photographs of downtown Cleveland captioned "Take Another Look. It's Cleveland!" In May 1981, The Plain Dealer sent its Sunday subscribers bumper stickers saying, "New York's the Big Apple, but Cleveland's a Plum." The paper also passed out thousands of "Cleveland's a Plum" buttons and also ran a huge picture of Publisher Thomas Vail, with a smiling Voinovich beside him, throwing out the first plum at a Yankees-Indians game.[4] Sportscaster Howard Cosell hailed the city during a baseball game and Voinovich subsequently presented him with a key to the city. A survey showed 65 percent of the residents of Greater Cleveland were very satisfied with their life in the city and even 57 percent claimed to be very satisfied, even in 1978, the year of default. Also, a national poll rated Detroit as the city with the worst image, with New York City second. Cleveland was fifth-worst.
The New Cleveland Campaign, a promotion agency formed in 1978, began sending out news releases bragging about Cleveland's virtues and proudly circulating reprints whenever it got a favorable story. Unfortunately, to show how much the "new" Cleveland had improved, it had to highlight how bad the old Cleveland was. In particular, it stressed the city's 1978 default of $15.5 million short-term loans from local banks,[7] even though New York City owed nearly 150 times as much when it received a $2.3 billion federal bailout to avoid bankruptcy in 1975.[8]
The restoration campaign reached its peak in October with the society magazine Town and Country. "Cleveland's Come-Around" explained how "businessmen, lawyers and concerned citizens" rescued the city from "the petulant, pugnacious Dennis Kucinich." It called Voinovich's Operation Improvement Task Force under E. Mandell de Windt "the most significant undertaking in Cleveland since Moses Cleaveland stepped ashore on the bank of the Cuyahoga River in 1786." It also enticed its readers of Lake Erie and its "beautiful and exciting year-round sailing."
So confident was Voinovich, that during election season, he even attracted presidential candidates Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan to debate in Cleveland. "Cleveland is making a comeback," Time Magazine declared at the close of 1980, "During the past year, convention business has flourished, school desegregation has proceeded peacefully, and a modest construction boom has begun. . . Most impressive of all, the city dug itself out of default."
In order to accomplish more, Voinovich felt that the terms for mayor and Cleveland City Council ought to be extended. He offered a referendum to voters to extend them from two to four years and additionally asked voters to approve cutting down the number of council members from 33 to 21 in order to help ease the city's strained economy. They approved both requests.
Throughout the Voinovich years, neighborhoods began to see some improvement starting with the Lexington Village housing project, $149 million in Urban Development Action Grants, and $3 billion of construction underway or completed. In particular, the neighborhoods of Hough and Fairfax, then two of Cleveland's worst east side neighborhoods, began to see new houses built and lesser amount of criminal activity. Voinovich also quietly moved to reconcile the warring groups of the 1970s. He made peace with business leaders and even posed with them in photographs that ran in New Cleveland Campaign ads in business magazines, captioned with the Voinovich slogan: "Together, we can do it." He refined the neighborhood groups, which, with the breakdown of the Democratic Party, became the most potent political force in the city. He also extended his hand to unions as well, in particular the Teamsters truck union.
As mayor, Voinovich oversaw a huge scale urban renaissance downtown. Sohio (purchased by BP America in 1987), Ohio Bell, and Eaton Corporation all built new offices downtown (most notably the BP Building). Brothers Richard and David Jacobs astonished the city by rescuing its troubled Indians franchise, ultimately turning it around for the better. The two also improved the desolate area located by the Erieview Tower and turned it into the glass-roofed Galleria at Erieview. Voinovich also enticed Society Bank to the build Society Center, the largest skyscraper in Cleveland and the 15th largest in the nation (since renamed Key Tower). In addition, the National Civic League awarded Cleveland the All-America City Award three times, in 1982, 1984, and 1986, in addition to its first, won in 1950.
