Tom McClintock For Congress

For the past four years Charlie Brown has consistently denied he has participated in a variety of anti-war activities. These denials have been made in the face of overwhelming evidence that Brown joined with the radical group Code Pink, Cindy Sheehan and others in the extreme anti-war movement.

New video emerged this week that showed Charlie Brown attended a Sacramento anti-war rally wearing his military uniform. The video clearly shows Brown standing with anti-war demonstrators in front of a home where a soldier had been hanged in effigy. The development capped years of denials and misrepresentations from Brown and his campaign about Brown’s actions that night and in other anti-war activities. The issue is not about what position Brown took on the war; it is about his failure to tell the public where he truly stands. Is this the type of person we want to send to the United States Congress?

Brown’s true stripes emerged publicly April 16, 2004. While working as a records clerk at the Roseville Police Department, Brown sent an email to City of Roseville employees many interpreted as an insult to them and our troops. In the email Brown responded sarcastically to the news of the return of a city employee from a deployment in Iraq this way: “Only 130,000 or so military members left over there now wondering when they will get home from this war of occupation/aggression.”

“I personally know that several employees were offended by Charlie’s politically-charged negative comment regarding our nation’s involvement in Iraq,” said Steve Uribe, a retired Roseville police officer who worked with Brown at that time. “Rather than welcoming home a fellow veteran, Charlie chose to call our troops occupiers and aggressors.”

Brown made his appearance at the war demonstration wearing his uniform February 15, 2005. When asked about it in a radio interview the Bruce Maiman Show, September 12, 2007, Brown said: "I was down there. I was not in uniform. The only times I put on my dress uniform these days are veterans' ceremonies and I was actually on both sides of the street last night talking to people to find out, you know, what their concerns were. So, yes I was there, no I was not in a dress uniform and I was actually on both sides of the street, policemen down the center. Second Amendment, right to free speech.” (sic)

Stephen Pearcy hanged the soldier in effigy at his home.  He says Brown stood with him at the protest. “Brown came to my home wearing his full military uniform and stood outside with many anti-war folks to defend my free speech. Several right-wingers had gathered across the street after I placed a display on my home of a uniformed soldier with the sign, "Bush Lied, I Died." When Brown, his wife, and about two hundred others, including Cindy and Pat Sheehan, showed up to stand in solidarity with my wife and me, we really felt like there was hope for ending the criminally orchestrated U.S. invasion of Iraq.”

Pearcy’s recollection is matched by Deborah Johns, the mother of a Marine, who attended the rally: "Charlie Brown was most definitely there. He made statements before that he was not a supporter of Cindy Sheehan and that he was not at Virginia and Steve Pearcy's house in Land Park. He was inside their home. He was hugging not only Steve and Virginia Pearcy, but he was also hugging Cindy Sheehan.”

After a news conference where the video was shown to reporters, Brown spokesman Todd Stenhouse continued to deny that Brown stood with the protestors, telling Politickerca.com: "He did absolutely not lie," [regarding] Brown's previous characterizations of his appearance at the house. "He walked on both sides of the street. And I'll take the word of a 26-year military veteran on that."

The Sacramento Bee reported that in February 2006, “Brown appeared at an ‘Out of Iraq’ event, sponsored by the anti-war group Code Pink and other organizations. [Cindy] Sheehan and actor Sean Penn also attended.”  According to the Bee: [Spokesman Todd] “Stenhouse insisted Tuesday that Brown had no idea that Sheehan and Penn were going to appear at the February ‘Out of Iraq’ event. Pearcy said Brown's plea of ignorance is ‘ludicrous’ because Sheehan's appearance was well advertised four days in advance.”

In October 2006 Brown continued to back away from his anti-war issues. According to the Sacramento Bee: “Provoking Pearcy's anger was a request by Brown's wife, Jan, last week that anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan cancel her appearance at a planned Friday protest in downtown Sacramento.

"Imagine how strange it must have sounded to Cindy to have someone who she had previously considered an anti-war enthusiast, and friend, tell her that it could hurt Charlie's chances if Cindy attended the anti-war event, Pearcy said. Brown spokesman Todd Stenhouse said Tuesday that Jan Brown's request was not made on behalf of her husband or the campaign.”

The Brown campaign spun Brown’s actions this way:

"It was an emotional reaction by someone watching her husband get attacked for guilt by association because he stood on a stage with a group [Code Pink] he doesn't even support.”

How strange it is that Brown is consistently observed by citizens, government employees, police officers, conservatives, liberals, and pro-and anti-war demonstrators as having a record of participating in radical actions with the extreme anti-war movement.

And he keeps denying those acts.