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News :: Elections & Legislation |
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USA Today Disses Greens |
Current rating: 0 |
by Jim B
Email: jbuell (nospam) prairienet.org (verified) |
01 Nov 2002
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Despite having interviewed Green Congressional candidate Carl Estabrook by telephone for nearly an hour last week, USA Today reporter Susan Page avoided all mention of the Estabrook campaign in a cover story on the 15th District race which appeared Oct. 30 in the nationally distributed newspaper. |
Despite having interviewed Green Congressional candidate Carl Estabrook by telephone for nearly an hour last week, USA Today reporter Susan Page avoided all mention of the Estabrook campaign in a front-page story on the 15th District race which appeared Oct. 30 in the nationally distributed newspaper. Page is the paper's Washington, DC bureau chief.
The USA Today story, "More Than Ever, Incumbents in the Driver's Seat" (http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20021030/4576093s.htm) used incumbent Republican Tim Johnson as an extended example of a Congressman virtually assured of reelection, thanks to gerrymandering. The Illinois 15th District "grew a scorpion's tail" from its former shape, the article said, in order to make it a safe seat for the Republican incumbent, while another district in the state grew "two arms" to shape its demographics to favor the incumbent Democrat there.
"Despite the expenditure of millions of dollars for ads," Page wrote, "-- and breathless analysis of how critical the election will be -- nearly 90% of Americans live in districts where their votes for the House of Representatives don't matter."
The 15th District race occupied 800 words in the 2,000-word story, and the Democratic challenger's quotes were featured prominently. As the story correctly pointed out, that challenger was "drafted" by party leaders after no one bothered to run as a Democrat in the primary election this past spring.
Completely omitted from the story was any mention of the Estabrook campaign, which reached the ballot thanks to support from nearly 8,000 registered voters in the district who signed their names on his nominating petition last spring. Estabrook's campaign continues to defy expectations, thanks in part to the candidate's strong advocacy of issue stances related to Green principles of social justice, grassroots democracy, environmental wisdom and nonviolence. He is the only anti-war candidate in the race, and the only candidate calling for universal health care, a guaranteed annual income, opposition to NAFTA and an end to the war on terrorism. Contributions have poured in from individuals, giving Estabrook a campaign budget five times higher than the Democrat's, despite the Green candidate's refusal to accept any contributions from political action committees. Federal Elections Commission records indicate that the campaign is the second-best financed federal-level campaign by the Greens anywhere in the country, in fact. Estabrook has also mounted an innovative advertising campaign in newspapers and on radio and television stations around the district, something the Democrat has not bothered to attempt. His website, www.carlforcongress.org, attracts thousands of visitors and tens of thousands of hits each week.
In a letter to the newspaper following the story's publication, Estabrook wrote: "The Greens are growing rapidly across the country as more and more people object to the domination of two pro-war, pro-big business, anti-worker and anti-environment parties. I suppose attempts like this to shore up the 'two-party system' are only to expected from the large, for-profit media -- which are part of the problem, as Ralph Nader found out."
Don't hold your breath waiting for that letter to see print. |
