Scott Mooneyham: A Cat With Nine Lies!

[ALIPAC]

A written open letter of complaint

To:

Capitol Press Association & Rocky Mt. Telegram:

Two days ago you published an editorial by Scott Mooneyham that was critical of me and my organization ALIPAC.

While I certainly support free speech and freedom of the press, this editorial contained at least nine lies. I am calling them lies because the abuses of the truth were so egregious I seriously doubt they were mistakes.

Please print a retraction and correction on the piece and please subject Scott Mooneyham's future writings to more scrutiny, as to avoid these serious departures from ethical journalism.

From my observations and other eyewitness accounts, Mr. Mooneyham is notorious for this kind of deplorable behavior and has a long history of printing false smear campaigns.

The following statements by Scott Mooneyham are false.

Nine Lies in order of appearance from "Mooneyham: Saber-rattling on immigration"

Lie #1

"Earlier this summer, it (ALIPAC) held a rally outside the Legislative Building. About two dozen people showed up."

FALSE

We had over three dozen people show up.

Lie #2

"A more apt name for the group would be "Round Up the Illegals and Ship 'Em All Back to Mexico."

FALSE

Our group favors the reversal of illegal immigration through attrition enforcement or the comprehensive enforcement of many existing immigration laws. We have never advocated deporting all illegal aliens and we have never advocated deporting all back to Mexico, since many illegal aliens are NOT from Mexico.

Lie #3

"During a campaign rally outside state Republican Party headquarters in 2002, Gheen passed out fliers blaming Gov. Mike Easley and the state's driver's license policies for a gang rape in a southern Piedmont county."

FALSE

I passed out a press release outside of GOP HQ in 2004 and personally handed a copy to Mr. Mooneyham. He should know the year, since he was there in person.

Lie #4

"During a campaign rally outside state Republican Party headquarters in 2002, Gheen passed out fliers blaming Gov. Mike Easley and the state's driver's license policies for a gang rape in a southern Piedmont County."

FALSE

The press release blamed Governor Mike Easley for giving illegal aliens licenses for over a year after he announced to the press and public that he had ended the practice. We blamed Mike Easley for continuing to give illegals licenses and attracting illegal aliens to NC, thus making him a part of the crime stories like the gang rapes that the big papers refuse to report to the public.

Lie #5

"No doubt, all those state legislators who voted a few years ago to print election ballots in Spanish will get a zero."

FALSE

Our press release did not identify this as a screening criteria.

Lie #6

"In the release, Americans for Legal Immigration also refers to itself as "one of America's largest grassroots organizations.""

FALSE

Our press release accurately stated "one of America's largest grassroots organizations addressing the issue (of illegal immigration)"

Lie #7

"Interesting description for a political action committee that, in two election cycles, has taken in a few hundred contributions."

FALSE

Our FEC reports show that we have taken in a few thousand contributions, not 'hundred'.

Lie #8

"At the end of June, it had given to one candidate, $500 to California Republican Ted Hayes in a Don Quixotesque campaign against Democrat Maxine Waters."

FALSE

We have not contributed to the Congressional campaign of Ted Hayes. We gave Ted a donation last year to support his activism efforts in Los Angeles.

Lie #9 Plus!

I will condense the other lies in Mooneyham's hit piece into one, since they border on opinion instead of stated fact, but are false all the same.

"If you haven't heard of the group, you're not alone"

Correction: I appear in articles and news casts, as well as on talk radio shows in NC on a regular basis. I do public speaking engagements across the nation and the state, including several in Rocky Mt. I appear regularly on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and CBS as well as in special documentaries, nationally best selling books, and magazines. Our website now receives over 5 million hits per day and our e-mail supporter lists is over 25,000 strong. I Goggle at over 30,000 search matches, while Scott Mooneyham Googles at less than 5,000.

"At one time, Gheen worked as a legislative assistant for former N.C. Sen. Hugh Webster of Alamance County."

Correction: Mooneyham knows that my gig with Senator Webster was a temporary job I volunteered for and that my primary employment was as a campaign consultant for Republicans and Democrats, including names like Senators Hoyle, Basnight, Purdue, Smith, etc... I also used to work for past speaker of the house Jim Black. Mooneyham knows this is not my most appropriate title.

"Instead of giving to candidates, Gheen has mainly used PAC donations to pay for the group's Website, mount public relations campaigns, conduct more fund raising and travel to Iowa and Washington. It might be a good formula for self-promotion. It's not one that will do much to influence elections this fall."

Correction: The vast majority of ALIPAC's expenditures and energies have been directed at activism that has played a key role in defeating Amnesty bills in Washington, DC and defeating in-state tuition for illegal aliens here in NC. We also helped pass historic new laws addressing illegal immigration in NC in 2006. We have fought and won many battles across America, which are too numerous to list here. Mooneyham is aware of our successful record but excludes it from his writings in an attempt to mislead readers.

IF YOU HIGHLIGHT THESE FALSHOODS IN MOONEYHAM's EDITORIAL, VERY LITTLE TEXT IS LEFT!

I hope the Rocky Mt. Telegraph and the Capitol Press Association will take immediate actions to reprimand Mr. Mooneyham and work to clean up North Carolina Journalism and politics from this kind of gutter journalism.

Please let me know if you would like more information or to hear from or speak with the numerous other victims of Mooneyham's abuse of his position with your publications.

Sincerely,


William Gheen
President, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC
www.alipac.us
Post Office Box 30966, Raleigh, NC 27622-0966
Tel: (919) 787-6009 Toll Free: (866) 703-0864
FEC ID: C00405878

[vortex]

As a former jounalist, I understand how easy it is to manipulate facts. A lecture I once gave pointed to an example: assuming a candidate was arrested in his youth for something. Do you put that in the first paragraph on the front page, or do you bury it at the bottom of the story? Depends on whether you or for or against the candidate. Also, news organizations are getting pressure from their corporate parents: If you toe the line on the corp.'s political view you will have a job and promotions, but otherwise there will be some reason to make your life so miserable you quit.

[ALIPAC]

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