07/19/00 -- RACIST SKELETONS HAUNT THE CLOSETS OF BOTH BUSH AND GORE


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Despite the recent pleas for black support by presidential candidates George W. Bush and Albert Gore at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, it now appears that both candidates have racist skeletons in their closets.

The Fox News Network reported that Federal Election Commission records for 1992 show that a political action committee listed as Friends of Al Gore Jr. made a contribution to the Confederate Memorial Committee.

Court records in both Virginia and the District of Columbia indicate that members of the Confederate Memorial Committee were involved in the production of a racist board game called "Home Rulette." The Alexandria, Virginia address listed on the FEC record was the home of the chairman of the Confederate Memorial Committee and a $550,000 lobbyist for Cambodian dictator and former Khmer Rouge leader Hun Sen.

Department of Justice records list the lobbyist as Richard Hines, who was the subject of a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that exposed him as the financial backer of the Keep It Flying PAC, a then-unregistered pro-Confederate flag group that sent out 250,000 letters against Senator John McCain just days before the South Carolina primary election. Senator McCain held up the letter as the symbol of a campaign financing abuse that cost him the victory in South Carolina.

The Wall Street Journal story indicates that Hines has admitted spending $5,000 in postage for the mailing, but has not provided a postal receipt or said whether the money came from his consulting firm's funds. Hines recently hired attorney Stanley Brand, a specialist in campaign financing.

Hines was an affirmative action contractor during President George Bush's administration. His wife served in the administration of the elder Bush as deputy assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs.

Although Hines is a long-time political ally of Warren Tompkins, the Southeast regional chairman of Governor Bush's campaign, Tompkins has denied discussing the letter with Hines.

John Edward Hurley, president of the Confederate Memorial Association and subject of the Fox News interview, said Hines had financed massive litigation against his organization in an attempt to politicize his group. Hurley said that funds for this had been wired to a Charlotte bank, re-wired the next day to a bank in Northern Virginia, and subsequently sent to a Maryland Credit Union account. "It is clear to me that this is a political slush fund designed to conceal the source of the money," Hurley said.
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