Cheney visits state for GOP fundraiser
BIRMINGHAM — Vice President Dick Cheney visited Alabama on Friday for a closed-door Republican fundraiser at an exclusive country club best known for protests over its all-white membership 18 years ago.
Party officials defended the decision to have Cheney appear at Shoal Creek Golf Club, located in a private, gated community near Birmingham. The club, with a price tag of $65,000 to join, now has a few black members.
Democrats said staging such an event at Shoal Creek showed how little the Republicans care about openness.
"It's a little bit baffling. I know they need the money, but the symbolism of where he's going and what he's doing just reeks of why American voters want change," said Joe Turnham, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.
Alabama GOP spokesman Philip Bryan said Shoal Creek has had a "philosophical shift" since the racial controversy of 1990.
"If the Democrats wish to take this opportunity to rehash statements made 18 years ago and use race for their own selfish political posturing, then their priorities during this election season are out of line," he said.
Several major sponsors pulled advertising and black groups threatened pickets in 1990 after Shoal Creek founder Hall Thompson said the then all-white club wouldn't be pressured into accepting blacks as members ahead of that year's PGA championship, held on Shoal Creek's course.
Thompson later apologized, and Shoal Creek accepted a black insurance executive as an honorary member to defuse the situation. Club officials now say four of its 600 members are black, and the USGA recently staged its U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Shoal Creek.
Cheney's luncheon appearance, meant to raise money for GOP candidates in Alabama, was closed to the public and the media. Invitations said tickets were $500 and $2,000, and Bryan said the fundraiser "greatly exceeded" its goal of $150,000.
