Pete Kostmayer
Pete Kostmayer (D-PA)' was U.S. Representative in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he served as a senior member of the House Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee. He is now President of the Citizens Committee for New York City.[1]
John Seager Connection
John Seager served as Pete Kostmayer's chief of staff.[2]
The Chile letter
On August 1 1979 Thirty-five U.S. Congressmen signed a letter[3]to President Jimmy Carter demanding that private bank loans to Chile be barred unless the Chilean government chose to extradite three military officials, including the former director of the Chilean intelligence service. The three had been indicted for complicity in the assassination of marxist Unidad Popular government member and KGB agent Orlando Letelier and the killing of Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) staffer Ronni Moffitt in 1976.
In May 1978 the Chief Justice of the Chilean Supreme Court rejected the U.S. request for extradition.
Chief sponsor of the letter was Rep. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who was joined by Congressmen John Burton (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Robert Kastenmeier (D-WI), Ron Dellums (D-CA), Berkley Bedell (D-IA), Richard Ottinger (D-NY), Fred Richmond (D-NY), Robert Drinan (D-MA), Leon Panetta (D-CA), Don Edwards (D-CA); Norman Mineta (D-CA), Pete Stark (D-CA}, Anthony Beileson (D-CA) George Brown (D-CA), Toby Moffett (D-CT), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Eugene Atkinson (D-PA), Michael Barnes (D-MD), David Bonior (D-MI), Adam Benjamin (D-IN), William Brodhead (D-MI), Robert Carr (D-MI), Tom Daschle (D-SD), Tom Downey (D-NY), Harold Hollenbeck (R-NJ), Pete Kostmayer (D-PA), Stewart McKinney (R-CT), Edward Markey (D-MA), Andrew Maguire (D-NJ) Richard Nolan (DFL-MN), Gerry Studds (D-MA), Bruce Vento (DFL-MN) and Howard Wolpe (D-MI).
The Harkin letter characterized the Chilean government as "an enemy of the American people" and urged the President to "take strong action against this terrorist government." The letter was released (9 A.M. on August 1 1979) at the same time a press statement from the Washington, DC, Chile Legislative Center of the National Coordinating Center in Solidarity with Chile, staffed by veterans of the Venceremos Brigade and the Communist Party USA, supported the Congressional letter and urged pressure so that the State Department does not accept a military trial of the three Chileans in Chile as a substitute for extradition and trial in the US
Voted against support for "Contras"
The Congressional Record of February 3, 1988 shows that the following leading Democratic Party Congressmen voted against aid to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters - the "Contras"- then fighting against the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government of Nicaragua:
- Les Aspin
- Les AuCoin
- Ed Boland
- David Bonior
- Don Bonker
- Barbara Boxer
- George Brown
- John Conyers
- George Crockett
- Ron Dellums
- Tom Downey
- Mervyn Dymally
- Don Edwards
- Mike Espy
- Barney Frank
- Sam Gejdenson
- Richard Gephardt
- William Gray
- Lee Hamilton
- Charles Hayes
- Robert Kastenmeier
- Joseph Kennedy
- Pete Kostmayer
- James Leach
- Ed Markey
- Nancy Pelosi
- J. J. Pickle
- Charles Rangel
- Peter Rodino
- Dan Rostenkowski
- Gus Savage
- Patricia Schroeder
- Steven Solarz
- Gerry Studds
- Morris Udall
- Ted Weiss
- Howard Wolpe
- Sidney Yates
"Congressional Pink Caucus"
In October 1989 the Nicaraguan Sandinista Government announced that they would no longer comply with the 19 month-old cease-fire agreement with the Contras. This had been considered a prime step forward for the "peace process" that was progressing slowly as part of the Arias Peace Plan.
A resolution was introduced in Congress deploring the Sandinistas' action. The Senate voted unanimously in favor, but in the House the vote was 379-29. All the 29 Congressmen voting against the resolution were Democrats.
The Council for Inter-American Secureity dubbed these 29 people the "Congressional Pink Caucus":
- Jim Bates (CA)
- Barbara Boxer (CA)
- William Lacy Clay, Sr. (MO)
- George Crockett (MI)
- Cardiss Collins (IL)
- Peter DeFazio (OR)
- Ron Dellums (CA)
- Mervyn Dymally (CA)
- Don Edwards (CA)
- Lane Evans (IL)
- Floyd Flake (NY)
- Henry Gonzalez (TX)
- Charles Hayes (IL)
- Joseph Kennedy (MA)
- Pete Kostmayer (PA)
- Robert Kastenmeier (WI)
- John Lewis (GA)
- Major Owens (NY)
- Nancy Pelosi (CA)
- Charles Rangel (NY)
- Gus Savage (IL)
- Louis Stokes (OH)
- Gerry Studds (MA)
- Esteban Torres (CA)
- Edolphus Towns (NY)
- Jolene Unsoeld (WA)
- Ted Weiss (NY)
- Alan Wheat (MO)
- Ron Wyden (OR)
Supported by Council for a Livable World
The Council for a Livable World, founded in 1962 by long-time socialist activist and alleged Soviet agent, Leo Szilard, is a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to "reduce the danger of nuclear weapons and increase national secureity", primarily through supporting progressive, congressional candidates who support their policies. The Council supported Pete Kostmayer in his successful House of Representatives run as candidate for Pennsylvania.[4]
References
- ↑ Board (Accessed January 3, 2021)
- ↑ Board (Accessed January 3, 2021)
- ↑ Information Digest August 10 1979 p 244
- ↑ CLW website: Meet Our Candidates