Sastry grew up in Daly City, California, playing point guard for his high school varsity basketball team. He learned much about politics from his father, former Federation of Indo-American Associations president Durvasula Sastry. Sastry graduated from UC Berkeley this May with a bachelor's in electrical engineering and computer science. In between political campaigns, he hopes to study law, concentrating on intellectual property rights.
hum: How did you get your start in politics?
Sastry: I started following politics in '84 when the Democratic convention happened in San Francisco. Jesse Jackson was one of my idols at that time. He gave a fiery speech at the convention. Ever since then I've always wanted a Democrat to become president.
My senior year in high school I went hard-core volunteering for Jackson. I met Michael Dukakis and took over a rally happening at the Golden Gate Bridge. I wasn't assigned to do it, I was a vounteer for the San Mateo County Democrats. Me and my friend showed up and crossed these "please do not cross" boundaries. They thought we were sent in by the party. The organizers put us to work. We went in and started coordinating the press corps. I was assigned to be the liaison with the Secret Service. Ted Danson and Daryl Hannah were the two hosts, and Sam Donaldson was there. They gave me a walkie-talkie. I was plugged in right in there, it was so exciting. I wrote about it in my Berkeley application, and everyone in my high school got a kick out of it. The organizers never figured it out. They just thanked us and gave us passes for another meeting.
hum: You worked closely with Jerry Brown during his '92 campaign. How did that come about?
Sastry: I've always been an armchair quarterback. I've always wanted to run a political campaign or do sound bites for a politician. My father is a community activist and he's invited Jerry Brown to many events in Northern California. I want to get in on the ground floor and see if I could influence his speeches or his research. I used to go to his house while I was still in school or do odd things, talk to him. Suddenly he decided to run for president. Suddenly the opportunity presented itself right there. Jerry asked me to come on the road, and he asked if I would be willing to take a semester off from school. I knew I'd have an advantage on the road because I'd know him better than the local coordinators. I'd have influence over his scheduling. I became co-coordinator for four states. It was an unprecedented opportunity for someone of my age and ethnic background. Whether Jerry won or lost, he went head-to-head with Bill Clinton. I had an opportunity to meet with Clinton and his advisers, a chance to influence national TV debates. Personal friends don't run for president that often, you have to seize the opportunity when you have it.
hum: Tell me about the televised debates.
Sastry: In Illinois there were two debates before the statewide primary. I was sent in to do the negotiations. David Axelrod and George Stephanopoulos were representing Bill Clinton. Paul Tsongas had a slick guy representing him. They were wearing suits and were already sitting there with the TV executives. I took the subway and was late. I came in jeans and a shirt. They all looked at me. In their minds they were thinking it's a decoy, the jeans and the shirt, he's actually a shrewd guy.
hum: They didn't discount you because of your age?
Sastry: At times I felt young, but all you have to do is throw a suit on. If you can carry yourself well, it gives you instant respect. Put a suit on and speak intelligently and people will respect you. It becomes taboo for them to ask you your age, it becomes an insult, if you speak intelligently. No one would confront me with questions like that. Being a minority, it's hard to tell your age anyway. Besides, there's always a mysterious cloud around our campaign, a respect of the unknown. Jerry Brown does things unconventionally, but he always gets his message across.
hum: Jerry Brown is well-known for being unconventional...
Sastry: He's a Gandhian follower. His slogan for president was "Speaking Truth to Power." He took it straight from Gandhi's "Truth is the ultimate reality and has a way of creating power." His idea of running for president and recapturing American government for the people is taken from Gandhi. He says Gandhi succeeeded in the movement because, unlike the lawyers of Delhi and Bombay, Gandhi went to the people, to every village. He created a revolution from the bottom up and challenged everyone to become moral agents of change. Jerry even said that when he spoke at the Ghadar memorial.
hum: About the debate negotiations...
Sastry: We started negotiating. Clinton really wanted a sit-down debate. Clinton is good with that. He moves his hands around, never stops talking, and hogs time. I said I want three podiums. The Tsongas guy was waiting and didn't say anything. The TV people asked whether we should allow questions between the candidates. I just smiled. The Clinton people said no way. He was still struggling with Gennifer Flowers, and the S&L scandal was about to happen. Clinton was the front runnner, but his people felt he would be very vulnerable. The Tsongas guy saw that and showed some inclination to supporting questions between candidates. We didn't care, Jerry doesn't give a damn about the format. He doesn't like slick and professional, he just likes to go in and talk. So I decided to play games with the thing, I had no preference. I didn't say anything, I just smiled. Stephanopoulos looked at me and said, "Look at the Brown guy, they will go to any length to ask an embarrassing question to Clinton." Right away the Tsongas guy said they wanted questions, and it depends on the Brown guy. I said we might want them. If the Tsongas guy supports three podiums I'd definitely support having questions. So he said sure, and it was two-to-one for podiums. The Tsongas guy said we want questions also, and I said sure.
The Clinton guy went through the roof. He wanted to withdraw from the debate. The TV guy said can we have it without questions. The Tsongas guy said no way. I said my preference for questions wasn't that strong. I said there's one way I could be persuaded, if I could get the middle podium for Jerry instead of tossing a coin or picking cards. The Clinton campaign said fine, vote against questions, we'll vote for the middle podium for Jerry. Jerry got the middle podium, which is always an advantage because you're standing in between two guys and it looks like you're being given importance. When you talk, both men look at you from both sides, and you have a potential for hogging the camera. I also wanted him to be next to Bill Clinton, we'd be going after him hard.
