Pitt professor, alum runs for Congress

‘ ‘ ‘ Titus North is Pitt’s utility professor. ‘ ‘ ‘ The adjunct political science professor… ‘ ‘ ‘ Titus North is Pitt’s utility professor. ‘ ‘ ‘ The adjunct political science professor taught 10 different courses in the last five years and is used to being called upon to teach classes on a variety of topics. North, 47, however, has also been the go-to guy for the Green Party of Allegheny County. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The office of representatives is an extremely important office. Why shouldn’t people have at least two choices?’ said North. ‘If I didn’t run, they wouldn’t have any choice. It would just be Mike Doyle, whether you like him or not.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ North, who earned a doctoral degree from Pitt in 2003, is running for U.S. Congress against incumbent Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, of the 14th District. Doyle is seeking his eighth term in the traditionally Democratic district that encompasses the greater Pittsburgh area. The last time Doyle had a Republican opponent was in 2000. ‘ ‘ ‘ Lissa Geiger, president of Pitt’s College Democrats, said she is a supporter of Doyle but understands the necessity for competition in democracy. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Mike Doyle has shown himself to be very supportive of people in Pittsburgh and Pitt students especially,’ she said. ‘I am so conflicted because Mike Doyle is really one of my favorite politicians, and I wouldn’t want to say anything against Mike Doyle. But I at the same time respect the idea of the Green Party or any party wanting to provide opposition or another choice. I agree that that’s good for democracy.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ North also ran for U.S. Congress as the Green Party candidate against Doyle in 2006 and for mayor of Pittsburgh in 2005. ‘ ‘ ‘ North said that Doyle is better than about 80 percent of Congressmen because of his voting record, but he considers the standard that they set to be low. Doyle voted in favor of the government bailout, which North said ‘is ceding dictatorial powers to Secretary [Henry] Paulson, to the administration.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Instead of a massive government bailout plan, North said he would have worked to reduce the payments of people with housing loans so they could continue paying banks. This is what Japan did in response to its economic crisis, which North considers comparable to the current one in the United States. ‘ ‘ ‘ Much of North’s knowledge about economics comes from his studies in East Asia. After North graduated from Hawaii Loa College in 1984, he moved to Japan, where he lived for nine and a half years. While living in Japan, he experienced an economic crisis that stemmed from the housing sector. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The bubble was enormous, such that in 1989-1990, the land that Tokyo sits on was worth more,’ he said. ‘All the land in Tokyo added up together was worth more than the land in the entire United States.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ When the bubble collapsed, North said, the Japanese government tried many plans to resolve the problem, including pushing a government-sponsored bailout plan similar to the one Congress recently passed. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘This bill that got pushed through Congress ‘mdash; this type of remedy had absolutely no effect, no desirous effect in Japan. When they gave money to companies without condition, when they gave money to banks without condition, within less than a year, it was mostly all lost,’ said North. ‘If you use that as an example ‘mdash; and I think it’s a good example ‘mdash; we’re nowhere near seeing the end of the falling land prices and falling share prices here, especially with the land.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ For North, it was almost as if he was predestined to become involved with politics. He was born in Atlanta, Ga., but he grew up in Arlington, Va., with his parents and older brother and sister. There he found himself stuffing envelopes at the local George McGovern for President headquarters at age 11. As a child, he frequently took buses to Washington, D.C., where he made the U.S. Capitol building his personal playground. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘They didn’t have all the security back then. So the Capitol building was just like a playground for me, and I’d run around,’ said North. ‘Outside the Capitol building there was this little gazebo. We [North and his playmates] weren’t really supposed to go into it, but we just hopped over the fence, and underneath the gazebo, it looked like a dungeon. So we’d just play like it was our dungeon.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ North’s family attended many protests when he was growing up during the Vietnam War. The political activism helped him decide that he wanted to become a politician. ‘ ‘ ‘ In 1984 and 1988, North worked on Rev. Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign. North said he admired Jackson for talking about poor people, and not just the middle class. North respected Jackson for his peaceful foreign policy and his proposal to cut the defense budget during the Cold War. ‘ ‘ ‘ After a while, North became disillusioned. He said that the politicians getting elected were selling out and that he couldn’t bring in the big bucks to be nominated by the Democratic Party, his party at the time. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘So I went into academia. So I studied it, and I remained interested,’ said North. ‘I studied it, but I just thought I couldn’t go out and try to raise big bucks, and sell out my principles.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ When North moved to Japan in 1989, he began working at Thompson Corporation, now Thompson Reuters, and he studied international relations at Sophia University in Tokyo. North still works for Thompson Reuters today, translating a daily English digest of the Japanese financial press. In Japan, he met his wife, Junko, and they married on the Sophia University campus. ‘ ‘ ‘ After earning his master’s degree in international relations from Sophia University, North moved to Philadelphia. He began working on his doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania but transferred to Pitt after one year. North earned a doctorate in international political economy in 2003. ‘ ‘ ‘ North and his wife have a son named Arthur, who is 14, and a daughter, named Sophia, who is 7. They live in Squirrel Hill, close to the USA Professional Karate Studio where North, who has a black belt, teaches karate to youngsters. ‘ ‘ ‘ North also has been a member of the Pittsburgh Banjo Club since 2000. North attributes some of his interest in banjo playing to his time playing in punk rock bands in college. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘There’s actually a certain amount of similarity with playing punk rock-style guitar and playing a tenor banjo,’ said North. ‘The music doesn’t sound the same, but they’re both kind of fast ‘mdash; a lot of fast strumming, fast chord changes.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ North reached his peak on the punk rock scene as the guitarist for the Battery Club in Hawaii. One of its best-known punk hits, ‘I love my dog,’ is still is available on the Hawaii Punk Rock Museum Web site. ‘ ‘ ‘ Former Pitt student Victoria Tran enrolled in two of North’s classes. She said that as a professor, North was inspirational. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘He always does really bold and daring things. I think that’s his best character. He told us how he used to hitchhike all through Japan, Korea and China,’ said Tran. ‘You always get the best education from experience. It seems like he did that: experience everything. He’s very inspirational in that aspect, to me.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ However, Tran said she was unsure what kind of politician North would make because of his random teaching style. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I think he needs to master being a professor before he can be a politician. He doesn’t really naturally have that presence. He’s kind of goofy,’ said Tran. ‘ ‘ ‘ North wrote a book called ‘Operation Patriotic Toilet Seat’ that was published in August. It is a fictional take on the ‘Big Brother’ role of the government. The fictional book’s plot is about President Gerald Ford’s administration’s plan to tattoo barcodes on people’s butts so that the smart toilets could keep track of people’s locations. Though the book is fictional, North set the story during Ford’s presidency because current vice president Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and President George Bush, Sr. worked for Ford. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘All the way through the book, there’s this really silly plot. It’s fun, but it’s really silly. And then, when you get to the end, you realized we’re past that,’ said North. ‘We’re past that. It’s worse than that.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ North took off this semester and last semester to attend to personal affairs. North usually occupies himself with his teaching duties and work for Thompson Reuters. ‘ ‘ ‘ To stay current, he reads five daily Japanese newspapers using a computer program he created with Pearl and UNIX in the ’90s. North said he tries to avoid mainstream media. He watches Democracy Now!, listens to KQV radio in the car and reads stories from Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Al Jazeera. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I try to find a variety of sources,’ he said. ‘Sources all have biases, and that doesn’t make them bad. If you’re aware of what the bias is, you can really make a lot of use of the information.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ North said that as an adjunct professor he has to lobby for classes he would like to teach six or eight months in advance. He didn’t have the time to propose a class for the spring semester, but if the people of Pittsburgh are on his side, he’ll have a new job anyway.