Oct. 30, 2002, 7:30AM
Cornyn, Kirk at odds on flag amendment
By CLAY ROBISON and RACHEL GRAVES
Houston Chronicle
http://www.kivacom.com/US_Senate_Races_2002.htm#Texas
SAN ANTONIO -- Republican senatorial nominee John Cornyn courted the votes of Texas veterans Tuesday, waving his support for a constitutional amendment to ban burning or desecration of the American flag.
Democratic nominee Ron Kirk, campaigning in Dallas and Austin, continued to express opposition to curtailing First Amendment rights, even for the sake of the nation's most venerated symbol.
In Austin, Kirk campaigned with his mother, Willie Mae Kirk, a retired schoolteacher, and other old-time Texas Democrats at his mother's house. Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson, compared Kirk to her father, who once held the Senate seat that Kirk and Cornyn are seeking.
At campaign stops in San Antonio, San Angelo, Midland and El Paso, Cornyn also campaigned for better health care and other benefits for retired military personnel. He was accompanied by Leo S. Mackay Jr., deputy secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, who said Cornyn's election would help President Bush get more of his priorities through Congress.
"I'm going to be an advocate for veterans and a strong supporter of our nation's military," Cornyn said.
At an American Legion hall in San Antonio, Jim Duncan, a Cornyn supporter from Houston, raised the flag-protection issue by sharply criticizing Democratic rival Kirk's opposition to the proposal.
Kirk, a former Dallas mayor, said flag-burning must be protected as a form of free speech.
"If our freedom means anything, it means freedom of expression," he said. "While I find flag-burning abhorrent, I would defend anyone's right to free speech. That is the ultimate test of our commitment to our freedoms."
After Cornyn, the Texas attorney general, first raised the issue earlier this year, Kirk suggested Cornyn was "trying to inject emotionalism into this race."
A number of flag-protection amendments have been offered in Congress since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that flag-burning was constitutionally protected by free speech rights under the First Amendment. The U.S. House has passed such amendments four times, but they have been defeated in the Senate.
Cornyn, in his remarks to the San Antonio veterans, said his mother, who was present, "teared up" whenever she saw the American flag because it reminded her of his late father, a World War II veteran and career Air Force officer.
He told reporters that a lot of former service people were "offended" by Kirk's earlier comment.
"I disagree with Mr. Kirk's position," he added. "It is emotional, but it's not irrelevant and it's not something that should be lightly dismissed."
Cornyn repeatedly has criticized Senate Democrats for opposing some of President Bush's conservative judicial nominees. And flag-protection is not the only First Amendment issue over which Cornyn has differed with federal courts.
Two years ago, in his role as attorney general, Cornyn supported an unsuccessful effort by the Santa Fe Independent School District in Galveston County to continue student-led prayers at football games.
The U.S. Supreme Court held in July 2000 that student-led prayers were barred by the constitutional separation of church and state.
"I do feel like the court is headed down an irreconciliable path when it comes to the freedom that I think individuals should have to talk about their faith in a public place on a voluntary basis," he said Tuesday.
He said teachers shouldn't be allowed to lead prayers in schools.
Mackay, the deputy secretary of veterans affairs, criticized Kirk, who is black, for injecting race into the debate over Iraq when, several weeks ago, the Democratic nominee said minorities would do a disproportionate share of the fighting.
Mackay, who also is black and a former Navy pilot, said he remembered service people of all races working on an aircraft carrier flight deck.
"They were overwhelmingly patriotic, and they were disproportionately brave and hard-working," he said.
Kirk said both Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have commented on the disproportionate share of minorities and the working class in the military.
"John Cornyn has still yet to lay out in an intelligent way what he believes our philosophy should be when we go to war. And he has yet to express any concern over anybody who fights our war of any ethnicity or any race," Kirk said.
At the home of Kirk's mother in Austin, Luci Baines Johnson read a letter of support for Kirk from her mother, Lady Bird Johnson, who suffered a stroke in May. Lady Bird Johnson endorsed Kirk earlier this month at a private fund-raiser at Luci Johnson's home.
"I cannot tell you what it would mean to go to the floor of the United States Senate ... and sit in the chair that was once occupied by Lyndon Baines Johnson," Kirk said.
