SCHMIDT GETS HEARING ON ‘BLOOD MONEY’ CHARGE
By Stephen Majors and Malia Rulon, mrulon@enquirer.com

Cincinnati.com
ncinnati.com/article/20090514/NEWS0108/905150332/S chmidt+gets+hearing+on++blood+money++charge
May 14 2009
Ohio

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Elections Commission has encountered an unusual
case that mixes Greater Cincinnati politics with Turkish history and
U.S. foreign policy.

The commission today decided it wants to hear more about the claim
of Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Miami Twp., who says 2008 opponent David
Krikorian made false campaign statements that she was a puppet of
Turkish efforts to deny the Armenian genocide during World War I.

Krikorian is an Armenian American who challenged Schmidt as an
independent in 2008. He said Schmidt accepted campaign donations from
Turkish interests in return for helping them deny the genocide.

Schmidt is challenging Krikorian’s claim on his campaign Web site that
she "took $30,000 in blood money to deny the genocide of Christian
Armenians by Muslim Turks."

The congresswoman has said that based on her knowledge of the
historical record, she can’t characterize the events of 1915 as a
"genocide."

She also doesn’t believe that it’s an issue Congress should be
dealing with.

Schmidt denies accepting money from "Turkish government-sponsored
political action committees and Turkish people in exchange for
helping them to cover up the mass murder of 1.5 million Christians,"
as Krikorian asserted in a Nov. 2 letter.

Schmidt’s complaint included copies of Krikorian’s Web ad and letter
as well as affidavits from the treasurer of the Turkish USA-PAC and
president of the Turkish American Heritage PAC, both of which say
their groups are not affiliated with the Turkish government and they
did not ask Schmidt to deny the genocide.

Krikorian said in a news release that Schmidt filed the complaint
because she is "very worried about facing me in a head-on challenge"
in 2010. Krikorian denied any wrongdoing.

Schmidt spokesman Bruce Pfaff said earlier Schmidt filed the complaint
to correct the record.

"That last piece he put out was so egregious that we felt it needed
to be addressed," Pfaff said.

Any penalties are set by the commission and could include fines,
although they usually just include a statement of facts.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress