A spokesman for the presidential campaign for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz fired back at recent criticism over the decision to make a controversial Williamson County Republican the campaign’s Tennessee chairman, calling those remarks “absurd.”
The Cruz campaign recently announced Kevin Kookogey will serve as the campaign’s Tennessee chairman. In 2012 as chairman of the Williamson County GOP, Kookogey, described as an anti-Shariah activist, oversaw the passage of a resolution criticizing Gov. Bill Haslam for having a Muslim employee and a council that advised the state on Islamic affairs.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations pointed to that resolution Tuesday in asking the Texas Republican’s campaign to cut ties with Kookogey. In a statement, CAIR, self-described as the largest Muslim rights advocacy organization in the country, accused Kookogey of “longstanding support for anti-Muslim and Islamaphobic causes.”
CAIR and others are misinterpreting Kookogey’s work, said Rick Tyler, spokesman for Cruz’ presidential campaign.
“It is absurd to suggest that being a defender of American law under the United States Constitution is somehow anti-Muslim. It is not and cannot be,” Tyler told The Tennessean Wednesday afternoon.
The resolution doesn’t mention anyone by name, but it was a clear criticism of Samar Ali, an attorney who worked for the state for about 18 months.
“RESOLVED that the Williamson County Republican Party hereby opposes Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s recent appointment of a Shariah compliant finance expert to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development,” states a copy of the resolution, according to Tennessean archives.
A tea party-aligned Republican, Kookogey was believed to be the biggest threat to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., heading in to the 2014 election cycle. But Kookogey opted against running after former state Rep. Joe Carr entered the race.
The Cruz campaign chose Kookogey because he demonstrated experienced with Tennessee Republicans and the people the Cruz campaign wants to attract, Tyler said.
“He is exactly the kind of grassroots volunteer that we’re attracting across the country,” Tyler said. “He fits our model precisely.”
Cruz is one of several tea party-aligned candidates in the increasingly crowded GOP presidential primary. He was most recently in Nashville in April, for the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting. Cruz received some of the most robust applause from the NRA audience, and tied for sixth placeamong GOP contenders in a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll of Republican and Republican-leaning independent registered voters.
Tyler said there aren’t any Tennessee trips officially scheduled at the moment, but he guaranteed the campaign will come to Tennessee.