CLEVELAND PLUS Lauds Northeast Ohio

Carin Rockind, Vice President for Marketing and Communications for Cleveland-based Team Northeast (Team NEO), gave a spirited presentation about Cleveland Plus, the campaign to drive long-term strategic growth for Northeast Ohio, during a Club meeting at the offices of Jones Day on Capitol Hill November 15. Cleveland Plus is the effort to market the 16-county region that includes the major metropolitan areas of Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown as an optimal region for business, travel and living.

Ms. Rockind’s Power Point presentation and video outlined the Cleveland Plus effort that is being shown to the world. She pointed out that the region’s economy has been growing, even in manufacturing. It is also diversifying and becoming increasingly high tech, with major polymer companies, the Cleveland Clinic, biomedical companies, financial centers and more. She made the point that the area has 30 colleges and universities as well as a skilled and eager workforce.

Ms. Rockind told Club members that the effort to promote the region is the most sophisticated ever launched on behalf of the area and is receiving strong support from all the affected cities and counties.

She encouraged Northeastern Ohio people in the Washington area to be “ambassadors for the region.” One way to do so is visiting the Cleveland Plus website www.clevelandplus.com and signing up for its Pass the Plus newsletter, presenting stories of uplifting import in the region . . . . and then forwarding it to friends, families and colleagues so they also learn of the lucrative opportunities in Northeast Ohio.

Cleveland Plus can also send you hardcopy materials, bumper stickers and more that support the campaign.

Charley Vanik Story

Several Cleveland Club members attended the very touching service for Charley Vanik in the House Ways and Means Committee Room on Capitol Hill late last month. There was much singing and story telling during this tribute to one of Cleveland's most outstanding Congressmen.

Persons interested in a fine newspaper story by former Vanik staffer Bill Vaughn writing in a September issue of The Hill can find it online at http://thehill.com/op-eds/lessons-from-charles-vanik-no-need-for-money-in-politics-2007-09-18.html.

George Condon, Jr., Addressed the Club about the "Duke" Cunningham Scandal

George Condon, Jr., discussed the Randy "Duke" Cunningham case and Washington corruption. Part of the team of four who won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing Congressman Cunningham's acceptance of bribes in exchange for favors to defense contractors, Condon explained to Club members during an October 24 lunch at the National Press Club how Cunningham became embroiled in corruption. According to Condon, no Congressman in the nation's history has taken so much ($2.4 million) in bribery, not even excluding the horrendous Credit Mobilier scandal of the 1870s and figuring in inflation. The Cunningham misdeeds reached even into the CIA -- Dustin Foggo, the recently resigned executive director, is under indictment stemming from the Cunningham-related crimes.

Condon lay some of the blame of the scandal on the growth of earmarks, short entries into legislation that are generally not scrutinized or even read by Congressional committees, that favor companies or projects. Secrecy owing to defense- or war-related spending further obscures the earmarks and keeps them from public examination. Earmarks have grown from 10 when Ronald Reagan was first elected to more than 6,000 in 2006. Billions of dollars are at stake, and the potential for bribery is prevalent, Condon said.

Condon’s book on the scandal is called The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Tale of Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught (Public Affairs, 2007).

Legal Times Honors Bruce Sanford

Legal Times’ July 16 issue named Bruce Sanford of Baker Hostetler one of the top ten communications lawyers in Washington. Bruce was awarded the Club’s Harold Hitz Burton Award for Distinguished Public Service in January of this year.

Legal Times pointed out that Bruce has defended more than a thousand First Amendment and intellectual property cases, representing Bill Clinton, Barbara Bush, John Grisham, The New York Times, and the ABC Company among others. A ten-page petition Bruce once wrote to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit resulted in a majority two judges reversing their earlier decision in the case, a highly unusual occurence.

Bruce is also an accomplished writer, having worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and authored Don’t Shoot the Messenger: How Our Growing Hatred of the Media Threatens Free Speech for All of Us.

Charley Vanik Passed Away, Aged 94

Club Member Tom Steich reported the following:

The August 31 Plain Dealer and News Herald reported that former Cleveland Congressman Charles A. Vanik passed away at age 94 from natural causes at his home in Jupiter, Fla. Charley Vanik served 26 years in Congress representing the 21st Congressional District (Cleveland's East Side) from 1955 to 1969, and then the 22nd District from 1969 to his retirement in 1981. When his 21st District became majority Afro-American population, he gave up his seat so that Louis Stokes could run for his seat in Congress. Charley then ran against Congresswoman Frances Bolton in 1968 and won her seat in Congress representing the 22nd District (Eastern suburbs of Cleveland).

Congressman Vanik is known for, among many accomplishments, co-sponsoring the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the U.S. Foriegn Trade Law addressing discrimination behind the Iron Curtain, his efforts to help the less fortunate in our society, publishing an annual list of U.S. corporations that failed to pay their fair share of taxes, and his trademark black/navy blue tuxedo and bowtie he wore everyday. Those of us who were fortunate to work for him will never forget him, because he was one of a kind. Owing to his lifetime of public and constituent service to the people of Greater Cleveland, he had a deserved reputation of having been in every constituent's kitchen. Thus, he never had to solicit campaign contributions to run for office, and when he concluded in 1980 that he would have to begin soliciting campaign contributions, he retired from Congress.

The family is having a private funeral in Florida but plans to have public memorial services in Cleveland and Washington, DC at a later date, according to news reports.

Tom Steic