Tom, here is a liberal mind, I'll leave it to you to determine whether it is vacant.
In the final hectic weeks of Campaign 2000, no celebrity worked harder for the
Democratic ticket than Ben Affleck, Hollywood's young prince. The 28-year-old
Academy Award winner crisscrossed the country in support of Al Gore, repeatedly
delivering a get-out-the-vote plea: "It's very important to vote. The president
will appoint three or four Supreme Court justices."
During the final week of the race, Affleck stumped for Gore in California,
Florida, and Pennsylvania. During a stop in Pittsburgh, the star--along with
Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Rob Reiner and other actors--spent an hour at a phone
bank calling registered Democrats. "People in my generation have a low voter
turnout. One of the reasons that I'm here is to demonstrate that no matter who
you are going to vote for...I think it's important to get involved and get out
and vote," Affleck told reporters. "But I'm going to tell people to vote for
Gore." Affleck was the celebrity caravan's youngest member and the one Gore
backer guaranteed to be greeted on the trail with shrieks and swoons from
younger voters.
In addition to backing Gore, Affleck had been a big supporter of former
President Bill Clinton and also pushed New Yorkers to elect Hillary Clinton to
the U.S. Senate. On October 28, for instance, Affleck flew with the First Lady
to Ithaca, New York, where he introduced her at a Cornell University rally.
Affleck told the college crowd that Clinton had been advocating for women and
working families since "Rick Lazio was running around the frat house in his
underwear." Lazio, then a Long Island congressman, was Clinton's Republican
opponent.
On Monday, November 6, the final day of the campaign, Affleck was one of several
A-list celebrities summoned to Miami Beach by Miramax Films boss Harvey
Weinstein for a late-night Gore rally, just hours before polls opened
nationwide. The Gore campaign's last event, a final effort to energize South
Beach voters, didn't end until about 1 AM, but Affleck still had one more piece
of campaigning to do. He flew back to New York that morning and made a surprise
live appearance on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. It was 10:15 when the groggy actor
made his final public pitch from a Rockefeller Center studio, noting that he was
"a little bit tired...I've been out getting involved, doing stuff and trying to
get people to vote. And that's why I came by here."
As returns came in that night, Affleck told Salon's Amy Reiter, "I'm nervous
this evening, but one of the things that's exciting to me is the amount of
people who voted. No matter who wins, I think it's a healthy thing for our
country that so many voters have come out and participated in the process.
Either way, I think the most important number will be the turnout." Reiter
interviewed Affleck at an election night party thrown at Elaine's by Miramax and
Talk magazine.
Given his role during the 2000 race, it probably should not have come as a
surprise that Affleck dreams of a future in politics. In May's GQ magazine, the
Oscar winner said, "My fantasy is that someday I'm independently wealthy enough
that I'm not beholden to anybody, so I can run for Congress on the grounds that
everyday people--be they singers or poets or bankers or lawyers or
teachers--should be in government." Just the kind of altruistic thoughts you'd
expect from a square-jawed leading man who's starring as a heroic fighter pilot
in this summer's big blockbuster, the $150 million epic "Pearl Harbor."
So imagine The Smoking Gun's shock and dismay when--after a week of diligent
searching--we could not find a shred of evidence that Affleck actually bothered
to vote last year.
TSG checked records and spoke with election officials in Massachusetts, Los
Angeles, and New York City and discovered that Affleck did not pull the lever in
any of those cities--and apparently hasn't done so in eight years. TSG examined
documents in those locales because after reviewing scores of newspaper and
magazine articles and a variety of computerized databases, they were the only
three cities in which Affleck appears to have lived over the past decade.
The Smoking Gun began its review in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the actor's
hometown and where he lived until he was 18. The Cambridge Election Commission
had no records of Affleck voting in 2000. And a check of documents dating back
to 1990 turned up no prior registrations in Affleck's name, according to Teresa
S. Neighbor, the commission's executive director. Affleck grew up in a Cottage
Street home in which his mother still lives (and from which she is currently
registered to vote). He moved to California in 1991 to pursue an acting career.
