Friday, January 15, 1999
Against the grain
INTERVIEW: While most of the focus today is on impeachment,
Dan Malashock wants to take politics in other directions
By Andrea Perera
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Bruin Democrats president Dan Malashock is a soft-spoken kind of
guy. One might expect a young politician to be rabidly propagandist
and inherently single-minded. After all, politicians want us to see
things their way.
Malashock, however, is a Democrat who sees the opposition’s
arguments … sometimes even stipulating to them. In this
interview, Malashock discusses what it’s like to lead a political
group – while affirmative action protests divide campus, a
newly-elected governor takes office, and a Democratic president
fights the battle of his personal and professional life.
Campus
What role do you think political organizations play at UCLA?
The university, as an educational institution, wouldn’t be
complete without reflecting the real world. If you don’t have
political organizations, that isn’t really a good cross section of
the world. In politics, it isn’t all theory. A lot of it is
actually trying to get things done and organizing people. That’s
the kind of experience you get out of a political organization.
What is an example of activities that Bruin Democrats have done
at UCLA?
The day before the election we had Gray Davis, Barbara Boxer and
almost the entire Democratic ticket at Ackerman Grand Ballroom,
which went really well. The fire marshal had to stand at the door
and regulate as people walked into the event. It gave the students
the chance to see the candidates first hand. Probably 99 percent of
students would not have had that chance any other way. About 2,000
people came.
Why was it important to you to have the Democratic ticket on
campus?
Students’ opinions are important, every bit as important as the
rest of the electorate, but they probably aren’t taken into account
as much, for a variety of reasons: low student turnout, stuff like
that. So, for the students to be able to see the candidates, that
was important, and also for the candidates to see the students, to
remember that people who are between 18 and 25 do have the right to
vote and that they do sometimes vote and that they have an opinion
about politics that should be listened to.
Does your organization take a public stance on things that have
to do with, for example, affirmative action at the university? Do
you see it as your role, as a political group, to be vocal about
issues like that?
Bruin Democrats did join the Affirmative Action Coalition and
collect signatures for the Equal Education Opportunities
Initiative. At the Royce takeover, at the rally outside of the
Federal Building in response to Proposition 209 and also at the
rally in response to Proposition 187 – we’ve had Bruin Democrats
officers arrested at pretty much every one of those. We have
supported the effort and our members, individually, have been very
active in support of affirmative action.
State
What are your feelings about having a Democrat in the governor’s
office? Considering the conservative politics of the past few years
in California, how do you think Gov. Gray Davis will use his office
to effect change?
Gray Davis, just because he’s governor, can’t stop any crackpot
who wants to write a terrible amendment that’s divisive politically
and racially and just word it and misinform the public in such a
way that it sounds like a good idea. On the other hand, Gray Davis
obviously can … and has been making a lot of positive
changes.
Already, you can see what he’s done with education, which I
think, to us, is one of the most important things. His education
reform has probably done more today than Pete Wilson did in eight
years.
Davis isn’t just providing extra funding for education. He’s
talked to teachers and superintendents of schools and principals
and they’re really looking to reform education in a lot of ways as
well as give it the money it needs.
After the passage of Propositions 187, 209, and 227, some people
wondered if the politics of California were becoming more and more
conservative. Yet we elect the first Democratic governor in 16
years. What do you think the election of Gray Davis says about the
mindset of California voters in recent years?
I think a lot of the conservatism that you mentioned was really
sort of reactionary, a reaction to a state that is basically
liberal.
I think the conservative bills, while they were passed by the
majority, were the work of a minority and this last election sort
of highlighted that.
Nation
A Democratic president is facing a Senate trial this week.
Although we can discuss many aspects of national politics, only one
issue is consuming the executive, legislative and even judicial
branch, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist administering over the
Senate trial. What are your feelings about what has gone on with
the impeachment of President Bill Clinton thus far?
While I wouldn’t say that any of Ken Starr’s investigation was
illegal, the entire investigation, morally, should not have taken
place at all.
The questions that the president lied to he should never have
been asked. And then you can argue that he should never have been
asked, but he was, and he lied, but our courts don’t admit evidence
that should never have been found and so the impeachment trial
shouldn’t punish the president lying to a question that shouldn’t
have been asked.
I think the impeachment is political and an attempt to bring
down the president. And also, it’s sort of got to be a product of
our talk show developing culture. Society’s definitely different.
There have been a lot of presidents who everybody knew weren’t
acting entirely admirably in their personal lives.
But previously, they always had the good taste not to call them
on it, not to ask those questions.
Whereas now, for some reason, people think it’s okay to
investigate things that they really shouldn’t be, things that are
not really any of their business.
Do you think the impeachment proceedings reflect what the
American people want?
No, poll data as well as common sense or talking to people will
show you that the clear majority of people don’t think that the
president should be impeached.
People want their government to go back to the business of
governing and to stop trying to destroy each other’s careers.
If the U.S. Constitution defines an impeachable offense as one
that qualifies as a high crime or misdemeanor, do you think that
either perjury or obstruction of justice in this circumstance, if
proven, would be serious enough crimes to remove the president from
office?
I think that perjury and obstruction of justice could be serious
enough crimes to remove a president from office if he had perjured
himself or obstructed justice in an investigation relevant to his
duties as president, but since the investigation was into his
personal life, I don’t think that they would be impeachable
offenses.
Considering the politics present at a campus, state, and
national level, what is it like to be a Democrat now and what is it
like to be a young person interested in politics?
That depends on what you expect from your leaders or what you
look for in politics. If you’re looking for an inspiration as to
how to lead your life, or a role model, then these could be called
troubled times. But if you’re looking to politics for interesting
and important and ideological concerns, we certainly have those and
plenty of them.
It’s certainly a time in California where it’s become
politically popular to target racial minorities with
propositions.
Racial minorities should be a group that the government is
protecting because they are groups that have, at times, been
persecuted. So, if you’re looking for ideological cause, those
causes are alive and well.
So, in that sense it’s a very exciting time to be a Democrat and
a young Democrat – so long as you don’t look to your politicians as
your moral leaders all the time.
Malashock, a third-year microbiology and molecular genetics
student, is the Bruin Democrats president. He invites interested
students to attend the viewing of the President’s State of the
Union address next Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Ackerman Grand Ballroom.
The program will be co-sponsored by the People for the American Way
and Bruin Democrats.
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