The Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, a local print and radio journalist and activist for diversity in media, said any assertions that she organized the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright's speaking engagement at the National Press Club yesterday to help Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is absolutely false. New York Daily News columnist Errol Louis yesterday characterized Mrs. Reynolds in his column as an "enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter." The column also questioned if Mrs. Reynolds' intent in organizing the event was to hurt Mrs. Clinton's opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama. "I've heard everything now," Mrs. Reynolds said. "They've said I work for Obama and now they say I work for Hillary and in fact I don't even think the Clintons know who I am. I suspect they are scratching their heads and wondering who is Barbara Reynolds," she told The Washington Times. "The fact is I don't support the Clintons, and right now I am not even crazy about Barack. I just want one of them to win so we can go out and beat McCain. I am not a surrogate. I am a supporter of principles. Whoever will stop the war, bring down unemployment and get health care to 43 million people, that's who I'm for." Mrs. Reynolds, who has been a media professional for more than 30 years, said her involvement in organizing the event was standard procedure for the National Press Club and had nothing to do with politics. "The club invites a guest, then they assign a person to organize the event based on the context and their contacts," she said. She said the club's speaking committee picked her to be the organizer because of her extensive experience working with the black church and organizing other conferences as an elder at the Greater Mount Calvary Church, and as a professor of prophetic ministry at Howard University School of Divinity. "You know what really hurts is after all these years I have worked to open up these avenues for women and minorities, latino and black people, to be smeared by a black columnist who doesn't even know me and what I am about, that really upsets me," Mrs. Reynolds said. The club's president Sylvia Smith, Washington bureau chief for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, said, "All invitations to National Press Club speakers come from the president." She said the speakers committee meets monthly, and called Mrs. Reynold's "a very valued member." "Two years ago, before she was a member, she made a suggestion that the committee consider Rev. Wright and at the time he wasn't a household name and didn't meet our requirements for a newsmaker," Ms. Smith said. "At our meeting for the spring session in October someone mentioned Rev. Wright — I don't even think it was her — and we agreed that since Barbara had mentioned him before and we thought may have good contact information for him, we decided that she would be the best person to do it." He was accepted this time as a speaker because of his relationship to Obama and the many articles written about his church during the past year, she said. "As to the issue the Daily News person brought up whether Barbara is a Hillary Clinton person or an Obama person, that had nothing to do with the event and even if that were the case, Rev. Wright is clearly a newsmaker and made news yesterday," Ms. Smith said.
— Brian DeBose, national political reporter, The Washington Times

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