TELL THE TRUTH COMMITTEE
PO BOX 2932
WASHINGTON, DC 20013-2932
For Immediate Release: Contact: Erik Milman
November 18, 2002
TELL THE TRUTH COMMITTEE IS SUCCESSFUL IN HELPING DEFEAT HELEN BENTLEY IN MARYLAND’S 2ND DISTRICT
The Tell The Truth Committee was very successful in a one month
grassroots campaign and media effort that informed the voters of the
Maryland 2nd Congressional District about Helen Delich Bentley’s past
record in Congress and all about her ties to Serbian expansionism. This
effort spearheaded by Maryland resident, Steve Rukavina and with the
financial support of the NFCA network of friends clearly contributed to
her defeat.
Members of the Tell The Truth Committee attended candidates forums and
debates and passed out literature to the voters that detailed Mrs.
Bentley’s past record in Congress which includes significant political
support of past Serbian President and accused war criminal Slobodan
Milosevic and his ethnic cleansing campaign. The Tell the Truth
Committee also staged a successful protest at a Rudy Giuliani fundraiser
for Mrs. Bentley that generated significant TV news coverage. The Tell
The Truth Committee sent packets that contained documentation and
supporting information that detailed her past unethical activities to
all key media contacts. These activities and the personal contact with
individual members of the media resulted in four unfavorable articles
about Mrs. Bentley that appeared in Maryland newspapers.
The unfavorable media coverage along with the Tell Truth Committee
grassroots activities helped increase her negative rating among the
voters by nine percent in late October and also caused the Bentley
campaign to lose focus. During that same time frame, Dutch Ruppersberger
opened up an eight point lead after trailing her by two points in
September. “We believe that the bad publicity generated by Tell The
Truth Committee cost Mrs. Bentley four or five percentage points in the
polls which was about the margin of victory for her opponent. This
negative press for Mrs. Bentley helped sway thousands of voters away
from her candidacy and contributed to her 17,000 vote loss on election
day. Our effort clearly shows how even a low budget media campaign with
a small number of activists telling the truth, can make a huge
difference in a congressional election.” said Steve Rukavina, the Chair
of the Tell The Truth Committee.
The Tell The Truth Committee is very proud that we were able inform the
Maryland voters about the truth of Helen Bentley’s congressional support
in the early 1990s that assisted the Serbian war machine. This effort
contributed to her defeat. The success created by this independent
committee could not have happened without the active participation of
many Croatian American, Albanian American, Jewish American, and Irish
American human rights activists. These activists truly made a
difference in a congressional race of utmost interest to the Croatian
American community.