Misusing Oregon State University as Political Payback -- the Art Robinson Story
March 8, 2011
Dr. Art Robinson ran for Congress in 2010. He lost. Now his children are under attack, he reports.
Since the November 2 election and our announcement that we would run again against Democrat Peter DeFazio in 2012, we have suffered some annoying personal and political attacks by the DeFazio political machine. While these attacks have cost us personally some time and money, they were the sort of thing that many political candidates endure behind the scenes.
Unprecedented, however, has been an effort to arrange the expulsion of my three children, Joshua, Bethany, and Matthew, from their graduate studies in nuclear engineering at Oregon State University -- a DeFazio political stronghold. This attack is, so far as I know, unprecedented in American politics.
We need your help!
For the past 4 months, our lives have been so disrupted by this attack at OSU that we have been distracted from our work, including work necessary to prepare for the 2012 elections. This is the reason that you have heard so little from us since the election. We have been working to further our scientific research and have made some preparations for 2012, but not as many as we would otherwise have done.
Please read the following account. When we decided to run against DeFazio, I expected the unprincipled campaign for which he is well known. I never dreamed, however, that "political payback" would include a campaign to destroy the education, career, and future of three of my children who are outstanding graduate students in nuclear engineering at OSU.
Now, the only thing that can save them and the embattled professor who risked his career to help them is a public outcry in their favor.
Please read the following account and then, please help us with your letters, emails, phone calls, and faxes to OSU. Click here for more information and updates: www.OregonStateOutrage.com.
Please, also, accept our deepest thanks and gratitude for your support.
Art
He included this article from World Net Daily: Democrats Attack Republican Candidate's Children
I suggest that you read it.
This is what can happen to you if you take a stand.
My view is that the Democrats of Oregon would not approve of this. People feel strongly about attacks on their children. They do not think that their own quarrels should result in personal attacks on their children.
Higher education in the United States is compromised by funding from the government. Because of this funding, outrages like this can take place.
These are bureaucrats. They have a great fear of bad publicity, because bad publicity can result in reduced budgets, which is the thing they fear most. Also, if they come under public scrutiny, the layer of bureaucracy over them may decide to intervene, thus reducing their autonomy. They fear this, too. They want more money and more autonomy. When a scandal breaks that calls into question their good judgment, they may suffer a reduction of both. The administration, fearing bad publicity, intervenes.
These people forget about the Web. They think they can do these things and not get lots of bad publicity. They have not adjusted to the new technology.
If Robinson has misinterpreted the situation, I am sure the other faculty members and the administration will be able to refute him, point by point. But they owe it to him, his children, and the general public to explain how this could have happened. It is the administration that he says is behind this. They share the outlook of Mr. DeFezio. (Note: In what he has written, he has not said that DeFazio personally intervened. He has said that a definite political outlook is involved.)