Liberal PAC Pushing to Take Ronald Reagan’s Name Off Airport
9/5/2015
A liberal political action committee is pushing for Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport to be renamed after Republicans complained when President Barack Obama restored Alaska’s Mount McKinley name to Denali.
CREDO Action, a PAC backed by San Francisco-based cell phone provider CREDO Mobile, has posted the petition on its website, reports Fox News, and is pushing for 75,000 signatures. As of Saturday afternoon, just over 52,000 people had signed the petition.
The petition lauds Obama’s “small but important step” for recognizing the history and culture of Native Americans, “but right-wing extremists in the Republican party, including House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, don’t see it that way.”
Shortly after Obama renamed the mountain, removing late President Theodore McKinley, America’s 25th president and an Ohio Republican, from the mountain, Boehner and other Ohio Republicans began complaining that they were disappointed by the move. Republicans in Alaska, however, have generally supported the move.
CREDO Action, which says its mission is to fund progressive nonprofits, raised $4 million in the 2014 election cycle and spent $400,062 in congressional races, including $355,000 against Republicans, reports OpenSecrets.org.
There have been disagreement over years about the airport’s name. According to a Washington Post survey, 72 percent of Republicans call the airport “Reagan” or “Reagan National,” and just 35 percent of Democrats acknowledged the name.
The airport was renamed from Washington National Airport in 1998, under an initiative from Boehner and other Congressional Republicans.
Harold
ACGR's "News with Attitude" 