Lee Zeldin among nine Republicans facing attacks for meeting with extremist conservative group

WASHINGTON — Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin is one of nine Republicans facing Democratic attacks for meeting with an extremist conservative group.

 

A Zeldin spokeswoman acknowledges that last month he addressed the Long Island chapter of Oath Keepers, a group of retired military, police and fire department employees who say they are committed to fighting “the tyranny we experience in our local, state and federal governments.”

The organization has dabbled in what critics call “fringe conspiracy theories,” citing concern about concentration camps and martial law in the United States.
The chapter’s website includes postings by a member embracing a film that claims the December 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax and calling President Obama a “Muslim/Extremist.”

The national group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, a former staffer for onetime Republican and Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, has compared Hillary Clinton to Hitler.
He said in May that Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), who survived torture in a North Vietnamese prison camp, is “a traitor who should be hung by the neck until dead.”
The House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is using a series of paid Twitter ads over the July 4 weekend to urge Zeldin to “declare his independence” from the group’s views.

The committee launched similar attacks on Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Will Hurd of Texas, Dan Benishek of Michigan, John Kline of Minnesota, Cresent Hardy of Nevada, and Jeff Denham and David Valadao of California.
In New York, Democrats are striving to pin a Tea Party label on Zeldin, who ran twice against former Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop, the second time successfully.
They say Zeldin, a mild-mannered former state senator and Army officer who is the only Jewish Republican in Congress, is too conservative for his Suffolk County district, which leans slightly Republican.

Zeldin spokeswoman Jennifer DiSiena said the Oath Keepers are one of many groups “representing all sides of the ideological spectrum,” including the Sierra Club and SEIU, with which Zeldin met to discuss trade legislation.
“It is completely absurd to make it a litmus test for a member of Congress to agree with every individual or group 100% in order to meet with them,” DeSiena said.