{news} (Humboldt Sentinel) The Downfall of Mr. Cobb

[Green Party-CT]

http://www.humboldtsentinel.com/060106v.htm
  Vol. I No. 8
Friday, January 6, 2006 
  The Downfall of Mr. Cobb
Misrepresentation fits in pattern of disillusionment   Editorials
HUMBOLDT SENTINEL
  Yet again in these last few weeks, David Cobb has taken his penchant for grandstanding and misrepresentation to new heights with his recent dubious claims that he is an attorney and a national political figure.
   
  At a minimum, these are misrepresentations that stretch the truth. David Cobb has been suspended from practicing law in Texas since 2003, which also happens to be well prior to his resignation as legal counsel for the Green Party of the United States. Cobb also resigned his post as a member of the National Committee of the GPUS last year, and holds no other offices on a state or federal level within the Green Party any related organization that can be found on the Internet.
   
  The only evidence of Cobb’s continuing involvement is his position on the Board of Directors of the Green Institute, a think-tank formed after his self-described "quixotic" run for President in 2004, which has received much of its funding from heavy hitter donors who typically can be found supporting a different political party. This supposed fountainhead of “practical, real-world solutions” have come up with vary little outside of creative ways of paying staff members, a task also performed with notable verve in Cobb’s fundraising on behalf of a recount of votes in Ohio, quite a bit of which went to pay the salaries of intimate associates.
   
  Cobb also failed to share the list of donors to his campaign with the local Greens, even though his disastrous “safe states” effort cost them votes in California and several hard-won ballot lines across the country, providing the most serious setback for any minor party since the near-total destruction of the Reform Party in 2000. At least the Reformers managed to grant their nomination to the candidate who received the most votes; Cobb finished fourth place in Humboldt County with scarcely one in ten supporting him in his supposed home county, behind write-in votes for Ralph Nader and even behind Lorna Salzman, who has never even been here. Only a convention well documented to have been rigged by delegations packed by Cobb who ignored the instructions of primary voters was able to hand him the nomination, and the consequent loss of millions of votes for the party (see Rigged Convention; Divided Party
How David Cobb Became the Green Nominee Even Though He Only Got 12 Percent of the Votes, published on Aug. 7, 2004 by Counterpunch).
   
  Other than asking for money or tooting his own horn while mischaracterizing his own record as one independent of the two-party system, we must ask how Mr. Cobb has paid his dues in this community. Even in the case of the Critical Mass ride instigated without the knowledge of event organizers at the hands of one of Cobb’s associates, what did a witness report was his chief concern on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse as four young protestors were locked away inside? Evidently Cobb was upset not with their treatment at the hands of overzealous police officers, but upset with the lack of unanimous support for his anti-corporate initiative, one his legal expertise seemed to play rather little, or perhaps too much influence in the drafting of, considering the many errors found by local attorneys as well as by editorials in the Times-Standard and The Eureka Reporter as well as the Humboldt Sentinel.
   
  Even given the fact that Cobb once was an attorney if he is no longer one now, where in his record can he point to having fought for the underdog? While insurance companies are as entitled to legal representation as any other entity, it was still Cobb’s choice to represent one for several years. The one task Cobb has found some success in recently, raising money, has yet to been employed by him on behalf of Critical Mass activists or other local causes he has taken sudden interest in.
   
  We are not the first to be completely disillusioned as to the manner in which David Cobb conducts himself, and while we resist speculation as to the motives, clearly some conclusions can be drawn and they do not bode well for the future of any organization Cobb is in control of. His downfall on the national scene should be an indicator of what Cobb’s further actions may entail locally.

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