Cornyn, Kirk at odds on flag amendment
By CLAY ROBISON and RACHEL GRAVES
Houston Chronicle
http://www.kivacom.com/US_Senate_Races_2002.htm#Texas
SAN ANTONIO -- Republican senatorial nominee John Cornyn courted the votes of Texas veterans Tuesday, waving his support for a constitutional amendment to ban burning or desecration of the American flag.
Democratic nominee Ron Kirk, campaigning in Dallas and Austin, continued to express opposition to curtailing First Amendment rights, even for the sake of the nation's most venerated symbol.
In Austin, Kirk campaigned with his mother, Willie Mae Kirk, a retired schoolteacher, and other old-time Texas Democrats at his mother's house. Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson, compared Kirk to her father, who once held the Senate seat that Kirk and Cornyn are seeking.
At campaign stops in San Antonio, San Angelo, Midland and El Paso, Cornyn also campaigned for better health care and other benefits for retired military personnel. He was accompanied by Leo S. Mackay Jr., deputy secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, who said Cornyn's election would help President Bush get more of his priorities through Congress.
"I'm going to be an advocate for veterans and a strong supporter of our nation's military," Cornyn said.
At an American Legion hall in San Antonio, Jim Duncan, a Cornyn supporter from Houston, raised the flag-protection issue by sharply criticizing Democratic rival Kirk's opposition to the proposal.
Kirk, a former Dallas mayor, said flag-burning must be protected as a form of free speech.
"If our freedom means anything, it means freedom of expression," he said. "While I find flag-burning abhorrent, I would defend anyone's right to free speech. That is the ultimate test of our commitment to our freedoms."
After Cornyn, the Texas attorney general, first raised the issue earlier this year, Kirk suggested Cornyn was "trying to inject emotionalism into this race."
A number of flag-protection amendments have been offered in Congress since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that flag-burning was constitutionally protected by free speech rights under the First Amendment. The U.S. House has passed such amendments four times, but they have been defeated in the Senate.
Cornyn, in his remarks to the San Antonio veterans, said his mother, who was present, "teared up" whenever she saw the American flag because it reminded her of his late father, a World War II veteran and career Air Force officer.
He told reporters that a lot of former service people were "offended" by Kirk's earlier comment.
"I disagree with Mr. Kirk's position," he added. "It is emotional, but it's not irrelevant and it's not something that should be lightly dismissed."
Cornyn repeatedly has criticized Senate Democrats for opposing some of President Bush's conservative judicial nominees. And flag-protection is not the only First Amendment issue over which Cornyn has differed with federal courts.
Two years ago, in his role as attorney general, Cornyn supported an unsuccessful effort by the Santa Fe Independent School District in Galveston County to continue student-led prayers at football games.
The U.S. Supreme Court held in July 2000 that student-led prayers were barred by the constitutional separation of church and state.
"I do feel like the court is headed down an irreconciliable path when it comes to the freedom that I think individuals should have to talk about their faith in a public place on a voluntary basis," he said Tuesday.
He said teachers shouldn't be allowed to lead prayers in schools.
Mackay, the deputy secretary of veterans affairs, criticized Kirk, who is black, for injecting race into the debate over Iraq when, several weeks ago, the Democratic nominee said minorities would do a disproportionate share of the fighting.
Mackay, who also is black and a former Navy pilot, said he remembered service people of all races working on an aircraft carrier flight deck.
"They were overwhelmingly patriotic, and they were disproportionately brave and hard-working," he said.
Kirk said both Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have commented on the disproportionate share of minorities and the working class in the military.
"John Cornyn has still yet to lay out in an intelligent way what he believes our philosophy should be when we go to war. And he has yet to express any concern over anybody who fights our war of any ethnicity or any race," Kirk said.
At the home of Kirk's mother in Austin, Luci Baines Johnson read a letter of support for Kirk from her mother, Lady Bird Johnson, who suffered a stroke in May. Lady Bird Johnson endorsed Kirk earlier this month at a private fund-raiser at Luci Johnson's home.
"I cannot tell you what it would mean to go to the floor of the United States Senate ... and sit in the chair that was once occupied by Lyndon Baines Johnson," Kirk said.