One of the key issues surrounding the previous Kucinich administration was canceling the sale of Cleveland Municipal Light (today Cleveland Public Power). Kucinich's insistence on saving it from being absorbed into the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (CEI) led the business community to force Cleveland into default. Voinovich's successful negotiations reversed this action when he first assumed office as mayor. However, Voinovich's pro-business attitude did not change CEI's position on the issue, as they persisted in making efforts to buy out Muni Light and pressuring Voinovich into giving them the right to do so. Voinovich resisted. Early in his tenure, he arranged for capital improvements to strengthen the operation of Muni Light and by 1982, it was able to compete with CEI. He asserted that the company was making attempts to cripple Muni Light by lobbying council against much-needed legislation. "We still have a battle going on," Voinovich said, "They [CEI] are as dedicated as ever to laying away the Municipal Light system."
In 1984, however, Voinovich's pro-Muni attitude began to change, when his administration began negotiations for CEI. The deal would have allowed CEI to take over all of Muni's private customers in exchange for various benefits including a cash payment of $40 million. Furthermore, CEI threatened to move its more than 1,000 employees to the suburbs, instead of placing them in a major downtown development, if Voinovich did not agree to sell. CEI put additional pressure on the mayor to sell when it widely publicized its advantages in a full-page newspaper advertisement and letters to all city residents. Perhaps fearing a Kucinich comeback and after stating that he had been "leaned on by everyone in this town," Voinovich cancelled the sale once and for all. CEI itself was eventually acquired and became part of FirstEnergy.
In 1988, Voinovich ran for the Senate seat of Howard Metzenbaum, in what was a hard-fought and negative campaign. Voinovich accused Metzenbaum of being soft on child pornography, charges that were roundly criticized by many, including John Glenn, Metzenbaum's Democratic party rival and then-Senate colleague, who recorded a statement for television refuting Voinovich's charges. Voinovich was also ridiculed for carrying around a cardboard cutout of Metzenbaum as he challenged him to multiple debates. Metzenbaum won the election by 57% to 43%, even as George H. W. Bush carried the state by 11 percent.
In 1990, Voinovich was nominated by the Republicans to replace Governor Richard F. Celeste, a Democrat who was barred from running for a third consecutive term. In that race, Voinovich defeated Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.. In 1991 Voinovich served as the Chairman of the Midwestern Governors Association. In 1994, Voinovich was re-elected to the governorship, defeating Democrat Robert L. Burch Jr. in a massive landslide. He won 72% of the vote.
Voinovich's tenure as governor saw Ohio's unemployment rate fall to a 25-year low. The state created more than 500,000 new jobs. Under Voinovich, Ohio was ranked #1 in the nation by Site Selection Magazine for new and expanding business facilities.
In 1996, Voinovich was the first governor to endorse U.S. Senator Robert J. Dole's bid for the Republican Presidential nomination.[9] Later, Voinovich was among nine candidates asked to submit to background checks as potential vice presidential running mates with Dole.[10] However, Voinovich withdrew his name from consideration, reiterating his desire to run for the U.S. Senate in 1998.[9]
In 1998, barred from running for a third term as governor due to term limits, Voinovich set his eyes on the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by long-time incumbent Democrat John Glenn. Voinovich, who had run for senate unsuccessfully in 1988, won the race, defeating Democrat Mary O. Boyle.
Particularly in his first years in the Senate, Voinovich was opposed to lowering tax rates. He frequently joined Democrats on tax issues and in 2000 was the only Republican in Congress to vote against a bill providing for relief from the "marriage penalty."
In November 2004, in his bid for re-election, Voinovich defeated the Democratic nominee, Ohio state senator Eric Fingerhut.
