Kucinich for President Committee
Headquarters: 11808 Lorain Ave, First Floor, Cleveland, OH
(this is the same building, although not the same floor
where Kucinich had his 2002 re-election headquarters)
through Sept. 1, 2003
Campaign Manager |
Gary Jelinek |
(announced as National Campaign
Manager on June 25, 2003; previously served as California Coordinator for
the campaign) Jelinek managed Kucinich's first successful campaign,
for Cleveland City Council in 1968. He and Kucinich attended college
and graduate school together. After managing several political campaigns,
Jelinek went on to spend 30 years in business and nonprofits. Most
recently, he was regional director of the nonprofit Rebuilding Together
(formerly known as Christmas in April) which helps low-income homeowners.
Assistant
to the Campaign Manager |
Suzanne Van Bebber |
(announced June 25, 2003; she was serving as Northern California Campaign
Coordinator)
Has worked as coordinator of the Global Renaissance Alliance's Peace
Circles.
Cobble volunteered for his first
presidential campaign at the age of 20, running his home county in New
Mexico for George McGovern. He later served as political director
and speechwriter for the National Rainbow Coalition, was National Delegate
Coordinator for Jackson for President '88, and directed the Keep Hope Alive
PAC. Cobble has conducted election training workshops for the African
National Congress in South Africa, served as a Fellow at Harvard's Institute
of Politics, was once selected as a Young Political Leader in America,
and is listed in Who's Who in America. He served as executive director
of the Arca Foundation. In 2000 he was a senior strategist on the
Nader campaign.
Communications
Director |
Jeff Cohen |
(from April 1, 2003) Cohen
founded FAIR, a national media watch group, in 1986. He served as
the group's executive director and later on its board of directors, and
co-authored four books. In May 2002 Cohen left FAIR to work at MSNBC,
where he was senior producer and on-air contributor on "Donahue;" MSNBC
ended the show in Feb. 2003. Before launching FAIR, Cohen worked
in Los Angeles as a journalist producing investigative articles and as
an attorney for the ACLU.
Press
Secretary |
David Swanson |
Director
of Operations |
Ellen Augustine Schwartz |
(from June 2003) Schwartz
is an author, entrepreneur, former congressional candidate, and founder
of several nonprofits. In her bid for Congress in Northern California in
1994, she garnered the most votes of anyone running against an incumbent
on the West Coast. She founded and led Invest in Kids, a nonprofit
dedicated to providing mentors and scholarships to low-income youth.
She founded Healing Our Nation from Violence to raise public awareness
about negative influences of the entertainment industry. She has
organized numerous Earth Day exhibitions, served on the Executive Committee
of the Kauai Group of the Sierra Club, and was an Advisory Board member
of Kauai Community Radio KKCR. She is the co-author of "Taking Back
Our Lives in the Age of Corporate Dominance."
National
Fundraising Director |
Dan Spinner |
(announced June 25, 2003)
Partner in LMI Enterprises; has 20 years experience in nonprofit, charitable
and political fundraising. He has been CEO for the Chopra Foundation
and Senior Campaign Counsel for Esalen. He has held staff and leadership
positions with United Way, and in healthcare and universities. He also
has background in the labor movement.
Field
Director |
Amy Hochadel |
Worked on Kucinich's congressional
staff as Special Projects Coordinator for the past four years, taking leaves
of absence to run the field operation for his re-election campaigns.
Previously a union organizer for the AFL-CIO for four years; prior to that
was a union organizer/community organizer for UNITE for one year in New
Orleans.
Labor
Liaison |
Greg Somerville |
Former President and Business
Manager of the Cleveland Municipal Light Workers, and an IBEW member, Somerville
has known Kucinich since 1976. He played a key role in the initial
development of the campaign starting with discussions in Dec. 2002.
Somerville served as Director of Operations until June 2003.
National
Liaison for Colleges and Youth |
Jessica Davis |
Graduate of the University of
Cincinnati with a degree in international affairs.
Major
Donor Fundraising |
Joe Bailer |
National
Representative |
Alan Zmija |
Previously worked in Kucinich's
district office.
National
Co-Chair |
John Robbins |
Author of Diet for A New
America (1987), The Awakened Heart, Reclaiming Our Health,
and The Food Revolution.
Robbins founded EarthSave International,
an organization which seeks to promote a plant-based diet, in 1988.
He is the only son of the founder of Baskin-Robbins. Robbins lives
in the Santa Cruz area.
Key States:
I
O W A
Iowa
Field Coordinator |
John Friedrich |
Midwest political director for
Clean Water Action, from Aug. 2002. Founder and executive director
of Community Harvest, a Washington, DC non-profit, 1997-2002. National
political director of Clean Water Action, 1993-97. Friedrich served
as Illinois campaign manager for Harkin for President in 1991-92 and as
a field organizer on Harkin's 1990 Senate campaign. He is a graduate
of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1987) and a native of Iowa City.
N
E W H A M P S H I R E
New
England Campaign Coordinator (ME, VT, NH, MA) |
Trevor Elkins no
longer with the campaign |
(started in this position beginning
of May 2003, moved to NH in the second week in May) Started with
the campaign in Cleveland in February 2003 as assistant to Field Director
Amy Hochadel. Moved to Cleveland in 1995. Elected to Palmyra-Macedon
school board in New York at age 21.
A
R I Z O N A
State Director |
Kevin Spidel |
Spidel earned his BA in Political
Science from Arizona State University, Main Campus ’02. He is active
in many civic groups and is a third generation Arizonan.
O
K L A H O M A
(Started September 1, 2003)
Skye has a background in small business, non-profit management and corporate
training. Her most recent emphasis has been on consumer education
and health. She first met Kucinich in 1986 in Cleveland while there
on business.
C
A L I F O R N I A
Campaign
Director for California |
Dotty Lemeiux |
N E W Y O R K
New
York Regional Coordinator |
Chad Elson |
Website: Initial design
by Tree Media
Group
(Santa Monica, Calif.).
The campaign brought the
website
in house in early July 2003.
Karen Kilroy,
who hails from Northeastern
Ohio and has
20 years of experience in
the tech field,
is webmaster.
Former
Lisa Casini-National
Media Coordinator
Stacey Vicari worked
for a bit as National Fundraising Director-She founded Ideal Life™ and
has been working as a personal coach in Louisville, Kentucky. Named
president of EarthSave International at age 27. Founded an environmental/vegetarian
non-profit organization. |