Bob McMercenary and His Eritrean Adventure

Bill Sloat at The Cleveland Plain Dealer delivers a report today that ought to give Bob McEwen’s fundamentalist supporters serious pause.

And yours truly is mentioned, though I believe Sloat’s characterization of me as a “Schmidt supporter” is largely contradicted by my post yesterday reacting to the Enquirer’s endorsement (but yes, I do plan to vote for her, sans pompoms), and he’s giving me more credit than I deserve for creating awareness of McEwen’s Eritrea deal (hey, all I did was go to Wikipedia). The deal was first mentioned in the last paragraph of The Cincinnati Enquirer’s article on McEwen’s lobbying career that accompanied its devastating piece on his residency.

If you want to skip the details, which are nonetheless important, just scroll down to McEwen’s bolded comment near the end of the excerpt, which in my opinion more than justifies the title of this post:

Candidate’s past job as Eritrean lobbyist causes controversy
Nation accused of persecuting Christians

A former Ohio congressman attempting a comeback in a high-profile race against Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt said he received up to $120,000 from an African government with a record of Christian persecution.

Bob McEwen, 56, worked as a lobbyist for Eritrea, which President Bush’s administration lists as a “Country of Particular Concern” for severe violations of religious freedom.

McEwen, whose U.S. political allies include nationally prominent leaders on the Christian right, said Friday he no longer has any links to Eritrea.

His campaign Web site lists endorsements from the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association; Dr. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family; and Phil Burress, who heads Citizens for Community Values in Ohio.

The State Department’s International Religious Freedom reports contend Eritrean authorities have closed down some Protestant evangelical denominations, brutalized adherents and spy on nearly every worship service held in the nation.

The annual reports are required under federal law.

Eritrea paid McEwen $15,000 monthly for representation in Washington as a public affairs counsel. At the time in 2004, McEwen was affiliated with Advantage Associates, a lobbying firm comprised of former members of Congress.

….. Schmidt’s campaign released Justice Department documents last week that show McEwen registered as a foreign agent for Eritrea’s government in July 2004. The documents show he was paid $15,000 a month by the nation’s Washington embassy. McEwen wrote on the form that he was to be the embassy’s “public-relations counsel.”

….. Since then, college students aligned with the Schmidt camp have picketed McEwen, and at least one of the signs noted the tie to Eritrea. And Tom Blumer, who operates the right-leaning Bizzyblog that has been supporting Schmidt, also has begun raising questions about the African nation’s human rights record.

….. The State Department issued its latest report about international religious freedom last month and said Eritrea’s “already poor record on freedom for minority religious groups continued to worsen.”

It said Pentecostals, independent evangelical groups, reform movements within the Eritrean Orthodox Church, and Jehovah’s Witnesses received the worst treatment.

….. Meanwhile, the agency’s annual human rights review issued in February had this to say:

“During the year, there were reports that several dozen followers of various non-sanctioned churches (mostly Protestant) were detained, harassed and abused.”

For example, in February, authorities reportedly beat and arrested 12 members of the Full Gospel Church while they were praying in a private home.

….. McEwen said he was not aware of any religious persecution in Eritrea. He said he thought “they are primarily a Christian nation.” He also accused Schmidt of dirty pool for releasing the records about his work for Eritrea.

But hey, the Ertirean government’s money is just as green as anybody else’s, though not much of it seems to get to the Eritrean people (2005 per capita GDP per Wikipedia — $909 [scroll down at the far right]).

(Aside: I don’t believe those picketing McEwen on behalf of religious freedom in Eritrea are in any way “aligned with the Schmidt camp,” and would appreciate hearing from one of the picketers on that subject. In his after-action report from McEwen’s Anderson Township event last Wednesday, Starship Trooper mentioned seeing Eritrea picketers, but noted no Schmidt camp “alignment.”)

Y’know, it’s amazing how it’s “dirty pool” any time someone wants to talk about Bob McMercenary’s past, even the very recent (two years ago) past, which happens to be only a few months before he entered 2005’s Second District Special Primary.

“Someone” needs to get direct responses from the fundamentalists cited above, and those listed here, as to whether they think it’s problematic to be supporting a candidate for Congress who has in the recent past represented a country that was, and still is, engaging in religious persecution. The answers ought to be fascinating.

Speaking of lists, the list of those who are putting their long-term reputations at risk in their continued support of the McMercenary campaign continues to grow.
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UPDATE: Although Sloat is correct in saying that the Schmidt campaign released the Eritrea-related Justice Department documents during the past week, I believe it’s correct to say that Malia Rulon of The Enquirer was the first to report the news last Sunday, meaning that she had the info she needed the previous Thursday or Friday. Since she’s based in Washington, I believe Ms. Rulon obtained her information independently and without Schmidt campaign help. If she in fact had, I believe she would have been required to disclose it. If anyone doubts that, I suggest they ask her. And yes, the Schmidt campaign released more info after Rulon’s piece, but any campaign with brains would supplement what’s already out there after a damaging revelation like this about an opponent.

UPDATE 2: Another visit to Wikipedia reveals this about Eritrea’s president Isaias Afewerki (note — the page has a neutrality warning, though I would challenge anyone to dispute the facts presented about journalist and religious persecution; go to the Wiki link for links to footnoted items below):

Isaias was heavily criticized by many of his cabinet of ministers and party members (the G-15) for the way he handled the border conflict with Ethiopia. He reacted by accusing them of treason and defeatism and eventually jailing them incommunicado.

Eritrean national elections were held in 1995 between PFDJ candidates and independent candidates while regional elections have been held every five years with the last round in 2004.[1] The Administration has prosecuted the editors of all but three local newspapers for failure to adhere to the Press Law. According to Reporters without Borders, Eritrea has imprisoned 13 journalists.[2][3] The Eritrean constitution was ratified in 1997 by a constituent assembly but never implemented nine years later. In May 2002 all Christian denominations apart from the Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical Lutheran churches were ordered to close their churches in respect of the religious regulations in effect since Colonial Eritrea. Hundreds of Christians[4],[5] and Muslims have been arrested without visitation rights and were never presented to a court.

Due to his frustration with the stalemated peace process with Ethiopia, the President of Eritrea wrote a series of Eleven Letters to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The ruling PFDJ, which controls large financial, construction, transportation, communication and agricultural intersts, is the only party allowed to operate in the country. However, the Administration has openly expressed the hope of laying down the foundation from which an effective multi-party state can evolve. Isayas has expressed the belief that many African countries have failed to implement a successful multi-party system mainly because they move to(o) quickly in their attempts to mimick the West.

UPDATE 3: Here’s something I wrote last year (near the end of the main body of the post) that seems particulary apt, especially in light of the smear tactics being used on Mr. McEwen’s incumbent opponent:

If I went to a prospective employer with a 12-year gap in my resume and wouldn’t explain it, I’d be laughed out of the interview room. Why shouldn’t voters expect at least some kind of disclosure ….. as to what Bob’s major accomplishments were between mid-1993 and early-2005?

Yet this is what Bob McEwen wanted, expected, and demanded. It has been left to others to attempt to fill in the gaps. If Bob McEwen and his supporters don’t like what they see, they have only the candidate to blame for not airing it all out from the get-go.

UPDATE 4, April 24: S.O.B. Alliance member Lincoln Logs has choice words for the McEwen campaign. I hope Linc can forgive me for suggesting back in October that McEwen run in his 6th District. Hey man, I didn’t know it was this bad.