[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 163 (Thursday, October 27, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN HONOR OF MR. BOB PAYNTER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 27, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Bob Paynter, 
who is being honored by the Press Club of Cleveland and inducted into 
the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.
  Bob was born and raised in Kirkwood, Missouri. He attended the 
University of Missouri--Columbia School of Journalism and graduated 
with a bachelor's degree in 1975. He first worked for the Akron Beacon 
Journal from 1981 to 1985 on crime, parole policies and political 
corruption. During his first period with the Journal he wrote a number 
of stories that helped free a man wrongly convicted of a child-murder 
case and led indirectly to conviction of the real killer.
  Bob left the Greater Cleveland area and worked as a general 
assignment and projects reporter for The Dallas Morning News during 
1986. He covered local courts and government and investigating the 
effects of lead pollution on inner-city children. Bob returned to Ohio 
working for the Akron Beacon Journal in January 1987. He worked as an 
investigative reporter and editor with the newspaper for the next 13 
years. He covered topics such as campaign-finance abuses, failed drug-
enforcement policies, illegal awarding of county sewer contracts, 
wrongful conviction of college student for date rape and evolution of 
race relations in the Akron area. In December of 1999 Bob began working 
for The Cleveland Plain Dealer as a projects editor and investigative 
reporter. During his 9 years with the Plain Dealer, Bob wrote on 
misconduct by the Parma police and the priests of the Cleveland Diocese 
and the ``Cold-Blooded Liar'' series. He is now the principal of 
Investigative Communications, LLC.
  Throughout his career, Bob has been the recipient of some of 
journalism's most prestigious awards. As a result of his work on race 
relations in Akron Bob was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for 
Public Service. He received Worth Bingham and Sigma Delta Chi awards 
because of his work on the Ohio legislature's ``Pay to Play'' system 
and American Society of Newspaper Editors Local Watchdog Award while he 
was with the Plain Dealer.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in congratulating Mr. Bob 
Paynter as the Press Club of Cleveland inducts him into the Cleveland 
Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

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