By August 31, 2004
David Cobb is not your typical presidential candidate. Sure, he has a background in law like John Kerry; and yes, he has a Texan accent similar to George W. Bush’s; but there’s something different about him. Maybe it’s the fact that when he showed up in Ithaca this summer he only had one other campaign member with him, instead of an entire entourage. Maybe it’s the way that he made his press conference feel more personal by not using a podium to separate himself from the audience. Or maybe it’s the way that he doesn’t actually expect to be President at all. Cobb, who is the Green Party presidential candidate, visited Ithaca in mid-July. His stop here, which was part of a larger campaign tour, centered around a press conference on the Commons. At the conference, which drew a small crowd of onlookers, Cobb discussed a variety of topics, including his background, his displeasure with the current administration, the goals of his campaign, and his efforts to be included on the ballot in New York State. His statements, for the most part, drew nods of agreement or applause from the audience. After the conference, Cobb sat down with The Sun for an exclusive interview to discuss himself and his campaign in greater detail. Cobb grew up in San Leon, Texas, a small shrimping village on the Gulf Coast. He came from a poor family and worked his way through both college and law school at the University of Houston. After college, Cobb pursued a career in law until 2000, when he was asked to manage Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign in Texas. Since then he has been very active in party politics, serving as the Green Party’s general counsel, and running for attorney general of Texas in 2002. Cobb was selected as the Green Party presidential candidate after Nader, who has been their candidate in the last two elections, chose not to seek the nomination this year. Instead, Nader is running on an independent ticket. Prior to Nader’s run for president in 1996, Cobb was actually a Democrat who had never even heard of the Green Party. However, he became disenchanted with the Democrats after Clinton’s first term as President. He cited Clinton’s treatment of homosexuals in the military and his welfare “deform” act as examples of what turned him away from the Democratic Party. “Bill Clinton completely sold out the progressive community,” Cobb explained. “[During] his first term in office [he] probably did more to create the conditions for the Green Party than anybody else,” he added. Despite his lack of experience, — he has never held an elected office — Cobb feels that he’s up to the challenge of running the country, with a little help. “I would immediately surround myself and bring in acknowledged experts from across the country to assist [me],” Cobb explained. “What I’m talking about are people who have long histories of working within various sectors in this country and who understand the struggles that real working people have.” For now, however, he’s more focused on accomplishing his campaign goals. These include registering more people into the Green Party, helping more Greens get elected to office, advancing a progressive agenda for the country and getting George W. Bush out of the White House. In addition to these goals, Cobb has also taken a strong stand on several major issues in this election. For example, he believes that our current education system is “fundamentally flawed.” “The most important things that a child learns how to do is how to walk and how to talk,” Cobb explained. “In our current educational system, the first thing they’re taught is ‘sit down and shut up.'” Cobb believes that our current education policy is not creating “active participants in a vibrant democracy,” but rather “good consumers and workers” who exhibit “obedience, acquiescence, and acceptance.” His campaign has called for an end to high-stakes testing, and increased funding for educational programs, including higher salaries for teachers. Cobb also advocated making college free for everyone, saying that current college expenses are an unfair burden on students. When asked about Kerry’s proposed plan in which students can agree to provide public service for two years in exchange for the price of college, Cobb agreed that it was “a good transition step,” but said that he didn’t think it went far enough. “We’ve got a system now where people are having to basically go into some sort of indentured servitude simply to get a university degree,” Cobb explained, “and that’s unacceptable to me.” Cobb believes that the expense of offering free college educations could be covered by pulling the military out of many of the foreign countries that we currently occupy and therefore reducing overall military spending. “The amount of money that it takes to keep the U.S. military spread out all around the world is obscene,” Cobb said. “The reality is that U.S. military force has not been used defensively for the last 40 years. Instead, U.S. military presence has been used to advance the interests of the transnational corporations to create a corporate empire.” Cobb and the Green Party are also trying to promote switching to an instant run-off voting (IRV) system, in which voters can rank order their top choices for office. This is an important issue for them because many people are hesitant to vote for Green Party candidates because they think they’re “wasting their vote.” This was a prominent part of the controversy in the 2000 elections because many people felt that Bush would not have won if Nader hadn’t “stolen” votes that would otherwise have gone to Al Gore. The solution, Cobb says, is not to discourage third parties from running, but rather to “change the voting system so that voters don’t feel that they most vote against what they hate instead of for what they want.” Other issues which Cobb feels strongly about include securing the right of same-sex couples to marry — he calls Bush’s plan to create a constitutional amendment to block same-sex marriages an attempt to “use hate as a political organizing tool” — and continuing a policy of affirmative action in college admissions. “There’s a long and shameful history of racism and institutional racism in