Letter - MARK KASSABIAN

I am a lifelong resident of this district, and read with interest the

“Reader Response” by Paul Krekorian published in your newspaper July 13,

and the letter from Rostom Sarkissian dated July 21 regarding state Sen.

Adam Schiff, who is running for Congress from the Glendale/Pasadena area.

Mr. Krekorian and Mr. Sarkissian attempted to defend Schiff for claiming

credit for the passage of a bill in Sacramento -- even though Schiff did

not bother to attend the vote. The bill was of particular interest to

California’s Armenian-American community, but Schiff’s cynical attempt to

take credit for the bill’s passage, and his cynical attempt to manipulate

and mislead voters regarding his decision not even to attend the vote on

the bill ought to concern every voter in this district. If Mr.

Krekorian’s and Mr. Sarkissian’s double talk represents what we can

expect from Adam Schiff, he does not deserve to represent us in Congress.

By way of background, California Senate Bill 1915 will allow families

of Armenian Genocide victims to pursue unpaid life insurance claims, and

passed the State Senate by an overwhelming vote of 39 to 0. The only

senator absent was Adam Schiff. Instead of attending to his duties in

Sacramento, Schiff ignored the vote on SB 1915, and instead attended a

Democratic Party fund-raiser in Washington, D.C., presided over by Bill

Clinton and Al Gore, collecting over $26 million from various special

interests.

Accordingly, Adam Schiff claiming credit for the passage of SB 1915

can only be seen as a patronizing ploy to attract Armenian-American votes

in November. As an Armenian-American born and raised in this district,

Schiff’s conduct before, during and after the vote is an insult, not only

to Armenian-American voters, but to all of the voters in the

Glendale/Pasadena area who expect honesty and forthrightness from our

representatives in Sacramento and Washington.

Perhaps Adam Schiff thinks he is in Washington. For the last several

years we have taken it for granted that many of those in high national

office will deliberately mislead us for a marginal advantage in opinion

polls, and then later claim to have told the truth according to some

special meaning of the words used. Only such a mind-set could explain Mr.

Krekorian’s description of Adam Schiff ignoring the vote on SB 1915 as

“great leadership,” and Schiff’s attending a Washington fund-raiser

instead of attending the vote as having, “fought hard for its passage.”

Indeed, one can search Mr. Krekorian’s column and Mr. Sarkissian’s letter

word by word and never find any mention of the fact that Schiff did not

bother to vote for the bill -- although they both used plenty of space

attack those telling the truth about this sad affair as “reckless, “

“deceptive,” and “cynically trying to confuse and mislead.”

Schiff’s conduct ignoring the vote on SB 1915, his attempt to take

credit for its passage, the word games played by his supporters, and

their attack on those who simply reported the truth, vividly demonstrate

Schiff’s low opinion of his constituents, and likewise demonstrate what

we could expect from Adam Schiff should he become Congressman for the

27th district. We deserve better from our representatives. Adam Schiff

has shown himself unworthy to represent us in the California Senate, and

he does not deserve our votes for the United States Congress.

MARK M. KASSABIAN

Glendale