07/26/2000 CMA Newsletter
CMA PROTESTS SPEAKER HASTERT'S NATIONAL SECURITY APPOINTMENT
Reacting to a front page story in The Washington Times, CMA President John Edward Hurley has protested the appointment of Nancy P. Dorn as the national security aide to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert.
Hurley said that Dorn's representation as a lobbyist for Hutchison Port Holdings should have disqualified her for the sensitive position.
China Resources, a company that is a shareholder in Hutchison, has been identified by Senate investigators as a front for Chinese intelligence. Moreover, Hurley charged, Dorn was serving as Assistant Secretary of the Army in the Bush administration when a Confederate bank account was transferred into a secret political slush fund. The original purpose of the fund was to support the maintenance of the Confederate monument at Arlington National Cemetery.
Both Arlington National Cemetery and the Panama Canal Commission were under the jurisdiction of Dorn when she served as Assistant Secretary of the Army. The Hutchison company secured lucrative contracts at the Panama Canal.
C-SPAN COVERS CMA BOARD MEMBER McCLENDON'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
National television coverage by the C-Span network made America a guest at the gala 90th Birthday Party of senior White House correspondent and CMA board member Sarah McClendon. The emcee for the event at the National Press Club was CMA President John Edward Hurley, who introduced some of the most prominent personalties in the country.
Helen Thomas, longtime correspondent for the UPI until she recently undertook a new assignment with Hearst Newspapers, related some of the ground-breaking accomplishments in the news business that McClendon initiated and that are now taken for granted by journalists today.
John Cushman of The New York Times and president of the National Press Club, which hosted the event, told of the many times that McClendon had intensified her already considerable abilities to press public officials who stonewall on the truth.
As an example of the prodigious courage of the honoree, Hurley alluded to time that McClendon was served with a lawsuit in the Veterans hospital complex by those who were trying to take over the Confederate Memorial Association.
Although all her personal assets were at risk because of the lawsuit, McClendon refused to give her proxy to the political take-over faction led by million-dollar Cambodian lobbyist Richard Hines. Hines is using as co-counsel for the lawsuit the former president and general counsel of the Reserve Officers Association. Over the years McClendon has been an untiring advocate for veterans.
C-Span repeated the national airing of the birthday party for several days after the event.
MEDIA BEGINS TO UNRAVEL CONFEDERATE FUND-RAISING SCANDAL
The Wall Street Journal devoted almost a half page to the political fund raising activities that resulted in the defeat of Senator John McCain in the South Carolina primary, which effectively killed the presidential bid of the senator.
The Fox News Television Network interviewed CMA President John Edward Hurley on why Friends of Al Gore would be contributing to the Confederate Memorial Committee.
What both these storied have in common is that they both involve million-dollar Cambodian lobbyist Richard Hines, the man behind the lawsuit to destroy the Confederate Memorial Association.
With the presidential campaign heating up, interest in the story continues to grow as more Chinese and Cambodian connections are being linked to the activities of Hines and his supporters.
COAST GUARD COVER-UP CHARGED
Documents in the case against the Confederate Memorial Association appear to be generated by the U.S. Coast Guard. W.R. Ashforth, former commander of the Coast Guard's Martinsburg, West Virginia computer center, signed a document in the lawsuit. Vicki Heilig and Shonda Milhon, employees at the facility also submitted documents in the case.
After a conversation CMA President John Edward Hurley had with Coast Guard Commandant Admiral James M. Loy, telephone inquiries to the base are being stonewalled with the explanation that the individuals are no longer there. The claim is being made by the Coast Guard that no one knows where the individuals are now.
Hurley said that it appears that political influence is once again being exerted to keep the facts from the public.
CONFEDERATE HUNT HELD AT CEDAR MOUNTAIN BATTLEFIELD
The annual Confederate Hunt Party, a highlight of the
Confederate Memorial Association's social activities,
was held this year at the Cedar Mountain Battlefield site.
CMA OPPOSES JUDGE KING FOR CHIEF JUDGE POST
CMA President John Edward Hurley is opposing the appointment of Judge Rufus King III as chief judge of the D.C. Superior Court.
Hurley said that he believes the evidence in the Confederate Memorial Association case clearly shows that there was a malign influence on the court when Judge King presided over the 12-year CMA case originally. Judge King ruled against the statute of limitations defense and allowed voluntary board members of the CMA board to be sued, both violations of statuary requirements.
Hurley said that "Judge King knew what he was doing and why he was doing it when he passed the case off to Judge Ricardo M. Urbina," who then filed an unsigned court order against the CMA.
According to Hurley, the reason the CMA lawsuit has been left unpursued can be traced to press coverage concerning irregularities in the court system, coupled with the recent revelations of illegal political activity.
"I am hopeful that the truth on this case will come out during the presidential campaign," Hurley added.
Hurley is voicing his opposition to the Judicial Nomination Commission of D.C., where he is also complaining about the D.C. court being the only jurisdiction where judges are not required to make public financial disclosures. Hurley cites this as a reason for the recusals of both Judge John H. Bayly and Judge Joan Zeldon from the CMA case. The main reason however, Hurley says, is an attempt to prevent (for the 13th year) a jury trial.