Registrar of Voters records show that Affleck signed up to vote in Los Angeles
in September 1992. He registered as a Democrat and gave his address as an Altivo
Way home owned by family friends. Affleck voted in that November's general
election, the first presidential race (Bush vs. Clinton) for which the actor,
then 20, was eligible to vote. Affleck would eventually move from the Altivo Way
house and live in a series of L.A. apartments before settling down in the
Hollywood Hills.
But the Registrar's documents also reveal that Affleck subsequently cast no
other ballots--either in person at a polling place or through an absentee
ballot--in state or federal races held in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. Records of
odd-year elections--held for local offices like mayor and city council--are
maintained by a separate City of Los Angeles elections board, which does not
keep registries for more than six months after an election. County records show
that in January 2000 Affleck's voter registration was changed to an "inactive"(no kidding!)
status after a routine mail check determined that his Altivo Way address was no
longer current. A TSG check of voter registration records in the neighboring
counties of Ventura, Orange, and San Bernardino turned up no record of an
Affleck registration.
Motor vehicle records show that Affleck currently has a driver's license issued
by the State of California and that the license carries a Los Angeles address.
In April 1999, the actor paid $1.6 million for a 7500-square-foot home on La
Presa Drive in the Hollywood Hills. In February, the Los Angeles Times reported
that Affleck has listed the home for sale, in part because "he is said to be
planning to spend more time in New York."
But none of that Big Apple time has passed inside a voting booth. Since Affleck
owns a Tribeca loft, TSG checked city Board of Elections records, but came up
with no current or past registrations for him (though brother Casey, whose given
name is Caleb, signed up to vote in 1996 from a Manhattan address). We checked
every person registered to vote from the star's Walker Street address and there
were no Afflecks (or any variation of the spelling) registered from the
eight-unit building.
In a November 12, 2000 Boston Globe article, Affleck said he bought his New York
loft and Hollywood Hills mansion "'cause I just get so tired of that feeling of
not ever being home, of always being on the road. So I got two places where I
can just kind of hang my hat."
During his November 7 visit with Rosie O'Donnell, Affleck said, "Today is the
get-out-the-vote day and...I think this is the time to get involved, especially
the young folks who are here." The studio audience, packed with teenagers
awaiting an appearance by 'N Sync, screeched its underage approval. "I'm about
to go vote," Affleck then said, adding later, "I am personally gonna vote for Al
Gore."
So where did this supposed vote occur? Affleck was 3000 miles away from the city
where his voter registration was termed inactive (though he would have been
allowed to vote had he showed up at his old polling place). And he wasn't
registered from his Tribeca loft or, for that matter, anywhere else in New York
City. Ben, it seems, doesn't limit his flights of fiction to film scripts.
Asked about Affleck's voting record, spokesman David Pollick initially said
that, "I would be shocked if he didn't vote." He then claimed in a e-mail sent
Tuesday (4/24) afternoon, "Despite Ben's attempt to vote on election day 2000, a
bureaucratic snafu at the polls prevented him from doing so. Fortunately, the
candidates he supported carried New York state without his vote." Pollick
provided no other details of this supposed "snafu" or why no New York City
elections records show that his client was even registered to vote.
During his recent GQ interview, Affleck reflected on the lure of public office:
"Not to get too Susan Sarandon on you, but part of what I'd get off on would be
the oration, the speechmaking and the idea of leading." Well, Ben, Sarandon
found her way to the polls in November. So did Harvey Weinstein. Not to mention
your ex-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. This high-profile trio all voted in
Manhattan--and it took TSG all of five minutes to locate their registration and
voting information.
We'll wait to hear Affleck's explanation for this colossal display of hypocrisy,
though it's certainly not the first time a celebrity failed to get out his own
vote. But usually a wannabe politician waits until he's safely in office before
unleashing such a torrent of falsehoods and distortions. This Affleck kid will
go places in Washington. |
