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Kirk Lies about Radical Anti-Israel Activist's Role in Campaign
The Houston Review ^ | September, 2002 | By Phil Magness

Posted on 10/22/2002 6:14:25 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP

SEPTEMBER 2002

Kirk Lies about Radical Anti-Israel Activist's Role in Campaign
By Phil Magness

Campaign ethics reports show that U.S. Senate candidate Ron Kirk employed a controversial anti-Israel activist named Steven L. Hyland on his campaign through mid-June. But Kirk, who avoided the question until a late September meeting in Houston, now suggests that Hyland, a friend of John Walker Lindh, was merely a 19 or 21 year-old campaign volunteer who put together a few yard signs.

In fact, Hyland was a paid campaign aide who received nearly $7,000 in salary over a three month period from the Kirk campaign, as well as over a thousand dollars in other disbursements. Furthermore, Hyland was born in 1972, making him approximately 30 years old.

Kirk's silence was apparently broken during a recent campaign stop of Democratic Jewish leaders in Houston. During the question and answer session, an audience member requested that the candidate address what he called a whisper campaign alleging "at least some members of your staff... are anti-Semitic." The question pertained to Hyland and the baggage he adds to the Texas Democrat's already wobbly stance on the Middle East, and foreign policy in general.

Hyland's checkered past includes a June 23, 1995 editorial for the Daily Texan that stated, "The U.S. government labels Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad as terrorist organizations, but they are really freedom fighters defending their rights in Lebanon and Palestine." Hyland's August 24 piece in that same year claimed that suicide bombers were part of a "vicious circle of killing that Israel created," not the terrorist organizations that carried them out.

Hyland is also a personal friend of American-Taliban John Walker Lindh. The two first met in 1998 at a study abroad program in Yemen. Hyland was interviewed repeatedly about their friendship during the recent legal proceedings against Lindh following his capture while fighting along side Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

After calling criticisms about his affiliation with Hyland "distasteful" at this Houston event, Kirk dismissed The Austin Review, which first broke the story, as "some right-wing rag in Austin." The Democrat then turned to Hyland's relationship with his campaign, which he argued was minimal.

Kirk described the anti-Israel activist as nothing more than a "young man who volunteered for our campaign." Kirk said the controversial employee "was not a paid" before apparently stopping himself and reiterating his claim that Hyland was a volunteer who was "doing yard signs... and bumper stickers."

Kirk's filings with the Federal Elections Commission reveal that Hyland was not a volunteer yard-sign assembler but a paid employee of the Kirk for Senate campaign. This supposed "volunteer" received checks from the campaign designated as "payroll expense" over several months. Hyland drew paychecks of $1133.32 from March to June out of the Kirk campaign. FEC records indicate payments made on March 31st, April 15th and 30th, May 15th and 30th, and on June 14th shortly before Hyland resigned his position. In addition, the records show that Kirk paid Hyland over $1,000 in various reimbursements and non-itemized expenditures over that same period.

After claiming that Hyland was a volunteer rather than a paid employee, Kirk continued to downplay the controversial anti-Israel activist's role in the campaign. According to Kirk, Hyland "was a... 21, 22 year old doctoral student," not a paid political worker. Later in his rambling remarks, Kirk identified Hyland as a 19 year old.

The ages given for Hyland immediately raise questions about Kirk's veracity. One is hard pressed to find a doctoral student who has already completed four years of undergraduate work plus a master's program by age 19, or 21 for that matter. Further, if Hyland were currently nineteen that would make him only twelve at the time he wrote his editorial in defense of Hezbollah for the University of Texas student newspaper. In fact, the Review has found that Hyland was actually born in 1972 - a far cry from the 19 year old volunteer college student that Kirk attempted to pass off in his answer.

The Senate candidate did purport to differ with Hyland's apparently pro-Hezbollah political beliefs, which Kirk described as "very Pro-Palestinian," though he did not specify how and added "people have differences of opinion," a reference to those held by Hyland.

Kirk's comments about Hyland are not the first time his campaign has distorted the truth about his employment. Last June a Kirk fundraiser named Lane Luskey sent out an email to disgruntled donors who had learned of Hyland's employment in the Austin Review's story. Luskey claimed that Hyland, who took his last paycheck from Kirk in mid June, had been asked to leave due to his controversial politics. The Austin American-Statesman reported that Luskey's statement lacked truth. "Hyland quit and was not fired," reported the Statesman article. After being caught, the Kirk campaign admitted to the Statesman that Luskey's email was in error.

The Hyland flap is not the only issue to question Kirk's strength on national defense. Kirk recently held a high profile fundraiser with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), a notorious anti-military congresswoman who was also the lone congressional vote against a military response to Al Qaeda and the Taliban after September 11th. Lee is also a former associate of the Black Panther Party, who acted as a mole for the Panthers in Oakland, and a past aide to radical representative Ron Dellums.

