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Monday, August 7, 2006
The 4th District race and “Arab-baiting”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Arab American Institute has chided Hank Johnson, challenger to Cynthia McKinney in Tuesday’s Democratic run-off for the 4th District, for alleged use of an ethnic slur in this weekend’s debate on WSB-TV.
The Washington-based organization has asked Johnson to retract certain statements. No doubt Johnson will consider this request, some time after the last poll closes.
Here are excerpts:
Dear Mr. Johnson,
Your comments in a recent debate with Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney are disturbing.
We recently viewed a tape of the debate, including a portion in which you commented that an “abundant number of contributors to Ms. McKinney’s campaign have Palestinian and Arab surnames. Now I could accuse her of being under the control of terrorists.”
It is especially in the course of a heated debate during a tight race that it is important that candidates not fall back on ethnic slurs, regardless of whether those smears are targeted at Arab Americans or African Americans.
Your use of Arab-baiting as a means by which to score political points do not reflect well on you.
Accordingly, I would request that you recognize the inappropriateness of your comments and publicly retract that statement.
As an elected official operating in a deeply divided political environment such as the one we have, you owe your constituents more. You should be providing leadership and examples of civil discourse. Unfortunately, in this instance, you chose to disrespect an entire segment of the electorate.
Sincerely,
Nidal M. Ibrahim
Executive Director
Another three-exception target in the abortion fight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Postcards from Georgia Right to Life hit Hall County on Monday, declaring that Lee Hawkins is “the only pro-life” candidate in the Republican run-off for the Senate District 49 seat.
This will be news to the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, where Mark Musselwhite — Hawkins’ rival — is a deacon.
The postcard also declares Bill Stephens to be the only pro-life candidate in the Republican run-off for secretary of state, which also includes Karen Handel. So once again the narrow fight over when to permit abortions has become a last-minute issue in Republican ranks.
Here’s the deal: Anti-abortion groups long conceded that abortion could be allowed in three cases — rape, incest and when the life of the mother was at stake. Four years ago, Georgia Right to Life adopted a policy which recognized only one exception — the life of the mother. The separate, National Right to Life organization maintains its three-exceptions policy.
In Georgia, the argument has become a matter of who gets to decide what “pro-life.” means.
Musselwhite, like Handel, is a three-exception candidate. “Musselwhite is deeply opposed to — and would ban — 99 percent of all abortions,” said his campaign consultant, Clint Austin. “It’s unfair to say that a candidate who meets National Right to Life standards, who has the same position as George W. Bush, can be cast out as not pro-life.”
Sonny to join the fight over National Guard
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re told Sonny Perdue, along with other governors, will put his signature to a bipartisan letter protesting a quiet move in Congress to shift control of the National Guard to the president in times of crisis.
The provision was tucked into the House version of a defense bill without any notice to the governors. The measure will be hashed out next month by House and Senate conferees.
Opposition among governors is being led by Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckaby, who said the move “violates 200 years of American history” and is symptomatic of a larger federal effort to make states no more than “satellites of the national government.”
Here’s a link to the Washington Post article on the topic that ran over the weekend.
The latest word in campaign finance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The latest campaign disclosure filing from Bill Stephens, one of two GOP candidates in a run-off for secretary of state Tuesday, is on-line now.
Campaign manager Katie Grove cited technical problems after the form failed to appear on the state web site over the weekend.
Stephens has raised $131,120 in the last few weeks, almost exactly as much as rival Karen Handel.
About $19,000 came from a pool of current and former state lawmakers, plus two congressmen — Nathan Deal and Lynn Westmoreland.
Big-name contributors include Bernie Marcus ($1,000), Zell Miller ($1,000) and Virgil Williams ($6,000 from two entities).
Lobbyist Bruce Bowers gave $2,000, which takes the sting out of the $2,000 that his dad gave to Handel.
