Nader is funny

[Guest guest]

My friends, this is for your info. Ralph Nader is definitively my

candidate! Regards from France. Bernard Blanc

 

Subject:

[NorTXGreens] Nader's letter to the debate commission

Date:

Tue, 10 Oct 2000 09:47:02 -0500

kelly.holmes

 

nortxgreens

 

 

 

 

 

>From today's Z magazine mailing list item (http://www.zmag.org/):

 

Mr. Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.

Mr. Paul G. Kirk, Jr.

Co-Chairmen Commission on Presidential Debates

 

Cc: Ms. Janet H. Brown, Executive Director

Vice-President Albert Gore, Jr.

Governor George W. Bush

 

Dear Mssrs. Fahrenkopf and Kirk:

 

On Tuesday night October 3, 2000, I attempted to view the first

presidential

debate hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) at the

University

of Massachusetts. Though I have been excluded from participating in the

debates

by the arbitrary and unfair standards set by your private, bi-partisan

company,

I was given a transferable ticket by a university student to observe the

debates

in a separate auditorium reserved apart from the corporate-sponsored

audience in

attendance for the two-party show. I planned to view the debates so that

I could

appear as a guest to comment on the debates later that evening on a live

broadcast by Fox News Channel from a trailer occupied by them, at the

debate

site, with the full permission of the CPD.

 

En route to the event, ticket in hand, and members of the press present

and

recording everything at my side, I was met by a security consultant, Mr.

John

Vezeris, who was flanked by three uniformed state troopers. The security

consultant, while declining to present any credentials, told me that he

was

" instructed by the Commission " to advise me that " it's already been

decided

that, whether or not you have a ticket, you are not invited. " One of the

police

officers told me that I would face arrest if I continued to remain on

the

premises. The security consultant repeatedly refused to divulge who from

the CPD

ordered this action and subsequent attempts by my campaign to establish

who

ordered this coercive expulsion with the aid of police officers have not

resulted in any names. I was stopped a second time by the same police

when I

attempted to visit the news trailer for a broadcast I was formally

invited to do

by Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes and which had been arranged from

the

premises. According to today's media reports, Mr. Kirk claims I was

excluded as

a " point man for the protests, " when I took no part in those protests

and when

demonstrations by pro-Gore supporters did not result in similar

exclusionary

treatment for Vice-President Gore. As the Green Party candidate for the

office

of President, I am not used to being barred by police officers from

attending

public events for which I hold a ticket. Nor am I accustomed to being

physically

prevented from attending approved on-site newscasts and reaching

national

audiences from venues where I am invited to appear. Indeed, the

Commission's

decision to deploy public officers at a public university to bar me from

viewing

the presidential debates and participating at a subsequent onsite

newscast

because of my political viewpoints and affiliation with the Green Party

violates

both Massachusetts State and federal civil rights laws.

 

Accordingly, in the spirit of a proposed settlement offer for this

outrageous

and unlawful behavior, I am seeking the following by 10 a.m. Tuesday

morning

October 10th:

 

1) An official, written apology from both of you, on behalf of Governor

George

W. Bush and Vice President Albert Gore, Jr.

 

2) A contribution of $25,000 to the nonprofit The Appleseed Center for

Electoral

Reform at Harvard Law School.

 

3) An assurance that I will not be barred from attending any other CPD

presidential debate venues for which I have an invitation from the press

or a

ticket.

 

Should you not respond by Tuesday morning to these three requests, the

Nader

2000 Campaign will pursue its legal remedies on Tuesday, October 10th.

 

Sincerely yours,

Ralph Nader