For Immediate Release

CONFEDERATE GROUP WILL TESTIFY
ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE, COURTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Confederate heritage organization will be offering testimony at the upcoming congressional hearings on both campaign finance abuse and the courts, according to John Edward Hurley, president of the Confederate Memorial Association.

Hurley said that illegal campaign contributions had been used to finance a massive lawsuit against his organization that was politically motivated. This resulted in the sale of the century-old Civil War museum that his group owned and operated in downtown Washington.

According to the Hurley statement, the political forces that financed a last-minute 250,000-piece mailer that defeated Sen. John McCain in the South Carolina Republican Presidential primary had also financed a 13-year lawsuit against his organization in the D.C. Superior Court. The money, in both cases, came from soft money contributions, the statement charged.

Hurley said he was pleased that a new subcommittee chairman would be presiding over the House Appropriations Subcommittee, which has responsibility for the D.C. Superior Court.

The statement said that Hurley would be offering testimony in several areas of the courts operations including the politics of judicial appointments, public financial disclosure by judges (as required of all federal judges) and certain administrative matters that involved the integrity of the court record and service on juries by lawyers and law enforcement personnel.

Senator McCain bitterly complained about the 250,000-piece mailer against him in the South Carolina primary that scuttled his chances for the Republican presidential nomination. Hurley's statement said that the same soft money donors to this mailer were also financing the court action against his organization.

The Confederate Memorial Association posts both its congressional testimony and missing court records on its Website at www.confederate.org.


For further information contact:
Robert Hughes (703) 527-0237