Cheney to stump for GOPer who bullied wife with guns

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday September 12, 2006

Vice President Dick Cheney will be attending a fundraiser for Rep. Randy Kuhl (R-NY) in late September, today's issue of Roll Call reports.

The Vice President and Kuhl have each earned a measure of infamy for incidents involving firearms. Cheney accidentally shot his hunting partner Harry Whittington in the face earlier this year, while according to divorce records obtained by RAW STORY, Kuhl once bullied his wife with shotguns. RAW STORY has archived the divorce filing here

The San Francisco Chronicle noted in a 2004 article that Kuhl had past run-ins with the law, including an arrest in 1997 for drunken driving. Kuhl's license was suspended for six months:

Kuhl-Peterson filed for divorce in late 1998, charging that Kuhl "endangered (her) mental and physical well-being and rendered it unsafe and improper for the parties to continue to reside together." After Kuhl was arrested in 1997 for drunken driving, he refused his wife's requests "to attend counseling to deal with his excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages," she said in the papers. As a result of that arrest, Kuhl had his driver's license suspended for six months. He launched his congressional campaign bid by publicly discussing the arrest.

Kuhl is considered a vulnerable incumbent in the mid-term election.

Excerpts from the registration-restricted article follow...

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If readers recall, widely reported divorce records showed that Kuhl, currently running for his second term, pulled not one but two shotguns on his wife during a 1994 dinner party at their home. Kuhl's ex-wife also described him as an abusive drunk who "hustled women."

Cheney, the man who may always be remembered for accidentally shooting his good friend on a hunting trip, has agreed to do a private photo-op at a Sept. 22 fundraiser for Kuhl in Rochester, N.Y. And, yes, you guessed it, Kuhl is considered vulnerable this year.

As one Democratic operative told HOH, "I can't tell what Cheney likes best about him—Kuhl's penchant for rubber-stamping the president or for combining beer with firearm use."

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