SHAFFER-CORONA: 'IN MY HEART, I KNOW THAT I WON'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700041-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: November 5, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R0
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE l0
Sh-aff. e14"Coron'aoo 'I n-
I , I inmv -i hat I
By Pete Earley , t
w..A"ealm VaAa att w ttit.
THE WASHINGTON POST
5 November 1981
Or it might be The Washington Post.. "I
think the Post has been less than objective
since they first heard of me.".
-Or it might have been the school board.
"They're a pain in the behind.. Who the hell
wants to go to work every day with nine ya-
hoos who are as discourteous, dishonest,
and rude as those folks are to me?"
...Or it might even be the CIA - which,
he says, oesn't like my PLO (Palestine
Liberation Organization friends" - or the
State Department - "which turned its
back on me. when I was trying to resolve the
[Iranian) hostage crisis" - or maybe even
the "super-rich who don't like some Mex-
making waves."
ican
Forget what the D.C.'.. elections board
At-large D.C. Board of Education men
ber Frank Shaffer-Corona insists that, he
actually won reelection Tuesday'-- even.
thou - complete but unofficial. returns list
him coming in 12th out of 17 candidates..
"In my heart, I know,* that- I won that,
election,"S fi hOrohowed up for his vic-
tory three supporters
tory party yesterday morning in the rear of
an Adams-Morgan bar called Cafedon.
Despite thereturns, Shaffer-Corona, who
only seconds before had traced his family
tree on the back 'of a cocktail napkin to
show his links with Spanish royalty, refused.:
to admit to a reporter that his four-year
reign as the school board's most controver-,.,
sial member was finished.
'wrhese returns are fantasy. They are not
rc~lity based," he said. "The fact that they
went to such extremes to embarrass me and
make the vote count look so small just
shows how effective I have been."
Shaffer-Corona says he is not sure- who
"they" are. It's probably someone that he
offended during his term, he explains. And
the list . of people he. offended is long, he
proudly admits. Atone point, some election
watchers claimed the campaign had become
an "anybody but' Shaffer-Corona" initiative:
Perhaps it was Mayor Marion Barry, he?
says. "The mayor doesn't like me ....-"
Or it could be the D.C. police. "-"They are
the ones 'who pick up the; ballots and de- _.
liver them to city hall" `
It could even be a computer mistake.
"That's the same computer. that sends out
water bills for thousands of dollars when
they should be in the teens. And it's the
computer that at no time knows where the
city's money is.".
But regardless of who "they" are and no
matter how "they" manipulated the elec-
tions, Shaffer-Corona explains, "they",failed
to destroy his bond with his people.
"I know that the oppressed people in this
city still believe in me and they supported.
me on election day," says Shaffer-Corona,'
who has been the highest ranking Hispanic
official in- the city.
00605700041-0
And that is why Shaffer-Corona says he
might seek an investigation of the election
during the remaining weeks of his lame---
duck term. "Not for me, I've already proven
that a person in politics can be capable of
honesty, commitment, service to the people
and love, and that's enough for me.
"But I might seek an ' investigation for!
the voters who supported me to prove I'm
still not going to let anyone dump on me or
. ,
them."
If the school board will miss something
with him gone, he says, it will be his chal-
lenges, his willingness "to champion the
unpopular cause."
If he fails to get the election investigated,
Shaffer-Corona says he will file for unem-
ployment and write a book about minority
involvement in the hostage crisis.
It was his use of $1,900 worth of school
board funds to pay for telephone calls to
Tehran in an attempt to resolve the crisis'
that first outraged many voters. Shaffer-
Corona also was heavily criticized for going
to Beirut to meet with the Palestine Lib.!
eration Organization and to Cuba, at school
board expense, to attend a youth confer-
ence.
"When that book is printed and people
finally understand what I did, then they
will be sorry I'm not on the board," he says
"I'm not going to vanish. A City.Council ##
election is coming up and I'm sure that.
many will want to draft me. But," says
Shaffer-Corona, "I will decline. - :
"I want to be available when the next.'
school board election comes around."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700041-0