Dennis Kucinich says he is returning $20,000 speaking fee to pro-Syrian government group – By Seth A. Richardson (cleveland.com) / April 26 2018
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat running for governor, said on Thursday he is returning a $20,000 speaking fee he received from a group sympathetic to the Syrian government.
Kucinich initially failed to disclose in state ethics filings that he received $20,000 in 2017 for a paid speech in London from the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, which includes the pro-President Bashar Assad group Syria Solidarity Movement. Kucinich received widespread criticism, including from former Gov. Ted Strickland, though some voters seemed unconcerned.
Kucinich had strongly defended the Syria Solidarity Movement, calling it a “civil rights advocacy group.” He called the initial news reporting gleaned from public filings a “smear attack” by primary election opponent Richard Cordray.
The revelation of the paid speech wasn’t the first time Kucinich has been accused of being too cozy with Assad. The former congressman has met with Assad multiple times and declined to condemn the Syrian dictator for chemical weapons attacks.
The cleveland.com/Plain Dealer editorial board, which endorsed Kucinich, wrote on Wednesday that Kucinich needed to sever all ties to pro-Assad groups.
In a Thursday letter responding to the editorial board, Kucinich said the initial lack of disclosure was unintentional and he would give back the fees for the London speech.
“The organization did not identify itself as having any interest other than human rights and never specifically mentioned to me their interest in or position regarding the Syrian regime,” Kucinich wrote in the letter. “If they had, I would have declined their offer, because anyone who stands for peace must be able to remain above the appearance of influence. Accordingly, having only recently learned of their advocacy, I am returning their fee.”
Kucinich never explicitly apologized in the letter for taking the money. And he defended himself against broader condemnations of his past decisions, such as meeting with Assad or taking campaign contributions from a pair of Syrian brothers who sponsored Kucinich’s 2017 trip to meet Assad.
He also denied in the letter that he was a supporter of the Assad regime, “its repressive practices, its brutality to political opponents, or its security state apparatus.”
Kucinich said he wasn’t providing cover for Assad.
“I am not nor have I ever been an apologist for anyone,” Kucinich wrote in the letter to the editorial board. “In a lifetime as a public servant I have never carried water for any interest, foreign or domestic.”
The Kucinich campaign declined to comment further on the letter.
