[ALBSA-Info] Media Responding to Our Anti-Bentley Campaign

[IZherka at aol.com]

We have been out at a number of places protesting Bentley.  Our efforts have 
finally caught on.  See below.  Baltimore's main paper has endorsed 
Ruppersberger and Bentley is now down in the polls!

Just a week left.  Lets cross our fingers and work harder.  Feel free to 
contact me if you can volunteer this weekend or send a donation.

Ilir Zherka


> 2nd District draws outside attention
> --------------------
> 
> Groups, political stars try to sway House race voters
> 
> By Andrew A. Green
> Sun Staff
> 
> October 30, 2002
> 
> With less than a week to go and polls showing a dead heat in the 
> congressional race between Republican Helen Delich Bentley and Democrat 
> C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, outside forces have descended on the 2nd District 
> with rallies, protests and advertisements designed to tip the scales in the 
> race and, possibly, in the House of Representatives. 
> 
> House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri stumped for 
> Ruppersberger last night at the Baltimore International Brotherhood of 
> Electrical Workers Hall, urging union members to turn out to elect the 
> Baltimore County executive and help his party take control of the national 
> agenda. 
> 
> "What this country needs right now is a House of Representatives controlled 
> by a majority ... that votes on every issue for the working families that 
> made us great, and that's what you get when you go Dutch," Gephardt said. 
> 
> The race is one of about 16 toss-ups in this year's midterm elections that 
> will determine which party controls the House. 
> 
> Not to be outdone, Bentley will get a last-minute boost from Rudolph W. 
> Giuliani, New York's former mayor, at a fund-raiser Sunday in Baltimore. 
> 
> Two advocacy groups have stepped up their opposition to Bentley in the last 
> week, saying she protected polluters and sought to cover up Serbian 
> atrocities when a member of the House. 
> 
> A group called Tell the Truth, made up largely of Albanian-, Croatian- and 
> Jewish-Americans, started appearing at Bentley appearances a week ago, 
> distributing leaflets critical of the former congresswoman's pro-Serbian 
> stance in the early 1990s. The group alleges that she improperly used her 
> congressional office and staff to cover up Serbian atrocities. 
> 
> "For four years, she remained the No. 1 spokesperson and mouthpiece for the 
> Serbian agenda on Capitol Hill," said Steve Rukavina, the group's chairman. 
> "The depth of her behavior in the last five years she was in Congress 
> really shows a character flaw and a reason to be very concerned about how 
> she would represent the 2nd District again in the U.S. Congress." 
> 
> In news reports and speeches on the House floor at the time, Bentley said 
> she personally asked Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to resign and 
> sought to discourage a rush to judgment against the Serbs, saying that no 
> side in the conflict was innocent. 
> 
> She said that she now believes a credible body of evidence has surfaced 
> that Serbian forces engaged in war crimes, and she supports Milosevic's 
> prosecution. Moreover, she said she has not been involved in Serbian 
> affairs for a decade and would not seek to be involved if elected. 
> 
> "I have never been back, never contacted anybody since except to send 
> clothes to the needy people," she said. 
> 
> Following through on its criticism of Bentley's environmental record, the 
> national League of Conservation Voters has begun mailing glossy brochures 
> to 2nd District voters saying that she "has a record of siding with 
> corporate polluters -- and against us." 
> 
> The brochures say Bentley voted against requiring corporate polluters to 
> inform residents about the release of toxic chemicals into the environment 
> and against holding polluters more accountable for the environmental 
> hazards they create. They also criticize her for voting against wetlands 
> protection. 
> 
> Last summer, the league named Bentley to its "Dirty Dozen" list of the most 
> anti- environment congressional candidates in the nation. Echoing the 
> group's concerns, the Sierra Club endorsed Ruppersberger. 
> 
> League spokesman Dan Lewis said members are walking through 2nd District 
> neighborhoods, distributing literature and talking to voters. 
> 
> Bentley shrugged off the criticism, saying the groups don't understand the 
> need to balance environmental protection with economic growth. 
> 
> "I'm not an extremist," Bentley said. "People need to work. People need 
> jobs." 
> 
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