Disclosure2003
Maryland 8th District Congressional Campaign of Stephen Bassett

[Edited forward of Sci Fi Channel Press Advisory to D2003 media list]

 _____________________________________

 October 17, 2002

PRESS ADVISORY

SCI FI Channel Challenges Government Secrecy
Supports New FOIA Effort on UFO Records and
Release of Report on Failure to Conduct Scientific Research

WHAT:      SCI FI Channel will announce its support of a new effort to gain release of secret government records on unidentified aerial phenomena, commonly referred to as UFOs and release a new report by an independent journalist on the federal government’s failure to carry out systematic scientific research into this widespread phenomenon (5% to 10% of which scientists say cannot be explained by natural or human causes). 

Citing the importance to the public of declassifying government records, John Podesta, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff, will speak in support of the effort to gain release of still secret government records.  A new FOIA initiative will also be announced. 

To generate public support for more disclosure and a scientific investigation the formation of the Coalition for Freedom of Information (CFI) will also be announced.

WHO:      Bonnie Hammer, SCI FI Channel Presiden
                   John Podesta, former White House Chief of Staff
                   Leslie Kean, journalist
                   Lee Helfrich, attorney, Lobel, Novins & Lamont
                   Ed Rothschild, executive director, Coalition for Freedom of Information

WHEN:     Tuesday, October 22, 2002

WHERE:      National Press Club, Washington, DC

_____________________________________

[D2003 Note: the Coalition for Freedom of Information (CFI) website is found at:  www.freedomofinfo.org and additional information of interest is available a:  www.presidentialufo.com - “Full Clinton UFO Story”]

Disclosure2003
Maryland 8th District Congressional Campaign of Stephen Bassett

Press Release         
October 18, 2002

Bethesda, MD - Three more important venues have refused to allow independent candidate, Stephen Bassett, to participate in their debate/forums.    There are 71,000 voters in the MD 8th District registered as "independent."  Mr. Bassett achieved ballot access via 5177 nominating signatures from voters.

Access to issues and ideas has been denied by:

Maryland Public Television - PBS Channel 22
Candidate Debate - October 21, Monday 
11767 Ownings Mills Blvd, Ownings Mills, MD 21117
410-581-4097 or 800-627-6788    comments@mpt.org                        

[Note: Incredibly, this public television station only permits candidates, who are polling at 15% OR HIGHER, to be in their debates. Maryland Pubic Television receives taxpayer funding and is essentially telling those 71,000 taxpayers to go pound sand.  Is this the role the people want public television to play in the election process?].

NBC Affiliate WRC Channel 4
Candidate Debate    Tuesday, October 22, 10 – 11:30 a.m.
4001 Nebraska Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
202-885-4000     nbc4dc@nbc.com  

[Note: NBC 4 only permits candidates who can win the election and are "newsworthy" to participate in their debates.  Issues and ideas are secondary.  Does WRC stand for "We Reject Candidates?"]

Jewish Community Council/Temple Beth Ami
Candidate Forum    Thursday, October 24,  8 – 10 p.m.

14330 Travilah, Rockville, MD  

301-340-6818  
[Note: the Jewish community in the metro area holds more candidate debates and forums then any other single group.  This is wonderful and should be emulated by other community segments.  But sadly, without exception, third party and independent candidates are not allowed to be part of their debates and forums.  What a shame.]

Spear Lancaster, Libertarian Party candidate for governor, who collected over 35,000 signatures, is also being excluded from private and public forums.   This is wrong, and the American people and democracy are not being well served.

Contact D2003: 202-215-8344

Disclosure2003
Maryland 8th District Congressional Campaign of Stephen Bassett

Press Release                       October 17, 2002

Bethesda, MD – The ugly national trend in which independent and third party candidates are excluded from polls, media coverage, debates and forums continues here in Montgomery County Maryland in the 8^th District Congressional election.

Stephen Bassett, the independent candidate in the 8^th District, has been excluded from numerous campaign debates and forums.  These include events sponsored by Common Cause of Maryland, B'Nai Israel Congregation/B'nai Men’s Club, and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington/Seniors Organized for Change.  [Note: Spear Lancaster, the Libertarian Party candidate for governor, who got on the ballot via 35,000 nominating signatures, is also being excluded from nearly all debates and forums.]

But the most egregious example of this exclusionary practice is the upcoming debate to be held at Montgomery College, the largest community college in the state, with all three of its campuses in the 8^th Congressional District.  

