Letters to the Editor

Getting out the vote

To the Editor:

"Gone but not forgotten," Mara Gordon's column (DP, 2/1/07), ignores the tremendous past and present success of the Penn Democrats. With a little research, Ms. Gordon would have learned that the Penn Democrats are one of the most active collegiate political organizations in the country - and one of few that have tangibly affected an election.

In 2006, the Penn Democrats endorsed Patrick Murphy for Congress. In addition to calling and writing thousands of voters, we knocked on over 15,000 doors for Mr. Murphy, a progressive Iraq War Veteran. Mr. Murphy won by just 1,521 votes in one of the closest elections in the country.

We single-handedly brought Nancy Pelosi, Edward Rendell, and Bob Casey to campus. Our efforts helped ensure that approximately 90 percent of Penn voters chose to re-elect Governor Rendell and send Mr. Casey to the U.S. Senate.

For 2007, all five of the mayoral candidates are presently seeking our endorsement. Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah, and Dwight Evans will all visit campus in the next two weeks.

The irony here is unmistakable. Ms. Gordon, a self-described "lazy" member of Penn Democrats, is attacking the most active political organization at Penn for not doing enough. Rather than spilling ink on unfounded attacks, why doesn't Ms. Gordon use her bully pulpit for the constructive purpose of raising awareness about the mayor's race?

After all, Philadelphia's next mayor can directly affect the lives of Penn students by improving our dismal public-transportation system, putting more police on West Philadelphia's streets, cleaning up corruption in City Hall and improving Philadelphia's failing public schools.

The Penn Democrats have never been stronger and Philadelphia has never needed us more. We will knock on doors, write letters and call voters. We will help students register to vote and then assist them in getting absentee ballots.

This monumental effort will begin on Monday, Feb. 12, when the Penn Democrats officially endorse a candidate for mayor. We invite The Daily Pennsylvanian, including Ms. Gordon, to cover this event, publish our official letter of endorsement, and cover our activities in this election.

The Penn Democrats will be a force in this election - we promise.

Clayton Robinson & Joseph Gross The authors are President and Vice President of the Penn Democrats, respectively

Politics, 24 style

To the Editor:

Claims by Muslim student activists that Fox Television's "24" is discriminatory are absurd ("Popular show, 'negative stereotypes,'" DP, 1/31/07).

The fact of the matter is that a relatively small handful of Islamic radicals have resorted to terrorist attacks against the United States, Spain, Great Britain and a host of other nations in recent years.

Most Americans understand the fact that most Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding. However, political correctness should not blind us from the recognizing the identity of the most prevalent anti-American terror groups.

Scott Kahn College junior

Comments (5)

Looks like the Penn Dems are letting their fragile egos take precedence over real priorities. Gordon's editorial brings up a great point; more needs to be done to ensure real participation in the upcoming race. Yes, the Penn Dems have a glorious history...what do they want? A prize? The DP's column was constructive criticism, not an "attack." Robinson and Gross need to get over themselves. The Penn Dems should be about winning elections, not protecting its leaders' feelings

I'm a little confused by Kevin's comments. What exactly is anyone suggesting that the Penn Dems do? Unlike organizations like Penn Leads the Vote, Penn Dems has a tiny budget. I guess Kevin and M. Gordon will join the club ... for real ... and start sharing their grand ideas.

I think the important point is that Gordon was just flat wrong in saying that the Penn Democrats aren't doing enough to get Penn students engaged in the mayoral election. The letter notes many things the Penn Democrats are doing and also that once organization picks its horse it will do even more. In fact, they are the ONLY organization on campus that seems to be doing ANYTHING to get Penn engaged in the election. The mere fact that every single one of the mayoral candidates feels the Penn Democrats' support is worth working for should be an indicator of the successful operation the organization has in place.

Oh...I'm sorry I got confused. I thought we were talking about the Penn Dems, not the Self-Congratulation Society. If the Dems are looking to the DP for pats on the back, they need a serious reality check. If you take the time to read the Gordon's column, the advice is clear: be more aggressive about advertising the necessity of registering for absentee ballots and ensure that turnout for speakers is higher than it was for Knox and Nutter. For example, there's no reason to wait for an official endorsement to begin advertising absentee registration. The Penn Dems is in a perpetual state of "not doing enough." I say that it's not doing enough until every single eligible student is registered and voting Democrat. I doubt Robinson and Gross would disagree. This statement should not be controversial at all. I am optimistic about the Dems' activism, and I look forward to hearing about the endorsement. But now I'm also troubled by the complacent and arrogant attitude that their leadership is displaying here.

I'm not a member of the Penn Dems, but I'm certainly seeing their point here. Mara seemed to think that the only way Penn will matter in this election is if every student votes. That frankly is not possible, and if an organization made that its goal, I doubt that it would come close. It seems like the dems are more focused on endorsing a good candidate and then trying to get him elected. That's a reasonable strategy, at least to me. By the way, Kevin's (peabrained) suggestion to get 100% student turnout is the first concrete suggestion to come of any of this.

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