Allen Again Dodges Reporter Question on the CCC Photo

And for the second time, Allen or his campaign staff have dodged the key questions.

Jim Hodges, of the Hampton Roads/Newport News GÇ£Daily Press,GÇ¥ has the following section in a story of his published today (Sunday, Sept. 24) (see here):

Beyond all that, more questions have been raised about Allen's having had a picture taken in 1996 with members of the Council of Conservative Citizens, which is descended from the White Citizens Council of segregationist days.

That picture of Allen, then Virginia's governor, with CCC members and actor Charlton Heston, showed up in The Nation, a liberal magazine.

Allen denied knowing anything about the CCC and vehemently refuted the group's stance concerning race. "That's not what I'm about, and you know it," he said.

That answer, however, contradict several key points that the GÇ£NationGÇ¥ had in its article:

Allen suggested that they pose for a photograph with then-National Rifle Association spokesman and actor Charlton Heston. The photo appeared in the Summer 1996 issue of the CCC's newsletter, the Citizens Informer.
According to Baum [C.E.O. of the CCC], Allen had not naively stumbled into a chance meeting with unfamiliar people. He knew exactly who and what the CCC was about and, from Baum's point of view, was engaged in a straightforward political transaction. "It helped us as much as it helped him," Baum told me. "We got our bona fides." And so did Allen.

This is the second time that Allen or his campaign staff have avoided answering about or have contradicted that key information in the August 29 GÇ£NationGÇ¥ piece. The first time AllenGÇÖs campaign staff did that was with AP reporter Bob Lewis, in an article published September 3 (see here).

The GÇ£NationGÇ¥ piece sure makes it appear that Allen said one thing to the CCC in 1996, and is saying something completely different now. And given the storm of questions being raised about AllenGÇÖs honesty and his flirtation with symbols of racism (for example, see this Jeffrey Feldman Daily Kos diary of today, here), it looks like Allen still has some serious explaining to do.

(Cross-posted at Daily Kos, here.)

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