Will John Hall Continue to Side with Nancy Pelosi on Gitmo?

Key Democrat Chairman Opposes Shipping Prisoners to U.S. While Hall Stays Silent

Washington- Although John Hall sided with Nancy Pelosi earlier this summer and voted to pave the way to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States, a key Democrat has spoken out against a plan touted by the Obama administration and leading members of his own party. Now the question remains: Where does John Hall stand?

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) implored the Obama administration to reconsider moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to a federal prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas:

“A senior Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday warned against sending detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas, saying it could endanger U.S. relations with Muslim countries.

“It was also another thorn in President Barack Obama’s effort to quickly close the controversial U.S. prison in Cuba.”

“Skelton is the first senior Democrat to raise issues with moving the Guantanamo detainees to Kansas, but follows a news conference last week in which Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback and Republican Representative Jerry Moran blasted suggestions of moving the detainees there.” (Jeremy Pelofsky, “Democrat opposes sending Guantanamo detainees to Leavenworth,” Reuters, 8/10/09)

“John Hall has a track record of disregarding the concerns of New York families and American citizens who hold serious reservations about closing a valuable detention center and sending terrorists to the United States,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “As leading voices on both sides of the aisle continue to speak out against the Democrats’ plan to import terrorists to the United States, will John Hall finally heed their advice or will he continue to side with Nancy Pelosi’s dangerous agenda?”

With recent polling showing that Americans have little interest in moving terrorists into their own back yards, John Hall finds himself on the hot seat. Will he continue to ignore the dangers of bringing Gitmo prisoners to the United States, or will Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco values finally take a back seat to the concerns of New York families?