Episcopal Press and News
Kinsolving Ousted from Correspondents Association
Episcopal News Service. February 15, 1977 [77047]
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The State Department Correspondents Association has voted to oust one of its members, an Episcopal priest and Washington journalist, on the ground that he had accepted improper payments from the South African government.
The Rev. Lester Kinsolving, who is widely known as a syndicated columnist, White House and State Department correspondent, and radio commentator, was expelled from the 350-member association by a vote of nine to seven.
Mr. Kinsolving was accused of accepting stock from South African agents in return for defending that country at corporate meetings in the U.S. where resolutions aimed at ending American involvement there because of apartheid (racial separation) policies were under consideration.
A semi-annual report to the Justice Department filed by the Washington law firm of Collier, Shannon, Rill and Edwards indicates that on March 19, 1976, Mr. Kinsolving was paid $500 for expenses, $225 for a fee, and $1,629.50 in stock purchase.
Mr. Kinsolving says that the firm arranged for him to attend various stockholder meetings, though he states they did not attempt to control or dictate what he would say. He says he was paid expenses and a speaker's fee and also received enough stock in the relevant company to allow him to speak and vote at annual meetings.
Mr. Kinsolving said that the president of the State Department Correspondents Association, Richard Valeriani, of NBC, "has apologized to my attorney for what he termed 'an oversight' -- in that his organization never notified me that such a meeting (at which he was expelled) would take place, never invited me to be present to defend myself, never identified my accusers and never informed me of the nature of the charge. "
Mr. Kinsolving said that Marvin Kalb of CBS, former president of the association, and one of the seven members who voted against his expulsion, has resigned from the organization to protest the vote against Mr. Kinsolving.
Calling conditions under which black people live in South Africa "utopia" when compared to their state in other African countries, Mr. Kinsolving said that he takes the stand he does -- and the fees for it -- in order to speak out against what he terms the "very serious hypocrisy" and "selective indignation" of the National Council of Churches.
The Episcopal Church has often joined with other National Council members in the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility in filing stockholder resolutions that attempt to get U. S. corporations and banks to withdraw their operation or their funds from the Republic of South Africa until apartheid conditions are corrected. The Executive Council and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church are both repeatedly on record supporting stockholder action.
The vote expelling Mr. Kinsolving from the association does not bar him from continuing his reporting duties.