Inside Politics

Uncoordinated

“John Kerry’s campaign has hired a top strategist from MoveOn.org, the supposedly independent Bush-bashing group that the president’s team has accused of illegally helping the Democrat,” the New York Post reports.

“Zachary Exley — who once called Bush a ’crackerhead’ on CNN and created a 2000 political parody site that portrayed Bush as a crack user — will run Kerry’s Internet operations,” reporter Deborah Orin writes.

“MoveOn.org is one of the controversial ’527’ groups — named for Section 527 of the new campaign finance law —that are using a loophole in the measure to spend supposedly outlawed ’soft’ money on attack ads against President Bush.

“The ’527’ groups — one of which is funded by Bush-hating billionaire George Soros — are barred by law from coordinating with Kerry’s campaign. But Republicans say Exley’s hiring is one more sign of illegal coordination.”

Breslin responds

Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin denies manufacturing quotes to make a foe of homosexual “marriage” look bad.

The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, in a press release Wednesday, charged that Mr. Breslin had concocted a fictional conversation in his column that day. Mr. Breslin, without naming a time or place, had quoted Mr. Sheldon as telling him “one day” that homosexuals “proselytize. They come to the door, and if your son answers and nobody is there to stop it, they grab the son and run off with him. They steal him. They take him away and turn him into a homosexual.”

Mr. Sheldon said he has never met Mr. Breslin, and that he would never say such a thing.

Inside Politics was unable to reach Mr. Breslin for comment Wednesday afternoon before going to press with Mr. Sheldon’s charge.

However, Mr. Breslin left a voice message Wednesday night in which he said the conversation took place during the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston.

As for Mr. Sheldon’s charge of fabricating quotes, “Let him say it,” Mr. Breslin said. “He’s a liar.”

Probe sought

Three black groups have asked the House ethics committee to investigate the relationship between the Congressional Black Caucus and deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), Project 21 and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) cite a series of statements and actions by members of the Black Caucus, especially Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, in seeking an ethics probe.

Mrs. Waters said the United States had kidnapped Mr. Aristide to get him out of the country, and Rep. Major R. Owens, New York Democrat, said that Mr. Aristide’s departure “was a terrorist takeover,” the groups noted.

“We would like to know the truth about why our representatives are so involved with a foreign dictator to the point of lying and turning on their own fellow U.S. officials,” BOND President Jesse Lee Peterson said in a letter to Rep. Joel Hefley, Colorado Republican and chairman of the ethics committee. “We would like to know the following:

• “Why are CBC members opposed to Aristide’s resignation?

• “What do CBC members have to gain by keeping Aristide in power?

• “What is the nature of the relationship between CBC members and Aristide?

• “Do CBC members, their families, or friends have business interest in Haiti? If so, what is the nature of these businesses?”

Grudge match

The former police chief of Los Angeles took a step toward challenging the man who fired him: Mayor James Hahn. And if that wasn’t enough to fuel a rivalry, Bernard Parks would become his replacement’s boss if elected.

Mr. Parks, a city councilman who served as police chief for nearly five years before being turned out in 2002, filed paperwork Wednesday to raise cash for a potential run against his fellow Democrat. Mr. Parks said he would make a decision in a month whether to run in what could be a crowded field, the Associated Press reports.

Mr. Hahn is seen by some political analysts as vulnerable because of charges that his administration gave city contracts to political donors. So far, four administration officials have resigned.

“Los Angeles is adrift,” Mr. Parks said. “There is a major blemish on this city because this administration has failed to address corruption.”

Mr. Parks is the latest potential challenger to Mr. Hahn, who has maintained he is unaware of any wrongdoing by his staff members.

Three others already have announced that they either will or are considering a mayoral bid next year: State Sen. Richard Alarcon, City Controller Laura Chick and former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg.

A conventioneer

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley definitely plans to attend the Republican National Convention in New York this summer, contrary to a wire service report that said he might stay home.

Jeff Emerson, a spokesman for the governor, told this column yesterday that the only reason Mr. Riley is not running as a delegate is to give “activist volunteers” a better chance to attend the convention.

United Press International, in a report printed in this space, seemed to suggest that Mr. Riley might skip the convention because he was smarting over the rejection of his tax referendum, which was opposed by many of the governor’s fellow Republicans. The wire service did point out, however, that as a governor Mr. Riley would be entitled to four floor passes to the convention.

The governor’s spokesman said that, like Mr. Riley, the state’s Republican members of the U.S. House decided to give others the chance to serve as delegates to the convention.

Skirting the issue

Sam Walls of Cleburne, Texas, is a Republican candidate for the state Legislature. Just days before Tuesday’s runoff election for a state House seat representing parts of Johnson and Bosque counties, somebody decided to share some information with the folks in District 58: Mr. Walls likes to wear women’s clothing.

A 2000 newsletter of the Alpha Omega Society — “committed to the cause of the heterosexual crossdresser, family and friends” — lists a “Samantha Walls” of Texas as the society’s treasurer, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. And there are photos of Mr. Walls in a wig and dress, including one photo of him in full drag, sitting beside his smiling wife.

Mr. Walls “has acknowledged dressing up like a woman but has declined to say much else about it,” the Star-Telegram reports.

“The Sam Walls who appears in photos wearing dresses, earrings and lipstick is not the Cleburne investor and philanthropist his supporters say they know.

“But rather than condemn Walls, they are expressing anger at his critics and blame his Republican opponent, Rob Orr, a real estate agent, for helping fuel the effort to get Walls to withdraw from the race.

“Orr’s campaign denies any involvement in the controversy.”

• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes.com.