We drew cards for opening and closing statements. We won the first opening statement and traded it for the last closing statement. I knew the closing statement was better for Jerry. He's emotional, and his labor and corruption issues would have a resounding effect.
hum: Wasn't this the debate where Brown and Clinton got into a fight?
Sastry: Yeah, the fight was over a Washington Post article. The TV executives sent us a fax saying there'll be no props allowed in the studio. When I showed up for the walk-through I said we're going to pull out of the debate unless we have props. This was a total bluff, we had no intention of stepping out of the debate. They knew the ratings would dive if we did. The Clinton and Tsongas people said sure, why not, because every other debate so far had allowed props.
On the debate day, Jerry Brown walked in there. Suddenly he raised a newspaper article and said, "Ralph Nader told me something last night that shocked me. Your wife funnelled state money into her law firm, and you were involved in the Madison Savings & Loan and Whitewater. I think you're putting one over on the American public. You have a big a electability problem. It's right here in tomorrow's Washington Post."
Bill Clinton went ballistic. He said Jerry didn't belong on the same platform. They started yelling at each other so harshly that the Secret Service got up. Bill was pissed off and created the most dramatic moment of the presidential primary season. Tsongas dropped out five days later cause he got no press out of that debate. The cameras zoomed in on Jerry and Clinton. Tsongas was completely ignored.
This year the same TV station called when Kathleen Brown won the primary. They left a message, "This is ABC calling from Illinois. We still think Jerry was the best candidate, and we think you were the coolest and calmest negotiator. If there's anything we can do to help Kathleen, call us up." They all remembered that all this Whitewater stuff started at that debate, and they sent me a copy of the video. I was really proud of that message. I'll never forget it for the rest of my life.
hum: What was the campaign trail like?
Sastry: You meet movie actors and famous politician. It's rare that everyday people get to meet celebrities in an informal atmosphere where business has to be done. Since we were representing Jerry Brown, they knew we would not mob them or bother them or ask them to come to a party or abuse their phone number. Matthew Modine took me and a friend out to dinner. I went to a lesbian bar with Whoopi Goldberg. Public Enemy came and did a benefit for Jerry Brown.
I've been a fan of Public Enemy for a long time. Flavor Flave came with his son and said, "Hey, can I introduce my son to Jerry Brown?" Kim Basinger and the B-52's did a benefit for us wth MTV hosting it. We had a hamburger together at a bar on top of the club and talked. The B-52's were backstage talking to us. They asked us to send them pins and bumper stickers for Jerry Brown. I met Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. They came to a rally we were doing while they were filming The Bodyguard. It was very informal, not the big rush you have when everyone's reaching for them, grabbing. I became numb to the excitement of it, it became normal.
hum: So who really runs this country?
Sastry: You might think there are no connections between the rock stars, the conservative businessmen, the movie stars, and the politicians, but at 9:30 p.m. cocktail receptions behind closed doors they're all moving in the same circles. There's no separation between them. They all represent the top one percent of the wealth and ownership and power in this country. However diverse Public Enemy, Kim Basinger, Ross Perot, Jerry Brown, Matthew Modine, and Walter Shorenstein might seem, you can see them all at a cocktail reception for a political fundraiser. The money is the lubricant that greases the machine.
hum: Did you ever meet Jesse Jackson?
Sastry: Yes, I did. Jesse Jackson was the first person I really idolized in American politics. I put him on a high pedestal. Suddenly I was traveling with him. We went to the site where Martin Luther King was assassinated, where Jackson was standing next to him in Memphis. Jackson took us there. Everything became matter-of-fact after that. If it had happened a couple of years ago I'd be stuttering in my speech.
hum: Who are your role models?
Sastry: My grandfather is one of my greatest inspirations. He was the most famous criminal lawyer in Andhra Pradesh during his time, and a leader in the Andhra Communist Party. He was fearless. He'd have his supporters sing fiery bhajans and folk songs, angry kinds about oppression. I liken them to the inner-city hard-core rap I used to listen to, NWA, Public Enemy. In Daly City it's a middle to lower-class area near my schools. Most of my friends were Filipino or black. I've always identified with the lower class, not the rich.
hum: Do you feel you've faced bias in the political community due to your ethnicity?
Sastry: I'm sure being a minority has hurt me, but it hasn't confronted me directly. There's no stigma attached to our skin color like with African Americans. I don't think it'll be hard for the Indian community to infiltrate the political community. You need articulateness, persistence, confidence, and intelligence. They'll get good work out of you if you're capable. I predict lots of Indians will go into opposition research, computer types, people who are very quick, intelligent, and resourceful. Indians have been known for those qualities. Campaigns need people like that.
hum: What advice would you give to other SAA political hopefuls?
Sastry: If you're not in the right networks, you won't get the top jobs in campaigns. You won't get campiagn manager or right below that where you're running operations, but you will research issues.
You should start out volunteering and make as many connections
as you can. Otherwise it's almost impossible to get a paid job
in a responsible position unless you've networked for a long time.
As campaigns become more high tech, they are looking for intelligent
university students to do research. Indians can be represented
as much as they want to. Like Wall Street, they'll take us because
we're good.
