October 13, 2004
Ms. Jehmu Greene,
President
Rock the Vote
1313 L Street, NW
First Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Dear President
Greene:
It has been brought to the attention of the Republican National Committee- and
was confirmed in the Los Angeles Times yesterday- that your organization is
sponsoring and promoting a false and misleading Internet campaign designed to
scare America’s youth into believing that they may be drafted to serve
in the military.
In the Times article your Political Director said, “I don’t see
why candidates get to talk about war all day long and we can’t talk about
the draft.” Yet, as you must be aware this urban myth regarding a draft
has been thoroughly debunked by no less then the President of the United States,
who explicitly stated, “We don’t need the draft. Look, the all-volunteer
Army is working…,” as well as the Vice President, who explained,
“And the notion that somebody’s peddling out there that there is
a secret plan to reinstate the draft, hogwash, not true.”
Additionally, the
Secretary of Defense, “heatedly denied yesterday that the military plans
to bring back the draft and boost reserves and National Guard callups after
the November election. ‘That is absolute nonsense,’ [Donald] Rumsfeld
told the Senate Armed Services Committee. ‘It’s absolutely false
that anyone in this administration is considering reinstating the draft.’”
In light of the above statements, the only conclusion to be drawn is that your
Rock the Vote “Draft your Friends” campaign is being conducting
with malicious intent and reckless disregard for the truth. As a “non-partisan”
organization that enjoys the benefits of being formed under 501 (c) (3) of the
Internal Revenue Code, you have an obligation to immediately cease and desist
from promoting or conduction your “Draft” campaign.
The Republican National Committee shares the goal of your organization to encourage
voter registration and “empower young people to change their world.”
In fact, our aggressive outreach efforts have produced more then 65,600 student
Team Leaders and more then 26,000 young professional Team Leaders engaging their
peers at the grassroots level to register voters and spread the party message.
We’ve visited college campuses, NASCAR races, World Wrestling Entertainment
matches and scores of other events that are packed with younger voters- including
appearing on MTV’s Total Request Live.
We’ve found that younger voters care about the same issues that older
Americans care about; winning the War on Terror, creating jobs, improving our
public schools, making health care more affordable, etc.
It is unfortunate that you feel the need to engage in a misinformed campaign
regarding an alleged draft to energize young voters. This is the sort of malicious
political deception that is likely to increase voter cynicism and in fact decrease
the youth vote, as well as raising serious legal issues regarding the political
motivations of your efforts.
Thank you for
your immediate attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Ed Gillespie
Chairman
cc: Randel A. Falco,
President, NBC Universal Television Networks Group
Vincent K. McMahon, Chairman, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks
Jonathan F. Miller, Chairman and CEO, AOL
Richard D. Parsons, Chairman and CEO, Time Warner Inc.
