Armenian National Committee of America \u2013 Western Region<\/a> (ANCA-WR) is encouraged that Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is terminating a contract worth over $845,000 with Gephardt Government Relations, a firm which serves as a registered foreign agent for Turkey and a major tool in efforts to deny the Armenian Genocide. Late last year, the ANCA-WR called upon Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to end any ties between the City of Los Angeles and Dick Gephardt, a known genocide denier, including a contract he had with LAWA. A seven-member Board of Airport Commissioners, six of whom were appointed last year by Mayor Eric Garcetti and approved by the Los Angeles City Council, governs LAWA.<\/p>\n\u201cSince leaving Congress where he worked hard to pass Armenian Genocide resolutions, and now becoming a paid lobbyist, Dick Gephardt has gotten rich earning huge sums of money from the Turkish Government to lobby his former colleagues to deny justice for the Armenian Genocide in a complete reversal of his position on the issue. As a Genocide denier, he doesn\u2019t deserve a single dollar from the citizens of Los Angeles, and should have no association with our great city,\u201d said ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian. \u201cWe applaud LAWA and City of Los Angeles officials for their principled stand enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against deniers of genocide. LAWA\u2019s action reflects the highest standards of good governance and reinforces the proud standing of Los Angeles as a leader \u2013 nationally and internationally \u2013 on issues of genocide-prevention and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to U.S. Government documents obtained by the ANCA-WR and cited in support of its request, Gephardt Government Relations had a contract worth over $845,000 with LAWA, which was agreed to in 2012 during the term of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Meanwhile, since the approval of the contract with LAWA, Gephardt Government Affairs has been drawing over $23,000 a month for its work for the airport while simultaneously representing the interests of the Turkish Government against the interests of the Armenian-American community. Gephardt has made a name for himself on Capitol Hill by trading on his congressional connections for his work on behalf of the Republic of Turkey. As documents filed with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (which regulates the lobbying activity of those who advocate on behalf of foreign interests in the United States) reveal, Gephardt himself has had to disclose the fact that he acts on Turkey\u2019s behalf as an ardent opponent of legislative efforts to fully recognize the Armenian Genocide.<\/p>\n
New York Times writer and author of \u201cThis Town\u201d Mark Leibovich outed Gephardt in 2013 for his hypocrisy on the Armenian Genocide. In a television interview later that year, Bill Moyers asked Leibovich about Gephardt\u2019s stand on the Armenian Genocide. \u201cIn the House [of Representatives] he [Gephardt] had supported a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide of 1915. When he left Congress he was paid about $75,000 a month to oppose the resolution,\u201d Moyers commented. Leibovich responded by sharing, \u201cYes. I guess the word genocide goes down a little easier at those rates.\u201d Also in 2013, Christopher Buckley, the son of William F. Buckley, wrote a review of \u201cThis Town\u201d in The New York Times in which he cited Gephardt\u2019s genocide denial efforts. \u201cThere are a number of sanctimonious standout \u201cformers\u201d in Leibovich\u2019s Congressional hall of shame, but just to name a few exemplars who gleefully inhabit ethical no-worry zones and execute brisk 180-\u00addegree switcheroos on any issue, including the Armenian genocide, so long as it pays: Dick Gephardt\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
In his most recent anti-Armenian actions on Capitol Hill, Dick Gephardt aggresively lobbied against H.R. 4347 in the 113th Congress, a House measure to return Christian churches in Turkey to their rightful owners. Last year he also did the bidding of his lucrative Turkish Government client by fighting against a U.S. Senate resolution on the Armenian Genocide authored by U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ). Despite Gephardt\u2019s opposition, the Armenian Genocide bill advanced by Senator Menendez in April of last year was ultimately adopted by the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a vote of 12 to 5.<\/p>\n
The move by the ANCA-WR to seek termination of LAWA\u2019s contract with Gephardt coincided with the launch of a nationwide campaign by a coalition of Armenian American groups, including the ANCA, to pressure Gephardt, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (Dickstein Shapiro, LLC), Greenberg Traurig, \u2028Alpaytac, and LB International to stop advancing the Turkish\u2028 Government\u2019s Armenian Genocide denial agenda or face public scrutiny\u2028 and protest. The effort was launched on January 29th, with over 200 \u2028letters sent to Turkey\u2019s lobbying firms and the top businesses, universities, and NGOs who use their services, giving them until February 28th to drop their association with Turkey\u2019s genocide denial or end their relationships with these public relations firms. Among those receiving letters were PepsiCo, TIME Inc., Amazon, and the Chrysler Corporation, in addition to many others.<\/p>\n
The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the \u2028largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination\u2028 with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
-Former Democratic House Majority Leader Turned Lobbyist Dick Gephardt Pivoted from Fully Supporting Armenian Genocide Legislation to Taking Turkish Government Money to Block U.S. Recognition Of\u2028 Armenian Genocide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[129],"class_list":["post-4532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-anca-western-region"],"yoast_head":"\n
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