Jason Gastrich (R) for California's Governor

The Tonight Show and NBC Snub and Mistreat Mr. Gastrich

September 22, 2003

On August 14, Mr. Gastrich contacted The Tonight Show and asked about coming on the show. A representative from The Tonight Show responded with the following letter:

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From: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno <thetonightshow@nbc.com>
To: "'JCSaves3@aol.com'" <JCSaves3@aol.com>
Subject: RE: Dear Jay Leno and NBC
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 13:48:15 -0400
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Hi Jason,

Thanks for your reply -- it has been forwarded to the appropriate people here. We'll be sending out written invitations with further instructions shortly.

Thanks again for your email & good luck!

The Tonight Show

In addition to his email, Mr. Gastrich sent a hard copy of his letter to The Tonight Show. Strangely, they sent him a generic card and letter that said they were out of tickets! The phone number on the card is 818-840-3537.

Immediately, Mr. Gastrich called this number and asked to speak to a representative. He was told that write-in candidates were probably not allowed to come, that Scott McCullough was in charge of this event, and a representative took his phone number and name and promised to call within a week with more details.

Over a week passed and Mr. Gastrich didn't hear anything from The Tonight Show. He wrote a couple of emails to the same address, but they were ignored.

On September 17, Jason decided to call The Tonight Show, again. He received the runaround and was passed from attendant to attendant. Eventually, he left a message on an answering machine and explained his issue.

Calling right back, he was passed around until Scott McCullough answered the phone. Scott insisted that he was not in charge and could not do anything. He couldn't provide a contact name, but told Jason to call NBC; which was the place Jason had already called.

When Mr. Gastrich asked him for the name of his supervisor, he said that he didn't have a supervisor. When asked who hired him, Scott said that he wouldn't tell the name of this person or his supervisor. Jason also asked the other attendants for Scott's supervisor, but nobody seemed to know his or her name. It would seem that Scott McCullough is either omnipotent and hired himself or some people are lying and covering for him.

Mr. Gastrich called again and received the gubernatorial candidates', RSVP hotline; it was an answering machine with a message about the event. It stated that the ballot candidates were all allowed to invite one guest.

Mr. Gastrich decided to email all of the other candidates and ask them if they were bringing a guest. One candidate, Jerry Kunzman, was kind enough to offer Jason his guest spot. Jerry even called NBC and told them to expect Mr. Gastrich as his guest. However, Jerry also said that he was not going to be able to make the event.

Within a couple of hours, an unnamed representative called Jerry and Jason and told them that guests were disallowed to come if the candidate was not with them.

"I'm very disappointed in The Tonight Show and NBC. Jay Leno has said, a number of times, that all of the candidates were invited. He didn't qualify those statements and make them specifically for ballot candidates," exclaimed Mr. Gastrich.

As soon as we received the email confirmation, Gastrich for Governor released a press release about Mr. Gastrich's upcoming appearance on The Tonight Show. This press release was made on August 14.

When asked about the press release, Mr. Gastrich said, "I'm quite upset about it. We received the invitation via email, so I announced it to everyone. I was excited about the invitation and told my family, friends, and supporters. We even put a graphic of Jay and The Tonight Show on our web page," said Jason.

He continued to say, "It's despicable of The Tonight Show and NBC to do a 180 degree turn, withdraw the invitation, act like it was never made, pass me around from impotent employee to impotent employee, and disallow me to come. I'm not a ballot candidate, but I've been campaigning up and down the state and engaging the other candidates in debates. I'm much more serious than many of the ballot candidates."

Several, gubernatorial candidates are boycotting The Tonight Show with Jay Leno because they believe their candidacy won't be taken seriously. Mr. Gastrich has been encouraged to do the same. Right now, Jason has simply decided to continue campaigning without worrying about this atrocity.

Kind regards,

Gastrich for Governor, '03

http://jasongastrich.com

1-877-732-5360