Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Assembly salute to Wen Ho Lee put off
Oakland Tribune ^ | 06/07/2004 | Steve Geissinger

Posted on 06/07/2004 9:10:16 AM PDT by Impeach98

Assembly salute to Wen Ho Lee put off

Asian caucus cites patriotic group's 'inflammatory remarks'

By Steve Geissinger, SACRAMENTO BUREAU

SACRAMENTO -- An Oakland Tribune report triggered such an uproar throughout the state that the Asian legislative caucus -- and its Bay Area members -- announced Saturday it was "regretfully" canceling an Assembly ceremony honoring former accused spy Wen Ho Lee.

The Asian caucus said it was "outraged" by a patriotic group's "inflammatory remarks in Friday's Oakland Tribune" story on the event, and the resulting plans by the Assembly Republican Caucus to fight the ceremony.

The six-member Asian caucus, which includes Democratic Assembly members Wilma Chan of Oakland and Leland Yee of San Francisco, had planned to honor Lee, whose case ended in uncertainty, on Monday on the floor of the lower house.

The chairwoman of the Asian caucus, Assemblywoman Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, said she canceled the session honoring Lee for his courage while facing spy accusations four years ago "in order to spare him from an awkward situation arising from the Assembly Republican Caucus' objection."

"Dr. Lee has already been victimized by an overzealous prosecution by the government and I do not want him to be brutally victimized again by unwarranted, racially charged, inaccurate and irresponsible accusations," Chu said in a statement.

The Asian caucus' plan infuriated a new group formed in California to support the war on terrorism. Move America Forward said Asian caucus members might be violating their oaths of office to defend against domestic enemies.

"This is so wrong on so many fronts," said former GOP state lawmaker Howard Kaloogian, who heads the group. The roots of the organization extend to the Bay Area, where KSFO AM-560 radio personality Melanie Morgan serves as a vice chairwoman.

Lee, a former computer engineer in the nuclear-weapons program at Los Alamos National Laboratory, was jailed nine months, under special orders previously applied only to terrorist and Mafia defendants. He never was charged with stealing nuclear secrets for China, although that was the gist of news coverage of his case. Nor was he exonerated.

Lee pleaded guilty to a single felony of using an unclassified, unsecure computer to download "informa-tion related to the national defense."

He and a large band of Asian supporters, many of them from the Bay Area, claimed the government pursued him simply because he was a Chinese American.

The Asian caucus said it still plans to privately honor him with a "profile in courage" award.

Other members of the caucus include Democratic Assembly members Carol Liu of Pasadena and George Nakano of Torrance. The sixth member is state Board of Equalization member John Chiang.

Contact Sacramento Bureau Chief Steve Geissinger at sgeissinger@angnewspapers.com .


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: alamos; america; china; communist; energy; forward; ho; howard; kaloogian; lee; los; melanie; morgan; move; nuclear; secrets; spy; wen; wenholee

1 posted on 06/07/2004 9:10:17 AM PDT by Impeach98
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Impeach98
Another example of Howard Kaloogian leading and achieving results.

I know some FReepers in the previous thread thought Wen Ho Lee was probably innocent - but I respectfully disagree.

What we know at the very least is that Wen Ho Lee broke the law and illegally downloaded and took nuclear secrets.

He claims it was out of patriotic dilligence, that he was simply doing his work from home. Government investigators disagreed and Lee's bizarre explanation of how he disposed of the nuclear secrets raised more questions than it answered.

Lee was never "exhonorated" - all but 1 of the charges were dropped because the judge ordered the government to turn over the sources of the dirt on Lee which the government said would compromise national security.

When all is said and done, it is a brave Asian soldier serving in Iraq or Aghanistan who should be recognized for his/her "courage" - not someone who undermined this country's national security.