Voinovich gained national attention at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's confirmation hearing of John R. Bolton, nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, when he commented "I don't feel comfortable voting today on Mr. John Bolton." As a result, the committee recessed without a vote and thus stalled the nomination.[11] Democrats refused to invoke cloture and end debate on the Bolton nomination – the first time, Voinovich voted to end debate, the second time, he joined Democrats in voting to extend debate and urged Bush to choose another nominee. Voinovich has since amended his views and determined that Bolton did a "good job" as UN Ambassador, praising him by saying "I spend a lot of time with John on the phone. I think he is really working very constructively to move forward."[12]
Voinovich was overcome by emotion during his May 25, 2005, address in the Senate pleading with fellow Republicans to reject Bolton's nomination; he explained that he ran for re-election in order to try to secure a stable future for his children and grandchildren.[13]
In January 2007, Senator Voinovich expressed concern to Condoleezza Rice that the President's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq would not be effective. The Senator did not share President George W. Bush's optimism. "At this stage of the game, I don't think it's going to happen." As a moderate Republican, the Senator was viewed as one of few that could potentially influence the President. Five months later, Senator Voinovich requested to Bush in a five-page letter that the US begin pulling troops from Iraq and asking that the Iraqis start taking care of their own territory, calling for a "comprehensive plan for our country's gradual military disengagement from Iraq."[14][15]
In May 2007, Voinovich and fellow Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced a bipartisan bill giving states the opportunity to receive grant money for hiring and training highly qualified early childhood educators.
On April 7, 2008, Voinovich departed from Republican party platform and stated at a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding the war in Iraq: "We've kind of bankrupted this country" through war spending. "We're in a recession...and God knows how long it's going to last."[16]
When Michigan became the eighth state to accede to the Great Lakes Compact on July 9, 2008, Voinovich is expected to be one of the lead legislators in supporting the interstate compact's passage in Congress.[17]
On January 20, 2009, it was announced that Voinovich had been appointed to the powerful Appropriations Committee.[18] His appointment marks the first time an Ohioan has served on the coveted Senate committee since Mike DeWine lost his 2006 re-election bid.[18] In accepting the appointment, Voinovich will relinquish his seat on the Foreign Relations Committee.[18]
On July 22, 2009, Voinovich opposed a measure that would have allowed people to cross state lines with concealed weapons.
During part of his tenure in the Senate (June 25, 2007 through January 3, 2009), Voinovich sat at what is traditionally known as the 'candy desk'.[19]
Voinovich also voted in favor of the Matthew Shepard Act.
On December 18, 2010, Voinovich voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.[20][21][22][23][24][25]
In an interview in 2005, Voinovich expressed his intention to run for reelection to the Senate in 2010.[26] A December 2008 poll by Quinnipiac University found that he would face a tough "fight for a third term, with 36 percent wanting to give him another term and 35 percent backing an unnamed Democratic candidate."[27] On January 11, 2009, Voinovich's aides reported that he had decided to retire from the Senate rather than seek reelection in 2010.[28]
| Year | Office | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Mayor | Dennis J. Kucinich | ? | 44% | George Voinovich | ? | 56% | ||||||||
| 1981 | Mayor | Patrick Sweeney | ? | 23% | George Voinovich | ? | 77% | ||||||||
| 1985 | Mayor | Gary Kucinich | ? | 28% | George Voinovich | ? | 72% | ||||||||
| 1988 | Senate | Howard Metzenbaum | 2,480,088 | 57% | George Voinovich | 1,872,716 | 43% | * | |||||||
| 1990 | Governor | Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. | 1,539,416 | 44% | George Voinovich | 1,938,103 | 56% | * | |||||||
| 1994 | Governor | Robert L. Burch | 835,849 | 25% | George Voinovich | 2,401,572 | 72% | Billy Inmon | Independent | 108,745 | 3% | * | |||
| 1998 | Senate | Mary Boyle | 1,482,054 | 44% | George Voinovich | 1,922,087 | 56% | * | |||||||
| 2004 | Senate | Eric D. Fingerhut | 1,961,171 | 36% | George Voinovich | 3,464,356 | 64% | * |
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