News Scrapbook 1984

Nader ur

vote drive on issues

tees will develop specific issues locallr For example, he suggested San Diegans might analyze the can- didates' positions on the federal gov- ernment's policies and implementa- tion of cancer-prevention programs, children's health, safety and educa- tion rights, utility rates, the "defini- tion" of big government, government waste and corruption, and corporate power, monopolies and abuse. an Diego volunteers will work from an office on the third floor of a restored Victorian house-turned-off- ice in Golden- Hill. There will be of- fices in Los Angeles and San Francis- co, as well as in major cities in Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Nader said He said the movement hopes to raise 1 million through small dona- tions and foundation grants to oper- ate nationwide until the Nov. 6 elec- tion. Although Nader left little doubt among his listeners that he would give the Reagan administrati~n fail- ing grades in most areas, Mondale also came in for his share of criti- cism. Nader said the briefings and discussions would be non-partisan, actual briefings and would not rec- mmend voting for or against a can- didate. But, he said, non-partisan does not mean non-critical.

they largely are campaigning elec- tronically and through targeted tele- phone banks and ethnic groups," said Nad~r. •Unless we develop the ca- pacity to enter (the pollllcal process) a c1tiz ns, we WIil never be able to co nt r ct the deteriorating forces T e idea of people being just by- stande is anathema to the electorai proc Calling for volunteers to take iss d1scuss1 ns into San Diego meeting rooms and Iivmg rooms Mark L1twok, who will coordmate "The Difference m 1984'' movement in Cal- ifornia, said, "I'm hoping to make them as popular as Tupperware par- ti " Nader, 50, was a thorn in the side of corporate America and govern- ment bureaucracies with his " ader's Raiders," who for almost 20 years searched out consumer fraud or 1rresp-0n:;1b1hty. He announced the education campaign yesterday dur- ing a new conference here and, later, during a talk to law tudents at the University of San Diego. Last night. b also met wt h representa- llves of various groups that he hopes will work with the movement he call "The Difference in 1 Most of tho ·e mhis standmg-room- only crowd at USO were toddlers in

By u an ettoo • I If Writer

"The national parties are abandoning community organizing because tney largely are campaigning electronically and through targeted telephone banks and ethnic groups. ... The idea ofpeople being just bystanders is anathema to the electoral process." - Ralph Nader 1965 when Nader wrote ''Unsafe at Any Speed," his devastating attack on the American auto industry gen- erally and, particutarly, General Mo- tors and its Corvair. But the crowd of more than 150 listened intently as Nader chided them along with the general American populace for spending more time "concerned about their armpits than the arms race" and for "devoting more effort

to perfecting the art of bowling than perfecting the art of politics." He criticized the public for allow- ing the political process to "deter- iorate into 30-second or one-minute television commercials" in which "very little of substance is communi- cated and wher there 1s a premiu111 on ernot10nal or symbolic ma 'pul • hon of the electorate." Nader hopes the ad hoc commit-