Product Code Database
George Victor Voinovich (July 15, 1936June 12, 2016) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Ohio from 1999 to 2011. He previously served as the 65th governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998 and as the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989; he is the last Republican to serve in that office.
Voinovich spent more than 46 years in public service—first as assistant attorney general of Ohio in 1963 and finally as the senior U.S. senator representing Ohio. He is the 15th person to have served as both the governor of Ohio and a U.S. senator and one of only two Cleveland mayors to later become governor of Ohio and a U.S. senator; the other was Frank Lausche. He is also the only person to have served as both chairman of the National Governors Association and president of the National League of Cities.
Voinovich grew up in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland and graduated from Collinwood High School in 1954. He was raised Catholic and was a lifelong member of his neighborhood parish, Our Lady of the Lake in Euclid (formerly Holy Cross). He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government in 1958 from Ohio University, where he was a member of the fraternity Phi Kappa Tau and served as president of the student body and the men's dormitory system. Voinovich received a Juris Doctor in 1961 from the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University.
Aside from Kucinich, Voinovich's opponents in the race included State Senator Charles Butts and city council majority leader Basil Russo. As the election drew closer, The Plain Dealer endorsed Voinovich. Voter turnout in the primary was greater than that of the 1977 race among Perk, Kucinich and Ed Feighan. In the 1979 nonpartisan primary election, Voinovich received 47,000 votes to Kucinich's 36,000. Russo (who got 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 in various Cleveland neighborhoods. Voinovich declined the invitations, saying the debates would be unproductive, but they did debate on November 3 at the City Club. Voinovich won the election with 94,541 votes to Kucinich's 73,755.
Voinovich was reelected twice in landslides. In 1981 he defeated former State Representative Patrick Sweeney, 107,472 to 32,940, to win Cleveland's first four-year mayoral term. In 1985 he defeated former councilman Gary Kucinich (Dennis Kucinich's brother), 82,840 to 32,185.
By the time Voinovich was elected, Cleveland had become the butt of late night comedians' jokes about the Cuyahoga River and Mayor Ralph Perk's hair catching fire (in separate incidents) Ralph J. Perk; Former Cleveland Mayor Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1999. Retrieved July 25, 2010. and as the only major American city to go bankrupt.Jordan, George E. Two cities offer a blueprint in image-building The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.), July 20, 1997. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
Voinovich took an aggressive approach. He reversed a defensive attitude projected by the Cleveland media, going to "war ... to save one of this country's greatest cities". 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 reading, "New York's the Big Apple, but Cleveland's a Plum." The paper also passed out thousands of "Cleveland's a Plum" buttons and ran a huge picture of publisher Thomas Vail, with a smiling Voinovich beside him, throwing out the first plum at a Yankees-Indians game. 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 that 57 percent claimed to be very satisfied even in 1978, the year of default. A national poll found Detroit to be the city with the worst image, with New York City second and Cleveland fifth.
The New Cleveland Campaign, a promotion agency formed in 1978, began sending out news releases promoting Cleveland's virtues and circulating reprints whenever it got a favorable story. But 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, 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.Zeitz, Joshua New York City on the Brink American Heritage magazine, November 26, 2005. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
The restoration campaign reached its peak in October in the society magazine Town and Country
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 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."
During 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 less criminal activity. Voinovich also quietly moved to reconcile the warring groups of the 1970s. He made peace with business leaders and 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, had become the most potent political forces in the city. He also extended his hand to trade union, in particular the Teamsters.
As mayor, Voinovich was a member of the National League of Cities, of which he was elected president in 1985. Voinovich also oversaw an 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 rescued the troubled Cleveland Indians. 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 Key Bank to build the Key Tower, 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 five years (1982, 1984, 1986), in addition to its first, won in 1950.
The rebuilding process began through Voinovich's administration and improvements were made throughout the company including equipment upgrades and increased wages for all employees. To reflect all the change Municipal Light officially changed its name to Cleveland Public Power (CPP) in 1983. In 1984, the company received the American Municipal Power Association's Scattergood Award for outstanding system operation and achievement.
During his first four years he pulled Ohio out of a $1.5 billion deficit and led efforts to reform welfare and eliminate unfunded mandates. In 1991 Voinovich served as the Chairman of the Midwestern Governors Association. Voinovich was reelected in 1994, defeating Democrat Robert L. Burch Jr. with 72% of the vote, the largest share of the vote of any governor up for election that year and the largest margin of victory for any Ohio governor in the 20th century. During his second term, Voinovich appointed Nancy Hollister, the state's first female lieutenant governor, and Cincinnati mayor Kenneth Blackwell, the state treasurer who became the first African-American to hold state office in Ohio.
