From harelb@math.cornell.edu Sun Apr 5 21:21:16 1992 Date: Sat, 4 Apr 92 16:08:45 EST From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai) To: harelb@math.cornell.edu Subject: AGRAN: THE BLACKED-OUT CANDIDATE "On every issue, Agran is more specific, more consistent, and more progressive than Jerry Brown..." -- _Village Voice_ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "AGRAN: THE BLACKED-OUT CANDIDATE" Letter to the Editor, by Dooley Kiefer, Ithaca, to _Ithaca Times_, April 2, 1992 edition. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How many Tompkins County voters have heard of Larry Agran? He's been campaigning for the presidency since August 1991 -- the second Democrat to announce his candidacy. He's on the ballot in New York State, and got more votes in New Hampshire than Jerry Brown. So why havn't we heard of him? [Note: Agran did *not* get more votes than Brown in the NH *primary* (this may have a tiny bit to do with the media black-out overviewed below). Agran DID *poll* ahead of Brown in NH (original results by available by email), this I know for a fact, and not far behind Harkin; it is *after* this strong showing by Agran, the mainstream nooz refused to include Agran in any of the natioanlly broadcast debates -HB] The national media havce shut him out as though he doesn't exist. "With Catch-22 logic, Agran has been told by news media executives that he has not mearned the rights to media exposure because, among other things, he has not received enough media exposure," according to the _Columbia Journalism Review_. As the _Village Voice_ puts it, "Perhaps Larry Agran doesn't pass the media celebrity test: there's nothign zany about him, he's not a realist, has no ties to S&Ls, doesn't appear to cheat on his wife. But Agran, a former major of Irvine, California (America's largest master-planned city, population 110,000), A Harvard law honors grad, ex-staffer of the California legislature, published author, urban reformer, environmentalist and foreign policy sophisicate, does make his fellow Democrats looks like ignoramuses by comparison. And -- an astonishing feat -- he won office as a liberal Democrat in a city with a two and a half to one Republican edge." Before the New Hampshire primary Agran had a full-time staff of 51, had qualified for the ballot or caucuses in 27 states, and had raised $200,000 from donors in 37 states -- well on his way to federal matching funds (which require a minimum of $5000 from small donations in each of 20 states). His comments were well-received by voters at candidate forums (when he was allowed to speak) -- for example, last Saturday in Buffalo -- but have been purges from national news accounts. [NOTE: The New York Times in essence declared Agran the winner of a candidates' forum in D.C. when it stated: "dozens of mayors meeting here today seemed to agree on one thing: the single candidate who truly understands urban needs is Larry Agran." "MAYORS APPEAR UNMOVED BY THE MAJOR CANDIDATES. [subtitle:] Enthusiasm for an Obscure Contender with a $25 Billion Plan" By Richard L. Berke. New York Times, Jan. 24, 1992. -- HB] According o the _Village Voice_, the president of NBC News told Agran it was "the consensus of our news judgment" that he not be included in their debate, and although MacNeil/Lehrer covered his announcemnet last year, by January 22 of this year it was their judgment not to invite him to their TV debate. [NOTE: this is all the more astounding when one notes that the above-mentioned poll, with Agran's 4% ahead of "major candidate" Brown (3%) and not far behind Harkin (7%), was in a January 25 poll by American Research Group -- and MacNeil/L had ample time to change it's mind before the Jan 31st debate, yet Agran was *still* exluded, as not a "significant" candidate] And the League of Women Voters, much to their shame, also closed him out, citing as one of their criteria "recognition by the national medi aas candidate meriting media attention" [NOTE: more circular logic. Worse, in a letter to League supporters by Susan Lederman, the chair of the League's Education Fund, Kederman solicited a contribution of $300 or more to underwrite the cost of the debate. In her letter, Ms. Lederman wrote: Primary debates are really the most important debates of any election cycle because they allow voters to get to know their parties' candidates ... GIVE LESSER KNOWN CANDIDATES a chance to be heard ... and get citizens excited about the issues that will be decided by their final votes next November. As Agran has noted "This .. act of exclusion is not only an act of hypocrisy, but also suggests that the League used fraudulent means to raise funds from its supporters across America." --HB] I would think the media would welcome an intelligent, informed and able candidate. I have heard Agran in a New Hampshire debate and once on NAtional Public Radio, and head his letter to the New Yoirk Times (which actually cropped him from their September 8 group photo of the candidates at a tri-state Iowa party unity dinner!(*)) as well as his article in the February 12 In These Times. Agran supports nationwide single-payer health insurance for us all; he proposes to cut the military budget by 50 poercent and spend that peace divident on education and re-training, public safety, environmental protection, rebuilding our cities and town and energy-efficient transportation. As the _Village Voice_ puts it, "On every issue, Agran is more specific, more consistent, and more progressive than Jerry Brown... He'd send $15 billion per year to schools, and supports vastly increased AIDS research, treatment on demand for alcohol and drug dependency, sterile needles for addicts and free condoms for teens. He proposes an additional one percent tax on the *assets* of the wealthiest one per cent fo the popoulation, a move that might generate $30 billion to $50 billion a year." The Agran campaign can be reached at (714)250-7340, or one can leave a message at (800)727-9425. Donations to "Agran for President" can be sent to P.O. Box 159, Irvine, CA 92650. At this point, Agran is on the ballot in at least 30 states, but with no national media coverage, has to limit his New York Appearances to the largest metropolitan areas, so we won't see him in the middle of upstate. Still, I hope Tompkins country Democrats, with their well-know indepenedence and feistiness, will be moved to vote for Agran on April 7. -- Dooley Kiefer, Ithaca ------------------------------------------------------------------ (*)RE: Photo cropping: In Agran's words, from an In These Times: ------------------------------------------------------------------ All I asked -- and indeed all I expected -- from the party and the national media was a chance to present my platform to the American voters. But the media's response ranged largely from apathy to derision. Still, some took note. I was invited along with Paul Tsongas to address the Tri-State Democrats Unity Dinner in Sioux City, Iowa. (At the time, we were the only declared candidates.) The hosts also invited potential candidates Tom Harkin a nd Bill Clinton to speak. All four speakers were treated as equals. My speech was broadcast on C-SPAN with the others, and I was included in the group photo of the candidates. But if you asked the national media, I wasn't even there. The New York Times published a version of the group photo in which I had been cropped out. (As Casey Stengel used to say, "You can look it up." The national edition, Sunday, September 8, 1991, p. 16. I'm standing just off to the right, where the other candidates are gesturing.) The extensive article on the event quoted the other three speakers at length -- two of whom were not even declared candidates at that point. The Times deigned only to mention my presence with one sentence near the end of the report, calling me a "dark horse" candidate. --HB