From 76150.1170@CompuServe.COM Wed Jan 22 18:32:17 1992 Date: 18 Jan 92 10:51:11 EST From: Stephen Smith <76150.1170@CompuServe.COM> To: Subject: Agran, CompuServe, and MAP. [...] Specifically, the national media is starting to pick up the story about Larry Agran being excluded from this Sunday's candidates' forum in NH. Many of the print media in NH have slimed the chair of the NH State Democratic Party, Chris Spirou, who has openly avowed to exclude Agran from any Party-sponsored events. Spirou tried to have Agran arrested at a Nashua health care forum on 12/23, when Agran stood up in the crowd and demanded that he be included. As the cops grabbed him by the arms and began to drag him away, the audience started screaming at the moderator, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, to let Agran speak. Then Tsongas and Harkin appealed to Rockefeller, and waved at Larry to come up. USA Today ran an article about it yesterday, but the article mostly quoted Party insiders and media moguls at the networks justifying their exclusion of candidates. Most of it was lies. And now MacNeil/Lehrer, which previously had run two profiles of Agran, has excluded him from the PBS debate on 1/31. They've told us that Agran is not "newsworthy." We're going to need a lot of help in the next few days to get as many people as possible involved in harassing MacNeil/Lehrer into including Agran. We have a meeting this morning on strategy; I'll write you with what help we need. If you can spread the word on as many nets as possible, you'll be doing not only Agran 92 a favor, but helping to preserve the democratic process. [...] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From 76150.1170@CompuServe.COM Wed Jan 22 18:31:47 1992 Date: 19 Jan 92 20:10:37 EST From: Stephen Smith <76150.1170@CompuServe.COM> To: Subject: question & my draft "action/aler OK, re the USA Today article -- The USA Today article totally ignored WHY Larry Agran should be considered a serious, legitimate candidate. To quote the article, "former mayor of Irvine, Calif., and one of 36 Democrats who paid $1,000 to get on the ballot for New Hapmshire's Feb. 18 primary." Of those 36 candidates, there are only seven or eight who are running nation campaigns, recruiting delegates, raising funds nationally, and have qualified for the ballot in states across the nation. Larry Agran is one of those candidates. The article also quoted Chris Spirou, the chair of the New Hampshire State Democratic Party, as saying, "This is not an experiment in small chatter or jokes or kidding around. This is the serious business of electing the president." Chris Spirou for months has openly avowed that he will do everything possible to exclude Larry Agran from Party-sponsored events. Why? Because Larry Agran refused Spirou's demand to make huge "donations" to the state party "in exchange for speaking privileges." The very day that Agran announced for his candidacy, on August 22, I personally called the NH State Party to notify them of Agran's candidacy and his intention to participate in all Party-sponsored events. When the Party scheduled its convention for November 2 and stated its intention to use the convention as a candidates' forum, we were told that if Larry Agran wanted to address the convention he'd have to pay the party money. Harkin's $50,000 "donation" was cited as an example. They wanted $2,000 for a block of 300 seats we wouldn't use; $800 to construct a booth we wouldn't use; and $10,000 for a voters' list that we could get far more cheaply from the NH secretary of state. We were told that if we wouldn't pay the money, Larry Agran would be barred from speaking to the convention. Larry Agran refused. He believes in free speech, not fee speech. After that, the state party repeatedly refused to return our phone calls. When we DID get through, they made only vague promises that Agran would have some role in the convention. Five days before the event, we were told that while the other "major" candidates would each get 20 minutes to speak, Larry Agran would get only five. They also told us that this was the ONLY event scheduled for that weekend. Well, the night before, there was a candidates' debate broadcast on WMUR. When we called the state party, they DENIED that there was such an event, even though we'd confirmed it through an aide to another candidate's campaign. When we confronted them about the lie, they simply said, "You're not invited." At the convention, other candidates routinely exceeded their 20 minutes. Tom Harkin, who gave the state party $50,000, went over a half-hour. But when it came to be Larry