Democrat California gubernatorial nominee Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown mocked as “silly” the concerns raised by a retired Marine Corps colonel about Brown attending a fundraiser at the home of terrorist supporter and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans. Speaking to reporters Wednesday evening at a campaign rally at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, Brown labeled the call by Col. Bucky Peterson to return the money from the fundraiser “dishonest” and “the sillies[t] thing I’ve ever heard.” Peterson’s statement was released by Brown’s opponent, Republican nominee Meg Whitman.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Brown’s comments.
Asked about the fundraiser by Evans, who is also a co-founder of Code Pink, Brown said that he has no connection to that group. “That’s the sillies (sic) thing I’ve ever heard.. Jodie worked in my (presidential) campaign,” he said. The weekend event in Los Angeles had “nothing to do with Code Pink. That was Jody and campaign workers over many decades and they came to her house.”
For Whitman to distort that… it’s dishonest,” he said, charging that it was “within that same pattern of dishonesty” he has seen in the GOP candidate’s campaign.
Whitman’s campaign Wednesday released a statement from one of the GOP candidate’s supporters, retired Colonel Bucky Peterson, a 31 year veteran of the U.S. Marines, who called on Brown to return the money from the fundraiser.
Contrary to Brown’s claim, the fundraiser was not a Code Pink event. The entrance to the fundraiser was adorned with large Code Pink banners.
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(Note: The above is an update to the article below.)
The campaign of California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman released a statement by retired Marine Colonel Bucky Peterson on Wednesday urging Whitman’s Democrat rival, California Attorney General Jerry Brown, to return campaign donations raised at a fundraiser last Saturday at the home of terrorist supporter and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans.
The Whitman campaign issued Col. Peterson’s call to Brown on the occasion of Brown’s scheduled speech Wednesday evening at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building.
Jodie Evans is a longtime political ally of Brown’s who worked for his various campaigns and elective offices from the 1970s to the 1990s, culminating when Jodie Evans managed Brown’s failed 1992 campaign for the Democrat’s presidential nomination.
In the 2000s, Jodie Evans teamed with communist revolutionary Susan ‘Medea’ Benjamin in founding Code Pink, a group that supports Islamic terrorists and works with state sponsors of terrorism against the United States. Jodie Evans and Benjamin are also leading Democratic Party activists; Jodie Evans was a top fundraiser for President Barack Obama.
Jodie Evans also has donated thousands of dollars to the reelection campaign of her fellow California Democrat, Sen. Barbara Boxer.
In his statement, Col. Peterson cites the experience related at Big Peace by Gold Star mother Debbie Lee of a run-in with Jodie Evans and Code Pink. Lee, whose Navy SEAL son Marc Alan Lee gave his life saving fellow SEALs in Operation Iraqi Freedom, wrote she was told by Code Pink activists her son “deserved to die in Iraq if he was stupid enough to go over there.” Petty Officer Second Class Lee was awarded the Silver Star for his courageous sacrifice. Col. Peterson wrote:
“I am deeply troubled and disappointed that Jerry Brown went to the home of Jodie Evans, one of the leaders of Code Pink, last weekend to raise thousands of dollars for his gubernatorial campaign. Sadly, Jodie Evans and her Code Pink associates have taunted the mothers of heroes who gave their lives in combat, telling Debbie Lee that her son ‘deserved to die in Iraq if he was stupid enough to go over there.’ While military women and men are proud that we defend the rights of all citizens to voice their dissent, this type of behavior crosses the line in a civil society. The fact that Code Pink and Jerry Brown are aligned causes me to question his judgment to deal with issues involving the large military presence in California as well as our substantial veteran population. If Jerry Brown is on the side of veterans, he should return the thousands of dollars he raised at the event and let the people of California know whether he supports the actions of Code Pink.”
Attendees at the Brown fundraiser were forced to step over pro-troop protesters who laid on the sidewalk at the front gate of Jodie Evans’ Venice mansion. The protest was organized by Melanie Morgan, founder of Move America Forward, the nation’s largest pro-troop organization.
Bedsheet-sized Code Pink banners were hung on a white picket fence at the fundraiser’s entrance gate, making it clear this was a Code Pink event.
According to Morgan and other protesters, Jodie Evans did not handle being given a dose of her own aggressive protesting. Jodie Evans confronted Morgan, angrily taunting Morgan, “you are on crack.”
In an apparent effort to avoid the dozen or so protesters, Brown exited from the back of the house and reportedly left in a different vehicle from the Dodge Durango that delivered him and was kept running for the two hours he was there.
The Whitman campaign was silent about Jodie Evans’ fundraiser for Brown until today’s statement, issued four days after the event.
According to the statement, Col. Peterson is a 31-year Marine Corps veteran who re-upped after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. In 2008, Jodie Evans said that Osama bin Laden had “valid arguments” for the attacks.