To voters at a Saturday Democratic governor's race forum, Dennis Kucinich's payments from pro-Assad

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio - If Syria is an issue in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, it didn't show Saturday night at a debate in this largely liberal Cleveland suburb.

Just days after news broke that former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich took $20,000 from a pro-Syrian government group for a speech in London, Kucinich along with former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni and former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill took the stage at the Cleveland Heights Community Center.

The initial news of Kucinich's payment - and the initial lack of disclosure - received condemnation on social media. The former congressman from Cleveland had already been lambasted numerous times for visiting Syrian President Bashar Assad - who multiple intelligence agencies have concluded used chemical weapons on his own people.

Kucinich's staunch refusal to condemn Assad for the chemical weapons attack has only compounded the criticism, with Kucinich's detractors saying he is providing cover to the Syrian dictator.

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2018/04/to_voters_at_a_saturday_democr.html

The article also mentions that former governor Ted Strickland endorsed Cordray.