Where WAS Shuler during Obama’s visit? Sri Lanka
For the second time in just more than two years, U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, is spending a week in Sri Lanka.
“Congressman Shuler left for the bipartisan congressional fact-finding trip to Sri Lanka on Sunday, and he will be back this Friday,” Shuler spokeswoman Whitney Mitchell said. “He is joined by two other members of Congress, Congressman Jack Kingston, (R-Ga.) and Congressman Ben Chandler, (D-Ky).
The trip is being paid for by the Sri Lankan government but has been coordinated through the U.S. State Department Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Program.”
It is an official government trip that the Sri Lankan government organized through the U.S. State Department.
Shuler was notably absent Monday during President Obama’s visit to Asheville Regional Airport. Other Democratic heavyweights, including U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, and Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy, were there.
“This trip was planned before we knew the president was coming,” Mitchell said.
Chris Cooper, director of the Public Policy Institute at Western Carolina University, said Shuler’s trip wouldn’t “be a big deal” had Obama not been in town.
“I don’t think it will play well or play poorly in the district,” Cooper said. “I think people probably have bigger fish to fry.”
The Sri Lankan government is trying to influence the U.S. government through such visits, Cooper said, and some may see that as influence peddling.
“If you think about influence, influence in politics is built on relationships — to whatever degree you build relationships, you’re trying to build influence,” Cooper said. “It probably is influence peddling, but that doesn’t mean it’s immoral, illegal or unusual.”
Shuler also went to Sri Lanka in 2009, shortly after the government announced its military had defeated the remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, often called the Tamil Tigers.
The Central Intelligence Agency notes that “since the end of the conflict, the government has resettled tens of thousands of internally displaced persons and has undertaken a number of massive infrastructure projects to reconstruct its economy.” In 2009, critics said Shuler was playing into the hands of the government.
David Wijewickrama, a Waynesville attorney of Sri Lankan descent, accompanied Shuler on both trips.
Courtesy: Citizens Times