2 posted on 06/07/2004 9:14:39 AM PDT by Impeach98
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impeach98
When the chinese sent the payment in, janet reno had the investigation end.
3 posted on 06/07/2004 9:22:41 AM PDT by sticker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Impeach98
it is a brave Asian soldier serving in Iraq or Aghanistan who should be recognized for his/her "courage" - not someone who undermined this country's national security.

exactly. bump!

4 posted on 06/07/2004 9:25:35 AM PDT by heleny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Impeach98
victimized again by unwarranted, racially charged, inaccurate and irresponsible accusations," [Judy] Chu [D-Monterey Park] said in a statement.

The irony is that she and the Asian caucus are those who are bringing up the "race" factor and who are viewing everything in light of race. The Assembly Republican caucus is not all of one race, and they are not pointing out the Asian caucus' actions to violate their oaths of office because of race.

Thank you, Howard Kaloogian and Assembly Republicans, for keeping the pressure on the racist Democrats and for publicizing their offensive actions.

5 posted on 06/07/2004 9:32:16 AM PDT by heleny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: heleny
Yeah - the racist thing is wacky. If you go back and read the exact quotes from Kaloogian in the initial story you'll see not one word of racism.

Kaloogian said:

""I wonder if they (caucus members) have ever considered whether a domestic enemy could possibly be the man that they are honoring," Kaloogian said. "I would think that they would be able to find other role models." "

Those were the harshest words he used.

Not a hint of racism. The part that disturbs Kaloogian wasn't that he was Chinese, it was that he was believed by the government to be a S P Y. He could have been Armenian and Kaloogian still would have found the idea offensive!

Original Kaloogian Quotes Here

6 posted on 06/07/2004 9:37:19 AM PDT by Impeach98
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Impeach98
Kaloogian is right. Wen Ho Lee does not deserve an award for courage, (at least not from Americans; maybe the Chinese feel differently about secrets he may have delivered).

If people simply heard Kaloogian, they would know that the hyterical Asian caucus is acting embarrassingly like Jesse Jackson, NAACP under its current leadership, and some black people organizations. The inferiority complex doesn't help advance Asian causes.

A semantic detail: I thought Armenians came from the continent of Asia, which extends west to Turkey. Maybe the "Asian caucus" should rename itself to "Oriental Caucus," since they seem to be comprised exclusively of Oriental or East-Asian Assemblymen.

7 posted on 06/07/2004 9:54:19 AM PDT by heleny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: All
BTTT!

Thank you FReepers for helping win another victory in the battle against the Left.

8 posted on 06/07/2004 11:49:51 AM PDT by Impeach98
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Impeach98

That Win Ho Lee thing was nothing more that a farce created by counter intelligence (if you can call them that) people at the lab. Lee was an actor and the whole thing was a detraction to mislead the press while they did their dirty work in other places.


9 posted on 06/07/2004 5:27:04 PM PDT by TiaS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: ntrulock

Ping!!


10 posted on 06/07/2004 9:53:04 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast (You're it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Impeach98
The chairwoman of the Asian caucus, Assemblywoman Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, said she canceled the session honoring Lee for his courage while facing spy accusations four years ago...

This is a thread that I keep seeing appear and reapper in story after story.

Wen Ho Lee was supposed to be showing "courage" while facing down the United States Government who accused him of spying for China.

Hillary! gives a speech claiming that it is "patriotic" to question the government in the fashion that she did.

Kerry says that "I'm proud that I stood against Ronald Reagan, not with him..."

So, courage, as now defined by our leaders, is to stand firm against the United States?

-PJ

11 posted on 06/07/2004 10:01:44 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (It's not safe yet to vote Democrat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TiaS
Tell that to the Reagan Energy Department officials who believed him to be a spy and briefed Move America Forward officials on this matter.

Sorry, but Wen Ho Lee was not a farce created by counter-intelligence.

He was someone who broke the law by taking nuclear secrets out of Los Alamos and most likely for the purposes of espionage.

12 posted on 06/08/2004 2:13:51 PM PDT by Impeach98
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson