Date: Mon Jan 6 15:30:39 2003

To: "NLG Students Announce"

Subject: [NLGstudents] Guild Student Needs Support!

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To all members of the National Lawyers Guild - Legal Workers, Jailhouse Lawyers, Law Students and Lawyers - please read this note:

In October in Pasadena, NLG voted to work to repeal the so-called USA PATRIOT Act all across the country. This was a monumental decision that made me proud to be an NLG member, especially because it was my congressman, Adam Schiff, who co-authored this heinous law. As you may know, Schiff was reelected by a 30 point margin despite voting to support Bush's war in Iraq and despite our protests outside his office and in the papers. On to Plan B...

I am running for Mayor of Pasadena. My campaign is focused on local issues, of course: Fair Rents, Fair Profits, and Just Cause Evictions; Money for the Public Schools; and increasing public participation in our local little "d" democracy. But I am also publicly opposed to the USA PATRIOT Act (our "hidden agenda" at NLG-Loyola was "the USA PATRIOT Act - the last refuge of a scoundrel...") and against the war on Iraq.

These may not become campaign issues (my opponent doesn't think the PATRIOT act or the war are issues for a busy city council to get involved in, see below), but they certainly will be the first two pieces of legislation that I propose if elected.

My opponent, the incumbent, is a wealthy retired businessman. In the last Pasadena election for mayor, the candidates spent almost $1million for only 20,000 votes. It was the most expensive election in Pasadena's history and, at $50 per vote, it was perhaps the most expensive municipal election we have seen in this country.

I would like your help in my campaign to bring progressive politics to one of the most widely known small towns in the world. I would like your help to get Pasadena to go on record for repeal of the USA PATRIOT act and against the War on Iraq.

If you are able to help in any way, large or small, money or advice, please let me know via e-mail at philip4mayor@yahoo.com or by phone at 626-797-6342 or by mail at: Philip for Mayor of Pasadena, c/o Philip Koebel, 255 Robinson Road, Pasadena, CA 91104-2156.

because human rights are more sacred than property rights,

Philip Koebel, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles NLG Chapter Board Member

p.s. here is a recent article from the Pasadena Weekly about the incumbent...

From the Pasadena Weekly (Dec. 19, 2002).

ROWING AGAINST THE TIDE OF PEACE

When it comes to taking stands on war, peace and civil rights, Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard stands in stark contrast to both popular opinion and some of his predecessors - not to mention his own past actions

By Kevin Uhrich

While Americans everywhere express concern about our country's war posture against Iraq, and several city councils in California and around the country have taken formal stands against possible hostilities with that country, as well as the USA PATRIOT Act, Pasadena is likely to stay uncharacteristically mum on issues of war and peace.

That's primarily because Pasadena has been down the international diplomacy road before, one of the last times with a former mayor who traveled to Cuba - touching off a firestorm of political controversy that lasted for years, said Mayor Bill Bogaard.

But standing silent on the war and threat to basic freedoms contained in the PATRIOT Act is the last thing a growing number of committed Pasadenans plan to let happen. Several groups have already authored resolutions that both call for condemnation of war and repeal of the act, co-authored by Pasadena Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. "The steam is building on this thing. I think we are going to see a reprise of times gone by," anti-war activist Terry Burke said, referring to the sometimes violent demonstrations that marked the end of the politically turbulent 1960s. "This is so scary."

But Bogaard is steadfast in his belief that the city's place is not in the realm of national or international politics, particularly when it comes to issues of war and peace. "We've had experience in foreign affairs with a former mayor who traveled to Cuba and engendered a lot of negative reaction because he did it as mayor," said Bogaard. And besides, said Bogaard; "We normally focus in on matters that are germane and important to the city. My inclination is to steer clear of foreign affairs, not because they aren't important, but because the citizens of the city expect, I believe, the City Council will focus on local affairs and they look to officials at other levels of government to address issues of war and peace."

The former mayor that Bogaard was referring to is Bill Paparian, an attorney who served on the council from 1987 to 1999, and as mayor from 1996 to 1997. During his time as mayor, which in those days was a position that council members rotated into every year, Paparian traveled to Cuba to both deliver humanitarian and medical aid through Canada, which does not recognize the United States' 40-year-long economic blockade of that country, and to protest the blockade.

Paparian, a former Marine and a political Independent, who was considered by many to be the council's most politically progressive member during his time in office, has been out of the public eye from [sic] the past few years. He said he was puzzled over why Bogaard would mention his name in relation to questions of whether the city should formally take a stand against war with Iraq.

Nevertheless, Paparian pointed out that he traveled to Cuba in 1996 and in subsequent years not as mayor but as a private citizen, and that he paid his own traveling expenses. But perhaps more importantly, Paparian ticked off a litany of examples off the top of his head of how the council, during just his time on the board, took positions on a number of issues that not only related to American foreign policy, but were in direct conflict with policies of other nations that did business with the United States.

