[Mb-civic] Bush Camp Solicits Race of Star Staffer

[Michael Butler]

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    Bush Camp Solicits Race of Star Staffer
    By C.J. Karamargin
    Arizona Daily Star

     Saturday 31 July 2004

     President Bush's re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of
an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick
Cheney.

     The Star refused to provide the information.

     Cheney is scheduled to appear at a rally this afternoon at the Pima
County Fairgrounds.

     A rally organizer for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign asked Teri
Hayt, the Star's managing editor, to disclose the journalist's race on
Friday. After Hayt refused, the organizer called back and said the
journalist probably would be allowed to photograph the vice president.

     "It was such an outrageous request, I was personally insulted," Hayt
said later.

     Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the president's re-election campaign, said
the information was needed for security purposes.

     "All the information requested of staff, volunteers and participants
for the event has been done so to ensure the safety of all those involved,
including the vice president of the United States," he said.

     Diaz repeated that answer when asked if it is the practice of the White
House to ask for racial information or if the photographer, Mamta Popat, was
singled out because of her name. He referred those questions to the U.S.
Secret Service, which did not respond to a call from the Star Friday
afternoon.

     Hayt declined to speculate on whether Popat was racially profiled, but
said she is deeply concerned.

     "One has to wonder what they were going to do with that information,"
Hayt said. "Because she has Indian ancestry, were they going to deny her
access? I don't know."

     Journalists covering the president or vice president must undergo a
background check and are required to provide their name, date of birth and
Social Security number. The Star provided that information Thursday for
Popat and this reporter.

     "That's all anybody has been asked to provide," said Hayt, adding that
this is the first time in her 26-year career that a journalist's race was
made an issue.

     Organizer Christine Walton asked for Popat's race in telephone
conversations with two other Star editors before she spoke to Hayt. They
also refused to provide the information. Walton told Hayt that Popat's race
was necessary to allow the Secret Service to distinguish her from someone
else who might have the same name.

     "It was a very lame excuse," Hayt said.

     Popat, a photographer with six years' experience, was on assignment
Friday and unaware of the controversy. But she said she was glad the Star
refused. "My race shouldn't have anything to do with my job," she said.

     Tickets are required for the public to attend the rally, which begins
at 12:50 p.m. All tickets were distributed by Friday.

  

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