By SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, Times Staff Writer Southern California's Iranian Americans, reclusive and apolitical since the U.S. hostage crisis two decades ago, are beginning to use their considerable numbers and wealth to influence policy inside and outside Iran. No longer do they call themselves "Persian" or "Middle Eastern" to escape American animosity born when militant students laid siege to the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. Nor is this community of 600,000 willing to wait for others to reshape what members call a repressive theocracy that sent many of them fleeing...* ...Like Cuban Americans who toasted "Next year in Havana," Iranian expatriates also had a saying about living with packed suitcases, because they expected the Islamic government to be overthrown by citizens back home within a few months. Some Shift Focus to Life in U.S. That saying is rarely used now. Some Iranian Americans, such as Sara Amir**, say they gave up trying to change the Iranian leadership or its practices and have refocused their efforts on making a difference in their adopted countries. Several have run for federal, state and local office in California and Maryland, among other states. People who live in Iran have to bring about changes, not me," said Amir, a former candidate for lieutenant governor who is running for the 42nd Assembly District seat on the Green Party ticket, a party she chose because of Iranians' attachment to nature...
MEDIA RELEASE March 20, 2000 Los Angeles -- The Reform Party of Los Angeles and the West Hollywood Reform Party held joint endorsements meetings last night and voted unanimously to endorse Sara Amir's campaign for the 42nd Assembly seat. Amir is running on the Green Party line against West Hollywood Councilman Paul Koretz, who won the Democratic Primary. The Reform Party has over 17,000 registrants in Los Angeles. Jim Mangia, National Secretary of the Reform Party and a member of the West Hollywood chapter stated, "We enthusiastically endorse Sara Amir for Assembly. She is the candidate who is clearly most qualified to lead the effort to reform politics in California, to restore democracy and fight political corruption. The Democratic Party candidate represents the worst of special interest campaign funding. Sara is the only independent in the race." The endorsement represents efforts that have been building for some time to bring third parties together on campaigns and issues in which there is a shared interest. "Sara Amir's election is clearly the utmost prirority for the third party movement in California," Mangia continued. "Whether you're registered 'decline to state,' Libertarian, Green, Natural Law or Reform, Sara is clearly the candidate you must support. If you're a Democrat or a Republican who cares about campaign finance reform or fighting political corruption, you must vote for Amir!" 'None of the Above' measure no joke, says Prop. 23 author By Doug Willis (Published February 10, 2000) SOQUEL -- Buoyed by the success of his dog, Ernest, a write-in candidate for Congress in 1996, Al Shugart is spending more than $1 million to encourage disenchanted Californians to vote for nobody. Shugart, 69, co-founder and former chief executive officer of Seagate Technology, the world's largest computer disk drive maker, is the author of Proposition 23 on the March 7 ballot. The measure would let Californians cast protest votes for "None of the Above" for state and federal offices. "We want to give people the option of protesting," Shugart says. "Right now, the only option to protest is to not vote, and then you're just viewed as apathetic." His ballot initiative would require election officials to count all None-of-the-Above votes. The tally would be strictly informational: Even if "None" drew the most votes, the leading candidate would win. ...* Prop. 23 opponents include Green Party leaders, who say it would harm them and other parties seeking voters dissatisfied with Democrats and Republicans. "If you want to throw your vote away, don't vote," Sara Amir and John Strawn of the Green Party wrote in ballot arguments. "This initiative will just draw votes away from candidates who are trying to provide credible alternatives to the major parties." ** ...
Green to Run For 42nd District Assembly Seat Source: Santa Monica Mirror News Article; Volume 1, Issue 25 Sara Amir, Green party candidate for lieutenant
governor last year, has announced that she will run for the 42nd
Assembly District Seat now held by Wally Knox in next year's
election. Source: SacBee: Cal Report of January 12, 2000 ...In state government, Sara Amir is running for a West Los Angeles district of the California Assembly under the Green Party. Neither candidate is expected to win. But Amir says she has moved Iranians to action here and in her home country. When she first entered politics two years ago as a Green Party candidate in the lieutenant governor race, she organized voter registration drives, bringing dozens of Iranian-Americans to the polls. Her campaign speeches, meanwhile, were broadcast to Iran by the BBC and the Voice of America, inspiring activists there, she said. "I have heard so many comments from people there," Amir said. "They were saying, 'You're giving us hope. We know that you're one of us.' I'm running here and I get all these nice e-mails from Iran." |