This candidate debate is being co-sponsored by a coalition of civic associations and the Montgomery College Alumni Association and is scheduled for Monday, October 21 at 8 pm.  The debate coordinator, Thomas Curtis, a member of the King Farm Civic Association, contacted the Disclosure2003 campaign and stated that, “only parties which received at least 20% of the vote in the last election will be allowed to participate in this debate.”  He then added, “Obviously this means only the Democrat and Republican Party candidates will be present.”

Disclcosure2003 immediately contacted Steve Simon, Director of Communications for Montgomery College and the school’s coordinator for the event.   Simon was respectful, responsive and conveyed the candidate’s desire to participate to the civic association coordinator, Curtis, and also spoke with News Channel 8, which is televising the debate.  Curtis refused to change the candidate criteria, and News Channel 8 was noncommittal.   Bassett would not participate.  [10/20/02 Note: on Friday, 10/18/02, the situation was reversed and the candidate was invited.   Also, News Channel 8 was not a party to the decision to initially exclude the candidate from the debate. SB]

A request was then made that Montgomery College cancel its participation on the grounds it sends the wrong message to the students, is a slap in the face to the 71,000 voters registered as independents in the 8^th District, an insult to the 5177 registered voters who signed the D2003 nominating petitions, and not in keeping with the values of one of the most educated and multicultural communities in the nation.  It was made clear this was not possible.

Legal challenges to this national scandal of exclusion have been rejected in the courts time after time.  Only when the American people become aware of how dangerous this trend is to the nation, get sufficiently angry, and demand reform through legislation, will the “Closing of the American Mind,” as the late Allan Bloom put it, be reversed   

Ralph Nader was excluded from the presidential debates.  He wanted to talk about corporate greed, abuse of power and abrogation of community responsibility.  The Democrat and Republican Party candidates wanted nothing to do with that issue.  Nader was right, but Bush and Gore went unchallenged.  Now taxpayer supported Montgomery College will continue this kind of exclusionary politics.

Disclosure2003
Maryland 8th District Congressional Campaign of Stephen Bassett

Press Release – September 1, 2002
D2003 Campaign Expecting Considerable Media Attention

Bethesda, MD – With Stephen Bassett – the “Disclosure Candidate” - already on the ballot and 10 days remaining until the Democratic primary selects the third and final congressional candidate, D2003 is beginning to attract national – and international – attention.

“We have received queries from German National Public Radio, the Sunday Express in Britain, Pravda, Argentina, Mexico and Canada.  More importantly, discussions are underway leading to access to the U.S. political talk programs,” indicated candidate Bassett.  “This is critical, if the message of this campaign is to reach the American public.”

That message is the reason for the attention.  Since 1991 a process has been underway leading toward formal acknowledgement by the United States government of an extraterrestrial presence manifest about the planet since at least the 1940’s.  This process is being politically driven by the emergence of dozens of military and agency employees - most retired and of high rank and accomplishment - who are informally testifying to personal experience with events and evidence, which collectively confirm this extraterrestrial presence.  Most have indicated they are ready to testify before congress under oath.  There may be as many as three hundred such witnesses. (see: www.disclosureproject.org)

“This is quite simply the most extraordinary political story in history,” said Bassett, “and interest from editors and producers is only going to grow.”

________________________________________

Stephen Bassett is the founder of Paradigm Research Group; Executive Director of the Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee (X-PPAC, pronounced "expack"), the first PAC in history to target the political implications of UFO/ET phenomena; author of the Paradigm Clock website; and a political columnist/commentator.  He is the only registered lobbyist in the U.S. representing UFO/ET research/activist organizations.   He announced his candidacy on April 19, 2002.

D2003 Contact:  301-990-4290

Disclosure2003
Maryland 8th District Congressional Campaign of Stephen Bassett

Press Release - August 16, 2002
Election Board Certifies Bassett Congressional Candidacy in Maryland

Bethesda, MD - Stephen Bassett has been nominated to the November ballot as an independent candidate for the House of Representatives in the 8th Congressional District.  He will be joined there by the Republican incumbent, Constance Morella, and the winner of the September 10 Democratic primary.

This campaign will represent a milestone in American politics.  Mr. Bassett will be the first person to appear on any federal or gubernatorial, general election ballot who speaks to the fact of an extraterrestrial presence manifest about the planet and the government imposed embargo on the truth of that fact.  The campaign website is:  www.Disclosure2003.net.