the use of government policies and it’s got to be addressed,” he said. However, he also believes that affirmative action should be extended to include socioeconomic considerations. As he put it, “poor people have been oppressed as well and we need to create genuine opportunities for poor folks of all races.” Along with promoting his stance on the issues, Cobb also used his campaign trip through New York as a drive to secure the right to be listed on the ballot come November. Unlike candidates from the two major political parties, Green Party candidates are not automatically granted a place on the ballot in every state. Instead, they have guaranteed ballot lines in only 23 states, and must petition to be included on the others. In order for his petition in New York to be successful, Cobb had to collect at least 15,000 valid signatures from state residents before the petitioning deadline in August. At the conference, he asked the crowd to support him by signing his petition or by volunteering to take petitions door-to-door. Later, in his interview with the Daily Sun, Cobb expressed his displeasure with the lack of guaranteed ballot lines, calling it “an insult to democracy.” “Why in the world do we need to go through the process of gathering signatures, especially such a high number of signatures, just to participate in our own election?”, Cobb asked. “It’s really an indication of how the Democrats and the Republicans have basically conspired to prevent alternative voices from being heard.” And that, it seems, is what Cobb and the Green Party really want — to be heard. After all, in the FAQ section of his campaign website, Cobb admits that the Green Party does not have “enough people, money, or media access to take the White House.” However, he told the Sun that he still expects to win in this election. “The Green Party is g
By August 31, 2004
In July, Mark Belnick ’68 was acquitted of charges that he stole over $30 million as chief corporate counsel for Tyco from 1998-2002. Now, with the criminal trial over, Belnick plans to return to his position as director of Cornell’s Pre-Law Program and continue his active role on campus. “I’m very grateful for the support I received from the Cornell community, faculty, administration, and students alike,” Belnick said, claiming that he received dozens of letters of support from those various members of the Cornell community. “Believe me, when you engage in the tough fight I was facing, those messages meant a great deal to me.” Belnick has long been a prominent member of the Cornell community, taking on roles as a visiting professor for the government department, board member on the Arts and Sciences Advisory Board, and director of Cornell’s Pre-Law Program in New York City. In 2003, despite being indicted for fraud, Belnick continued to teach the Pre-Law Program. In 2004, the Pre-Law Program was not offered. According to Isaac Kramnick, vice provost for undergraduate education, Belnick was the main energy behind the Pre-Law program and without him the program could not run. Glenn Altschuler, dean of continuing education and summer sessions, expects the program will return again next summer. “[Belnick’s] indicated an interest and willingness to teach, I anticipate that the course will be offered in the summer of 2005 with Mr. Belnick as the instructor,” Altschuler said. In February 2003, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office accused Belnick of receiving a $17 million dollar bonus and $14 million in interest-free loans from his boss, L. Dennis Kozlowski, former Tyco Chairman and Chief executive, without the board of director’s approval. The prosecution claimed that Belnick received the money for helping Kozlowski and the former chief financial officer, Mark Swartz cover up their own illicit actions. Kozlowski and Swartz allegedly stole over $600 million from Tyco. Last April, their six-month trial ended in mistrial and is scheduled to be reheard next year. The defense, led by Belnick’s chief defense Lawyer, Reid Weingarten ’71 of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington D.C., claimed that Belnick rightfully earned the bonus through his hard work getting the company through an inquiry in 2000 by the Securities and Exchange Commission without any formal charges. Weingarten claimed that the prosecutions charges of wrongdoing fell flat. “Mark didn’t commit any crimes,” Weingarten said. “I was very competent the jury would see it that way and happily they did.” To prove his innocence, Belnick took the stand in self-testimony for several days and refused to accept a no jail misdemeanor offered by the D.A.’s office before hearing the verdict. According to Weingarten, the prosecutors were trying to save face and offered Belnick a deal to accept guilt with no jail time. “Because we were confident we were going to win, we turned it down,” said Weingarten. According to Weingarten, Belnick’s involvement with Cornell often came up as evidence in many parts of the trial and all of it was positive towards Belnick’s defense. “I love the school. I’ve loved it since I was an undergrad there and I’ve loved it more and more every year since then,” Belnick said. Professor Theodore J. Lowi, government, had nothing but praise for Belnick’s character. “He’s been a marvelous support for the government department,” Lowi said. The trial only proved that Belnick conducted no criminal actions. Questions still remain on Belnick’s failings to check his eligibility for the huge loans he received and why he failed to report the questionable conduct of Kozlowski and Swartz to the board of directors. Belnick still faces a civil court case filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Tyco. Now that his criminal trial is over, Belnick plans to spend time with his family before taking on any new job. He plans to come to Cornell this fall for the meeting of the Arts and Science Advisory Board. Next summer at the Pre-Law program, Belnick expects to be able to offer his students not only tips on how to be a lawyer but a valuable perspective on what it is like to be the client. “I imagine I’ll relate some of those experiences to the students,” Belnick said. Archived article by Casey HolmesSun Staff Writer