When charges surfaced that Senator Trent
Lott supported a racist organization, the Senate leader's spokesperson misled the media and the country, telling reporters Lott's only link to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) amounted to a
single speech to the group ten years ago.After interviewing Lott's representative, the Los Angeles Times reported on Dec. 13:
"According to John S. Cwartacki, Lott's spokesman, the
senator only vaguely remembers that, while serving in the House of Representatives, he was invited to an event in his Gulf Coast district by two acquaintances who, it turned out, had ties to the group. 'That
was over a decade ago,' Cwartacki said. 'His recollection isn't that straightforward.'"
Lott's office told a similar version of the story to several media outlets reporting on it Saturday and
Sunday. But the following facts contradict the story circulated by the Majority Leader's office:
*Trent Lott addressed the CCC's national conference in Greenwood, Mississippi on April 11, 1992-as a
Senator, not while a member of the House and not ten years ago, as his spokesperson claimed, according to the CCC's newsletter, Citizens Informer, which published pictures and a report on the
event in its Spring 1992 edition.
*After urging those at the gathering to increase their recruiting efforts for the "conservative" cause, Lott concluded his address praising CCC members:
"The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the beneficiaries!"
*Senator Lott also
addressed an event sponsored by the Carrol County (MS) chapter of the CCC and the Black Hawk Bus Association on July 22, 1995, according to a story (with photos) in the Summer 1995 edition of Citizens
Informer.
*Lott's column is regularly featured in Citizens Informer
Trent Lott is one of the country's most powerful elected figures. He is also one of the leading political figures promoting the
Neo-Confederate cause-a movement rife with racism and other forms of bigotry and which claims membership in the tens of thousands. In the past Lott led the fight for tax breaks for Bob Jones
University and other whites-only schools and he was the leading advocate for the successful drive to reinstate the citizenship of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Journalists owe it to the
public to report on the political associations of elected officials, especially those as powerful as the Senate Majority Leader.