One was in the 1980s when the city divested its stock portfolio from South Africa over its institutionalized apartheid. Another was in the early 1990s when Azusa City Manager Rick Cole served as mayor of Pasadena and the city formally recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915 as the fault of the Ottoman Turks. Another came shortly before that when Cole, as a council member, denounced the selection of a Spanish duke and ancestor of Christopher Columbus as grand marshal of the 1992 Rose Parade. And Paparian remembered later in that decade when he brought the Dali [sic] Lama to Pasadena over the strenuous objections of the Chinese government.

A few instances that Paparian had apparently forgotten about were times he had brought the spiritual leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church to Pasadena, along with the prime minister of Armenia in 1997. He also did not mention that Bogaard himself had dabbled in international affairs recently as mayor when he traveled to Russia last year in a successful effort to bring the Rachmaninov piano competition to Pasadena.

And neither Paparian nor Bogaard mentioned the fact the city has five sister cities around the planet, one of them in communist China. Pasadena's other sisters are in Armenia, Germany, Japan and Finland. In addition, Pasadena which fancies itself a "world class city" because of its many international attractions, such as the Rose Bowl and the Civic Auditorium, is the home of Caltech, a major Defense Department contractor, and JPL, an arm of NASA, which Caltech runs.

Additionally, neither man mentioned the fact that even though Pasadena is a relatively small city with less than 150,000 residents, it is home to the country's largest and oldest chapter of the United Nations Association, an organization that discusses international issues and makes recommendations on international affairs being decided by the United Nations.

Bogaard, who is also a lawyer and a law professor who won the first election for a citywide mayor in 1999, a race in which Paparian also ran, and is running for reelection to a second four-year term in March, said the city should not refrain from making some sort of formal statement reiterating its commitment to civil liberties in the federal government's ongoing and potentially constitutionally repugnant pursuit of possible terrorists. But that hasn't happened yet, and Bogaard said he isn't sure when it will, if ever. For right now, Bogaard said the city is not planning to take a position on the war with Iraq, much as the Baltimore City Council did recently and several councils, mostly in Northern California, have, according to published reports. The Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, ICUJP, is sponsoring legislation at the local government level that would put those communities on the record as being against war and the PATRIOT Act.

The following communities, according to the ICUJP Web site, http://icujp.org/repeal.shtml, have already taken action:

Alachua County, Fla. (PATRIOT repeal) | Ann Arbor, Mich. [where Bill Bogaard went to law school] (PATRIOT repeal) | Boulder, Colo. (PATRIOT repeal) | Chicago (anti-war) | Cococino County, Ariz. (PATRIOT repeal| Denver, Colo. (PATRIOT repeal) | Detroit (anti-war) | Eugene, Ore. (PATRIOT repeal) | Fremont, Calif. (PATRIOT repeal) | Las Cruces, N.M. (PATRIOT repeal) | Madison, Wis. (PATRIOT repeal) | Santa Cruz, Calif. (PATRIOT repeal) | Santa Fe, N.M. (PATRIOT repeal). According [to] the Web site of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, http://bordc.org, several California communities, mostly in Northern California, have declared themselves Civil Rights Safe Zones. Still, on issues regarding war and peace, Bogaard deferred to Schiff, a onetime federal prosecutor and former state senator who has come under intense criticism by a number of his constituents in Pasadena in recent months for his sponsorship of the PATRIOT Act and his often pro-Bush administration positions when it comes to waging war in the Middle East.

And while Bogaard declined to say what his position on the war actually is, he did say, "it would be my lasting hope that there would be no hostilities with Iraq." But taking an official stance against war "isn't something for a busy City Council and a busy city staff to try to get into," Bogaard said. "I think council members are all free to express views on any topic. It's a question of whether local government machinery should be brought into play," said the mayor. "Such a stand," Bogaard noted, "would be extremely controversial. among voters, among citizens." Bogaard said he is prepared to let Schiff, as a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee with "a much larger Universe of information that the average citizen," do the deciding on issues of making war. "I do have a lot of confidence in our representative," Bogaard said. "I enjoy working with Mr. Schiff and have great confidence in his judgment."

As for Paparian's travels to Cuba, "I think his sentiments were sincere and thoughtful. The question was what's the role of the mayor," Bogaard said. Paparian said he has mixed personal feelings about waging a war that he says amounts to little more than a power grab by the Bush administration to assume further control of the region's vast oil resources.

"I think this is more about protecting oil interest and our [control] over the Middle East than it is over removing a brutal dictator, which Saddam Hussein certainly is," Paparian said. But regardless of his emotions on the issue, Paparian said there's nothing inappropriate about the council taking a position. "What it's called is deflection," Paparian said of Bogaard's hands-off position on Iraq and the PATRIOT Act. "This is his way of saying he wants to avoid controversy even when it is an important issue that is going to effect service men and women. And has a direct impact on the people of the United States.

"I think there is a time when local governments should take positions. The question is what does the mayor of Pasadena think about invading Iraq? Other cities are stepping up to the plate. Why isn't Pasadena?"

Mac Scott, Membership Coordinator, National Lawyers Guild, 143 Madison Avenue, Fourth Floor New York, NY 10016. PHONE: 212/679-5100 ext. 14 FAX: (212) 679-2811 - nlgmember@nlg.org

"to the end that human rights shall be held more sacred than property rights..." - preamble to the Constitution of the National Lawyers Guild