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, the Medicaid growth rate was cut by more than two-thirds, and enrollment in welfare was cut in half. Under Voinovich, Ohio was ranked No. 1 in the nation by Site Selection Magazine for new and expanding business facilities.
When the state legislature wanted to close Central State University, Ohio's only historically black state-supported college, Voinovich stepped in by appointing a new board and convincing John Garland to become president.
As both mayor and governor, Voinovich helped to advertise Cleveland as the true birthplace of rock and roll. Beginning in 1985 Voinovich, the City of Cleveland and the State of Ohio began lobbying for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to be built in Cleveland. It eventually opened in 1995. As a nod to his efforts, the Hall's main atrium was renamed the George V. Voinovich Atrium.
In 1998, barred by term limits from running for a third term as governor, Voinovich ran for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by longtime incumbent Democrat John Glenn. He won the election over Democratic nominee Mary O. Boyle. Voinovich was briefly succeeded by Nancy Hollister upon his resignation as governor and before he entered the Senate. Hollister was succeeded by the newly elected Bob Taft in January 1999. It was the first time a Republican governor in Ohio had been succeeded by another Republican governor since 1904.
In November 2004, in his bid for reelection, Voinovich defeated the Democratic nominee, Ohio state senator and former U.S. Representative Eric D. Fingerhut. With 64% of the vote, Voinovich won all 88 Ohio counties and the most votes ever in a U.S. Senate race in Ohio, 3.5 million.
Voinovich gained national attention when he gave a speech tearfully opposing President George W. Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations at Bolton's hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Voinovich remarked, "I don't feel comfortable voting today on Mr. John Bolton." As a result, the committee recessed without a vote, stalling the nomination. Democrats refused to invoke cloture and end debate on the nomination; the first time, Voinovich voted to end debate, but the second time he joined Democrats in voting to extend debate and urged Bush to choose another nominee.
In January 2007, Voinovich expressed concern to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq would not be effective: "At this stage of the game, I don't think it's going to happen." As a moderate Republican, Voinovich was viewed as one of few who could potentially influence Bush. Five months later, Voinovich wrote Bush a five-page letter requesting that the U.S. begin pulling troops from Iraq and that the Iraqis start taking care of their own territory, calling for a "comprehensive plan for our country's gradual military disengagement from Iraq". Another GOP Senator Urges Pullout, Anne Flaherty Associated Press June 26, 2007 2 GOP senators break with Bush on Iraq, Norm N. Levey Los Angeles Times June 27, 2007
On April 7, 2008, Voinovich departed from the Republican platform and stated at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing 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."
When Michigan became the eighth state to accede to the Great Lakes Compact on July 9, 2008, Voinovich was one of the leading legislators in supporting the interstate compact's passage in Congress. All Things Considered (Michigan Radio edition). National Public Radio. Michigan Radio, Ann Arbor-Detroit, July 9, 2008.
On January 20, 2009, Voinovich was appointed to the Appropriations Committee. His appointment marked the first time an Ohioan served on the coveted Senate committee since Mike DeWine lost his 2006 reelection bid. In accepting the appointment, Voinovich relinquished his seat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
On July 22, 2009, Voinovich opposed a measure that would have allowed people to cross state lines with concealed weapons.
From June 25, 2007 to January 3, 2009, Voinovich sat at what is traditionally known as the Senate's "candy desk".
Voinovich 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.
He played a leadership role in strengthening and enlarging the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and was the only member of Congress in the room at the 2002 NATO summit in Prague, where membership was formally extended to Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Voinovich was an active participant in the annual Brussels Forum from its inception in 2007, and served as chairman of the U.S. congressional delegation to the conference in 2010.
Upon Voinovich's announcement, The Plain Dealer wrote, "After decades in an arena that has sullied so many, Voinovich's personal integrity remains unquestioned. He has never been afraid to work across the aisle, and has never forgotten that tax money comes from the wallets of hard-working people."
On June 10, 2016, two days before his death, Voinovich delivered public remarks at the 25th Slovenian Independence Day event at Cleveland City Hall. He was to be a delegate to the July 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
The Voinovich Livestock Center at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fair in Columbus is named in honor of Voinovich. The lawn in front of the center is the site of "Spountain", a sculpture by Barry Gunderson. It is also the site of the Farm Bureau Memorial tree, which was planted in soil from all 88 Ohio counties in 1976 during the Ohio Farm Bureau Bicentennial.
In June 2003, doctors implanted a pacemaker into Voinovich's heart because his heart rate had slowed down due to progressive sinus bradycardia.
Voinovich died at his home in Cleveland on June 12, 2016, at the age of 79.
|
|