A radical anti-military special interest group called the Council for a Livable World, or CLW, also supports Kirk's candidacy. The CLW's website actively solicits political contributions to Kirk with the consent of his campaign. The group advocates drastic cuts in the military budget, even in a time of war, and staunchly opposes a missile defense shield - positions the CLW says are shared by Kirk and earned him their endorsement.

Kirk downplays and denies his radical affiliations, but their cumulative effect is clearly raising questions even among Democrats, as the Houston event demonstrated. With the latest revelations of Kirk's dissembling, it is not just Kirk's association with a virulent anti-Israel and anti-military agenda that is at issue, but his credibility.

 

The Austin Review staff contributed to this story.



 




The Houston Review - A conservative student monthly serving the Houston area.

© Copyright 2002 The Texas Review Society


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; barbaralee; clw; councillivableworld; hezbollah; islamicjihad; johnwalkerlindh; laneluskey; proeverythingliberal; prolebabon; propalestinian; proterrorist; radicalties; ronkirk; stevenlhyland; taliban; texas; texassenaterace
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To: ForGod'sSake
Maybe Chambliss has finally figured out how to attack Cleland as soft on defense, despite his being a vet--he accused him if "hiding behind his service record."

As to Wellstone, I would have loved to see this sanctimonious leftist eliminated. But it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

21 posted on 10/22/2002 10:33:30 AM PDT by ffrancone
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To: MeeknMing
Yes. And take a friend!
22 posted on 10/22/2002 10:34:31 AM PDT by ffrancone
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To: ffrancone; MeeknMing
You guys have inspired me. Heck, raising the dead ain't so tough; the DNC does it every two years! How's about this one?


23 posted on 10/22/2002 11:02:34 AM PDT by ForGod'sSake
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To: ffrancone; deport; ForGod'sSake; maxwell
Tis done !! I have done my patriotic duty as a citizen ! I voted Straight GOP. That early voting is NICE. From the second I got in line to out the door was probably 5 minutes. In and out. DONE !

Now, should I happen to CROAK before November 5th, I can be considered a RARE breed - a dead GOP voter ! LOL !

Now, who'll be the next to help Take Back the Senate ??? I know, I know, Deport. You voted yesterday, right?

24 posted on 10/22/2002 11:44:57 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: ForGod'sSake
LOL ! Good work !
25 posted on 10/22/2002 11:45:51 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: ForGod'sSake
LOL
26 posted on 10/22/2002 12:08:17 PM PDT by ffrancone
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To: MeeknMing
Actually no I didn't, but will get it done before the end. I vote early a lot of times as it's easy and fast usually. However I have seen times when lines have been long.
27 posted on 10/22/2002 12:20:55 PM PDT by deport
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To: MeeknMing
You'll be included in today's totals which should be available tomorrow.

Early Voting - October 21, 2002

November 5, 2002
Early Voting
Cumulative Totals
Thru Close of Business
Oct. 21, 2002
Prepared by: Elections Division

County

Reg Voters

# In Person On Oct. 21, 2002

* In- Person Voters

* % In- Person

* By Mail Voters

* In- Person And Mail Voters

* Percent Early Voting

Harris

1,902,561

5,087

14,393

0.76%

6,228

20,621

1.08%

Dallas

1,208,201

8,271

8,271

0.68%

1,528

9,799

0.81%

Bexar

884,103

6,825

14,430

1.63%

0

14,430

1.63%

Tarrant

876,576

6,266

6,266

0.71%

9,633

15,899

1.81%

Travis

555,065

5,045

12,786

2.30%

188

12,974

2.34%

El Paso

355,201

3,156

3,156

0.89%

1,218

4,374

1.23%

Collin

319,236

2,132

2,132

0.67%

1,457

3,589

1.12%

Denton

306,174

1,613

1,613

0.53%

979

2,592

0.85%

Hidalgo

257,763

2,007

4,667

1.81%

302

4,969

1.93%

Fort Bend

224,551

806

806

0.36%

364

1,170

0.52%

Nueces

200,322

2,378

5,185

2.59%

0

5,185

2.59%

Montgomery

196,250

1,246

1,246

0.63%

1,572

2,818

1.44%

Galveston

177,598

1,093

1,093

0.62%

517

1,610

0.91%

Williamson

177,935

1,248

3,899

2.19%

4

3,903

2.19%

Jefferson

164,006

1,350

2,876

1.75%

1,723

4,599

2.80%

Total

7,805,542

48,523

82,819

1.06%

25,713

108,532

1.39%

*Cumulative

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/earlyvoting2002/oct21.shtml

28 posted on 10/22/2002 12:25:35 PM PDT by deport
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To: deport
Ah ! I beat cha !

Yeah, I've gone and had to wait as long as 30 minutes to an hour once. Early voting sure beats Election Day Tuesday voting !

29 posted on 10/22/2002 12:26:07 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: deport
Thank you, sir ! Is that pretty heavy early voting numbers?
30 posted on 10/22/2002 2:40:31 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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