While the candidate will address a range of national issues in media appearances and on the campaign website, the disclosure issue will be foremost.   Talking points will include:

1. Disclosure, the formal acknowledgment by the U.S. government of an extraterrestrial presence, is inevitable.  The current administration should take advantage of favorable conditions and move to disclose in early 2003.

2. Open, comprehensive congressional hearings should be initiated immediately to take the testimony of dozens of high ranking, former government and agency employees who have come forward with firsthand experience relating to an extraterrestrial presence and the government imposed truth embargo.  See:  www.disclosureproject.org

3. The impact of the extraterrestrial presence on the growth and tenor of the U.S. intelligence infrastructure since 1947.  See:  UFOs and the National Security State - Richard Dolan

4. The unacceptable manner in which the top-tier news media have covered UFO/ET research and the "politics of disclosure" and the inappropriate relationship which has evolved between top-tier news media and the U.S. intelligence infrastructure.  See: The Missing Times: News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover-up - Terry Hansen

5. Extraordinary technologies of global impact, which may be sequestered behind the national security curtain and held hostage to the truth embargo.  See: The Day After Roswell - Lt. Col. Philip J. Corso

6. The 4-year effort by Laurance Rockefeller to convince then President of the United States, William Clinton, to engage the UFO/ET issue and open the government files. See: www.presidentialufo.com

7. The multiple-agency suppression of two studies of the matter of a manifest extraterrestrial intelligence initiated by the Carter White House in 1977.   See:  www.presidentialufo.com

Stephen Bassett is the founder of Paradigm Research Group; Executive Director of the Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee (X-PPAC, pronounced "expack"), the first PAC in history to target the political implications of UFO/ET phenomena; author of the Paradigm Clock website; and a political columnist/commentator.  He is the only registered lobbyist in the U.S. representing UFO/ET research/activist organizations.   He announced his candidacy on April 19, 2002.

Disclosure2003
Maryland 8th District Congressional Campaign of Stephen Bassett

JUNE 21, 2002                                                              MEDIA/PRESS RELEASE

Bethesda, MD - Independent congressional candidate, Stephen Bassett, will guest on Coast to Coast AM with Barbara Simpson Sunday night, June 23, 11 p.m. PST.  This will be the first national interview regarding the Disclosure2003 campaign since it was announced at the National Press Club on April 17.  Coast to Coast AM is the number one late night talk show in the U.S.

The campaign has recently gotten international press in Great Britain (Sunday Express) and the Russian Federation (Pravda).

The Disclosure2003 campaign will bring the issue of an extraterrestrial presence onto a congressional election ballot for the first time.  It will also address the government imposed embargo placed on full disclosure of this fact since at least 1947.  

Campaign volunteers have now collected one half of the required signatures for ballot access.  The balance will be collected by August 5, and certification is expected on or about August 15.

Disclosure2003 will seek to raise public awareness for a range of controversial and important issues by taking advantage of the considerable national focus expected on the 8th District contest in Maryland. The three leading candidates (two Democrats and one Republican) are expected to collectively raise and spend $6 million by election day.   A fierce Democratic primary race, which includes Shriver/Kennedy family member, Mark Shriver, will be followed by an even more intense contest with 8-term incumbent, Connie Morella.

At this time, no other party or independent has filed in the 8th District for congress.

Related websites:
       Disclosure2003 - www.disclosure2003.net
       Coast to Coast AM - www.artbell.com

Disclosure2003
Maryland 8th District Congressional Campaign of Stephen Bassett

Press Release                                                                                        April 19, 2002

Washington, DC – On Wednesday, April 17 in a press conference at the National Press Club, Stephen Bassett announced he had filed to enter the congressional election for the 8^th District of Maryland as an independent.  The 8^th District is comprised primarily of Montgomery County and parts of Prince George’s County and borders northwest Washington, DC. 

Bassett stated, “while the campaign will frankly engage a range of controversial national issues, the principal issue will be the need to end what is often referred to as the “UFO cover-up.”   He added that, “numerous polls have shown the higher the income and educational demographic, the greater the awareness of UFO/ET phenomena, the greater the conviction as to an extraterrestrial presence, and the greater the belief the U.S. government is not telling the public the truth.” 

The campaign’s title, Disclosure2003, refers to the candidate’s view that 2003 represents the first true window of opportunity since 1947 for the government to hold a formal disclosure event.