Paper Says Bush-Cheney Organizer Asked Editor to ID Staffer's Race

By: E&P Staff Racial profiling or reasonable security? President Bush's re-election campaign is under fire for insisting on learning the race of a photographer for a major daily newspaper assigned to cover Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday.

A rally organizer for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign in Arizona asked Teri Hayt, the Arizona Daily Star's managing editor, to disclose the journalist's race on Friday. "It was such an outrageous request, I was personally insulted," Hayt later commented. "One has to wonder what they were going to do with that information. Because she has Indian ancestry, were they going to deny her access? I don't know."

Hayt said this is the first time in her 26-year career that a journalist's race was made an issue.

The incident involved Cheney?s appearance at a rally Saturday afternoon at the Pima County Fairgrounds.

Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the president's re-election campaign, said the information was needed for security purposes. "All the information requested of staff, volunteers and participants for the event has been done so to ensure the safety of all those involved, including the vice president of the United States," he told the Star.

Diaz had the same response when the newspaper asked if it is the practice of the White House to seek racial information or if the photographer, Mamta Popat, was singled out because of her name. Popat was later allowed to cover the event.

Journalists covering the president or vice president must undergo a background check and are required to provide their name, date of birth and Social Security number. "That's all anybody has been asked to provide," said Hayt.

Bush-Cheney organizer Christine Walton, according to the newspaper, told Hayt that Popat's race was necessary to enable the Secret Service to distinguish her from someone else who might have the same name. "It was a very lame excuse," Hayt said.

Popat said, "My race shouldn't have anything to do with my job."