The Armenian Sentinel

 

The Mangassarian Files:
Adventures in misinformation and manipulation

By Pedro Zarokian and Arbi Ohanian

In keeping with its mission, TAS once again documents malicious misrepresentation of facts disseminated by Vache Mangassarian through his cable television show. The statements made below are taken verbatim from Mr. Mangassarian and the guests on his program. Verified facts follow each Mangassarian fallacy:

August 31, 2000 Myth—Bob Yousefian (Speaking on the topic of homosexuality): Sen. Schiff is the same person that passed two bills in the State Sentate, SB 537 and SB1001, about six or seven months ago, that allows teachers to teach homosexuality in schools.

Fact—SB 537 is entitled “School transportation”, and was authored by Sen. Dick Monteith (R-12). According to the actual text of the bill, it “allows a recently unified school district to receive financial assistance for home-to-school transportation”. SB 1001 is entitled “Motor vehicle fuel: MTBE”, and was authored by Sen. John Burton (D-3). According to the actual text of the bill, it “requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, beginning April 1, 2000, to submit quarterly reports to the Legislature summarizing the amount of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) used in gasoline in this State by each refinery during the preceding quarter and comparing that amount to the amount of MTBE used in gasoline by each refinery during the previous quarter”.

August 31, 2000 Myth—Vache Mangassarian: Democrats are separating Church and State as a part of one specific mission: to liquidate Christianity in this country.

Fact—The United States has a tradition of separating church from state. Mr. Mangassarian’s statement is so absurd that it does not warrant any in depth explanation from TAS other than perhaps suggesting that he reads up on his American history.

August 31, 2000 Myth—Bob Yousefian: Glendale is receiving its maximum amount of Secion 8 housing. This is based on the number of people living in a city – a certain percentage of that is set aside for Section 8. We can’t get any more because we are already at that percentage.

Fact—Section 8 housing is a Federally funded program. Any increase in its funding will result in an increase in Section 8 availability in the Glendale area.

July 26, 2000 Myth—Thomas Alexanian: We are supporting Rogan because he is a better candidate, not because he is a Republican. In fact, during the last election (1998 – Randy Hoffman (R) vs. Rep. Brad Sherman (D) – 24th Congressional district), we supported a Democrat, Brad Sherman, because he was a better friend of the Armenian community. Mr. Albert Abkarian added that viewers must be aware that a letter was sent out to Armenian constituents from Randy Hoffman claiming to have the support of both Mr. Abkarian as well as Mr. Alexanian; he stated that the letter was unauthorized.

Fact—Armenian Americans for Hoffman, with both Mr. Albert Abkarian and Mr. Tomik Alexanian serving on its steering committee, supported the Republican challenger Randy Hoffman during this campaign. On October 16, 1998, a letter was sent out to Armenian constituents encouraging them to support Mr. Hoffman. After a few inquiries, TAS did not uncover any previous claims by either Mr. Abkarian or Mr. Alexanian that such a committee was formed or such a letter was sent out bearing their names without their approval. There is no public record of Mr. Hoffman ever being asked to retract the letter or apologize for the unauthorized use of Mr. Alexanian and Mr. Abkarian’s names. A copy of the letter can be viewed at www.armeniansentinel.org

August 30, 2000 Myth—Vache Mangassarian: Section 8 housing, Social Security, and Rent Control are all city issues.

Fact—Section 8 housing is a Federally funded program, distributed by local government. Social Security is a Federal program, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 as part of his New Deal policies. Local government has no jurisdiction over the administration or distribution of Social Security. Rent control is a local government issue, as Mr. Mangassarian points out.

August 31, 2000 Myth—Bob Yousefian: Members of Congress get to go on one foreign trip a year, fully funded by the government. Even though he could have chosen to go anywhere he wanted, Congressman Rogan chose to take his trip to Armenia. Fact—This is totally unfounded. The government does not fund foreign trips taken by members of Congress. Rep. Rogan’s trip to Armenia was not funded by the government. It was paid for by the Armenian Assembly of America. July 26, 2000 Myth—Albert Abkarian: In my opinion, giving $840,000 (to AFF) to make a film, even though it’s about Armenia, is wrong, because we can send this money to Armenia so that we can feed those that are hungry and put clothes on the backs of orphans.

Fact—The money that Mr. Abkarian refers to was appropriated to the AFF through California’s state budget. As a state, California has no authority to send money overseas for direct foreign aid, and thus it would be impossible to ask that the money appropriated to the AFF for the making of an Armenian Genocide documentary be sent to Armenia instead.

August 31, 2000 Myth—Bob Yousefian: Not all Democrats have endorsed Schiff in this election. The Hunchaks, who are Democrats, have endorsed James Rogan.

Fact—The Hunchak Party is not affiliated with the Democratic Party of the United States. According to the Hunchakian Party, it was created in 1887 in Turkey and Persia. It is a Socialist Party whose founders were Marxists (www.hunchak.org).

August 31, 2000 Myth—Vache Mangassarian: Adam Schiff recently increased taxes on cars (Bob Yousefian noted that it was an increase of $700 million per year).

Fact—Both parties in the State legislature developed bills related to automobile registration taxes. Both bills served to decrease the taxes, not increase them, as Mr. Mangassarian and Mr. Yousefian claimed. The Republican bill offered a larger cut in automobile registration taxes, while the bill offered by the Democrats offered a smaller tax cut.

August 31, 2000 Myth—Bob Yousefian: Under Governor Pat Brown, our state ran at a deficit. Gov. [George] Dekmejian balanced the budget. Gov. [Pete] Wilson kept it balanced.

Fact—Under California law, the State budget cannot run at a deficit. The California Constitution, in Article 16, Section 1, states that, “the Legislature shall not, in any manner create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities”.