Agran's turn, when Agran exceeded five minutes Chris Spirou directed that the plug be pulled on Agran's microphone. Agran continued to speak; Spirou didn't control the C-SPAN feed. So Spirou then directed that music be blared over the loudspeakers to drown out Agran. Spirou's misbehavior was roundly condemned in the NH media. And we were told afterwards that Larry Agran would NOT be allowed to participate in any other party-sponsored events. On December 23, the state party sponsored a candidates' health care forum in Nashua. In the preceding months, Agran had campaigned across the nation, participated in forums with all the other candidates, and had campaigned full-time in NH. Still, Spirou barred him. Larry Agran bought a ticket for the health care event. When Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the moderator, began the event, Agran stood up and demanded to be included. Rockefeller told Agran to "sit down and be quiet or you will be removed." At that point, police grabbed Agran and began to drag him out. The audience howled in protest, yelling "Freedom of speech!" and "Let use choose!" At this point, Harkin and Tsongas appealed to Rockefeller to include Agran. Rockefeller reluctantly invited Agran onto the dais, but cut off Agran repeatedly during the night. After the event, Spirou told the press that he would take "legal action" if need be to stop Agran, and said, "Some of us have smelled the gunpowder of battle before." And now we have the January 19 debate broadcast on C-SPAN. Several NH papers, and the Boston Globe, all ran editorials declaring Agran a legitimate candidate and demanded that Agran be included. The 150,000 member grassroots organization Rainbow Lobby ran a full-page ad in the Manchester Union Leader demanding that Agran, Fulani and McCarthy be included. Four members of Congress sent a letter to Spirou demanding that they be included. And Harkin, Kerrey and Brown all went on the record asking that they be included. Spirou still refused to budge. The USA Today article also quotes Bill Wheatley, NBC News' Director of Political Coverage. What USA Today didn't tell you was that Wheatley was the one who excluded Agran from NBC's December 15 debate. After repeated phone calls by our legal counsel, Wheatley finally itemized NBC's criteria for selecting participants. We replied with documentation showing that Agran met every one of their criteria. Wheatley then replied with a letter saying that Agran was barred based on "general news judgment." And the kicker is that two days before the NBC debate, Wheatley was quoted in USA Today as saying that "We're holding a chair open for Mario Cuomo," in case Cuomo declared. Now why in heaven's name was NBC holding open a chair for a non-candidate who hadn't raised one penny in campaign funds, when Larry Agran was a viable alternative? If there was room, it should have been for declared candidates, not phantoms. Finally, USA Today quotes Hal Bruno of ABC News. Bruno said, "It's pathetic to think that's the only reason their campaigns are not taking off. Their campaigns are not taking off because no reasonable person can take them seriously." That kind of arrogance is an insult to every thinking voter. Of course the media blackout is keeping the Agran campaign from taking off. If you refuse to tell Americans about one candidate, how are people going to be able to make an intelligent decision about him? How is that candidate going to have credibility when Peter Jennings is on the news night after night declaring Bill Clinton as the frontrunner, even though not one ballot has been cast? And there's one subject that USA Today didn't cover. In over half the states in this country, the secretary of state arbitrarily decides which candidates get on the ballot based on "general recognition in the national media." In other words, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings get to decide who Americans get to vote for. These laws, which are probably unconstitutional, abdicate political responsibility. That's why the ACLU has filed lawsuits on behalf of Larry Agran in Maryland and Florida to put him on the ballot. Steve Smith Issues Director, Agran 92 (800) 727-9425 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Call and/or write the decision-makers at The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour: Robin MacNeil Dan Werner, Assoc. Exec. Producer The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour 356 W. 58th Street 3620 S. 27th Street New York, NY 10019 Arlington, VA 22206 (212) 560-3113 (703) 998-2870 --Harel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -